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I went to watch Transformers with Eileen the other day and it brought back a lot of memories to me. 

I used to have A LOT of Transformers toys when I was young.  Yeah, I was one of those lucky kids with loving parents that could afford toys for me and my brother.  Me and my brother spent so much time on the toys that we kinda neglected our studies.  My mum wrapped up all our toys, put it in a big box and took it to her office.  So whenever we wanted to play the toys, we will have to go to my mum’s office and play it there.

I remembered every time when there was a special day, be it birthdays or Christmas or when I got good results for my exam, I would beg my mum to bring me to the mall and get a Transformer.  My brother usually waits until the exact date to open his toys, while I couldn’t wait.  I would rip the package off right after I got into the car. 

I had so many last time that I think I lost count of it.  The toys were given away to orphans we we grew out of it. 

When I followed my dad to Papua New Guinea for about 1 year, my dad would seperate all our toys.  I got all the good guys and my brother get all the bad guys. 

After watching the movie, I knew I HAVE TO GET a Transformer toy, for the love of it.  So I got an Optimus Prime!

In the box

Truck Mode

Truck Mode Front

Robot Mode

This thing is expensive! I bought it for RM19.90.

I remembered I had a Liokaiser for Chinese New Year (yeah, Chinese New Year, my uncle took all the kids out to a toy store and we said we can buy any 1 item we want) and it was only RM89.90.  It had 6 full sized Transformers and could combine into a big Transformer!  It had a big box, information leaflets of each Transformer and a whole lot of stuff.  The Optimus Prime I bought just now was this small 2.5 inch toy, for RM19.90.  These toys got really expensive!

I saw the other day that someone was selling his original Liokaiser for RM600++.  If I had all my Transformers with me right now, I’d be rich!

I wanted to collect all of it.  I think they have about 12-15 Transformers, both Autobots and Decepticons, but at RM19.90 a pop, I can’t afford it and most Autobots were sold out.  Only a few Optimus Primes left.

Memories……..

Went to the doctor this afternoon to follow up my back problem.  The doctor saw the way I walked and said that the epidural injection didn’t help a lot.  It did help, but not enough.

The protrusion of my disc should not be still protruding after the epidural injection.  In my case, it is still protrudring and pinching on my nerves.

He suggested surgery to remove the disc and insert metal plates and screws to make my two vertebra stationary.  He still suggested to go for a few sessions of physio therapy but from his experessions and the way he suggested, he doesn’t think that physio therapy will help, but it’s worth a try. My mum also thinks that physio therapy will not help a lot as well.

I now have two options besides physio therapy, which I also think that will not help much, surgery is inevitable. My first option is the one I mentioned above where metal plates and screws will make my vertebras stationary. The second option is a lighter surgery, the same one I did in 2003, a Mivro Lumbar Disectomy, where a probe is inserted into the protruding disc and the watery stuff inside being sucked out, making the disc less protruding.  The problem with this is, with this option, there are still risks that the protrusion will come back, like what is happening now.

My dad is looking at Chinese medicine because Chinese medicine encourages non-invasion methods, i.e. no surgery required.

I’ll go for the physio therapy and see how it goes.

While I am doing physio therapy this couple of weeks, my dad will have time to go to Papua New Guinea, where my brother is right now. My brother is helping him with his business there and according to my mum, he is having a little trouble settling down there.  I really hope I could go over and help him but I couldn’t at the moment.

Anyway, I had seafood dinner with Rachel and her friends last Saturday at Subang.  They were VERY surprised at the way we Malaysians drink chinese tea.  You see, Malaysia is a very hot country and we usually drink our chinese tea with ice.  Rachel and her friends looked at us at a very funny way. I guess different countries have differnt ways of doing things, although all of us are Chinese.

I had a gethering with my England coursemates last night.  Rachel, Geri and her boyfriend (I forgot his name, really sorry), and two of their friends (Forgot their names again, I must be old) cameto Malaysia from China.  They were at East Malaysia for a few days before they came to KL. 

Anyway, we had dinner/supper at Jalan Alor and just talk and talk and talk.  It was good to see Rachel and Geri again.  It’s been 3 years since I  last saw them.

It was also nice to see Henry, Denise and Nicole again.  The last time I saw them was about 2 years ago, where we had a BBQ party at my place and Ken was so drunk he jumped in to the pool, scolded the dog and also sitting at another table alone for some funny reason.  I need a whole new entry to talk about the stuff that Ken does when he is drunk. 

Anyway, I brought my big camera to take pictures but all pictures sucks.  These are some of the few that turned out fine.  Enjoy!

Henry

Geri 

Geri, Henry, Rachel and Andrew 

 Nicole and Denise watching Negarakuku from my phone

 

Group Pic, 50% of the people not watching my camera.

Will update this picture when I have a better one!

 

Andrew with his infamous round face and smile

Rachel, Geri, Denise and Nicole

My MBA second semester results was out last weekend, and I waited until it’s Wednesday to post it. I know I am lazy, but a lot have been going on these days, so bear with me ok.

Well, I got a B in International Business and a B+ in Economics. Not bad I must say, given the fact that I finished my International Business assignment in less than 2 days and both my Economics assignment in slightly less than 4 days.
I was expecting my grades for International Business to be better than my Economics’ grades beause until now, I don’t really understand what is the whole subject talking about. I understood enough to be able to complete my assignments and handed up on time and that’s it!

I heard a lot of people were having the same expectations like mine, but it turned out to be the opposite. Maybe because the Economics lecturer was a new lecturer and she was a bit lenient. Or maybe it was the change of format for the International Business Examination.

You see, all our exams have 6 questions and 4 have to be answered within 3 hours. Naturally we assumed that that’s the case with the International Business exam. About 2 weeks before the exam, we were informed (by our classmates) that the format was changed to:

• 7 questions, answer 5 (80%)
• 20 multiple choice questions (20%)
• Duration - 3 hours

Since our classmates broke the news to us, we didn’t take it seriously because it was not official.

The next week, i.e. 1 week before the exam, the college announced the new format. Everyone was furious because we were not told earlier. All past year questions were in the old format. We were all trained to answer the questions in 45 minutes per question. There were no sample on the multiple choice questions and the topics we predicted will come out for the exam is only for the 7 questions (more or less you’ll know what is going to come out based on past year questions), but not for the multiple choice questions.

And to make matters worse, exam is only 1 week away.

I didn’t care about the multiple choice questions because i figured if I could do well in the 7 questions, I could still pass. So I concentrated on the “predicted” questions.

During exam, I did all 5 questions as fast as I could. There wasn’t time for me to pick my nose, go to the toilet or do any of those nonsense.

By the time I finished my 5 questions, there was only 10 minutes left. Meaning 30 seconds for each multiple choice question.
I read the questions once, answered and that’s it. I didn’t bother to read the question again to understand what it wants or check the answers again to se if it’s right or wrong.
I looked at my answer script at the end of the exam and to my horror, I could barely read my writing because I was writing so fast that I just scribbled on the answer booklet. There wasn’t much I could do. I handed it up and let the lecturer decide my grades.

Well, everything turned out alright after all. I heard there were a few people that failed the paper. I am sure they will complain about the change of format. As long as the complains don’t affect my grades, by all means, do it. It’s not profesional for a college to misinform their students like this.

This is the third and final part of my hospitalization entries. I told you guys it’s long!

Thursday

So this is the big day where I’ll get the steroid injection.  Woke up early in the morning and was told that I am scheduled to go to the operating theater at about 11am.  My mum was with me since 7am.  The nurse came in at about 9.30am and asked me to change into the operating clothing.

I was pushed into the OT at about 10am.  The OT area was VERY cold and I wasn’t wearing anything besides the super thin cloth, not even my underwear.  The doctor came and inject the tube thing onto my left hand and injected some antibiotic through the tube.  I was then left there until 11.30am.  I waited 90 minutes because some x-ray machine was occupied by another surgeon and they only have one of those machine in the OT.  I was lying in a position that was not comfortable to me.  I was aching and moaning in pain.  I asked the nurse to help me get up on my feet because I could at least move around when I am up, then the doctor came and told me the OT room is ready for me.

I was pushed to thd OT room, the doctor then asked me to roll over to the operating bed, face down.  I had difficulties lying face down and the pain was too great.  I asked the doctor to let me stand for 5 minutes so that my pain could lessen and I could lie on the bed, then he told me that if I don’t do it now, he would have to send me back to the ward because a lot of people are waiting to use that x-ray machine.  All I a asked was just 5 minutes so that I could calm down a bit, instead I got a “scolding” by the doctor. 

I then tried my very best, withstanding the pain to lie on the bed, I was screaming so loudly that I lost my voice again.  I asked the doctor to give me something to bite, so that I could somehow bite the pain off.  He asked the nurse to gave me a piece of gauss to bite on.  I was biting the gauss so hard that I think my teeth has shifted a bit (it seems alright now).

After lying down, the doctor proceded with the procedure.  At first I thought it was only one injection to my back but there were at least 15 injections, I lost count because of the pain.  Bear in mind I was concious during the procedure.  No pain killers or anesthetic was given to me.  I don’t know I am supposed to be concious or the doctor opted not to give me any of those.  So you guys couldn’t imagine the physical and mental pain I went through.

I was pushed out from the OT to the OT area at about 11.20am.  My right leg feels very numb but the pain on my right leg has lessen, not a lot, but I felt it has gotten less.  The OT area was so cold I was freezing.  The nurses kept giving me blankets but no amount of blankets could warm me up.  I asked when am I going to be pushed back to my ward, the nurse said that they had arranged someone from the ward to push me up.  The OT nurses couldn’t do it because I *think* it’s for hygiene purpose.  I waited for 1 hour before a nurse came to push me up.  They left me in the cold, without clothes and after a/some very painful injection(s) for one hour before they pushed me up.  I was so weak that I couldn’t say or complain everything.

I was pushed to my room and I saw my mum and dad waiting there.  They asked me how I felt, I told them how I felt.  I asked my mum to call Eileen to let her know I am out of the OT.  I managed to talk to her later on the phone and she was crying.  I was trying to adjust to a position that I am comfortable with but I couldn’t fin the position, then I told my dad to asked the nurse if I could be given any pain killers, so I could rest.  The nurse came in 15 minutes later, giving me yet another pain killer injection.  By this time, I was so numb to needles that I couldn’t care much.  I felt much better after that.

My dad requested to transfer me from a four bedded room to a single room.  I was transfered there at about 3pm. 

My New Room and Shooting Star Symbol

Wai Soon came visited me at about 5pm, he stayed on until about 7pm.  Eileen came right after work.  The doctor came in and told me that I could go home that night, or I could go home the next morning, it’s my call.  So I waited for my dad to come and ask him if I should go home or not. 

My dad came, he said it’s my call if I want to go home or not.  I told him I wanted to go home, he went to settle the bill, which took more than 1 hour, and I went home.   The total bill came to aabout RM6,000, which is very expensive.  My last operation was about RM7,000.  This time around I do not have insurance to cover it because it was used to pay for my last operation in 2003.

Eileen stayed the night we me to make sure I’m ok. 

My leg still feels very numb until today.  I am not too sure if there is still pain because my leg is too numb to tell me if there is pain.

I hope everything is well after all these.

I want to thank everyone who wished and prayed for my wellness, especially my family and Eileen, who spent sleepless nights worrying about me, my friends who called and visited me during my stay in the hospital.  Thank you everyone.  I really hope I could recover soon and repay my gratitude.  Once again, THANK YOU!