Month: March 2020

Saturday, 7 March 2020

As the number of Covid-19 cases in our country increases rapidly, so does the fear. And the panic buying.  I didn’t feel the need to stock up on groceries yet until the mil and some relatives prompted me to stockpile on daily necessities like bread, rice, meat, canned food, bread and of course toilet papers!  Yes toilet papers. Why do people all around the world stockpile to the extent of fight for toilet papers?  In the worst case scenario, i.e. you’re really so unfortunate to have to be quarantined at home and you run out of toilet papers, you can always wash and wipe your down under, can’t you? I still don’t see why people have to hoard toilet papers and kitchen rolls 🤔

As to why some people stockpile on toilet papers and food stuff, I can only surmise that people buy in bulk so that they don’t have to make frequent trips to the supermarket. And in the event they have to be house-quarantined, they are well-stocked with essential items. Makes sense?

And so after being prompted to stockpile on toilet papers and essential items, today I went to 99 Speedmart and Big Pharmacy to stock up on these items😅  These places were packed with customers, stocking up on face masks, hand sanitizer, toilet papers (even kitchen rolls!), canned food and sacks of rice.

Saturday is pet therapy day. Today we saw the pet shop owner teaching a customer’s German Shepherd tricks and instructions. And oh my, the dog is so clever and obedient! Even more obedient than a human!  Cass and I visit the dogs and cats at this pet shop after piano class every Saturday.

Did you know that German Shepherd is known as being one of the most intelligent dogs in the world? This breed of dog is often used as police and military dogs.  They are equally good at herding, guiding, rescue or acting as watchdogs while most owners claim that they are much easier to train than other breeds.

Dinner was at Lot 10, an impromptu whim by the hubs. For once on a Saturday night, there was no traffic congestion at the Bukit Bintang area and driving around the area was a breeze.  The jubilant tone at this touristy place looks dampened by the current Covid-19 crisis.  The J’s Gate Dining and Hutong Food Court @ Lot 10 were not crowded like it usually would on weekends. We first had some light fine Japanese food at J’s Gate Dining and then segued into Hutong Food Court to savour the best of KL and Macau street food.

Many empty tables at the Hutong food court:

My favorite Macau Pork Chop noodles:

Almost deserted at the Isetan supermarket:

After dinner, we digged into the famous 6th Avenue Cheesecake, matcha cheese cake and Tiramisu at The Tokyo Restaurant @ Lot 10.  Before Covid-19, on a usual Saturday night or Sunday afternoon, we would have to wait for at least 15 – 20 minutes for a table. But tonight, there was no queue and we got a table immediately.

We left Lot 10 promptly after dinner. For once, I didn’t even have the mood to shop at H&M! All I wanted to do was to go home, remove my street clothes, wash them with disinfectant in hot water and shower. Haha, I am that OCD and such a  hypochondriac. But who’s not now? 😬



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Top Questions to Ask Before Engaging a Mover in Kuala Lumpur

Moving to a new home can be challenging sometimes. Especially when you’re deciding on whether to hire a professional mover or handle the big move on your own using a lorry rental service. If you’re still not sure on which decision yet, here are a few questions you can ask the movers before hiring one.

Is Your Company A Registered Entity?
We have seen plenty of signages on the streets of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor such as ‘lorry for rent’ with their respective contact number on the boards. But are all these movers legal? Is it possible for us to trust them? First things first, we need to find out whether they are registered to the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM). Having a mover that is legally registered under CCM would be a much safer and reliable choice.

How Long Have You Been in The Moving Industry?
We often neglect to check the experience or background of a mover because most of us focus more on the cost. Therefore, we must look into their experiences with handling furniture. 

Whether the item is big or small, they should know how to move it safely and work efficiently to avoid extra hours or extra manpower which will increase the cost to the client. For example, if you are moving to a condominium or an apartment, how will the items fit it into the elevator? Or what if they need to use the stairs instead of the elevator? Can they manage the items well? 

Knowledge plays an important role as well as they may be required to dismantle and assemble furniture for the client. Before engaging a house or furniture mover, it’s safer to check on their reviews or ratings on their website or have someone to recommend a reliable source for you.

Cost Involved in My Move?
We Malaysians often make cheap pricing a priority over other factors. For freelance movers, they will usually quote based on the distance of the place (Within Klang Valley or outstation), the property size (landed or condominium) and the number of hours that is required. Most of them don’t have a fixed rate and they may charge clients more than they’re supposed to. This may be because they do not have a proper documentation or quotation to present to clients. 

Whereas a proper mover will offer you an estimated price in a packaged deal. Any additional charges will be quoted by the mover. Proper documentation such as quotation, invoices, receipts are presented to clients from a registered mover.

Extra Charges That May Be Involved?
Extra charges such as additional manpower, hours, extra trips to the house (back and forth), dismantling or packing the item may also be involved on the moving day. Therefore, it’s important to explain briefly about the items you have at home before making any deposit or payment to the mover. This is also to avoid any extra charges that exceed the original cost price. 

Mode of Payment and Terms?
It is important to know the terms and conditions before signing up with any movers. For freelance movers, they often ask for the payment in cash instead of credit card. Furthermore, they may also require a deposit to be made upfront to book the vehicle in advance and balance payment on the moving day. But can we really rely on their payment terms? What if they do not turn up on the moving day? 

Therefore, if we choose a registered mover, we will have everything documented and some companies even accept credit card transactions. A non-registered mover does not have a proper cancellation policy and might not even refund your deposit. Whereas a registered mover, they will be able to carry forward the deposit (Even though it is non-refundable) just in case you’ve decided to change the move date.

Is Temporary Storage Available?
For temporary storage of furniture, a trusted mover will inform the client of the location of the storage and will follow-up closely to ensure that the moving is completed, and it is safely stored. Additional charges will be incurred if temporary storage is required. 

Photos of Mover Vehicle and Licensed Number Plate
It’s best to have a photo of the vehicle and the registered number plate that will be used on the moving day. This is to ensure that the correct lorry vehicle is transporting your furniture instead of an unknown party.

Decision
One professional mover in Kuala Lumpur that you can consider is Mover2U. Why? Because their price rates are transparent, they are well-experienced in handling furniture safely, have good customer reviews and ratings on their website and most importantly, they are registered under the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM). 

Choosing Mover2U will help you ease your mind and there will be no hassle on the moving day. Look no further! Get in touch with their trusty movers now! You may contact them via email or phone call to get a free quotation!

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Update On Cassandra’s Appointment at HKL – 5 March 2020

I finally got an appointment to go to HKL today, but not to see the Urologist. I went there to sign a Consent Letter and to get a date for Cass to do an MRU (Magnetic Resonance Urography).  The parent needs to sign a Consent Letter as the procedure has some risks tied to it. However, not all patients will experience these side effects. In the past, Cass had gone through MCUG and MAG3 scans that required contrast injected via IV and thank God, she didn’t suffer from any side effects. Hopefully her body will have no issues dealing with the contrast again this time. Fasting is required and besides having contrast injected via IV, Cass MUST NOT move throughout the 1.5 hours inside the MRI tunnel, which emits deafening sounds. Any movement will render the images unclear.  Cass had done an MRI before 6 years ago but that was without any contrast injected. The images were not 100% clear.  I think the hardest thing about this procedure is not being able to move for 1.5 hours and being strapped and wrapped up like a mummy;  not fasting for 8 hours or more.

The Consent Letter:

I was late for almost an hour for my appointment with the Urology Dept nurse as I couldn’t get a Grab driver. None of the Grab drivers wanted to accept a passenger who’s going to HKL, thinking that I must be sick with some suspicious virus.  HKL is one of the government hospitals to handle Covid-19 cases besides Hospital Sg Buloh.

I then downloaded the My Car app and finally managed to get a kind driver who came to pick me up. We chatted throughout the ride to the hospital. He went to the wrong building (HKL is really HUGE!) and had to make a detour; I had to pay extra and was terribly late. He told me that he’s now very careful with accepting orders to and fro hospitals; orders to and fro the Sg Buloh Hospital will never be accepted as it’s the centralized hospital for all Covid-19 cases in the Klang Valley. Thank God I managed to get a Grab driver after the appointment some 4 hours later, as the driver had to drop off a doctor at HKL. On both trips, the drivers wore face mask. The My Car driver told me that he has to sanitize his car every 4 hourly and fumigate his car with potent disinfectant once a week.

I wore a mask 😷 throughout my time at HKL; also washed and sanitized my hands umpteen times till my hands now feel like a 100-year old woman’s wrinkled hands.

Hand sanitizer located on every floor and at the lift areas:

From the Specialist Centre at HKL, I had to walk under the sizzling hot sun to the Women & Children Hospital, some 10 minutes walk away.  This is housed in a new building, which is so huge that I kept getting lost inside.  Each floor looks like a maze inside, with many doors unlabelled.  From the 9th floor, I had to go the 2nd floor, then back to 9th floor and finally 1st floor.  Even finding my way out of the maze was mind boggling and I had to stop several times to ask the guards and doctors for directions back to the main lobby for me to order Grab.🤪  The only upside is my Fitbit buzzed and vibrated to inform me that I had hit 10,000 steps! Yay!

This is the Imaging Dept and there is no signal and no mobile network here, thus couldn’t do anything but people watch for more than an hour in freezing temp.

At the ward, I saw small kids undergoing dialysis and it’s really heartbreaking.

At the Registration Counter, I saw this little boy of about 5 years old hooked to a machine with tubes. It must be an oxygen tank or something.

At the Imaging Department, I saw a Malay man with 2 boys – one is about 12 and the other about 14 and both of them, though mentally normal, were on a wheelchair each. One of the boys has dwarfism and digestion issues and the other boy couldn’t walk and has a slightly enlarged head.  And I thought how unfair can life be for this man as both his sons are wheelchair bound and sick but he looks like one very loving and patient dad.

Another Chinese lady walked out of the Imaging room with her maid carrying her daughter (about 8 years old) and this girl’s body is floppy and looked ‘twisted’. I could only guess that she has severe Cerebral Palsy and some other issues.  At the lobby several Down Syndrome and cancer kids walked past me.

Like I’d mentioned before, whenever you feel like life’s unfair to you and you feel dissatisfied with your current life, just take half a day off and make a trip to HKL. You’ll instantly feel that your life ain’t that bad after all when you compare your life with what you’re bound to see at the hospital.

Cass and I now have a little over 2 months to prepare ourselves mentally for her procedure. Wish us luck. We really need loads of it.

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2020 Medical Check-Up

It’s the dreaded time of the year again and I am feeling antsy waiting for my health report card as I’m not sure what to expect.  All the “what if”s have been playing in my mind since a couple of weeks ago. Yup, I’m that high-strung.

HFM’s Annual Medical Checklist:

Blood work for blood sugar and cholesterol – ✅
Pap smear ✅
Breasts ultrasound scan ✅
Pelvic ultrasound scan ✅
Total blood count test  ❎– will do it at AA Pharmacy this Saturday
Colonoscopy 🔜 — to be done in 3 years and am already starting to prep myself mentally for it.

Today I went to the gynae’s clinic to have my pap smear, breasts ultrasound scan and pelvic ultrasound scan done.

Blood pressure is normal, albeit a little low but still A-OK. If only the same can be said for my cholesterol level. It’s still a tad high at 6.3 and that’s after so much refrainment from eating red meat and processed foods. I envy people who shove junk and tons of meat into their mouths yet their cholesterol readings are below 5! Life is just too unfair 🤦‍♀️

For those who are new to my blog, I have Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH).  People with FH are essentially born with high LDL cholesterol. Everyone’s cholesterol levels tend to rise with age. But those with FH have LDL levels that start high and go even higher over time. Diet and exercise alone cannot bring down the level much 😫.

The only time my cholesterol level was below 5 was when my red meat consumption was almost zilch. But the downside was my red blood cells numbers were so low that I was almost a goner with severe anemia. But thank God I manage to evade a blood transfusion before my Myomectomy surgery (for removal of uterine fibroid) 3 years ago after binging on red meat and popped Sangobion (iron tabs) twice a day for several months to increase my red blood cells.

The National Cancer Institute recommends Pap tests every one to two years. If women over the age of 30 have had normal tests for three consecutive years, they can talk to their doctors about spacing out the exam to every three years.  My gynae is of the opinion that I should have a pap smear done annually and I can’t agree more with her. In the event any malignancy is detected, it would likely be in the very early stage and there’s a higher chance of being treated and cured.

The annual appointment with your doctor itself is still a very important preventative health measure. The physical exam combined with the detailed health history obtained at the annual visit allows the doctor to more accurately determine a woman’s risk for certain diseases. This could lead the doctor to recommend that she begin earlier or more frequent screening.

Pap smears typically continue throughout a woman’s life, until she reaches the age of 65, unless she has had a hysterectomy. If so, she no longer needs Pap smears unless it is done to test for cervical or endometrial cancer. At that point, if a patient has had two normal Pap smears in the past 10 years and she has not had any seriously precancerous cells in the past 20 years, she can stop screening altogether.

I have a customer whose 60 something mom skipped her check up for more than a year and when she finally went to her gynae for a screening, a malignant lump was detected in her breast. Sadly she passed on a year later. This is just so sad.   It could have been detected earlier and treatment administered earlier and a life could have been saved.

I know I’m going to get hung up for the next 9-10 days until the Pap smear report is out. I’ll just have to deal with it as part and parcel of my life.   Ladies, if you’ve not done your Pap smear and ultrasound scan of your breasts and pelvic for years, it’s time to call your doctor’s office to fix an appointment. The package at my gynae’s office only costs RM350.  This could safe your life. Trust me.



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HEALTH FREAK MOMMY