Pox Party
Hurray! Let’s have chicken pox party! Wait a minute… Am I going crazy? Who wants to have chickenpox? Huh… You see. In the past, parents would throw a chicken pox party when their children got chickenpox. The idea was to let other children to contract the virus naturally rather through inoculation. Once a person has contracted chickenpox, he/she will have immunity to chicken pox for the rest of his/her life. The only drawback is that person will have a chance to have shingles when the immunity gets low.
Dmitry has got chickenpox this morning. I didn’t see any when I had bath with him yesterday. So, the doctor gave him one week medical leave and advised him to stay at home. Nowadays people are so afraid to let their children to get chickenpox. This is a sign of overly protective. Children should not be sent back to school. But I personally think that why not as long as the children have no fever and as long as personal hygiene is taken care of.
Lets go spread some virus! He…he… 
A ‘clack’ on my shoulder
This afternoon I had to rush to my karate class because I was late again. When I got into my car and sped off, I reached out for the buckle above my right shoulder. Suddenly, I heard a loud audible ‘clack’ coming from my left shoulder. I thought I would have worsen my shoulder bursitis. Miraculously, there wasn’t any pain but I felt having better mobility and greater degree of movement. Before this, I could barely lift up my left arm to touch the other shoulder without assistance of my right hand, and the movement would be slow. Now, I can lift up my left arm to touch the other shoulder at will. Of course, I still feel a little sore on my left shoulder.
Anyway, I was very much worried about my shoulder. I was so afraid that I would need a surgery. Thank God that it is improving now.
肚子里的野蛮
昨晚肚子里的野蛮作怪，搞到我整晚坐立难安。想必是今天吃不定时又吃了一些油腻的食物才会中招。吃了文明的药来打压肚子里的野蛮就去躺，然后就这样睡着了。到了半夜，拉了才舒服。今早迟起了。唉。
Protected: Two things that annoyed me today
NSAID allergy case the 3rd time!
My dad was admitted to the General Hospital yesterday due to suspecting of food poisoning. He was actually going to the Community Polyclinic at Pantai Peringgit for his routine medical checkup. But he had been having diarrhea since last week and yesterday he began to vomit.
There wasn’t any vacant ward so they put him in the A&E ward. He was transferred to medical ward this morning. When I visited him two hours ago, I saw his eyes were swollen. His eye bags were filled with fluid. I knew he was having allergic reaction and I quickly checked with the nurse.
There were some young doctors there. A female doctor attended to me and my dad to see what’s going on. Her name was Dr. Ng. I told her that my dad was allergic to NSAID (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs). They prescribed him Aspirin. She said they had stopped giving him aspirin.
This was negligence and I pursued the responsibility with her. I am regarded as some kind of pain-in-the-ass by some people. I could see her facial reaction when I told her that I would pursue this responsibility. She quickly apologized and carefully worked through the documents. I backed off a little when I saw her diligence. I am not totally a pain-in-the-ass after all. I am not totally unreasonable.
She found a remark stating my dad was allergic to two unknown drugs. I told her, when a patient had informed the doctor or the nurse of his unknown allergic, then it would be the normal procedure to go through the patient’s medical history to find out what he was allergic to. Assessment had to be made accordingly if the patient was medically illiterate. The hospital should also immediately contact his family to find out what his allergies.
She apologized again and suggested me to speak to her superior tomorrow morning. She apologized again and I told her it was not her fault because my dad had been admitted at the same hospital with the same allergic reaction. Someone did not do their job well.
He was prescribed NSAID by an A&E doctor at the same general hospital and had mild allergic reaction. This happened in early 2007. In May 2007, the Community Polyclinic at Pantai Peringgit prescribed him Diclofenac Sodium and he had a bad allergic reaction and was admitted to the general hospital at night. I wrote about this here.
Why does this happen again for the 3rd time?
I am going to be someone’s real pain-in-the-ass tomorrow.
Chikungunya fever
My aunt and her husband were talking about some mosquito transmitted fever with joint pains when we visited her yesterday. They told us the epidermic was spreading in Segamat, Tangkak, Sagil and Muar. The epidemic they were talking about was Chikungunya fever. This disease is transmitted by infected Aedes mosquitoes. Today, there are 4 reported cases in Malacca.
The outbreak is caused by raining season. Singapore has reported an outbreak in earlier this year in January. Although it is not as deadly as dengue fever, I will take no chance to allow our kids to expose to the Aedes mosquitoes. No outdoor activities in the evening for a while.
Prostate Cancer – The 3rd leading killer in men
Prostate cancer is non-skin cancer but carcinomatous growth in the prostate gland. It is a nut sized gland in males at the neck of urethra; produces a viscid secretion that is the fluid part of the semen.
it is the 3rd leading killer in men’s cancer. You may have or may not have any prostate cancer symptoms at all because prostate cancer is slow growing but at times it can grow quickly. African-American men have the highest risk than Caucasian or Asian men.
Fortunately, there is new prostate cancer treatment available. Sonablate 500 is a non-invasive medical device that uses HIFU (High Intensity Focused Ultrasound) to treat prostate cancer. This new technology is giving new hope to men in fighting prostate cancer and BPH (enlarged prostate).
IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
The Sonablate 500 is not approved for use in the U.S. The Sonablate 500 remains investigational in the U.S. and is being studied for the treatment of prostate cancer in clinical trials in the U.S. FDA has made no decision as to the safety or efficacy of the Sonablate 500 for the treatment of prostate cancer. Currently, the device is approved for the treatment of prostate cancer in Canada and the Dominican Republic, authorized in Argentina, and available in the Bahamas and Mexico.
Learn to use your muscles
The main basic goal of any martial art training is to learn the fundamental method of using our muscle effectively. During training, it is important to concentrate in the movement of every muscles and to feel exactly which muscles are moving.
By controlling the proper contraction of each muscles, one will gradually learn to use the muscles efficiently and to achieve motion economy. Many people neglects this part of training. A few of them learn to use their muscle without knowing it. If you start your training by learning to use your muscle, you will achieve better result much sooner than the others who don’t.
But how? I remembered my uncle used to talk about some training movement in Taijiquan when I was starting to learn karate. I felt boring listening to his stories. A couple of months ago, my interest sparked again. I talked to him regarding training and learn some secrets from him. Not because I don’t trust him, I reconfirm with dragon to make sure I have a more precise understanding of my uncle’s explanation. He used to brag a lot unnecessarily. 
I will write a series of posts here for the methods to develop muscle, especially the waist, which is the most powerful and every martial artists rely so much.
Laser Surgery
I had a laser surgery for my right eye this afternoon. It is an outpatient procedure. It took me about 5 minutes or less but I had to wait from 10AM till 1:30PM. That was a long wait.
I had my cataract surgery on June 19, 2007. Read here. I also posted a video of a cataract surgery here. The surgery removed my natural lens which had been clouded by the penta-fluoro carbon (C3F8) gas in the retina repair surgery. A new artificial lens was inserted to replace my natural lens. The only consolation reward I could think of was that my short-sightedness was reduced by half, as my doctor told me.
During the phacoemulsification procedure, the lens is removed but not the posterior lens capsule. It has to be left there to hold the new artificial lens. Not all lens cells can be completely removed. Some are left behind. Sometimes, the lens cells grow across the new lens. It is more likely to grow back if you are younger. Sometimes this happens in a few months after the cataract surgery, sometimes years. This is not a re-growth of cataract. It is the thickening of the back of the lens capsule. It is called the posterior lens capsular opacification. The picture shows the posterior capsular opacification on retroillumination.
Frequency-doubled Nd:YAG (neodymium-doped yttrium aluminium garnet; Nd:Y3Al5O12) laser with a wave length of 532nm is used to make a “hole” in part of the capsule to allow light to pass through the lens directly. This procedure is called YAG laser capsulotomy. The doctor aims the laser exactly onto the posterior lens capsule and fires very short pulses of laser to blast off the part of the capsule and make a small circle shaped area. This leaves some of the capsule intact to hold the lens. The very small part of the lens capsule which is cut away falls harmlessly inside the eye.
The laser capsulotomy is very quick and not painful at all. I only heard some clicking noise as the laser was working. My vision on my right eye became clear again immediately after the procedure. The only discomfort I had was when my doctor attached a contact lens onto my eye.
Video of phacoemulsification cataract surgery
Last June, I had phaco to remove cataract on my right eye due to retina repair. Read more here. While surfing for some information, I found this video showing how this modern cataract surgery was done. It is very educational. I feel eerie while watching the video but it is rather educational. After watching the video, I appreciate my eyes more. And the video satisfies my curious appetite too.
Cheers! Sooner or later everyone has to go through this surgery. It is part of the natural aging process. Mine is caused by the retina repair surgery.
Hospital visit on first day of CNY
This year, the first place (other than parents’) we visited was the hospital. After our lunch at grandma’s, we went to Putra Specialist Hospital to visit Richard. He met an accident and had his ordeal at the general hospital.
When we saw him on the bed, his leg was nicely bandaged after the surgery. He now has a bionic leg. He was seen cherish and became the usual Richard. He was already recovering as he now had the mood to joke around. He was as cherish as usual as he used to be and on his way to recovery. We were a little pressured and worried while he was still in general hospital and he took many hours to decide to seek treatment at private hospital. We are glad he has made it.
Rest well and back on your feet again soon my friend!
I think we had a meaningful CNY this time by helping a friend through his suffering and ordeal. May the force be with you, Richard. And hey, you have got 3 months medical leave and we can really have a long chat and many teh tarik (tea with milk) this time. LOL! Cheers!
Another case of sub-standard health care
I wrote an article about sub-standard health care provided by government hospital sometime ago. Read it here. Today, we experienced another with our friend, Richard, who had a terrible accident last night.
We were going to grandma’s to help prepare the CNY eve dinner. It was about 1100+ when we arrived at the general hospital. Richard’s leg had been plastered without any surgery. LA and I were shocked and we got further details of what the specialists said from Richard. He told us one female specialist said he needed a surgery and the other male said no need surgery. WTF! What specialists were they? Were they qualified? I doubted.
We confirmed with a few friends who worked in hospital and they told us surgery was necessary to repair bone fractures. The earliest surgery the general hospital could schedule for Richard was next Thursday. It would be 10 days after his accident! WTF! He could have infection and had his leg amputated! We quickly provided him options to seek professional medical treatment in private hospital. He was concerned with insurance claims and the medical expenses. Private health care is many times more expensive than government hospital. I helped him to sort out some insurance doubts and advised him to decide quickly because today was CNY eve and there would be followed by two public holidays and weekend. Charges could be double or triple in operating theater and medical fees.
We waited until about 1645 and he finally called me that he had decided to seek professional medical treatment at private hospital. Without any delay, LA called her ex-colleagues in private hospital and arranged an ambulance and informed the doctor to standby.
By 1730, he was transferred to Putra Specialist Hospital and was under Dr. Ramu’s care. Surgery was scheduled at 2100 and after the CNY eve dinner, I went to see him at around 2000. Richard’s parents had gone home for dinner and he was alone. Poor Richard. I could understand his loneliness and fear as I had experience a surgery in 2006.
Before 2030, the nurses came in with an OT wheeled bed. They changed him. He was too embarrassed to get naked in front of the female nurses (his first time in front of female a virgin I supposed ) He finally submitted to the sweet persuasion of the nurses. There gone his virginity! LOL. I accompanied him to the OT waiting area. That’s the furthest I could go. I comforted him and saw him being pushed into the OT. I went home and called to inform his parents.
I called his sister around 2350 and she told me Richard was soundly asleep and had not waken up after the surgery. I was relieved to hear he was fine after his surgery. Get well soon, my friend.
Most Unfortunate
Richard, my ex-classmate and best friend, were back from Singapore for the CNY on Sunday. He called me on Sunday night and Monday as well but I wasn’t free to go out with him for a tea. So, tonight while taking dinos downtown for a spin, an idea sparked and I called Richard to find out his whereabout and thought we might go for a drink.
He was shopping at MP and Carrefour. We made an rendezvous at 2145. We went many places in the car to look at CNY decoration in the old town. Then we were at Melaka Raya and I called Richard to change our rendezvous place to Hotel Equatorial. We waited there and many cars and motorcycles had passed by but Richard was nowhere to be seen. The kids were getting boring and started to make lots of noises. I decided to leave but no long after we left the rendezvous place, my phone rang. It was Richard. He told me he met an accident. First I thought he was joking as he used to be. But I heard his jumpy voice and I knew it was not funny. He was behind MP and we rushed to the vicinity.
When we arrived, he was sitting by the road side. He was on motorcycle and a car recklessly knocked him down. I went to understand the situation and to take a look at his condition. Using my knowledge in sports science and sports injuries, I examined his wounds and his right leg. He told me his leg was broken but some youngster who appeared to be the friends of the driver and were St. John members told me his leg was fine and not broken. What a stupid and ignorant youngsters!
Richard had some abrasion on his arms and legs. Not much of concerns. I examined closely and carefully his right leg and I found some swelling began to develop around and above his ankle. I touched and pressed gently and asked him if he felt anything. He told me it was numbed. That further reaffirmed my findings and I told him he had broken leg. I concluded his top part of fibula and the lower part of tibia were broken. I quickly called an ambulance and then came two policemen on motorcycles. One of them went to direct traffic and the other stopped beside to see what happened. I told him it was an accident and the victim had broken leg. This policeman took his own sweet time and he did nothing but standing there to look. I told him to radio the ambulance to reinforce my report. He still took his own sweet time to unbuckle his crash helmet, put it down in the basket, and stood there. I asked him why wasn’t he take any action and he ignored me. When I questioned him the second time, he told me to be patient. I raised my voice a little bit and told him the victim had broken leg and was suffering and he needed immediate medical assistance. He still took his own sweet time. My anger increased and I took out pen and paper and started looking for his ID number on his uniform but his safety jacket had covered his uniform and the ID number. I wrote down his motorbike registration number and he quickly began to radio back to headquarters. What kind of policeman was that? Worst, at the end of the incident after Richard had been sent to the hospital, the two policemen encouraged the driver and my friend’s family to settle outside so that no troublesome paperwork. I told him with a stern voice that we were going to lodge a police report.
After Richard had taken his motorbike which was parked behind MP, he was en route to rendezvous with us. Suddenly, a car came from behind him, passed him and suddenly turned left to go into a parking without signaling and looking at the left rear looking mirror. BANG! The driver was a young college going boy after his form five so he must be about the age of 18 or 19. A new and inexperienced driver with friends in his car talking and cheering away. When they spotted a parking, he endangered Richard.
The driver and his friends (girls and boys) admitted it was the driver’s fault while talking to me and Richard’s sister and mother. We encouraged him to file a police report. I was the one to lead them to the police station. Sadly, this young boy changed his mind under the influence of his friends (maybe) and his family. He did not admit his fault and stated that the motorcyclist (Richard) overtook his car from left rear. I wonder where is his conscience? I wonder if he can sleep and eat well?
My three boys are fascinated by ambulance and they like to see ambulance when we spot one on the road. This time, they had gotten the chance to seean ambulance taking an accident victim to the hospital. They saw the medical officers taking Richard up to the ambulance in a wheeled stretcher and rushed him to the hospital with siren. My boys had seen what an ambulance should do. But I guessed, today was the most unfortunate day for Richard.
After I sent them home, I went to the General Hospital to see if there was anything I could offer. I waited until he was ready to be warded. His leg was confirmed broken and he was really worried. When we (his sister and I) met the doctor in the ward, I asked to see his X-ray. That confirmed my findings. One fracture on the top part of his right fibula and two fractures on the lower part of his right tibia.
适量食用柿子可治疗风热咳嗽预防动脉硬化
我在十月写了一篇有关柿子的英语短文。我在网上看到了一篇关柿子的中文文章，转载在此和大家分享。
柿子（Persimmon）是柿子树（柿科柿属）的果实，原产于中国，柿子在中国大陆已有好几千年的历史，至今还有很多国家把柿子称为“中国的无花果”。不过现在许多国家也有，中国、日本、韩国和巴西是主要产地，以色列也逐渐赶上，发展出一种叫做莎隆果的新品种。美国各地则有野生的柿子。在中国，柿子是人们比较喜欢食用的水果，甜腻可口，营养丰富。不少人还喜欢在冬季吃冻柿子，别有味道。柿子既可生食，也可加工成柿饼、柿糕，柿子果脯、柿子果丹皮等，并可用来酿酒、制醋等。柿子营养丰富、色泽鲜艳、柔软多汁、香甜可口、老少喜食。
柿子营养价值很高，营养成分主要为糖类、果胶、蛋白质、脂肪、碳水化合物、微量元素和多种维生素。每100克熟柿中含有糖28克，其中主要是蔗糖、葡萄糖及果糖，含有碳水化合物15克，蛋白质1.36克，脂肪0.2克，碘量49.7毫克，以及钾、铁、钙、钠、镁、磷等矿物质和维生素C等。
科学家在用现代科学手段将柿子和苹果所含的营养成分进行对比之后，认为柿子在某些方面的优势要明显得多。例如，柿子的葡萄糖含量比苹果高出60%，膳食纤维含量等于苹果的2倍。而钠、钾、镁、钙、铁、锰的含量也大大超过了苹果。特别值得一提的是，柿子含有一种“酚类化合物”（苯酚或称石炭酸），对预防动脉硬化，降低心血管疾病发病率有很好的效果。柿子含有的膳食纤维、矿物质和石炭酸（一种抗氧化剂）成分，都是预防动脉硬化的要素。如果每天能食用柿子100克，便能有效地预防动脉硬化和心血管疾病。柿子预防心脏血管硬化的功效远大于苹果，堪称有益心脏健康的水果王。柿子富含果胶，它是一种水溶性的膳食纤维，有良好的润肠通便作用，对于纠正便秘，保持肠道正常菌群生长等有很好的作用。柿子含碘，所以因缺碘引起的地方性甲状腺肿大患者，食用柿子很有帮助。
据《本草纲目》所载：柿子味甘性寒，能消热去烦、止渴生津、润肺化痰、治疗热咳。中医认为，柿子味甘、涩，性凉。具有清热去燥、润肺化痰、止渴生津、健脾益胃、软坚、治痢、止血等功效。适用于风热咳嗽（不适用风寒咳嗽）、胃热伤阴、喉痛、吐血、甲状腺瘤、甲状腺肿大、大便干结、痔疮疼痛或出血等症。柿子是慢性支气管炎、高血压、动脉硬化、内外痔疮患者的天然保健食品。柿子有很多的药用价值，鲜柿、干柿饼、柿霜、柿蒂、柿叶都是很好的药物。柿饼：味甘，性平。具有润肺化痰、补脾涩肠、止血等功效，适用于燥痰咳嗽、脾虚食减、腹泻、便血、痔疮出血等症。柿霜：柿霜的成分主要是葡萄糖粉末。味甘，性凉。具有清热润肺，生津止渴，宁心泻火，凉血止血，消痔疗漏等功效。适用于肺热燥咳，咽干喉痛，口舌生疮，吐血，咯血等症。柿蒂：味甘，性平。具有降气止呃功效，适用于呃逆不止等症。柿叶：味苦，性凉。柿叶能软化血管、降低血压、防止动脉硬化、增加冠状动脉血流量，对高血压、冠心病、消化系统癌病有一定的效果。适用于各种急慢性炎症和出血等症。对肺结核咯血、胃溃疡吐血、眼底出血、血小板减少性紫癜和肺气胀满、咳嗽痰喘等有较好的疗效。由于嫩柿叶有利尿作用，所以柿叶茶还可以用来解酒。柿叶茶是利用夏季采摘的鲜柿叶经加工制成，与一般茶叶不同，柿叶茶呈弱酸性，而普通的红茶、绿茶和花茶呈弱减性。柿叶茶不含茶碱、咖啡因，晚上饮用不会因喝茶兴奋而导致失眠，反而可安神，是日常茶疗难得的健康饮品，深受国内外消费者的青睐。
吃柿子虽然有很多好处，但是有几点特别需要提醒：
1.空腹不能吃柿子。
因为柿子含有较多的鞣酸（或称单宁酸）及果胶，在空腹情况下它们会在胃酸的作用下形成大小不等的硬块，如果这些硬块不能通过幽门到达小肠，就会滞留在胃中形成胃柿结石，小的胃柿结石最初如杏子核，但是会愈积愈大。胃柿结石会愈结愈牢，不易粉碎，会引起胃粘膜充血、水肿、糜烂、溃疡，严重者可引起胃穿孔。
2.柿子皮不能吃。
柿子中的鞣酸绝大多数集中在皮中，在柿子脱涩时，不可能将其中的鞣酸全部脱尽，如果连皮一起吃更容易形成胃柿结石，尤其是脱涩工艺不完善时，其皮中含的鞣酸更多。
3.不要与含高蛋白的蟹、鱼、虾等食品一起吃。
在中医学中，螃蟹与柿子都属寒性食物，所以不能同食。从现代医学的角度来看，含高蛋白的蟹、鱼、虾在鞣酸的作用下，很易凝固成块，即胃柿结石。要避免发生以下情况：螃蟹＋柿子＝腹泻；白酒＋柿子＝会胸闷；红薯＋柿子＝会得结石。
4.糖尿病人勿食。
柿子中因含有糖类，而且大多是简单的双糖和单糖（蔗糖、果糖、葡萄糖即属此类），因此吃后很易被吸收，使血糖升高。凡体弱多病，脾胃虚寒，风寒咳嗽，妇女产后，女子月经期间，均忌食柿子。
5.适量使用。
柿子中的鞣酸能与食物中的钙、锌、镁、铁等矿物质形成不能被人体吸收的化合物，使这些营养素不能被利用，因此多吃柿子容易导致矿物质缺乏。一般，不在空腹的情况下，每次吃柿子不超过200克为宜。
6.食后漱口。
柿子所含的糖类和果胶，食用后总有一部分留在口腔里，特别是在牙缝中，加上弱酸性的鞣酸，很易对牙齿造成侵蚀，形成龋齿，因此在食用后宜喝几口水或及时漱口
Hair Loss
Hair loss has become a global problem among men and women. About more than 40% of women in U.S. alone suffer from hair loss. There are factors that cause hair loss. One of the most common problem is Alopecia Areata. It is mostly inherited and common in people having autoimmune disease. Some other factors include stress, low iron, and menopause.
People with hair loss will lack confidence while socializing both at work or leisure. Wearing wigs is one of the solution but it can be embarrassing if the wigs fall off. With the advancement in trichology, hair transplant is becoming a more common and effective method in hair restoration.
Hair Transplant Medical is a consumer organization with many experience hair transplant surgeons who have performed many successful transplant. This is the right place to go whether you are looking for a hair transplant surgeon, or information about hair loss and hair transplant.
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