Day +941 : Some more cookies :-)

I am fine today.

My wife made three types of cookies today; Momo biscuit, almond cookies and chewy chocolate chunky cookies :-) All of them taste very good.

We rarely made cookies before, and we successfully made 5 types of cookies this year. I told my wife this is a great breakthrough :-)

My sister invited my family, Richard’s family and some of her church members to have dinner at her house in the evening. 

Momo biscuit
Almond cookies
Chewy chocolate chunky cookies

See you next post :-)

Day +940 : A small scale potluck dinner

I am fine today.

I attended a New Year potluck dinner at one of the church member’s house in the evening. As many other church members were having other commitment, not many of them were able to attend the dinner.

My wife, mother-in-law, Aaron and Adriel attended the dinner with me.  We had some simple foods and had a good chat after the dinner:-)

The foods
Mixed vegetables
Curry chicken
Roasted chicken
Sushi - made by my nieces and nephew
Lemon chicken - our contribution
Water melon
Ready to eat

See you next post :-)

Day +939 : An offer turned down

I am fine today.

I went back to haematology ward in UH yesterday to visit the lady whose siblings were reluctant to donate their stem cells to her. I would like her to give me a chance to explain to her siblings on how stem cells donation is being done, hoping that they will change their mind to support her.

In order to make sure that the patient was still there, I called haematology ward. I only managed to remember the name of another patient who stayed in the same room with the lady.

“Is the lady who stayed with xxx still there?” I asked.

“Sebut betul-betul namanya?”  the nurse requested me to give proper name of the patient.  Of course I couldn’t. If I remembered the name, I would tell the nurse in the beginning.

“Is he xxx?” the nurse asked. Yes, that was the one that I was looking for.

When I reached the ward, the patient was just about to discharge. I asked her whether she could make arrangement for me to meet with her siblings so that I could explain to them the procedure of stem cells donation. The response was very negative.

“We already beg each one of them for the past one year, some of them don’t even want to pick up call from us now,” the husband said.

I told them as long as they are willing to make arrangement, I am willing to travel to Tapah and Ipoh to meet the patient’s siblings.

 “You can get their telephone numbers from Kebajikan (Welfare Department),” the patient said.

 In order to convince them I am capable of doing the job well, I told them that I had been a lecturer for a few years. The response was till negative.

I believe they already gave up their hope on having stem cells donation from the patient’s siblings. Once one giving up hope (死心), nothing much I could do.

However, I left my telephone number to them and told them I am always ready to help should they change their mind later.

See you next post :-)

Day +938 : Visiting Putrajaya

I am fine today.

We went to Putrajaya this morning, visiting two places: Putrajaya Clubhouse or Kelab Tasik Putrajaya and Putra Mosque.

Thought I went to Putrajaya a couple of times earlier, submitting appeal documents for my nieces to Education Ministry and also attending wedding ceremony of my church members, this is the first time I brought my family to Putrajaya post bone marrow transplant.

We went there a little bit too late in the morning. The sunlight at the Putra Square was so bright that we could hardly open our eyes.

The Putrajaya Clubhouse
The mosque 
Another view from the clubhouse
The bridge
A nice lake front
The children insisted of playing outside despite heavy sunlight
Finding something interesting in the water...
My nephew said I must post this one - he took the photo for me 
My wife
A photo with my wife
A family photo
Group photo
Putra Mosque 
A fountain in front of the mosque
Prime Minister Complex
A family photo in front of the mosque, under the shelter of some structure, else there is no way for us to open our eyes due to bright sunlight.
Daniel's artistic shot - giving illusion that he is holding the light post. What do you think?
Now food again.

Steamed belly slices with yam - a dish brought to us by a church member who visited us yesterday. She knew that I like to eat, so she brought this dish to me :-)
We had steamboat for dinner :-)
Enjoying the dinner
See you next post :-)

Day +937 : Second day of Chinese New Year

I am fine today.

We didn’t go anywhere today. Some church members came to visit us in the afternoon.

My brother, Richard, invited us for a steamboat dinner at his house.

The roasted pork that I marinated during New Year Eve and roasted last night.
With sauce
After slicing - Aaron likes it very much. "So nice, Baba," he told  me after eating a slice. 
A delicious soup prepared by my wife for lunch
Steamboat 
Two pots
While waiting for dinner...
Eating time
See you next post :-)

Day +936 : Wish you Happy Chinese New Year!

I am fine today.

First of all, I would like to wish all those who celebrate Chinese New Year a very happy Chinese New Year!


Just like the past two years, I went to the haematology ward in UH first thing in the morning to visit patients. My nephew, Zhi Yong , and niece, Nga Ming, followed me to the ward.

We managed to see all patients in three hours, talking and praying for them.

“I am David, a Leukaemia patient treated here two years ago,” is my self -introduction to the patient or their family members. 

After that I gave them one Mandarin orange and talked to them. I shared with some of them my treatment experience including bone marrow transplant. 

I prayed for an auntie who was doing her first chemotherapy. She said she was so touched to have me visited her and prayed for her.

“Very touching, very touching,” she said after the prayer.

I met another patient in hers 40s. She was diagnosed with Leukaemia one year ago and completed the treatment, but unfortunately she experienced a relapse three months later. She said she spent her Chinese New Year in hospital last year and experienced the same this year.

This patient has 11 siblings but only one was willing to come for HLA matching test. The rest of them don’t want to do the test because they are afraid of losing bone marrow after the donation. The situation didn’t change despite doctor’s explanation and persuasion. The doctor is searching for non-sibling donor for her now.

“You must be a Christian,” a lady whose husband is undergoing bone marrow transplant greeted me. She said no one except a Christian will go to hospital to visit patients on the first day of Chinese New Year:-)

I brought my family to Sunway Pyramid for a walk in the afternoon. We took some photos there.

My four children - Aaron, Adriel, Joseph and Daniel
Adriel and Aaron
A family photo
Joseph
My wife, Angela, and my niece, Nga Ming
Another family photo inside Sunway Pyramid
The scenery with Chinese New Year theme 
Adriel and Nga Ming
See you next post :-)

Day +935 : Chinese New Year Eve

I am fine today.

Today is Chinese New Year Eve, we are busy cooking again. 

After coming back from church at about 12:00pm, we started to prepare dishes for tonight's new year dinner.

We had a combined dinner with my sister family again this year. My wife and I prepared 4 dishes for the dinner - sea cucumber soup, seafood beancurd, fried Mee Hoon and fried prawn.

Three years ago, I spent my Chinese New Year in the hospital. I was doing my second round of chemotherapy at that time. I am very happy and feel so blessed  to be able to celeberate Chinese New Year with my family. 

Busy preparing seafood beancurd
Nicely mixed ingredient, ready to be steamed
Homemade Cha Xiu sauce - to marinate the pork for one night before roasting. This is the first time ever we try to roast pork (叉烧肉). To roast tomorrow :-)
Marinated pork. To keep in the refrigerator for one night
Fried Mee Hoon
The ready-to-serve special seafood bean curd
Fried prawn. These prawns were brought back by Richard from Tawau, Sabah during his last business trip. 
Sea cucumber soup
The following dishes were prepared by my sister.

Chicken soup

Steamed fish
Herbal chicken
Roasted chicken
Fried meat
Bean curd and fish cake roll
Assorted fish balls and fish cakes
Mixed vegetables
Spring toss
Longan
Before the dinner
Singing "I've got peace like a River" before the dinner
Singing
It's time to eat
Getting the foods
My wife and Aaron
Hannah (my sister's youngest daughter) and Adriel
Joseph
Daniel
My mother-in-law
Timothy(my sister's eldest son) and Elisha (my sister's second daughter)
Evian(Nga Ming's friend), Hui Na (my third sister's daughter), Nga Ming (my second sister's daughter)
Nga Ming
Zhi Yong (my third sister's son)
Group photo 
Naughty Aaron disturbing Adriel, making her breathless
Not forgetting my sister's family poweful dog, Esther.  I say her "powerful" because her eyes are "shining" :-)
See you next post :-)