Day +716 : Daniel is not feeling well – birthday postponed :-(

I am fine today.

Daniel complained he is not feeling well this afternoon. When he learned that both Aaron and Joseph were not feeling well last night, he became very cautious.

“I better sleep in another room; I don’t want to be sick on my birthday.” Then he slept alone in the study room, but he still get hit.

We are supposed to celebrate his 11 year old birthday this evening, but now the celebration has to be postponed.

It all started with me, then Aaron and Joseph, and now Daniel. I hope the relay race will end with Daniel.

See you next post :-)

Day +715 : Disease season again – must be careful this time

I am fine today.

My wife told me this afternoon that Aaron is having mild fever. He is having flue and coughing for the past few days.

Apart from Aaron, Joseph was down with headache this afternoon. His teacher called me this afternoon telling me Joseph complained of headache and was crying in the school. My wife went to fetch him home immediately.

I started to be a little bit nervous about this situation :-( In order to avoid of being admitted to the hospital again, I shall be very careful this time.

I also hope that the children will recover very soon.

See you next post :-)

Day +714 : Congratulation Hui Na!

I am fine today.

I am very glad to learn from my third sister – my stem cells donor - that her daughter Hui Na managed to secure a place in Universiti Putra Malaya (UPM) doing Bacelor Pendidikan (Sains Rumahtangga) or Bachelor of Education (Home Science).

The course is what she dreamed for. Last year, she applied for KPLSPM (Kursus Perguruan Lepasan SPM) but was not successful. My eldest sister and I appealed for her frenzily without any favourable outcome.

I blogged about the incident here:

Day +398 : How naive we were! Precious lesson learned. (1)
Day +399 : How naive we were! Precious lesson learned. (2)

She applied for the Education course this time using her STPM result and “kena (hit)” the first choice :-) Of course, my sister and she are overjoyed with the result :-)

She will be coming here on 28 June and registering for her study on the Sunday, 29 June.

May God bless her study!

See you next post :-)

Day +713 : Genting Highland + Durian = infection?

I am fine today.

When I was first admitted to the hematology ward on the Sunday night, the first question the nurse asked is “Where have you been?”

“Genting Highland,” I told them.

So they have the impression that I might get infected while having holiday in Genting Highland. But one thing I didn’t tell them was that I completed the trip exactly one week ago before I developed fever. Due to the long gap between the visit and the time I was having fever, it is very unlikely that the infection was caused by the trip.

However, one thing I must admit is that the day before I was having fever, I did eat durian with a visitor from Hong Kong :-)

Then the question is if durian caused the infection? The only way to verify this is to eat durian again and see how it goes :-) What do you think?

“Even if you don’t go to Genting Highland, you might also catch fever,” that is what my doctor said. I think his comment is very true as many staffs in the office also down with some kinds of sickness around the time I was admitted to the hospital.

The only difference is that my immune system is compromised with drugs - Ciclosporin and Prednisolon (steroid) to combat GVHD. Thus, the only way to treat the infection is to use iv antibiotics and this has to been done in the ward :-(

See you next post.

Day +712 : Home, so good!

My Blood Count Today: - Readings in square bracket [] are result from previous test.
Red Blood Count (HB) = 144[123] (Normal 130-180)
Platelet = 230[131] (Normal 150-450)
White Blood Count (WBC) = 11.1[4.5] (Normal 4 - 11)
Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC) = 1.98[10.20] (Normal 1.5 - 8.0)
ALT = 59[71] (Normal 30 – 65)
AST = 21[57] (Normal 15-37)
ALP = 126[134]

I am fine today.

All HB, platelet and white blood count readings increase sharply today. It seems like either the infection or medication causes the blood count unstable. Generally, they are all within the normal range.

Another x-ray was taken this morning and again it showed that my lungs are clear. In addition to this, the blood culture taken on last Sunday night is still culture-negative.

I have completed the iv antibiotics Tazocin and Azithromycin, so the doctor discharged me today.

Doctor would like to maintain a daily dosage of Prednisolon to 30mg (6 tablets) first. The dosage will be reduced gradually starting from next follow-up which is scheduled on next Monday. Apart from this, the Penicillin which I used to take daily is also replaced with Augmentin.

Just a small infection keeping me staying in hospital for 9 days eight nights. It is no fun to have infection.

However, now the stay is over and I really feel so good to be at home.

I thank God for protecting me and all of you who visit and pray for me.

May God bless you!

See you next post :-)

Day +711 : Try to be smart

I am fine today.

I feel very well today.

The Braunüle on my right hand started to cause pain yesterday morning. The pain intensified until the nurse had to pull it off in the noon time. The hand was a little bit swollen and it was just like getting stung by bee :-(

The Braunüle was fixed on Sunday night and according to doctor, they would normally keep it for 3 to 4 days only. The one that I had was already in service for more than 5 days and it was in fact about time to replace it, but I thought I could keep it a little bit longer – perhaps until the discharge, so that I don’t have to bear the pain to fix another one.

This attempt proved to be wrong. It ended up that the pain caused by the “over-stay” Braunüle was a lot greater than the pain in fixing a new one :-( The loss outweighs the gain (得不偿失).

Dare not to be smart anymore next time.

The new Braunüle.

See you next post :-)

Day +710 : I can hear it

I am fine today.

I am feeling exactly like a normal person now. There is still occasional coughing, but that is not too disturbing.

When doctor came to see me this morning, I told him I still have wheezing sound from my right chest.

“I am going to listen for you,” the doctor said.

“No, I can hear the sound myself,” I answered.

They all didn’t believe that I can hear the wheezing sound myself, and thought that I was playing joke with them :-(

“Indeed, it is very clear,” doctor commented after examining me.

This proved that what I heard is correct :-)

I am moved from one end of the ward to the other end, and still staying in a twin-share room as before; this time I am staying with a school boy. Previously, I was staying with an auntie. The nurse arranged for me to exchange bed with another female patient, so that we would have patients of the same sex sharing the room.

After the move, I totally can’t get any wireless internet access signal :-( I have to roam around the ward with my notebook computer to find internet connection.

I played a old Chinese song for a senior auntie in the ward. Her relative heard me playing classical guitar and came to request the song which the auntie likes very much. It took me a little bit practice to get the song done; quite a challenging task to me as I don’t normally play old Chinese song :-) Fortunately, my wife is here to help :-)

I am very glad that the auntie likes the song :-)

See you next post :-)

Day +709 : No, no home yet!

My Blood Count Today: - Readings in square bracket [] are result from previous test.
Red Blood Count (HB) = 12.3[12.1] (Normal 130-180)
Platelet = 131[108] (Normal 150-450)
White Blood Count (WBC) = 4.5[4.5] (Normal 4 - 11)
Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC) = 1.98[2.115] (Normal 1.5 - 8.0)
ALT = 71[65] (Normal 30 – 65)
AST = 57[52] (Normal 15-37)
ALP = 134[173] (Normal 15-85)

I am fine today.

The blood test result is quite consistent with those readings found on Wednesday test result. This confirms that all my blood count readings indeed drop drastically and there was no mistake in handling my blood sample. However, one significant improvement observed today is that the platelet count rebounded from 108 to 131.

I am very well now - feeling like a normal healthy person. Cough is further reduced though there is still some wheezing sound from the chest. Since I can eat and drink as normal, doctor stopped the iv drip. This makes me a free man as my hand is no longer hooked to the normal saline pack. However, I still need to receive iv antiobiotics 5 times a day.

Doctor insisted that I should complete 7 days course of Azithromycin. So the earliest date that I can be discharged is next Monday.

Never mind, I have computer and classical guitar with me :-)

See you next post :-)

Day +708 : Recovering well, early discharge possible

My Blood Count Yesterday: - Readings in square bracket [] are result from previous test.
Red Blood Count (HB) = 121[147] (Normal 130-180)
Platelet = 108[125] (Normal 150-450)
White Blood Count (WBC) = 4.5[7.9] (Normal 4 - 11)
ALT = 65[79] (Normal 30 – 65)
AST = 52[70] (Normal 15-37)
ALP = 173[230]

I am fine today.

Yeah! I still have internet in the new ward!

I was very surprised to see yesterday blood count readings drop so sharply. The blood profile didn’t even look like mine. Doctor said certain kind of infections might suppress the bone marrow in producing blood, but if this is the case, why the non blood count related readings such as ALT, AST and ALP also drop together. It is just like the blood is being diluted. Never mind, just see the result on the next blood test on Friday.

I am feeling even better today. No more fever even without Panadol.

I am no longer given nebulization since we shifted to the new ward yesterday. Still cough quite frequently and the wheezing sound from the left chest still can be heard.

Doctor said that my situation is improving, if my condition is stable – no fever and no wheezing sound, I might be able to go home early :-)

How about the new ward? Very new and nice! The room is more like those that you can get from the private hospital now, but there are still a little bit problems here and there.

The air-conditioner in the room is extremely cold; definitely colder than the temperature on Genting Highland Resort. I have to wear a jacket, socks and use three blankets and a double-folded comforter to be able to sleep :-(

See you next post :-)

Day +707 : The stay is extended

I am fine today.

I am feeling a lot better today – without fever, less cough and could sleep quite well last night.

Doctor came to draw blood early in the morning to allow for the shifting to 9th floor. I will post the result tomorrow as the patient normally gets to see the result file in the afternoon.

I am very likely to have pneumonia and the iv antibiotic, Azithromycin for treating it, will have to be administered in 3 days; one dose per day. But I am special – because my immune system is suppressed with Ciclosporin and Prednisolon, so the antibiotic has to be administered in 7 days. The first dose started yesterday, so the last dose would be on Monday. With this, the earliest date I can be discharged is on next Monday :-(

However, I am not too sad about this extension. You see, I have been staying in the hospital for so long already, it really doesn’t make much different to stay just a few more days :-)

Again, whatever outcome, just trust our Lord Jesus. He is good :-)

I post early today as I don’t know if I still can get internet connection in the new ward. I hope I get can the connection so that I can continue to blog about my progress.

See you next post :-)

Day +706 : Intense cough and fever

I am fine today.

I experienced intense cough and fever last night and thus I was unable to sleep well. I could hear wheezing sound from my left chest, and I felt some irritation on my left lung and thus triggered the coughing :-)

Doctor said that it is clearer that the problem is attributed to the lung – either infection or GVHD.

Added another iv antibiotic Azilhromycin which is specialized in treating lung infection and increased Prednisolon (steroid) dosage to 30mg (6 tablets) per day.

Apart from this, doctor also put me on nebulizer (spraying gas from nebulizer solution) 4 times a day to clear the phlegm in my lung. But having the nebulization is no fun. It increases my heart beat drastically. As this is the first time ever in my life that I am having this, I thought there is something wrong with my heart. With this kind of allegretto heartbeat, I don’t think I manage to rest. Even holding a cup has to be extra careful because the hand is so shaky. Fortunately, the heart beat return to normal quite fast. The elevated heart beat might be one of the reasons that a child cry when we put them on the nebulizer.

I took x-ray again this morning and fortunately the lung is clear :-)

After taking Panadol, the fever subsided, but I am still feeling so tired and thus sleep for the whole day.

Last thing to mention, we are all shifting to 9th floor tomorrow – a newly renovated ward – to allow current hematology ward be renovated.

See you next post :-)

Day +705 : Feeling very well

Red Blood Count (HB) = 147 (Normal 130-180)
Platelet = 125 (Normal 150-450)
White Blood Count (WBC) = 7.9 (Normal 4 - 11)
ALT = 79 (Normal 30 – 65)
AST = 70 (Normal 15-37)

I am fine today.

I feel very well today, the best since Friday.

The white blood count dropped from 11 to 7.9, which is a good drop. But there is a little bit of worry why platelet dropped again, from 135 to 125. Anyway, we see how the Wednesday blood count will be.

Doctor said if the blood culture show negative result and the fever subsided. The iv Tazocin can be stopped after three days. That means I could go home earliest Wednesday or Thursday :-)

See you next post :-)

Day +704 : Admitted

I am fine today.

I consulted Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) nurse about my condition in the morning. The nurse strongly advised me to go to trauma (emergency) unit as soon as possible. If today is not the weekend, I could go straight to the hematology ward as there will be hematologist on duty.

I reached UH at about 12:30pm, got to see the doctor at 1:00pm. Full blood count and chest x-ray were done.

At about 4:00pm, the doctor admitted me to the observation ward in the trauma unit, fixing a branula for intravenous (iv) drip.

At about 8:00pm, Dr. Harris, the hematologist on standby today came to assess my condition. He admitted me to the hematology ward.

I felt very unwell as I had fever (39.4˚C) and I was not allowed to take Panadol before seeing the hematologist. After seeing Dr. Harris, I was given Panadol. The fever subsided and I felt a lot better :-)

The chest x-ray was clear, the platelet count is 135 (normal 150 - 450) and the white blood count is 11 (normal 4 -11). According to doctor, some viral infection might bring down the platelet count.

Started iv antibiotic Tazacin and increase the Prednisolon (steroid) dosage from 5mg (1 tablet) alternate day to 10mg (2tablet) per day.

See you next post :-)

Day +703 : Fever persisted

I am fine today.

Like yesterday, I am on the bed for the whole day. Can't eat much apart from taking some oat meal.

Taking Panadol brougth down the fever but after six to eight hours, the fever came again.

My sisters advised me to contact UH but I would like to wait for a little while. I am also start losing confidence that the fever will subside by itself like last time.

See you next post :-)

Day +702 : I am back!

I am fine today.

[This post came from the future – 3 days later]

I was writing an article this morning before going to work. It is our church bulletin cover article. The editor limited the article to 700 words.

When I completed 519 words exactly, I felt very uncomfortable and had to go to bed.

I was having fever; second fever after bone marrow transplant in about two years time. The first one was on Day +533 while I was having holiday with my family in Sarawak. This fever subsided without any treatment.

I thought this time the fever will go away by itself like the first one but the fever was so persistent that I had to be on bed for the whole day.

Without appetite and can’t do anything.

See you next post :-)

Day +701 : What a government!

I am fine today.

Today, we are presented with a “beautiful” petrol price hike – from RM1.92/litre to RM2.70/litre; a 40.625% increase over the old price :-(

All this while, the petrol price is subsidised by the government. Now the government decided to reduce the subsidies which result in the scaring (触目惊心) price hike.

I have no objection with the reduction of the subsidies but I really cannot tolerate a government who tell lies.

The cabinet minister Shahrir Abdul Samad said that there wouldn’t be new petrol price structure today, but drastic price hike prove that he was lying.

See the yesterday's Sin Chew Daily news about the petrol price below:

How can we entrust our nation to a government who is a liar? Who could put hope on an unworthy government without any credibility at all?

I think this government needs aggressive treatment; perhaps a few round of chemotherapies and some kind of transplant:-)

See you next post :-)

Day +700 : “Because I am beautiful mah!”

I am fine today.

My nieces always brought along Adriel to visit friends and to do shopping during the last Chinese New Year.

Daniel was not happy about this.

“Why you always bring Adriel out?” he questioned my nieces.

“Because I am beautiful mah!” Adriel responsed instantly before my nieces got a chance to speak :-)

I have three boys and one girl, and I noticed that the girl is so different than boys. Adriel is so particular about what she wears. She always insists of wearing certain clothes that she thinks is beautiful.

Apart from this, she also like people calling her “princess”, and may be because princess always wears pink dresses, so she likes pink colour very much.

I can see from her that girls like to be beautiful more than anything else :-) So if you like to make a girl happy, just say "you are beautiful!" :-)

See you next post :-)

Day +699 : So breathless to swim now – 上气不接下气 :-(

I am fine today.

I swim for the first time in a swimming pool after bone marrow transplant when we had holiday in Awana Genting last week, but one thing I must admit is that I am no longer as strong as before.

Before I was diagnosed with Leukaemia, I could dive from one end of the swimming pool to the other end in one shot, and I managed to do this for a few times. But now I feel so breathless just to swim, not dive, from one end of the swimming pool to the other end; almost 断气 (die of breathlessness) halfway :-(

This is another effect of the Leukaemia treatment. However, this is just a small matter; I can do almost anything that I can do before the Leukaemia treatment :-)

See you next post :-)

Day +698 : Noodle Village

I am fine today.

I had dinner at Noodle Village (麦香村) last night with some church members. The restaurant is situated at No. 8G, Jalan Puteri 1/1, Bandar Puteri, beside the Giant Hypermarket.

It is a medium range restaurant with a good variety of selections.

We ordered 5 types of noodles yesterday and among the dishes, the Loh Pan Mee (卤板面) is the best :-) The price of the noodles here ranges from something between RM6.80 to RM8.80.

Since I didn’t bring along my camera, I had to use my PDA phone to take photo, therefore the quality of the photos are not very good.

The logo printed on the tissue
The signature dish - Loh Pan Mee (卤板面). Add in some black vinegar will make it extra delicious :-)
Mushroom pork noodle
Dry noodle
Fried pork noodle
Spare rib noodle
As my wife was not going for dinner with me last night, I will bring her to the restaurant some time this week, and I highly recommend this restaurant to you :-)

See you next post :-)

Day +697 : Holiday at Awana Genting - Photos (3)

I am fine today. Continue posting holiday photos...

A dinner at Gohtong Jaya. I was quite reluctant to have meal at Gohtong Jaya as I have the impression that the restaurant there like to cheat tourists on the food price. But my brother Richard told me that the food there is cheap - even cheaper than what we could get at Puchong. This is because there are so many restaurants at Gohtong Jaya, so the price has to be competitive.

But I was still very cautious while I was ordering food. I almost asked for the price for each dish that I ordered. Due to somone's bad experience as I blogged on Day +657 : Ask for the price before ordering, the first thing I planned to say to the captain was, "No sultan fish, please." But when I looked at the price list on the white board, the sultan fish was without a price tag and I guessed the restaurant didn't even have stock.

We ordered 5 dishes : sweet sour fish (ikan haruan), fried eggs, seafood bean curd, kangkong and stewed mushroom chicken and the bill came about RM100 only. 8 of us couldn't even finish all the food.

The price list of fishes. The most expensive fish was Hong Ji Luo (红吉罗) which cost RM260 per kg.
While we were having dinner, somone pursuaded us to purchase 500g of roasted chestnut with a price of RM10. This was the first time ever I purchased roasted chestnut :-)
Now some flowers for you :-)







I have with me 5 two-way Genting Skyway tickets expiring on the 10 June 2008. If it just happens that you need the ticket, please get them from me; of course free of charge :-)

I thank God for this great holiday:-)

See you next post :-)