Super Woman

No, I'm no Super woman at all.
But my beloved my family member who has Bell's Palsy definitely is!

Thanks to her positive attitude, mental strength and strong will, her facial features are almost back to normal. All that plus the fact that we have her on early treatment. She has no trouble following through with her meds, since she has been taking her supplements religiously. She doesnt wallow in self-pity, she's always on her feet, always doing something (housechores, Quran reading etc) and never keeping idle. She would look forward to go to the mall for grocery shopping and visiting ill family members. All these qualities make her a beautiful person inside out, really.

The lesson to learn is not to give in to your illness. Dont ever wallow in self-pity and depression. It's not the end of the world.

Just like Cornelius Robinson's motto in "Meet The Robinsons" movie..i.e. KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

She's my Super Woman and I love her!

Bell's Palsy 101

Hello folks. Today we will learn about Bell's Palsy. Have you heard about it?

Quote from Wikipedia

Bell's palsy is a paralysis of cranial nerve VII (the facial nerve) resulting in inability to control facial muscles on the affected side. Several conditions can cause a facial paralysis, e.g., brain tumor, stroke, and Lyme disease. However, if no specific cause can be identified, the condition is known as Bell's Palsy. Named after Scottish anatomist Charles Bell, who first described it, Bell's palsy is the most common acute mononeuropathy (disease involving only one nerve), and is the most common cause of acute facial nerve paralysis.
Bell's palsy is defined as an idiopathic unilateral facial nerve paralysis, usually self-limiting. The trademark is rapid onset of partial or complete palsy, usually in a single day. Symptoms typically subside after 2-6 days and full facial function is usually returned within 2-3 weeks. Although rare, residual paralysis or dysfunction is possible and chances of this increase with age.
It is thought that an inflammatory condition leads to swelling of the facial nerve (nervus facialis). The nerve travels through the skull in a narrow bone canal beneath the ear. Nerve swelling and compression in the narrow bone canal are thought to lead to nerve inhibition, damage or death. No readily identifiable cause for Bell's palsy has been found, but clinical and experimental evidence suggests herpes simplex type 1 infection may play a role.
Doctors may prescribe anti-inflammatory and anti-viral drugs. Early treatment is necessary for the drug therapy to have effect. The effect of treatment is still controversial. Most people recover spontaneously and achieve near-normal to normal functions. Many show signs of improvement as early as 10 days after the onset, even without treatment.
Often the eye in the affected side cannot be closed. The eye must be protected from drying up, or the cornea may be permanently damaged resulting in impaired vision. Patients with Bell's Palsy always claimed by others to resemble Popeye.

I'm sharing this info with you because the most beautiful member of my family has just been diagnosed with Bell's palsy and it breaks my heart to see the changes in her facial features. But it's really heartening to learn that the condition IS NOT permanent and that it is curable. Alhamdulillah. I love her even more because she has courage and strong will and her high spirits will fight this thing called Bell's Palsy. She will pull through with flying colours.

The family has decided that she will not be treated with steroids (bad stuff!) and instead we have started her on homeopathic treatment and also good supplements to boost her immune system. Thanks to the luverly Dr. Chem, the homeopathy doctor who gave free consultation as always. Oh yes many thanks to Dr. Intan too!!!!

Did you know that Pierce Brosnan and George Clooney (one of the most sexiest men?) had Bell's Palsy too? Forget sexiest men, some babies are born with Bell's Palsy too.

It could happen to anyone. Even you and I.

Things like this make me realize how blessed and lucky we are!

Kung Hey! Kung Hey!

I wish all Chinese friends a very Happy Chinese New Year.

May the Year of The Ox bring you and your family Love, Peace, Health and Prosperity! Hope you guys will be safe wherever you are.

Me? I'll be enjoying the endless supply of honey lokam and heaps of groundnuts!!

That time of the year

Yes. Appraisal time!
And this time around we have a brand new system in place.
Some of us are grappling to understand the old system, let alone the new system.
Oh well, I'll go with the flow. Thankfully I have a colleague in my team and she's doing a fantastic job.
So as much as I hate this time of the year, I'll just take it in stride and wait to exhale!

Mi Casa is Su Casa

Yes folks we are selling our luverly home. I’ve decided to forego the services of an agent –thankfully- since internet advertising does a pretty good job. So the fee of 2.7% of the selling price can be saved for Imran’s education.

Mi Casa is strategically located in Seksyen 7 Shah Alam surrounded by UiTM, Unisel, mamak makan places, Guardian Pharmacy, a clinic, a dental clinic, sundry shops, Seksyen 7 secondary school and lots more. Barely 10 mins away from Jusco Bukit Raja, Bukit Raja NKVE exit, Federal Highway and Sek. 14 and 9 commercial centres. On top of that, Seksyen 7 will house Shah Alam General Hospital which is soon to be completed – just about 5 minutes drive (or less)!

The house is comfortably sized at 1824 sf, 22’ x 75’, nice kitchen size with 4 bedrooms….

HEY it’s MY blog so I get to do the sales pitch here! Hahaha just kidding.

I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m selling a perfectly located home.
Well, servicing the monthly repayments is getting quite challenging and moreover there’s just the three of us in the house..and the three of us sleep in just one room, leaving the other 3 room unused! The family area upstairs is also unused since the three of us are usually either fighting over the TV remote in the living hall or sleeping in the master bedroom.

So that got me thinking.

Rather than continuing to service the home loan and pay for unused space, we opted to let it go and go for a smaller and more manageable home like an apartment or a condo. So less time will be spent on cleaning! Woohoo!

I’ve advertised on 3 property sites and so far many enquiries come from those who checked my ad on Propnet.com. Good job, Propnet.com for delivering high cyber visibility for FREE! There’s one site (that will remain nameless) that charges RM100 per ad and promises high results and I almost placed my ad in it. I’m so thankful I didn’t! RM100 can buy me mucho macadamia nut ice cream lah!

I’m having an open day for prospective buyers who have called. The OPEN DAY is happening this Sunday January 18 3pm-5pm, so they are free to have a look-see at the house.

If you’d like to join, do come over! You could bring some macadamia nut ice cream to get a fantastic discount on the house too!

HELLO 2009! Ahlan wa sahlan 1420 Hijriah!

Wow time sure flies!

Before you know it, it's the new year which also means that you're older another year. YIKES!

Anyhow, I have been pretty busy during the hols entertaining Biyan with trips to Tangkak (and Gunung Ledang), Penang, Ipoh and Port Dickson. As long as he is happy, I am happy too :-)

I'll let the pictures tell you more.. I apologize for the picture quality, most of the pics are taken using my humble nokia (slow shutter) after all.

Biyan and li'l cousin Afiqah. We left for Tangkak to lepak at Abang Hafiz (my bil)'s mom's house. A very hospitable host, she is!

Biyan was really thrilled to be on the ferry to Penang. He's been bugging for this all year!Trees against the clear blue sky at Butterfly Farm in Penang. Shot by Sham.

Sham and Biyan enjoying a ride on the ATV at the beach in the morning.
We stayed at Paradise Sandy Beach Hotel, that serves very nice breakfast cos it's at the in-house DeliFrance. Yum!

Sham and Biyan at the hotel pool

Nice shot of Biyan in the pool by Sham

At the Butterfly Farm in Penang

December birthday babies: Mia, Atheelah, Ameer, Bena and Sham.Biyan just lurves birthday cakes, he makes sure he gets to blow the candles everytime, even if it's not his birthday!

I think all in all, 2008 was a pretty good year despite the tough times and rough patches that I went through. I'm not looking back and reflect this time.At my age I'm too old to get depressed to realize my mistakes and blunders. No regrets this time.

I just want to look forward and be positive about the future, be a better person, to give more and take less.. make more friends than enemies (got enemies meh?), make better decisions, save more money, be nicer to people.. important things like that. More importantly, I must CHOOSE to be happy and it doesnt take much to be happy, right? Oh yes, one more thing. Live life to the fullest and SEIZE THE MOMENT cos I dont know if I'll ever live long enough to experience the same moment..!

Here's to a fantastic 2009 and an enlightening 1430 Hijriah!

Eat, drink and be merry (and thankful!)

Who says good food is hard to find?
Not me.

All you need to have is a keen tastebud, a healthy appetite and a good guide. We went to Penang and Ipoh in early December and the thing I remember most now as I look back is the fantastic food.

I’m sure some of you have tried the nasi kandar at Nasi Kandar Line Clear. Isnt it amazing that a small stall nestled between shops along Penang Road has become famous nationwide for its Nasi Kandar? The first thing I saw when we arrived there was the long queue of customers waiting to tar pau the nasi kandar. Sorry I was so smitten by the food that I forgot to take pictures of the stall and its wonderful food. We had fried chicken, fish curry (a must!), telur ikan, vegetables and salted eggs. YUM!

In Ipoh, we had this fantastic Naan bread with superb condiments : mint chutney (I loved it), potato sambal (Sham loved it) and dhall + mung beans gravy. The combination is simply orgasmic!! I was restraining myself from licking the plate! Betul tak tipu!

You will find this wonderful food at Nasi Kandar AK at Jalan Maxwell only from 6pm onwards.

Again, I forgot to take pictures of the naan and its orgasmic condiments. Guess I’ll have to go back to Ipoh and have it for dinner again. But I’m sure I will still have a tough time remembering to snap pictures!

We went to Restoran Salim at Jalan Yang Kalsom Ipoh for breakfast and we had paper thosai (as big as a broadsheet size newspaper!), bawang thosai and luverly chapatti with sambal sardine.

Sham and Biyan

Leed helped to "koyak" 'Ali's roti bawang

Angah and Mak enjoying breakfast

THE BIG KAHUNA. Mak's thosai paper. Its size put broadsheet newspapers to shame!

The places I went certainly didn’t cost a bomb. Fine, these places aren’t five star but really, if you’re a food lover you wouldn’t mind foregoing some luxury.

After all what really matters is the food and the company you are with, right?