Look, there's something in my head

Nobody believed her and even her doctors brushed off her complaints. She insisted that she had headache, had twitching of her hands and that her head was heavy. for the past 6 months, she felt unusually sad and would cry to herself. Her brother and friends felt that she was still in a state of bereavement as she lost her house during the recent earthquake followed by her dear husband from a massive stroke. All the four specialists she visited in west sumatra told her that she was suffering from depression. convinced that the doctors have not solved her problem, she decided to sell off her business and came over to kl. her childhood friend in kajang took her to a family medicine specialist at a university hospital in cheras. again she was told that she suffered from reactive depression and that she was still in a state of denial. not convinced that the her symptoms were purely psychiatric in origin, a private psychiatrist whom she latter consulted in ampang decide to scan her brain.






CT scans of the brain indicated a large enhanced lesion in the left frontal region. the features were consistent of a meningioma (brain tumor)

the diagnosis came as a real surprise to her ! how could her doctors missed it. how could nobody believed her that there was something not right in her brain !. the only option - have the tumor removed. the thought of someone cracking open her skull and digging the tumor out of her head really frightened her. but for the sake of her beloved children and the love ones back home in padang, she was determine to go through the procedure.



(there she was, fully anesthetized on the operating table, waiting for the most scary moments of her life).

the craniotomy went fine and after 3 hours, all the tumor was gone. thought the tumor was fairly vascular and she lost quite a bit of blood, no transfusion was required.


and part of the tumor tissue that was removed from her brain.



and the end of the surgery with her head neatly bandaged


can't help feeling so sorry for her brother who was weeping by her bedside in the intensive care ward. was it the feeling of relieved as the surgery was over, or was it the feeling of guilt for not taking her sister's complaint seriously. I'm sure following her discharged in 5 day's time, she will be looking forward to take the earliest flight home. and for afrinowati, i hope your problems are over and may Allah give you his uttermost blessing.

Bandung Trip

minggu ni ada 2 extra holiday, deepavali dan cuti hari minggu. cantttikkk. destinasi hujung minggu adalah bandung.

masuk kali ini dah 3 kali saya ke parisj van java. tapi bagi isteri dan anak anak, ini adalah trip pertama mereka ke bandung. berbanding dengan kota kota lain di indonesia, saya rasa bandung adalah kota yang agak bersih dan tidak terlalu sesak. yang paling penting, cuacanya agak selesa (suhu sekitar 23 C) dan rata rata penduduknya agak polite, amanah dan kurang menipu.

sedia menanti kami di bandara husein sastranegara adalah wakil dari aston bandung. perjalan ke hotel di jalan braga mengambil masa kurang dari 15 minit. hotel aston terletak within a shopping mall (ala ala hotel legend di kl). walau pun agak baru (about 2 years old) tetapi maintainancenya agak kurang memuaskan jika di bandingkan dengan hilton dan grand preangear yang pernah saya menginap dahulu.




kota bandung yang agak bersih dengan landscape yang cantik.


motosikal,basikal dan mini van (angkutan kota, sama seperti mini bus di kl dulu) memenuhi hampir setiap penjuru jalan. kereta serta van jenis toyota sangat popular di kota ini. seperti kota kota lain di asia tengara, melintas jalan di kota ini memerlukan ketabahan serta skill.




factory outlets yang banyak terdapat di jalan Dago (Juanda), setiabhudi dan martadinata (riau) merupakan lokasi pupular untuk pengunjung dari malaysia. antara puluhan factory outlet, rumah mode adalah yang terbesar. bagi yang ingin membeli kain batik, kebaya serta pakaian busana muslim, pasar baru berhampiran alun alun merupakan salah satu tempat pilihan.






(diperkarangan factory outlet rumah mode)



(penuntut-penuntut jurusan tourism dari sebuah kolej universiti di shah alam yang mengakhiri lawatan sambil belajar di bandung. pasti mereka sangat terhibur semasa di bandung).

Majlis raya klfm

Sabtu 2 November 2007. macam tak percaya pulak. dah nak penghujung bulan syawal in banyak pulak jemputan. ada 11 jemputan jamuan hari raya dan 2 jemputan jamuan perkahwinan hari ini. confirm tak larat kalau nak pergi ke semua majlis tu. sebelah malam pulak ada undangan jamuan perkahwinan di sime darby convention centre tapi dari awal awal lagi dah pun buat keputusan ..' dato', i'm very sorry. i won't be able to make it', of course alasan yang sama saya berikan pada seorang jiran dan dr. rozita di ampang jaya. - alasan sebenarnya ... nak tengok EPL Arsenal vs Manchester United (of course i'm a gunner!)

pagi semalam kak porsh call. katanya kad undangan ke majlis raya klfm telah dipos melalui pos laju (sebenarnya nama je laju tapi sampai lambat juga). entah kenapa hari ini terbuzy pulak. keluar office dah hampir jam 2 ptg. rumah dato' jalil dah confirm kena pergi sebab tahun lepas dah pun mintak maaf dengan dia sebab tak dapat hadir. jadi tahun ni memang tak ada excuse lagi.

setelah di oooozoom, maka keputusannya - attend majlis jamuan hari raya klfm di pwtc (only 5 minutes from home), then rush to rumah dato jalil di hulu klang. Jemputan di kajang, cheras, putrajaya dan shah alam terpaksalah di tangguhkan.

majlis yang sepatutnya bermula pukol 2.30 ptg bermula hampir sejam lewat sebab ramai tetamu yang tersangkut dalam kesesakan. dalam kad jemputan ada di tulis 'pakaian hari raya' - tapi bila di ingat kembali selepas solat sunat aidil fitri hari tu saya hanya mengenakan t-shirt pagoda bersama slack sahaja . nasib baiklah tak pakai t-shirt pagoda tu , sebab semua tetamu yang hadir tu memang dress to kill - terpandang pulak seorang kenalan yang duduk semeja tu. mahu 3, 4 kilo rantai cincin dan gelang emas yang dipakainya.

anyway majlis memang meriah dengan kehadiran dj dj klfm yang sangat mesra rakyat serta artis artis undangan mereka seperti jalil hamid dan ella. ramai juga artis artis yang baru, tapi rasa macam tak pernah pulak dengar nama mereka tu. majlis memang well organize, tapi satu je yang kurang (klfm tak bagi duit raya !)




antara para tetamu dan dj klfm yang menghadiri di majlis jamuan hari raya klfm 2007




(dj azizah sulaiman dan fauziah zakaria @kak porsh @kak diva yang sering mengendalikan segmen kenangan lalu kuala lumpur)

(dj kak anoy dan dj izan pun ada. khabarnya dapat makan nasi minyak dj izan bulan december nanti, jangan dia belanja burger sudah!)




( eh, kawan kita ni pun ada !)

The years gone by - part 3

having had her uterine fibroid and ovarian cyst removed barely six month earlier, it was least expected that there would be another fetus in her uterus on a routine abdominal ultrasound examination. nevertheless, we were very thankful as we thought that we would only end up having a pair. thanks god, she survived an episode of threatened abortion !

she was born just before i left to take up my post in the UK. due to unseen circumstances, we had to leave her under the care of grand ma in JB for a year. within that period we spent fairly large amount of our hard earn penny making regular phone calls to check on her milestone progress (there was no online communication by then !). can't describe the feeling we had when we were finally reunited.



unlike the other 2 kiddos, this youngest kiddo was very mischievous and full of tantrum. even during her early start, she was known to drops things and implicate damage to whatever things she set sight on. and yes, she just love to cry and scream ! despite that she was very lovable and remained very closed to us. and till today she'll never miss kissing us good nite before retiring to her bed.




(during her first european trip at 6 years of age. prior to the trip she keep pestering us to bring her to europe to experience the snow. says she has no memory playing in the snow as she was still a little baby then !)


years gone by, she became more closed and attached to us. even at 13 years of age, on a few occasions, she manage to sweet talk us to accommodate her in our bed (shame on you girl !). unlike her sister and brother, she can be a real pain at times .... very inconsiderate, selfish, self centered and jealous. and one thing for sure, she just hate small children , always calling them pests ! and please don't think about sharing her food or drink from the same plate or glass as you'll never never never see that happening - she's just health freak ! her favourite word ..." yak kotorrr !"

The years gone by - part 2

After completing my postgraduate subspeciality training, we decided that the time was right to add up another member to the family. it wasn't a hard job really. and there it was, after 6 year, our daughter had a wee brother. the first couple of months were rather difficult as she was extremely jelous of him. she will find all means to antagonize him.



times goes by, this young infant grew into an adorable kiddo. unlike the sister who was more of a chatterbox, he was rather slow with his words. i suppose that has got to do with his tongue tie.(thanks to consultant pediatric surgeon, dr. amin tai for his help). he would slept most of the day and throughout the night, making life very much less stressful and pleasant for us. it worries us as by the age of six, he was still unable to recite the abc - wondering then wheather there was any insult to his gray matter during his antenatal days!




one thing i remember, this son of ours would very much prefer cold weather - in his younger days he would be running around with only a light jacket even during the cold winter days. or was he meant to be a cold blooded person.




time goes by and he turn out to be the mother's boy. secretly, he would share his thoughts with the mum. though he appeared blurr and couldn't be bothered at times, he was a gem of a person - obedient, homely, helpful and soft hearted. despite his kindness, he would always bill us when ever he spend on his friends !.

and this young man favourite past time is just dozing off. his mp3 with all the lattest underground numbers and playsation are his companion. and of course he is a die hard fan of MU - wonder what does he see in the short plump flat freckled face typical english guy wayne rooney !!!!!