5 years ago, on this very day, the Iphone was born!! Hah.

18 months ago, I had my second little boy. I can’t quite believe that it’s been 18 months, and yet, sometimes, I find myself wishing that he would grow up faster, just because he is a really difficult baby, even compared to Skylar. Clinginess aside, Rykel has a really bad temper, and that is the one thing I really cannot stand. Regardless of where we are, he would throw tantrums completely out of the blue, and no matter what strangers might say (hey, little man, what’s wrong?), he would continue screaming and arching his back, refusing to let me carry him away from the aisle in Target or the floor in Macy’s.

Pictures of my baby when in a good mood:-

he loves banging my pots and pans together!!!

smiling when his favorite song was on tv

While lunching at Chick-fil-A yesterday, the lady employee came by our table and asked if everything was alright, and she started chatting with Skylar, telling him that eating apples would make him big and strong. Immediately, Skylar reached for a piece of apple on the table, and took a teensy bite. The expression on his face as he ate the apple was just priceless—he gave that “eew, sour apple” look, but ate it anyway. Although, I must add that he ate only while the lady was at our table…oh, and the apple wasn’t the least bit sour!!

We have been so busy these last couple of days– the partying started on Friday night, and went on for the next 3 days. Preparing our food contribution for the parties, buying last-minute gifts for the gift exchange etc etc… sometimes a holiday can turn out to be more tiring than a regular day!

Some pictures:-

Poor Skylar would fall asleep on the drive to the party, get woken up when we arrived at the party venue, bounce around in the bouncehouse etc, sing birthday song, and eat cake, and then the entire process repeats itself in another couple of hours. I actually felt like I was some manager to a young artiste, shuttling him from one promotional gig/appearance to another.

Sometimes, I felt bad for him, cos he was really tired, and badly needed a nap. But a little boy was eagerly waiting for Skylar to show up at his birthday party, so how could I disappoint?

at Ryan’s 4yo birthday party

at Ally’s birthday bash

with one of his best friends at Logan’s party

waiting to eat the cake

we’re going to Fort Lauderdale! Yippee!

We stayed at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina the day we arrived.

Rykel making himself feel at home at the hotel lobby

And then we were off. Key West, here we come! The 4-hour drive went pretty well—Skylar was, as usual, great on long road trips, while Rykel was in a pattern of fuss-laugh-sleep.

brothers cuddle in Silver Palm Inn, Key West

pink car along duval st

For the most part of the trip, Skylar was glued to the iphone/ipod. He had little interest in where we were, or what we were doing, and kept saying that he wanted to go home. He also “took over” the stroller that was really meant for Rykel.

pa trying his very first dolphin sandwich!

yay! he is finally starting to enjoy playing at Smathers Beach

His younger brother loves the outdoors so much, we didn’t have to do any coaxing to get him to play in the water. We did, have problems trying to get him to leave, though.

getting a taste of Key Lime Pie at Mallory Square

on the way to Marathon for dinner

I first ate here over 4 years ago, and thought it would be nice to visit the restaurant again. The food was still as good as how I remembered it to be, and the view, I think it speaks for itself.

We were actually rushing to finish our dinner as fast as we could, because it was getting dark, and Pa didn’t want to make the hour-long drive back to Key West on the narrow bridges. While Pa was busying himself clearing our empty plates and trays, Ma and I were leisurely snapping pictures of the little pier at dusk. It was so funny!

on the drive back

the morning we leave for Miami!

After a looong drive ( massive jam in downtown Miami), we finally arrived! And then we had to look for a reasonably-priced hotel with a good location. Miami hotels are NOT cheap!!

dinner at Chalan on the Beach, while it was raining cats and dogs outside

the most horrendous “breakfast” ever, courtesy of our hotel!

Our boutique hotel was set in a great location, just a stone’s throw away from SoBe, but I hated the “funky” lightings they had on the hotel signage, the hallways, and in the rooms.

We had to make the drive back to Fort Lauderdale that morning, so we didn’t have a lot of time to spend at South Beach. But we did get to take a few ( or rather, numerous) jumping shots at the beach.

Here’s one of the many that Ma took, trying to capture that exact moment of me in the air. Ma failed, many many times. Looking through my camera, I had so many pictures of me in various poses, but mostly they were taken those few milliseconds BEFORE I made my jump.

this is not even close!

walau! FAIL FAIL FAIL! heheh

Pa finally got a decent shot of me jumping in the air. 

The drive back to Fort Lauderdale was a breeze. It took only 45 minutes, and we even had time to spare to explore a little of downtown Fort Lauderdale.

drawbridge in downtown FLL

lunch in Las Olas

Who knew that Fort Lauderdale has a pretty beach too?

For a start, here’s one of Skylar lying in the dentist chair.

Slightly over a month ago, he had his very first visit to the dentist. I remember how it all went– he immediately recognised the ” clinic” setting when we entered the reception area, and said that he was not sick. After I finished registering him, he asked if we could leave, even before we had started doing anything else. The dentist and the rest of the staff were very amused.

Despite his fear and apprehensive, everything went very well and I was really proud of him– he opened his mouth big and wide when he was told so the technician could do a mouth x-ray, and allowed the dental assistant, and then the dentist, to clean and check all his teeth, all without any fuss and whining. Best part of all, he loved his clean, white teeth so much after that, that he says he wants to go to the dentist again!

I have always had a lot of respect for doctors and others who work in the healthcare industry, because I felt that these people do their best for people, and work for the good of their patients. My stay at the hospital has totally shown me how WRONG I was!

Doctors are motivated by one thing, and one thing only—MONEY.

I was scheduled for a bronchoscopy to check my lung for tb. Dye test from the fluid taken from my lung has been proven negative. The skin test that they did turned out positive, but that was already expected even before it was done, because I had BCG jabs when I was young. So regardless of whether I do have tb now or not, the test will still show the same result. So why then did they make me do a redundant test? —> money!

We requested to speak with the Finance girl to find out how much the bronchoscopy would cost before I agree to do the procedure. Everyone was so reluctant, and unhelpful. They tried to delay as long as they could, until Yifan went to see the girl in person. And even then, we didn’t get any straightforward answer.

And prior to all this, I started having some chest pain since this morning. I paged 2 times for my nurse to come see me, and finally, she called (!!) me on the room phone. Can you believe it?! Told her I wanted to see the doctor for my chest pain, and she came back with some medicine that is supposedly to help with heartburn. She said the doctor thinks it may be heartburn, and that he will be on his way to see me, and that they don’t want to hold up the bronchoscopy. Are these people mad? I was admitted to the hospital because of chest pains, and now they give me medicine because they think I am having heartburn??!!!

And I waited, and waited for over 2 hours, and the doctor never did show up. They probably knew I wasn’t going to die.

Of course, at 130pm sharp, nurses arrived to take me down to do bronchoscopy. Oooh, how efficient of them now!

I told them I wasn’t going until I find out more about the costs. The nurse in charge of me was pissed. Then the pulmonary doctor who was going to do the bronchoscopy came to talk to me. What came out of his mouth next was all bullshit. He told me this is not a cost issue, this is a public health issue, and that I have very good insurance, and it will cover a lot. Oh yeah, I get it now. They are just trying to rip off the insurance company.And that basically, I have no choice. I either do the procedure right now, or wait till tomorrow, and then have to stay the weekend in the hospital to wait for the results.

Procedure went well, and after that, I mentioned to another nurse about the skin test and how I had BCG jabs before. She was surprised that they made me do it knowing that the test would turn out positive. She was the only nice person I met today. I can’t wait for the night nurses to come take over. I don’t like this current day nurse.

Oh, and within 5 minutes of returning to my room after the procedure, the doctor who was supposed to check on me hours ago, ARRIVED!!! Coincidence? I think not! Just good timing on his part.

And all of a sudden, my day nurse ( whom I totally dislike) came into my room without putting on a mask!! *gasps*

They were so careful with their masks around me all the time, and suddenly, after the bronchoscopy, she walks into the room, mask-less?! What am I supposed to think?

People always say that lawyers are bad hats, because they help the villains, and it is so true.

Now I see for myself that doctors aren’t a whole lot different. Altruistic? Perhaps a teeny percentage of doctors are truly there to do good, but for the rest of them, I think they just want to live in big and beautiful houses, and drive nice cars. And no prizes for guessing how they will go about achieving their real “dreams” in life.

Doctor says most likely I have tb. I am sad, and scared. I may have to do a bronchoscopy tomorrow, so they can get some “stuff” out from my lung to do further tests, and I will have to be sedated for it. This brings back a lot of bad memories from the time when Skylar was hospitalised and had to be sedated before he underwent the operation. I remember him sedated, and also remember how much pain he was in when he woke up from the drugs. It scares me till this day.

My greatest worry is that if I really have active TB, it would affect the kids—from now onwards, they would have to make the declaration, and what if, God forbid, one day, they end up like me? I know that most people have latent TB, and it rarely develops into the active form, so why me?

Will my family and I be ostracized in future? I know that I would freak out if I heard that someone I know had been diagnosed with the disease. And even if I am no longer contagious, I know people will always have this lingering fear that it just might happen to them, that they just might have gotten it from me.

Even now, I am still hoping and praying that it’s just pneumonia that I got. At least, it wouldn’t be as much of a social stigma.

Then, there is a 20% chance that the doctors won’t even have a reason for the fluid in my lung. If that were the case, should I feel happy or sad? Maybe I may rejoice over the fact that I don’t have TB, but then, I would always live in the fear that one day, I will be struck with a mysterious illness, and that the fluid will come back again.

I thought I was just going to visit my doctor for some heartburn problems when I left home yesterday morning with Rykel in tow. I wasn’t expecting a chest x-ray, nor the EKG, and certainly, not news that I had fluid in my right lung. The doctor could only see half of the right lung, and she was worried about blood clot. Suddenly, I was wheeled into the ER next door, I called Yifan to come to the hospital, and that started my day of more x-rays, tubes and tubes of blood drawn, and a CT scan. Thankfully, the results from the scan showed that I didn’t have any blood clot. Still, doctors were surprised and concerned that a young and relatively healthy person like me had fluid in the lung.

Possibilities range from trauma to the body like a bump, to pneumonia, to tuberculosis, to worst-case—cancer. I didn’t think that I had knocked into anything recently, and suffered trauma. And I hadn’t been sick before this too, so pneumonia??? But right now, we are all hoping pneumonia is what I got. It would be the least of our worries.

The doctor inserted a catheter, and drew out 700ml of fluid from around my right lung. I then had another chest x-ray done to make sure my lung didn’t collapse.

The rest of the day—more blood drawn from me, and a skin test to check for tuberculosis.

Last night, after I started physically feeling better, it almost felt like those times when I was recuperating after labor and delivery, and that anytime now, the nurse would be bringing the baby into the room for me to nurse. After all, that would be the only reason why I would want to be in the hospital.

This morning, after a quick shower, I was wheeled upstairs for another chest x-ray.

Just finished my breakfast, and now awaiting more results/news. On the one hand, I want to know what’s going on with me, but on the other hand, I am worried and scared to find out.

And poor Rykel. The baby was frightened yesterday when he saw me lying on the bed with all the wires, and nurses hovering around. He cried till he fell asleep in the arms of a nurse, until Yifan arrived. Even Skylar knew something was wrong when he came to see me last night. I could tell that he was a little afraid, and he was scared to touch me.