A Relaxing Monday

June 11 (day 19 of Cycle 3)

I felt strangely tired today and decided not to go out to see the doctor yet. Syukur Alhamdullillah the gastric spasms have spaced out and slowly disappeared, perhaps due to the doses of Nexium and perhaps due to the mugs of horlicks that I have been imbibing throughout the day everyday since I was informed by my friend's Mum that it helps her manage her own acid tummy. Whichever it was I am so thankful that I have one pain less to bear.


My right arm is still hurting and I continue to rub the nutmeg and gamat oil. I have given up on the steroid cream as it did nothing for me. The arm still feels tight when stretched and I can still feel the lumps of possible clots along the affected veins. This is one of the items that I need to raise with my Onco in case it causes a problem with the next Chemo due on June 14 , just 3 days from now. I massaged the arm gently 3 or 4 times a day with the oil and put a warm compress afterwards. It helped to relieve the pain but the tightness starts to creep up again after a while. I could feel the hardened veins below the skin.


The mouth sores have not improved. I tried to check for myself using a torchlight and a mirror to see how many sores there are. Most are concentrated at the far end of my tongue and back gums, near where the tonsils are on the left side. I am unable to sight anything perhaps because I don't really know what I should be expecting to see. I have been gargling with salt water and sucking on strepsils and lonzenges to keep my mouth bacteria free but it feels as though more sores have surfaced. I had tried to apply glycerine borax using Q-tips and I know I did reach the sores as I squirmed when the Q-tips hit home. I will need to see my Dentist who will be able to inspect and determine what can be done to make sure the situation doesn't get worse. Eating is a challenging activity and imagine having tears running down my cheeks when I am having a nice meal!


As for bowel movements, that has been regular. My only issue on that is because of previous bouts of irregular bowel movements and constipation, I experienced extreme discomfort when moving my bowels. So extreme that sometimes I dread having "to go" because I can almost imagine the pain before I did. So another item to alert my doctor and seek his advice on what can help to relieve the discomfort. My good bowel movements could also be due to the Fibrecleanse mix that I take first thing in the morning ,half an hour before breakfast. It is supposed to aid in flushing out the colon but not to offer any pain relief.


I spent the day grooming my helper on the other activities in the house that she can help me with. Actually there isn't very much to do other than the basic stuff but will need to crank up some more so that she doesn't get bored and homesick. She seems to enjoy experimenting in the kitchen. I told her that I will teach her English for an hour a day once we have established a proper routine of what her chores are on a daily basis. That would be a win-win situation for both of us, she learns a new tongue and I get a "speaking" helper.

My adopted sister's house in serene and peaceful Bagan Datoh at S.Cik Maja is a place to go to totally unwind and escape "civilisation" but the people there are much more civilized than some of the folks we run into in the civilised cities. The "parit" where my nephew is fishing contains loads of tilapia fish, so many that you don't really need to use a fishing line. What they do is place a net and some poor fish will get caught in the net every morning. Their cats are fed fresh, raw fish and are healthy and strong as bears!

When July comes and after I complete my 5th chemo, I hope to spend a weekend in Bagan Datoh just for a change in scenery and to be with folks who are so genuinely happy. Life is simple, community spirit is really very strong, respect is based on how involved you are with the community rather than how wealthy you are and best of all, there's hardly any traffic and smog. The air is so fresh and if there is any smoke (not smog) it is from burning dry leaves and coconut husks in the evenings to scare away the mosquitoes. A nice change indeed from the daily background sound of Mat Rempits and honkings and blarings of "Old Newspaper, Surat Khabar lama!" when all one needs is some peace and quiet when the body and mind is tired....Bagan Datoh, here I come.