Along Hospital Corridors
Lovely Freezing Wednesday
******
Living in an all year round summer country, snow is
… a novelty!
See the smooth icy toppings on all structures it laid upon!
Such a beautiful sight!
*****
Quotes:
*****
Pantun Kanser Payudara (A poem on cancer breast – revised)
‘A Woman First‘ is pleased to welcome a guest writer. He is Dato’ Dr. Ziaudin Ahamed Bin Abdul Kareem, an advocate for Quality of Life. ‘Pantun Kanser Payudara’ means a poetry about breast cancer.
‘A Woman First‘ dengan berbesar hati menyambut penulis undangan. Beliau ialah Dato ’Dr. Ziaudin Ahamed Bin Abdul Kareem, seorang Pengamal Perubatan Paliatif.
****
“女人优先”很高兴欢迎特邀作家。他是拿督的Ziaudin Ahamed Bin Abdul Kareem博士，生活质量的倡导者。 “ Pantun Kanser Payudara”是一首关于乳腺癌的诗。
The above poem can be summarised as /Puisi di atas dapat diringkaskan sebagai:/以上诗可概括为
Death: a solace and comfort because God loves him more
When I was a young nurse in ER, a young motor vehicle accident victim died. His parents and siblings cried. A Muslim nurse consoled them and said, ” don’t cry. God loves him more!”
“No! How can you stop them from crying?”
Different cultures approach death differently. To them, it’s a solace and comfort to know that he will be in a better place!
******
Quote:-
I hold the view that death is rather like changing one’s clothes when they are torn and old. It is not an end in itself. Yet death is unpredictable-you do not know when and how it will take place.- Dalai Lama
A girl calls and asks, “Does it hurt very much to die?””Well, sweetheart,” I tell her, “yes, but it hurts a lot more to keep living.- Chuck Palahniuk, Survivor
****
All I am I owe to my mother ( Poem)
I read my first book,
got my first caning from mum.
But I owed her most!
All I am today
with her love and discipline,
owed in love, in strength.
***************
For some, father is the significant figure that forms one’s character and guides one’s life. For some, mother is the hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world!
*************
Quotes from two presidents
2. “All that I am, or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” – Abraham Lincoln
****”
Blogging: A Thousand Apologies!
Did I unfollow this site? How come they are not in my reader? Or are my thumb and finger too big for the tiny fonts on my mobile that I accidentally deleted it?🙏🙏🙏
“oh, this one? Yes, I did because they were too many f***words (nearly eight on one page!) in his write-ups for my liking!”🙅🙅🙅 At times he writes intelligently, though! 😐
I haven’t heard from this site for some time now. Is her dementia mother or her child with mental disorder taking up her time? 🤔🤔🤔
Many writers are in or nearly in their golden years, including me. When I don’t hear from some of them, I wonder if they are well or not?”☹️☹️☹️
Still writing and reading are good to keep one’s remaining brain cells active!
This lady below looks sweet in this pose. If you remember her in a previous daring pose!
Waiting at a corner of the room (a Senryū) Go, go look after your siblings and the cafe Pa's waiting for me. This Senryū is about a mother telling her children to go home. She reminded them to look after their younger siblings and their coffee shop. This lady pointed to her late husband waiting at a corner of the ICU room.
Quotes:
*****
This is a postscript to “A Penny For Your Thought?”
Postscript: She is up there now…
Wen Li was such a perceptive little being!
If one thinks, talking to children about birds and bees would be difficult, this one about ‘living and dying’ is another challenging one!
“My mother never taught me about this, nor did my school!” Li Na thought to herself.
Perhaps, that’s why stories always had it this way, “… she has gone to heaven, and angels are looking after her now. Look at the stars! She is up there now, twinkling from above!
She is now an angel. Put your hands together, and say hello!”
Wen Li closed her eyes and her hands together, “May you be happy up there!”
Travelling and Windsurfing
by Toh H L
When I was younger,
I windsurfed 3 times a week.
It was excessive,
but the hope was to reduce the appetite.
About 8 years ago,
I bought a new surfboard,
the urge is still there,
the mind is willingly,
but, alas, the body is uncooperative!
I still retain the hobbies of travelling,
hiking and a bit of mountain climbing.
These activities not only exercise
the body but the mind as well.
Planning a travel itinerary,
requires a lot of brain effort.
Somehow, these hobbies releases
the happiness hormones, ie dopamine, endorphines, serotonin and oxytocin.
It’s a bit addictive, but we are
merely triggering and tickling its release
to feel what Louis Armstrong sung….
“What a wonderful world.”
by Toh H L
How high is one’s self-esteem?/ 一个人的自尊有多高？/ 中文和马来语)
Self-esteem comes from being able to define the world on your own terms and refusing to abide by the judgments of others. ― Oprah Winfrey
How high is one’s self-esteem? Here are some examples of young people with high confidence and self-esteem. What others think does not matter!
谷歌翻译成中文 (Google translated to Chinese)
一个人的自尊有多高？以下是一些自信和自尊的年轻人的例子。别人怎么想并不重要！
卡维瓦南和他的马萨拉茶业[见上文]这是一个耸人听闻的消息，当失业的研究生工程师，卡维瓦南苏布拉马尼亚姆，23岁，骑自行车上路出售马萨拉茶。他成为一个瞬间的商人，他自己的老板！卡维瓦南先生成为许多年轻人效仿的榜样，尤其是在COVID-19这一尝试时期。这是一个自尊心高的人的例子。别管别人怎么想。只要他过上诚实的生活！祝贺！
迈克尔 · 蒂和他的一袋好东西！”迈克尔拖着一袋计算器、钢笔和玩具。他在餐馆里从餐桌走到餐桌上。”为什么你不能坐在家里等待你的 A 级结果？”我喜欢这样做。许多阿姨从我那里买的。他们一定可怜我！迈克尔咧嘴一笑。他扑倒在床上，很快就睡着了！那时他的自尊心太高了。他忽略了别人对他公开出售物品的看法。这是一个相当的经验，而等待他的结果和进入高等教育！
汤米林，他的免费化学书，和洗衣机汤米走近固定的店主。”如果我从你那里买了三十本书，我可以免费买一本吗？他做了 [每本书 Rm400]！接下来，他买了一台洗衣机，并与其他住在他们租的房子里的同学分享了价格。当他们从那所大学毕业时，这台机器被卖给了下一批室友！好自尊，也很有进取心！
****
Leaking stoma bags and ‘the window’
Anecdote 1- Mr. Ahmed
“Nurse B, my bag leaks again! The other nurse A applied the bag just thirty minutes ago!” called Mr. Ahmed, a bed-ridden patient.
“Sigh! Look at the mess! Now I have to change a new bag again, the bed linens and your hospital clothes!” Nurse B grumbled as she changed the linens and the stoma bag…
Nurse Chen saw the patient tearing silently. She went toward him.
“Nurse Chen, see that window? If only I can walk! I would jump out of it!” he cried sadly.
“What is the point of ‘saving my life from cancer of the large intestine’, if my life is such a mess everyday!” he lamented the poor quality of life after operation.
*************************************
That happened in the late 1980s. A small pioneering team of surgeons and nurses were tasked to look into the care of patients who were operated and had a stoma (<—see the images here) on their abdomen or ‘tummy’.
Those days stoma bags were a basic bag with zinc oxide adhesive (below). Very often it leaked and the fecal effluent spilled all over their clothes and bed linens. The skin around the stoma became excoriated or burned by the frequent contact with the excrements. It became inflamed and excruciatingly painful.
It was very depressing for the patients, and frustrating for the patient, home-carer and healthcare staff, too.
Upon discharge, some patients used cloth, new-papers, coconut shell, empty tins over their stoma to collect the effluents. Some created their own stoma bags (see below).
Chen Song Ping 