p.s-problem with tmnet connection all day Saturday, called them up, was advised to cleanup "cookies" so as not to bog down system.
To take my mind off the aches and pains I am going through, and with my energy back to normal, I spent the weekend(Saturday) reading, reading and reading and running chores. I spent some time in a bookshop to hunt for a few books (and added to the pile of tbr books accumulating in my shelves) and magazines, an activity which I missed doing lately. I did my weekly grocery shopping to include a lot of blood boosting stuff (liver, beef, leafy vegetables, dates) and a trade sized jar of horlicks to manage the gastric. I read 2 books on Saturday right into the wee small hours of Sunday morning with intermittent mugs of horlicks and crackers.
I also couldn't help popping into the healthstores to look for a good detox mix. I feel that my colon and digestive system need a real good flushing after all the chemical-based medication that I had been ingesting to "cure" my gastric, sluggish colon, thrombophlebitis and sore mouth and throat. I found something called Fibrecleanse and will try this out in the next few days before my next chemo on June 14. If it helps, I might try it out as a routine when I am into week 3 post-next chemo.
Insya Allah, a detoxed and clean digestive tract should be more efficient in grabbing and absorbing all the nutritional goodness from my blood boosting meals. I would like to see my blood count at a healthy level and if possible, no boosters and no transfusions for future chemo cycles. The last wbc count was terribly low at 1.8 and I can't afford for it to drop further. I thought very hard about why my blood count had been poor despite a very supportive and nourishing diet. I suspect that my system might not have been able to digest and absorb all the goodness due to a build-up of toxins and residues in my sluggish colon as a result of the various chemo side-effects. Hopefully I am right and that something like Fibrecleanse can help.
My books in the shelves upstairs are mostly to be read ones. They were once new but have aged on the shelves, and sometimes I find that I have 2 versions of a title because I might have forgotten that I had bought it before. Vik, my helper cleaned the shelves and dusted the books. This time I remembered to tell her to lift the books off the shelf in the same order that she sees them and to replace them on the shelf in the same exact order. One horrifying but funny incident that had happened years ago was when my part time helper then "re-organized" all my books. I was out shopping and came back to see all my books being re-arranged according to their size and height! Yes, the shelves looked really neat and proper but what a challenge to look for a book afterwards! I cannot afford to add a strained neck to my present potpourri of "sensations"...
June 10 (Day 18 of cycle 3)
I spent all day today(Sunday) out of the house attending a talk by Puan Ainon Mohamad of PTS on writing "Novel Professional". I have to say she is a true visionary and really walks her talk. A friend pointed me to her blog and I have been following the activities of PTS and admire what she has been doing. A sharp business sense and a very sincere effort to encourage reading as a way to open up the minds of our people can be strongly felt when you hear her speak and the plans she has. A large sector of our population, in the rural areas especially, do not have means and access to what the more affluent and English-conversant city types have.
As a result they lack exposure to useful information and ideas that can help trigger and build their dreams and ambition. She is inviting writers in Bahasa Malaysia to come up with novels/storybooks that include details on how one gears up to achieve a vocation or become a professional, be it a tailor, cook, doctor, lawyer, pilot , the list goes on. Her target readers are 10 year olds upwards as that is the age from which children can start to expand their universe of information and build dreams and prepare to work on their dreams. It is not a "how to" guide but a story or novel to be weaved around the lives of people within a certain profession or vocation, within the normal structure of a novel. In following the story, an impressionable child would remember and retain bits of useful information that his mind can recall as he/she grows up to harness and nurture whatever dreams and aspirations he/she may have.
We are lucky to have people like Puan Ainon around. It was great to be at the talk as the attendees were of diverse backgrounds - writers, and people from various professions - doctors, lecturers, accountants, financial consultants,trainers and quite a number of entrepreneurs. It was a day well spent even though at times I was bothered by my arm and gastric pains and had to stretch and flex my arm, and munch horlicks tablets during the session. We stayed to talk further with her after the session and I could sense the sincerity and passion she has for what she is doing.
I had gone to the talk with my friend RJ and was pleasantly surprised to bump into someone I know there too. We had dinner on the way back. After a nice healthy lunch of loads of green vegetable during the lunch break at the seesion, I decided to have mee rebus for dinner (beef based). I packed Nasi Beriani Gam for my helper to reward her for cleaning all my bookshelves and for succeeding not to mess up the arrangement of my books. I have painstakingly sorted them in the order that will enable me to easily locate a book without tears.
I was totally zonked out by the time I got home but managed to rub nutmeg and gamat oil on my right arm before retiring for the night.
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