Day +1079 : Chest CT Scan and Influenza Vaccination

I am fine today.

I went to UH to do the CT scan of my lung this morning. This CT scan was scheduled about two months ago. The result of this CT scan is very important for the haematologist to determine whether I have BO/BOOP (Bronchiolitis Obliterans/Bronchiolities Obliterans Organizing Pneumonia), and to decide whether I should start to take Prednisolon(steroid) again.

As the CT scan was done on the chest only, no contrast needs to be administered. It is definitely not a pleasant thing to have contrast administered through the vein and also orally – fixing a Branula and drinking the yellowish solution. I had this experience recorded on my blog Day +111, and that was during my third chemotherapy.

The cost of the CT scan is RM350, but again due to the privilege of being a husband of a wife who is a government staff, I didn’t have to pay a single cent; a “collateral welfare” :-)

After the CT scan, I went to purchase an Influenza vaccine at the pharmacy. A dose of the vaccine cost RM47. But there was a problem - who is going to inject it for me? The pharmacist advised me to go back to the doctor who prescribed the vaccine, but I really didn’t know where to find him.

After asking around for a while, someone instructed me to go the baby clinic to get the vaccination done. I am very familiar with the clinic because all Aaron’s vaccinations were done there.

The parents in the kid’s clinic might be surprised to see such a big baby coming for vaccination. But if we were to think about it carefully, I am not too old after all. My transplant age is slightly less than 3 years old :-)

The composition of virus vaccines used was

1. an A/Brisbane/59/2007 (H1N1)-like virus;
2. an A/Brisbane/10/2007 (H3N2)-like virus;
3. a B/Florida/4/2006-like virus.

But we need to bear in mind, according to Wikipedia, that

the A/Brisbane/59/2007 (H1N1)-like virus used in the vaccine is a seasonal strain of influenza, it cannot create immunity to the new, non-seasonal strain of influenza A virus subtype H1N1 responsible for the 2009 swine flu outbreak.[99]

So I am not protected against Infuenza A(H1N1) with today’s vaccination.

The vaccine with box
The composition is labeled on the side
This is the syringe that carries the vaccine
See you next post :-)

Day +1078 : She didn't even spare the God's money (2)

I am fine today. Continue from yesterday…

We asked her to estimate the amount that she had taken from us, but she said that she couldn’t remember. So estimating the amount that we should deduct from her salary is a tough job. We wanted to be fair to her, and at the same time fair to us too.

We were not too fierce in the interrogation session, and we convinced her that we would like to help her instead of punishing her. We won’t send her to police if she cooperates with us; else she might end up in jail and won’t be able to return to Indonesia next month.

After the session, I did give her some counseling. Whenever I reminded her that a Christian should not steal, she cried very sadly. I believe she was sad that she failed the teaching of the Word of God.

Though she was labeled as a Christian maid, she didn’t practice a Christian living; she didn’t pray and read bible.

Of the four Christian maids that we had so far, we saw a pattern. Behave well were those who read bible and pray regularly.

Our first maid worked for us for a few weeks. She was older – about 30 years old - and had working experience earlier. She was lazy and pretended to be sick all the time. Due to ignorance, I sent her to hospital in Putra Jaya twice, and spent quite a sum of money as she was a foreigner. She wanted to go back to Indonesia, and wanted us to send her directly to airport instead of to the maid agency.

She said that the maid agency would kill her should we sent her there because the people there were very fierce and inhuman. She even packed her luggage and got ready to go back. We pitied her but didn’t listen to her. We sent her to the maid agency and that was when we were told that the maid was lying – acting that she was very sick. We then requested for a replacement, of course with an overhead charges of about RM2000 if I were not mistaken. But we were willing to bear the course as we didn’t trust the maid anymore.

When we examined her luggage at home, it was a shock to us that she took almost anything she could pack in the box; VCDs, clothes, books, and etc. :-(

The second and third maid were satisfactory, and here come the fourth one that gave us problem again.

We pray that the next one will be the one that really practice a Christian living and wouldn’t give us trouble anymore.

See you next post :-)

Day +1077 : She didn't even spare the God's money (1)

After the church service last Sunday, my nephew, Heng Chiek, complained to my brother, Richard, that a pile of RM50 notes amounted to RM500 was missing. He put the money in an envelope and hid it underneath some clothes in a cupboard in the study room.

In fact, the money was belonged to my nephew, Ming Hui, who went for a two weeks holiday not long ago. Before he went for the holiday, he entrusted Heng Chiek to give the money to the church as an offering. So this amount was for God and belonged to God indeed.

The very first thing Heng Chiek did when he found out that the money was missing was to question the maid. The maid admitted that she did “touch” the clothes, but denied of any wrongdoing.

We felt that it was time to confront her, and with the help of Richard, we started to interrogate her in the afternoon. Only Richard and Heng Chiek were involved initially.

I reminded Richard to record down the conversation which can be used as an evidence should she accuses us of inappropriate acts toward her later.

Unlike me, Richard was a lot better in carrying out the investigation. A few minutes later, he came to me and said that the maid admitted she took the money. The maid also told him that the money was already given to another maid who was working for a family staying opposite of my house. She said that the money was used to pay the old handphone that she was carrying.

My wife always complained that the maid spent too much time upstairs and she really didn’t know what she was doing there. And now we know that she was in fact conducting treasure hunt instead of doing houseworks.

As we knew that she was always lying. We “summoned” – of course very politely – the neighboring maid to our house to assist in our investigation. And we were told, in front of my maid, that an amount of RM950 was passed to her(neighboring maid) to purchase a new handphone two days ago. We were also informed that my maid gave her RM600 for the old handphone long time ago, and from time to time, gave her money in the denomination of RM10 to RM50 to purchase phone cards.

She lied again!

It was very fortunate that we confronted her on Sunday, as the witness – the neighboring maid - was going back to Indonesia the next day. If we did it later, we would never know what really had happened.

We asked the maid to give us the handphones, and two of my nephews scanned through the messages in the handphones to rule out clues to potential acts that might threaten our safety. However, not much they found apart from love messages – I love you, you love me :-(

Apart from giving money to the neighboring maid, she admitted that she purchased phone cards from some other maids too. Not only this, she also gave money to other maids in the church :-(

The handphones - "confiscated" temporarily. Will return to her before she returns to Indonesia
To be continued and see you next post :-)

Day +1076 : Dinner at M1 Café

I am fine today.

We had the pleasure to dine with Pastor Andrew’s family at M1 Café this evening. The Café is located very near to my office, and this was the third time I visited this restaurant.

My first visit was on the first day the restaurant opened for business about two months ago. I brought my sisters who visited us from Sarawak for breakfast there at that time. I blogged about it on Day +1010 : Breakfast at M1 Café.

The second visit was a few days ago with one of my colleagues.

The restaurant serves both western and eastern cuisines. Most of us ordered western food this evening. We were very satisfied with the food :-)

Group photo of two families :-)
Some dim sum for Aaron and Adriel
Aaron is enjoying siew mai
Not bad!
Mixed grill - lamb, ribeye, chicken. RM25.90
Mayland Deep Fried Fish Chop - RM16.90
Chess B.Sea M'ter fish - RM17.90
French Grill Ribeye Steak - RM16.90
The address of the restaurant: 10, Bangunan Pro-Ice, Jln Kenari 8, 47100 Puchong. Tel: 03-80709533 Business Hours: 7am-1am.

Day +1075 : She borrows money from us again without our knowledge (2)

I am fine today. Continue from yesterday…

However, we changed our mind when she “borrowed again” a few days ago; from my mother-in-law this time :-(

My mother-in-law complained to me that the money that she kept under her clothes was missing. She suspected the maid was the culprit, and confronted her immediately, warning that she will report this matter to me, the maid agent and the police. Upon this harsh warning, she returned 10 RM50 notes to my mother-in-law immediately. But my mother-in-law insisted that the maid “borrowed” more than this from her as there was a pile of 10 pieces of RM100 notes still missing. The maid denied.

With this incident, we will reconsider our decision of letting her go without deducting her salary. Cutting her salary is easy as we have not paid her anything, but the difficult part is how much to cut. We don’t want to cut more than what she had borrowed; else it wouldn’t be fair to her.

I think the best way to do is to ask her to tell us roughly how much she had borrowed, and deduct this amount from her pay. Hopefully, this works.

See you next post :-)

Day +1074 : She borrows money from us again without our knowledge (1)

I am fine today.

Our maid likes to “borrow” money from us without our knowledge. We believe she has been doing this for a long time but we only realized it a few months ago when my wife “accidentally” spotted her carrying a handphone. I blogged about this on Day +1069 : Booking a maid.

My mother-in-law said that whenever we were not at home, the maid would play with the handphone; taking photos, talking at length to someone over the phone, and reading and sending SMSes. She always asked my mother-in-law to buy telephone card for her, and many times she passed a RM50 note to my mother-in-law.

The handphone alone cost RM600, and together with the amount spent for telephone cards, and other stuffs that she had purchased, the amount that she “borrowed” was well over RM1000.

My wife was angry about this. However, we didn’t confront her at all. As her contract is expiring very soon, we planned to deal with her only when she is about to go back to Indonesia. The most likely thing to do is to deduct certain amount from her salary. In order to reduce her temptation to borrow, we keep our wallet well this time, and we also warned our nieces and nephews about this.

A few days ago, I discussed with my wife the possibility of letting her go without deducting her salary. And finally both of us decided not to deduct a single cent from her salary but we will warn her about her mischief, hoping that she will repent; else she will run into big trouble for repeating this mischievous act in her next job.

To be continued and see you next post :-)

Day +1073 : “Did you learn something?”

I am fine today.

Aaron started to go to kindergarten since last Thursday. He was very excited initially, but now he seemed quite reluctant to go anymore. I believe he is more comfortable of staying with his mother at home than playing with other children in the kindergarten. I hope the situation would change when the school holiday ends next week where my wife has to go back to work; else it would be a big challenge for me to persuade him to go to the kindergarten every morning.

One morning, on the way to the kindergarten, I talked to Aaron about his new experience in the kindergarten.

“Did you learn something in the kindergarten, Aaron?” I asked.

“Yes,” he replied affirmatively.

“What did you learn?” I asked further.

“Don’t know,” he replied; again, affirmatively :-)

He knew that he learned something but didn’t know what he had learned. This led me into thinking the effect of “influence” where one learned something subconsciously. The environment in the kindergarten – the teachers and his friends, is influencing him.

See you next post :-)

Day +1072 : It’s durian season again!

I am fine today.

There is a durian stall I passes by on the way to office every day. It is located at the road side in front of Old Taste Restaurant.

I noticed a surge in the number of durians displayed in the store recently. And at the same time there were many more empty baskets at the side of stall than before. With this, I concluded that durian season is coming and it is time for me to eat durian :-)

After a church meeting this evening, my wife and I invited our pastor, Rev. Lau, and Mrs. Lau, and two church members to enjoy durian at the stall.

The stall was selling D13 and D101 only, and this was the first time I came to know durian type D13. D101 cost RM8 per kg, while the price of D13 varies from RM2 to RM5 per piece, depending on its size.

For me, D101 tastes better than D13. However, I like D24 more than any type else :-) The stall owner told me that D24 will only be available in July; so still have to wait patiently for one month before I got to enjoy it.

Happy durian lovers posing for a photo before the eating session start :-)
D13
RM2 per piece only
D101 - RM8/kg

Either D13 or D101 - I am confused :-(

See you next post :-)

Day +1071 : Are you interested in programming?

I am fine today.

Our company is recruiting people now, and I am involved in the interview for those who apply for the post of software development engineer.

One criteria that I would like to ascertain each time is whether the application is really interested in programming.

“Are you interested in programming?” I asked.

“Yes, I like programming very much,” was the response most of the time.

How can I find out whether the application is telling truth?

“Did you do any programming project out of your own initiative in the past?” is the question that an application has to answer if he/she said he/she is interested in programming.

If the answer is negative, it is most likely the application is not telling the truth. Why?

If someone is really interested in programming, then he/she should be doing programming, even when the project is not required by course requirement; else he/she is not really interested in programming.

If an application said that they did do some programming projects based on his/her own initiative, then he/she had to elaborate the detail of the project.

It is quite difficult to find one that is really interested in programming. So the search is going on…

See you next post :-)

Day +1070 : God bless us a jack fruit

I am fine today.

Our first maid planted a jack fruit tree in front of our house about 5 years ago. The tree bears a lot of fruit but most of them dropped before they grew big.

We noticed one that was growing bigger but still firmly attached to the tree a few months ago. We asked our maid to wrap it with a plastic bag.

A few days ago, we were very excited to smell the fragrance of the fruit, and the maid helped to pluck it without much delay.

As the fruit was ripe on the tree, it tasted very nice – sweet and soft with a great smell :-)

This was the one and only jack fruit we had so far. Hopefully, God will bless us with more jack fruits in the future.

Adriel and Aaron dancing with the fruit :-)
Taste incredibly :-)
This is all what we have
The freshly plucked jack fruit
The tree
See you next post :-)

Day +1069 : Booking a maid

I am fine today.

My current maid’s work permit will be expiring middle of July. We are not going to renew her contract as she really didn’t perform.

She is not only lazy but also likes to steal. We only realized this when we saw her possessing a handphone that worth RM600. When we questioned where she got the hand phone, she told us that she borrowed it from the maid next door. But later we found out from the maid next door that she actually passed her RM600 cash to purchase the handphone. Where did she get the money from? As a maid is not allowed to keep any money, it must be from us. And since we didn’t give her money, then she must have stolen it from us :-(

Apart from the handphone, she also has the luxury to purchase junk foods and beauty products – all at our expenses without our knowledge.

She is very dishonest, and always denied responsibility when she did something wrong. She also uses things belong to others such as facial wash, lotion without permission.

However, we didn’t confront her much, but would not renew her contract anymore.

I booked a maid from Agensi Pekerjaan HAZ Sdn. Bhd. today – the same agency that supplied the current maid to us. The maid is from Nunkurus, no working experience. She is 22 years old with secondary education.

The fee is as follow:

Agency fees: RM2,415
Indonesia processing fee: RM1,600
Christian maid recruitment: RM200
6 months advance salary: RM4,500

This makes the total as high as RM8,715, and I have to pay a deposit of RM2,500 today. The rest will have to be paid once the maid arrives, which is expected two months from now. Though I have to pay RM750 per month for the first 6 months advance salary, the monthly salary after that is fixed at RM550.

May God bless the new maid! And may God bless us!

The maid, 40kg only. What do you think?
See you next post :-)

Day +1068 : Lunch at Fu Gua Thong Restaurant (天天来苦瓜汤)

I am fine today.

After church service today, we had lunch at Fu Gua Thong Restaurant. The restaurant is always packed with people, and many customers have to queue up for their turn to dine during weekends.

The signature dish of this restaurant as its name implied is Fu Gua Thong (苦瓜汤). Just in case you don’t know what is that; Fu Gua Thong simply means bitter gourd soup :-)

Most people especially children normally don’t like bitter gourd as it is bitter, but my eldest son, Daniel, told me that he liked the soup very much; it tasted different from the bitter gourd that we cooked at home.

We don’t know what make the bitter gourd soup so different that even children also like it. My wife said it is probably due the way they cut the bitter gourd; slice it into very thin slices. In order to subtantiate this "hypothesis", we will try to cut the bitter gourd in this way next time and see if it tastes differently :-)

Apart from bitter gourd soup, there is nothing special about this restaurant. Recommended only if you like Fu Gua Thong.

The address of the restaurant is No. 32-G, Jalan Puteri 2/4, Bandar Puteri, 47100 Puchong, Selangor. H/P: 016-7100006.

The restaurant
The menu (Click to have a larger view)
Drinks
Fu Gua Thong with pork, and internal organs - RM20. The soup can be refilled free of charge.
Pork belly with yam - RM18. Considered to be expensive looking at the size of the dish
Signatured fried pork belly - RM8
Sweet potatoes leaves - RM12
See you next post :-)

Day +1067 : A successful blood donation campaign

I am fine today.

The blood donation campaign today is held successfully. This is the third time that our church organized such a campaign.

The first two were held on 15 September, 2007 and 13 September, 2008. I blogged about them in the following blog entries:

Day +802 : The blood donation
Day +439 : A first ever blood donation campaign of the church

More than 50 people came to donate blood, of which 46 of them managed to donate their blood successfully. Our church members constituted about 60% of this group of people.

We advertised the campaign through a few local Chinese newspapers. Unfortunately, one of them put a wrong date of the blood donation campaign; else the turnout will be better.

Our next blood donation campaign will be three months later, that is on 5 September, 2009. This is during the fasting month of Muslim - a time when the blood bank is always short of blood as our Muslim friends won't be able to donate blood due to fasting.

For those who donates blood at least twice in UH in a year, the hospital will be given free Hepatitis B vaccination. Therefore, if you donated blood today, your can register for free Hepatitis B vaccination during the next blood donation :-)

The conditions to be eligible for blood donation (Click to have larger view)
Checking the blood type
Examination before the blood donation
My wife, Angela

My nephews - Soon Hui and Chih Yung
Kuok Chai
Fellowship after blood donation - free Milo and cake
Blood from each donor - for screening purposes. The donors will be informed if their blood is having problem.
Blood is probably packed and stored before transporting to the blood blank
See you next post :-)

Day +1066 : Sarawak Kampua Mee

I am fine today.

A church member, William, called me in the morning informing me that there was a new stall opening for business at Kafe Beryll (阿公茶餐室) that sold Sarawak Kampua Mee (干盘面). Most Sarawakians like Kampua Mee very much but it is not easy to find one that tastes original here. William suggested me to give this new stall a try.

In response to William’s suggestion, my wife and I had Kampua Mee for dinner at the stall today. The stall is owned by a couple from Sibu, Sarawak. They told me that the noodles were air-transported here from Sibu; increasing its cost to RM10 per kg. They are selling a plate of normal sized Kampua Mee at RM4 and the large sized one at RM4.5.

The noodles taste very much the same as the one from Sibu, Sarawak. The Kafe Beryll is located at the shop lots behind the Colombia Hospital – Jalan Puteri 7/11, Bandar Puteri, to be exact.

I recommend this stall to you :-)

Kafe Beryll (阿公茶餐室)
This one should help you get to the restaurant
The stall
Cooking
Ready to serve - the meat was cooked with red wine residuum (红糟)
The soup
Price list - they are also selling Tian Bian Hu(鼎边糊), Chin Ton Mee(清汤面), Laksa(叻沙)
See you next post :-)

Day +1065 : Aaron first day to day care centre

I am fine today.

Aaron is 3 years 2 months old now. He went to the day-care centre and kindergarten with Adriel for the first time today. The centre is belonged to my sister :-)

Normally, Aaron slept until very late every day, but we woke him up at 8:00am today. Fortunately, he didn’t complain anything about this.

My wife chose a smart T-shirt for him but he insisted to wear a singlet and a big red pant :-) We prepared him a small blue back pack with water, milk bottle and snacks in it.

It is a great relief for my wife to have him away, because Aaron always force my wife to take care of him until she almost can do nothing.

We are delighted to know that he enjoyed himself at the day-care very much, and he would like to go again tomorrow :-)

Aaron getting ready for day-care centre
Adriel
Aaron and Adriel
See you next post :-)

Day +1064 : Another lie exposed!

I am fine today.

My niece, Ngu Min Hie, scored 12A1s in her SPM exam last year. She applied for Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA) or Public Service Department (PSD) scholarship to further her study oversea in a dentistry course. She was not selected, and she appealed but to no avail.

There were 2 students obtained 13A1s, and 9 obtained 12A1s in SMK Kuching High – the school that she studied. Based on the cabinet decision, those who scored 13A1s will automatically qualified for the scholarship, and our Prime Minister promised that most of the students who obtained 12A1s will also get the scholarship.

But there were 5, including my niece, among the 9 12A1s students, did not get the scholarship even after appeal. So the promise that most of the 12A1s student will get the scholarship is a lie.

Now come to the selection criteria for the scholarship; merit (20%), race (60%), Sabah & Sarawak (10%) and those from underprivileged group (10%).

From the published criteria above, we came to know that 20% of the scholarship will be given based on merit basis. JPA is offering 2000 places overseas scholarships this year, and this means that 400 places will be awarded to the top scorers.

According to my eldest sister, mother of Min Hie, there were 280 students scoring 12A1s and above; 230 students obtained 12A1s and 50 students obtained something better than 12A1s.

Since there were 400 places given based on merit basis, these 280 students who obtained 12A1s and above should automatically be given the scholarship, but surprisingly, this was not the case. There were 5 12A1s in SMK Kuching High along did not get the scholarship. Another conspiracy in action!

The statistics revealed that the government was telling lies again. It is a pity that we have a government who always making fool of its own people. Is this kind of government deserve our support? Don’t blame us come the next election!

See you next post :-) 

Day +1063 : Apex University, Apex Blunder; World-class University, World-class Blooper

I am fine today.

I am referring to the case where our apex university, Universiti Sains Malaysia, made an unprecedented blunder in releasing 8,173 “successful” applicants where in fact only 3,599 in the list were eligible for a place in the university.

So there were 4,574 students experienced a joy that diminished into nothing in less than a day, and that which reversed into miseries that might haunt them for months, and perhaps many years to come.

My nephew, Ngu Min Huang, who scored 3A and 1A- in this STPM exam and applied for a dentistry course in USM, was also one of the “victims” in this blunder. I wrote about him on Day +982 : Congratulation!

He was having holiday with his family in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah when he found out from the website that his application into dentistry course was successful. That was 9:00pm, Saturday night. However, he was very disappointed to find out that his name disappeared from the website the next day evening. What a joke!

It was reported that out of the 4,574 students, 90% of them are Chinese. This certainly makes the issue very “colourful”. Was there any conspiracy in the intake process where some races were treated as second class citizen? If not, why Chinese constituted 90% of those who are accidentally accepted earlier?

For the university to prove its innocence, it has to prove that the Chinese constitutes 90% of the total successful intake, and I am very certain that this is not the case. So the conspiracy theory holds, strongly.

This is a conspiracy exposed, and this leads us to question how many unexposed conspiracies are there, hidden in the “black box” administrative system, that decay the basic rights of the second class citizen in this country – a country that holds the 1Malaysia concept.

Higher Education Department director-general Datuk Prof Radin Umar Radin Sohadi said students who could not get a place at USM would be placed into the University Admission Unit’s (UPU) main pool for selection into other public universities.

After such a blunder, no one would ever sure that if their name would even reach the UPU!

"Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Suka Menipu (cheating university)," my nephew said.

A shining rising star was descended into chaos with this incident, and its brightness will no longer be seen until full transparency in the new intake is done and is seen to be done in the future.

See you next post :

Day +1062 : Praying for Jonathan Ting

I am fine today.

I received a mail from Jonathan’s mother last Saturday. Jonathan was diagnosed with CML mid-April this year. He is currently taking an oral drug called Glivec which is normally used to treat CML. The family decided for him to go for a bone marrow transplant to increase the chance of a cure.

His father maintained a blog about his journey with CML at http://william-jon.blogspot.com/.

The mail from his mother, Teresa Ting - we are all Tings :-), publised with her permission :

Dear David,

I am now going through your blog on your journey with AML and BMT.

It is really great and good of you to share the information of BMT. I have been trying to get more information of BMT in this part of the world, first hand information from patients of UH or Subang Jaya. Thanks for the information.

At least, I am aware or know before hand what to expect for GVHD etc. etc. I have read some of the journals of the CML patients in UK.

My son, Jonathan Ting, an 18 year foundation student was just diagnosed with CML in mid- April, 2009 and we are seeing Dr. Lau of Normah as a follow-up for his blood tests and consultancy. He is now treated with the drug, Imatinib.

We have also seen Dr. Ng of Subang Jaya and shall visit him at 3 months milestone to do the bone marrow aspiration and tests.

Right now, according to Dr. Ng, we are hoping to get him into molecular and cytogenetic remission in 6 months time? and then go for a mini BMT. However, we have yet to find out which one of the 5 siblings will have a HLA match with him.

We are praying hard, relying on God'd Plan to show us the way forward, which one of the sibling, timing - hopefully end of the year after 6 months when he also finishes his foundation studies, the remission, the BMT journey ahead.

From the information on website on CML and even before seeing Dr. Ng, we have already decided for him to go for BMT. He is still so young, have a long way ahead and the drug is only prolonging/dragging on the time. We want him to take the chance of BMT and then deal/manage with GVHD. …

My husband, William Ting has a blog http://www.williamtingcl.blogspot.com and he has set up a separate blog for my son to record his journey, http://william-jon.blogspot.com

Like you, we are very open and we would like to share the information/details of his sickness, how he is faring etc and hopefully, it can be useful to other CML sufferers.

William and myself are Foochows and are from Sarikei, another Ting and Ting (my surname is also Ting).

Heads Up to your blog and keep on blogging.

Regards,
Teresa Ting N.H.

And my reply:

Dear Teresa,

I am sorry to know that Johathan was diagnosed with CML, but on the other hand, I am glad that this blog furnishes some information that you need.

I started this blog a few days after I started my BMT procedure, and as such, captured most of the transplant experience real-life. Though not as detail as the BMT, I did recall my chemotherapy treatment prior to BMT on this blog,

I was 39 years old when I was diagnosed with AML-M4, with three young children and a 5-months pregnant wife. And with about 7 months of chemotherapy treatment later, I went for a full BMT, using my elder sister's haematopoietic stem cells. I stayed in the hospital for more than 150 days throughout the duration of this aggressive treatment. Today is my Day +1061 post BMT. All I can say is God lead me through the Valley Of The Shadow Of Death, and now, I live by the abundant grace of God every moment of my life.

Our God will lead Jonathan through all turmoil of his life as promised in Psalms 23, which I memorized, and recited frequently. God gave me strength and peace, comforting me no matter what situation I was in. I encourage Jonathan to memorize this chapter of "powerful" Psalm as well :-) Another chapter of great help is Psalm 121.

Dr. Lau did the first round of chemotherapy for me in NMSC, and he is the best haemotologist that I have ever met. He is not only smart, keeps himself up to date to the latest advancement of treatment, but also willing to kindly answer whatever doubts we have - a crucial character which most doctors lack of. He was even able to explain the disease and treatment in Foo-chow :-) So having treatment under him is a sure blessing from God! The knowledge that I gained from him through my 20 over days stay in NMSC helped me a lot in the treatment later.

Just put our trust in God whatever decision you all make. He is our Hope. I recalled a 80-year-old uncle who came to pray for me regularly when I was in Kuching. He always prayed, "Through good doctors and medicine coupled with God’s grace, I thank God that you are healed” :-) Both his wife and he were diagnosed with colon and prostate cancer respectively, but survived the treatment and lived pass the 5 years term which normally a standard that doctor proclaims a cure :-) I blogged about him on David's Bone Marrow Transplant - Jesus Heals.

…

I attended and served in Mei Ann Methodist Church while I was in Miri, and I remembered at that time, the Grace Church was using Mei Ann Methodist Church's facilities. As such, we were under one roof at different session but perhaps, never met. I am now attending and serving in Puchong Christian Alliance Church, and I helped maintaining a church website at http://www.mypcac.org.

I am from Bintangor and my wife is from Sarikei.

I am glad to read that Jonathan's blood count has restored to normal level, and I wish, with the drug Glivec, that he will attain a complete remission for a BMT to take place. Just let me know when you are visiting Dr. Ng next time, perhaps we can meet. I am staying in Puchong, a place not too far away from SJMC

Keeping Jonathan's treatment experience open will definitely help others who are diagnosed with blood disease. I received many emails that informed me that they are encouraged or benefited from this blog.

Please keep in touch and let me know the progress, I will keep Jonathan in my prayer.

Best Regards,

David

See you next post :-)