Off Sick

Allow your imagination to run, say, a minithon, then imagine that's me in the above picture. Oh I know it's quite a stretch (it'd better be!!!) since you'd have to picture me with hairy man legs, stocky arms, in the buff from waist-down, and straddling a toilet.

Now that I've managed to conjure that lovely image in your mind-- Hold.It.Right.There. Feel the need to hurl yet? Well, c'mon down and join my barf-fest!

I have been - for the past few days - confined to a corner in my black and white tiled bathroom. Thus explaining my absence in blogging, although I'm quite sure some of you would've enjoyed my blow-by-blow accounts 'on location'. =)

So where was I? Ah yes. That picture depicts my position of late. If I wasn't seated, I'd be grasping the smooth, curvaceous sides of the ceramic bowl in a tight embrace, the words 'Armitage Shanks' staring brazenly at me while I keeled over and hurled out every single meal along with all my innards, and drowning the silence with horrible retching noises that reverberated round the four walls of the WC.

I have been held under house arrest, imprisoned in the toilet, if not shackled to the bed. I am indisposed and green from the ghastly fumes which are emitting through some of my orifices (don't make me name them!) even as I type.

Ahhhhhh... don't you just love vicariously living such adventures through me? *wink*

Something to SMILE about

taken 26 feb 2007

taken 12 Mar 2007

I'm grinning like a Cheshire cat. Dee too, if he could. Soon, soon!

His right face muscles responded a little today - he could blink a little faster & when he smiled, a faint crease appeared on his cheek! I know it won't be long before I see that big toothy grin I love & miss again!

Thank You, Lord!

Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; Save me and I will be saved, For You are my praise. (Jeremiah 17:14)

All and Sundry...

We want to thank you -

for the unbelievable outpour of support, concern, advice, prayers, but most of all - Love.

His grace was revealed through (all of) you.

Love back,

The Chans

In sickness and in health...

I do not want to make a big deal of it. Afterall, we've been praying unceasingly to God for healing. But it's still very disconcerting seeing Dee the way he is...

He's lost the ability to move the muscles on the right side of his face. His happy grin is now lopsided, his pout is a knotted mess, his right eye looks glazed all the time, and even his speech seems just a tad lispy.

And I'm just scratching the surface.

He can't tuck heartily into a burger, has to be careful not to let soup dribble out of his mouth, and his right eye is dry & crimson from the lack of blinking. We tried to put an eye patch on the 'bad' eye today but it ended up making him dizzy.

I worry. And yet I try to rein myself in from thinking abject thoughts. But I feel utterly helpless seeing him like this.

Still, I quietly thank God that Bell's Palsy is a temporary condition. At the very worst, he will take 6 months to recover from this fully. And I'm thankful despite his 'semi-paralyzed' state, his limbs are fully functional.

But even with his mobile limbs, I get a semblance of how it might feel living with a paraplegic.

And it scares me.

Isn't it true how we take the health and well-being of our loved ones for granted? We expect to see them today, tomorrow, the day after, & the day after that. We think of them forever ambulant, robust & in the pink of health.

But in reality, we can be able-bodied today, infirm tomorrow. Life hangs on a thin, fragile thread. And Life is transcient.

We may be architects of our own future, yet we do not hold our future in our hands.

It takes an incident like this to make me wonder how life would be like with a loved one ill. Will my love know no boundaries? In all honesty, I do not know.

Just like I do not know why Dee has been plagued by this sudden disorder. But I'm sure God has His reasons.

We'll just wait for Him to reveal His plans to us...

Half a Smile

WHAT IS BELL'S PALSY?
Bell's palsy is a condition that causes the facial muscles to weaken or become paralyzed. It's caused by trauma to the 7th cranial nerve, and is not permanent.

HOW DO THE SYMPTOMS OF BELL'S PALSY PROGRESS?
Very quickly. Most people either wake up to find they have Bell's palsy, or have symptoms such as a dry eye or tingling around their lips that progress to classic Bell's palsy during that same day. Occasionally symptoms may take a few days to be recognizable as Bell's palsy. The degree of paralysis should peak within several days of onset - never in longer than 2 weeks (3 weeks maximum for Ramsey Hunt syndrome). A warning sign may be neck pain, or pain in or behind the ear prior to palsy, but it is not usually recognized in first-time cases.

WHAT ABOUT RECOVERY FROM BELL'S PALSY?
Approximately 50% of Bell's palsy patients will have essentially complete recoveries in a short time. Another 35% will have good recoveries in less than a year.

Regardless of the trigger, Bell's palsy is best described as an event - trauma to the nerve. As with any other injury, healing follows. The quality and duration of recovery is dependent on the severity of the initial injury. If the nerve has suffered nothing more than a mild trauma, recovery can be very fast, taking several days to several weeks. An "average" recovery is likely to take between a few weeks and a few months. The nerve regenerates at a rate of approximately 1-2 millimeters per day, and can continue to regenerate for 18 months, probably even longer. Improvement of appearance can continue beyond that time frame.

Why am I posting all these up? Yesterday, Dee was diagnosed with B.P after complaining that half his face felt 'paralyzed'.

We thank God it's not a permanent condition. Nonetheless, please pray for his recovery.

I miss his full smile.

Foul, Flu-ey & Frustrated

I've just gotten home from Boots (UK's fav chemist) having grudgingly spent a fortune on More medication for wee Nelle and meself! Bah!

To date, we've gone through 3 bottles of cough medication, 1 flu mixture, boxes of Lemsip (just me); even swallowed spoonfuls of the usually efficacious Chuan Be Pi Pa Gao, but still we're indisposed...

Perhaps Mum's right. Certain illnesses need to 'run their course'. It's the body's way of building up its immune system.

But seeing Danielle have difficulty sleeping at night, have a perpetual runny nose, watery eyes, a HUGE dip in appetite, regurgitate her food coz she doesn't know how to throw out phlegm, and cough so hard, is fretfully unsettling.

Our house is practically a 'viral war zone'. I'm convinced we've been beset by flu germs of every shape and size - where each attack leaves us more 'wounded' than the last.

What remains are tell-tales signs of a battle lost - wastepaper bins overflowing with tissues filled with snot, spit and all sorts of watery goo (sorry for the graphic details!), and a kitchen top lined with half-empty bottles flu/cough 'ammunition'.

So I certainly hope this new batch of medication work!

I'm declaring war on these confounded bugs! WAR, I say!!! *thumping chest in warrior princess-like stance*

Medical Runway

Be chic, not sick with this season's 'Must-Have(s)':

• Vick's VapoRub - layering is back!
• Flu Medicine Chlormine - 'prêt à manger' for the Runway
• Benylin 'Tickly Coughs' - raspy is sooo 'last season'
• Saline Drops (for stuffy noses) - 'accessibility' is seeing a huge revival this autumn
• Omega 3 Fish Oil - this IS the 'little black dress', everyone should own this classic
• Benylin 'Chesty Coughs'- a tricky trend but (sounding) sultry is now kitsch, ok?
• Panadol Syrup - be on the lookout for this season's hot number

The 'lineup' I've accumulated this season is simply unbelievable. Kiddo and I are literally 'under the weather'.

The dreaded domino effect...

Danielle's got the sniffles again. That makes it twice in 3 weeks!

And either she's lost her appetite, or my fish porridge (with extra portions of garlic and sliced ginger to remedy the flu) simply isn't appetising enough,coz she now REFUSES to eat any for dinner! Lunchtimes are ok, only dinner is problematic. Weird!

As a measure of discipline (plus ahem, a rather 'bruised ego'), I'm insisting if she doesn't eat Mummy's porridge, she eats NOTHING. That's right - zilch, nil, nada... This means she goes hungry till I give her her usual bedtime bottle. But I cheat abit and give her an extra portion of milk lah. I'm not THAT cruel! :P

To add to the dribbles, I too, have been hit by the dreaded flu bug. Great, now there are 2 sickly girls lugging their near dead-weight bodies at home...

Ahhhh-tishooooo!

* be it rain or shine, sickness or health, we Chans always have our smiles ready for the camera! This is what I call 'professional', man! Kekeke!