Friday, July 10, 2009
Combined Updates
10-JUL-2009:
Things happened recently. First of all, Saimun got sick. He thought he had a fever on Friday but it went away. In any case, he wasn't sure it was a fever since it was too mild. Then it came back on Tuesday afternoon (not mild this time) and saw a doctor on Wednesday afternoon. You know how cold and flu symptoms are almost the same and the doctor couldn't tell for sure if he was having a flu or a cold without doing any lab tests. In normal cases, if it is a suspected flu case, they will send a sample (of whatever - saliva maybe) to be tested for swine flu but there have been many flu cases and they aren't able to test everyone anymore. Because Saimun's fever was quite high and he had all the other symptoms, the doctor just assumed that he had a flu and to be "safe", categorized him as a "suspected swine flu" victim. He was told to stay away from people as much as possible and I had to pick up his Tamiflu prescription from the Town Hall. At the Town Hall, two guys sat at the entrance and one of them sprayed my hands with anti-septic foam on my way in and out. I told the worker Saimun's name and she retrieved a form from a box. There were many boxes full of forms (for people who would be collecting their Tamiflu) and I commented to the worker that there was an awful lot of people with flu. She nodded and said that's only in Ealing. Imagine the whole of London.
Saimun was sick for an awful long time. By Sunday, when he still had a fever, I told him that it might be a bacteria infection and that he had better call the doctor. He did, but since it was a Sunday, the doctor asked him to wait it out until Monday. On Monday, he was diagnosed with a throat infection and was prescribed anti-biotics, and about 2-3 days later, he gradually felt much better.
So there ... we may never know for sure if he actually had the flu but I think it was bacteria infection all along. All those Tamiflu medication actually gave him adverse side effects instead, such as diarrhoea, nausea, etc. Meanwhile, for 2 weeks he isolated himself in the bedroom. Ironically, you can miss someone even though you're under the same roof. For almost two weeks, I've not been within 2 feet from him. Dominic was not allowed to go near him as well and when 2 days ago he heard that daddy was "getting better", he shouted "Yay!". I slept in the living room and only moved back into the room last night. In fact, I wasn't allowed to go into the bedroom at all. The weekend was awful. It felt like only Dom and I, and it was tiring to be the only one there to response to his constant needs. Anyway, we managed to bake a strawberry cake on Saturday which took up a bit of our time. In addition, the weather was rather horrible. It was summer last week but didn't feel like summer at all this week. I think it's not unreasonable to say that it might snow next week. :p
Next, let's rewind back to CNY earlier this year in M'sia. We met up with my uncle for dinner and Saimun popped the question, "Uncle, what is the secret of your success?". Mind you, this uncle of mine is a big shot in his company, but I'm not sure what he is really. So what did my uncle say about being successful? It's all in your presentation skills. Basically, you don't need to know your stuffs. All you need is to be able to present and be convincing. In fact, the more you know, the more work you do and you'll always remain in "working class". So, taking his advice, I enrolled myself in a professional presentation skills training course when I got back from my holidays. I actually have no aspiration to be successful in my career but when I came back from holiday, there wasn't much work left for me and I thought it's good to get some training. I was put on a waiting list and subsequently scheduled to attend a 2-day course on 17th April but I had to postpone that because my ultrasound scan was scheduled on the same day. I was put on the waiting list again and finally had the training last Monday/Tuesday. It was a great course and from the videos (taken during our own mock presentations) there was "obvious" improvement on the 2nd day. Feedback from the other participants about me was that I appeared "shy and quiet". On the 1st day, that is. On the 2nd day I wasn't shy and quiet anymore! During those 2 days, I also get to know myself better. In my 1st presentation, I tried to rehearse and memorize every word I was going to say, like politicians do, because I thought that would suit me well. But it didn't work well at all. I'm not that kind of person. I can't stick to a script. I have to say what's on my mind.
Finally, I have some updates on Dominic too. One night, he drank a whole cup of water right before going to bed and I said "You're going to wee-wee soooo much tonite that your nappy will overflow and wet your pants". He replied, "I'll get up and wee-wee in the toilet". Before I could stop myself, I said, "Hahahaha (fake laugh). Yeah right! You don't even wake up when you're alllll wet". Guess what? That night itself, he actually woke up and pee in the toilet! I was lying in bed (the couch really) and heard him open the door, get his stool, pee, flush the toilet and go back into his room. However, the next morning his nappy was still very full. On the 2nd night, it happened again! But not on the 3rd night. I'm just going to lie back and let him do his thing whenever he's ready. It's great knowing that I don't have to train him for him to train himself. :-) All I probably have to do is say "Yeah right (sarcastically)" a few more times. Hehe!
