You wont believe this , the home improvement ( tiny weeny ) activities are not done yet ! As of noon today , the tiling man has just finished laying the tiles in the bathroom. I have been informed that other fittings would have to wait till next Tuesday ! This means NEXT YEAR 2013! Gosh ! for the length of time this takes , anyone would think that the house is given a major makeover !
This  has been a tremendously stressful + tiring period for me . During the day ,nothing much could be done . There was lack of privacy with workers moving about the house , not to mention the amount of noise and dust flying about ! And when evening comes , we have to vacumn , mop and clean up the whole area . The many  rags got to be washed clean and dried for use the following day .
Spring cleaning would have to be in early January 2013 . Not much of a choice , right ?

Home Improvement

The activities are ongoing for more than  a week already and the end is still not in sight !
Mind you , its just some renovations done to 2 bathrooms , re-piping and painting .
The painting job will only start tomorrow and if weather permits , the job would take about a week ! That's what I was told by the contractor . I dont like the " about " word , it hints of a much longer time required !

I dread to think of the spring cleaning that will follow  after all those works are completed .

To the Respiratory Specialist Clinic

4.12.2012 ( Tuesday )

The  District Hospital had someone called me yesterday to remind me of the appointment with a visiting specialist in the respiratory clinic . I was asked to come in  at 8 :30 am , half an hour earlier than scheduled previously.

I arrived at the hospital on time , got my number  “1006” at 8:21 am .After that ,  I had to wait close to 3 hours  before I got to enter room 25 of the specialist clinic ! Surprisingly , I waited patiently , not a bit angry nor agitated  having to wait that long !

I was impressed with the female specialist in attendance ,she exuded confidence , friendly , not in the least intimidating and I felt  very comfortable with her .  

She  said that my phlegm problem could be due to the HBP medicine ( Cozaar ) that I am taking . I informed her that the phlegm problem existed before I started  Cozaar. I also  told her that the phlegm problem started in Nov last year ( 2011)  and in between then and now , I had a few bouts of flu .I thought the phlegm would take  some time to clear off after each episode  of the flu attack . And since the episodes of flu were quite close to each other ,  I felt like I was having the phlegm all the time ! To this , the learned Doctor said that I was still having the flu , that  the flu never went away ! This is really something new to me – could a person be having flu for that long ?   The doctor said yes , she found my voice very nasal . I had a referral for  ENT  clinic . Since the district hospital does not have a resident ENT doctor , I had to make a appointment to see the visitng specialist that comes only once a month . The person in charge told me that only 40 patients are allowed  at each of the specialist ‘s montly visitation  . Guess what , I only managed to get an appointment for sept 2013!   Dear health minister , Is Malaysia that short of  medical specialists ? Every district has  huge , fully furnished , impressive new hospitals  but where are the doctors ? 

My HBP medication was also changed to Amlodipine  ( Vemlo 10) manufactured by Ranbaxy , I received a 3-month supply .  Of course I will consult my family physician regarding the change . 

Customer satisfaction

I went for a medical appointment at the new District hospital this morning . This would be the third time I am at the hospital , so I went  mentally prepared  , knowing well ahead that   my patience would be tested again .  I kept a note of all the timings .

10.00 am	left my ID with registration staff .
10.50 am	got my outpatient number . Time stated on the number slip – 10:26 am [Note: a few agitated outpatients were  grumbling about the snail service  and the inefficiency of the front desk staff
11:30 am	Out of Room 13 . This is where a hospital attendant  took my BP and asked me  the purpose  of the visit .
11:45 am	out of Room 15 . The doctor on duty reported to me about the outcome of the sputum test . She also referred me to the respiratory specialist clinic .
12:00 noon	finished the final 2 tasks . ·         Got my prescription from the pharmacy ( very fast) ·         Schedule an appointment with the specialist clinic ( no hassle)

So , what can one say about  the efficiency of this new hospital service  when one has to wait close to an hour to get registered ?  I must also add that the staff on duty showed no urgency at all !  Another patient next to me imitated exasperatingly how the registration staff  was keying in data with 1 finger only . No wonder it took that long !  It mocks us , as a nation , to have   5-star infrastructure  only to fill it up with incompetent staff ! 

 There is only one criterion for  any service industry  - customer satisfaction .  The hospital is a very good example of a service institution that should render quick service to its patient-customers. Generally, the longer the patient stays in the hospital the more ineffective and inefficient it is. As patients, we all want the hospital to let us out as fast as possible – of course well and alive.

Retirement

Retirement , to many , represents  the payoff of a long career and a time they can finally set aside work and enjoy life , doing the things they have always wanted to do but have missed out for whatever reasons or simply spending more time with  loved ones and friends . But what is the right retirement age ?  

 When I first entered the civil service way back in the 1970’s , the retirement age was set at 55 . This was then revised to 56 and then 58 a few years later . Last year , the  retirement age  was raised to 60 . 

To management guru Peter Drucker , retirement is an industrial age thinking. It makes sense for the blue-collar worker  who would have difficulty handling physically demanding tasks  as  age catches up.  But for the “ knowledge workers”, they can and should continue to stay productive till as late as it is possible.  They should be given an option of putting off  retirement for as long as they can .Their stay in the workforce  will be worthy as these workers  have accumalated vast experience and their contribution would be invaluable.

Medical examination

I visited the local district hospital shortly after lunch yesterday ( 14 Nov 2012)  with the  hope that the GP can refer me to a specialist regarding my  hypertension  and also the nagging phlegm problem I had been having  since Nov 2011 .

The GP on duty ordered  a chest X-Ray for my second complaint . Looking at the X-Ray  film , he asked me if I  am a smoker ( even if it is only passive ) , whether I had fever or cough recently …..  . With his not so fluent English , he explained to me that the white spots on the X-Ray film  could be due to infection, cancer and something else he said but I cant recall now .  Anyway , I have to bring samples of  saliva / phlegm  to the pathology department for 3 days consecutively . I started the first one this morning .

It makes me wonder if the hospital  have a different standard where BP reading is concerned . My BP reading taken at the hospital was 146/88 , and  I was made to answer a few questions while the reading was taken !   The attending doc commented that I should stop taking medication for a week , he thinks that I don’t need any BP  medicine at all with this kind of reading . I really cant  believe what he said , this was the reading with medication , can one imagine if I am without the medication ?  Anyway , I told the doctor that I would like to go on medication for a while till an appointment with the specialist is made .

I pray that the results from the culture will be favorable !

Guilt

I'm guilty.

Guilty of not being able to keep up with reading my magazines and the daily newspaper . I leave the living room and the dinning table utterly disorganized   most of the time ! I am behind time doing the ironing  , my closets have not been rearranged the whole year already ! 


"I'm pretty organized -- or I used to be. 
I feel like that part of my brain has atrophied."

Live The Moment

Living the good life may mean different things to different people.  There is, however, the  common  understanding that   the “good life” is the life that one would like to live broken down to its most basic form.  It deals with

·         the simple pleasures that make one happy,

·         the compassionate deeds one performs,

·          the personal goals one strives to achieve,

·          the relationships one nurture and

·          the legacy one leaves behind. 

 The end result of them all is Fulfilment

“The good life” is also about appreciating all one’s time, not just your leisure time.  Far too many people get caught up in the mad rush of modern  lifestyle and grow completely numb to the little moments, the simple building blocks of time that make life magical.  Time, after all, is the single greatest element of life.


“Live today. Not yesterday. Not tomorrow. Just  today. Inhabit your moments. Don’t rent them out to tomorrow. Jerry Spinelli,

“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life.”
― Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now


“A life is measured by moments like these”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Shiver

Once is enough!

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”
― Mae West

And in that one life …………

FORGIVING – A GENEROSITY OF SPIRIT

Martin Luther King said that "The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind." Consider how harbouring vindictive thoughts, even though so compelling at times, is nothing but violence to oneself. A characteristic of a generous person is a total lack of resentment..

Giving is sharing

While generosity in its pure sense is altruistic, you do still get something back from it: surprise dividends in the form of a recycling of goodwill, a surplus of cooperation, and the sheer satisfaction of seeing another benefit from our giving of ourselves, our time, our attention, our knowledge, the very best that we have to offer those who cross our paths at work or life. We will never know what opportunities we may have missed in life by showing up tight-fisted. It is hard to receive anything if we don't open our hands to give.
Giving people the gift of not just our appreciation for good work, but our genuine admiration for their talents, is generosity of spirit at its pinnacle. This is the difference between saying to someone: "Great job" versus "This was pure genius;" or "I appreciated your help" versus "I couldn't have done it without you." When it comes to genuine praise, like the sun at high noon, give resplendently. When you see good work, say it, and say it from the heart, just as you thought it. Free up the thought, and let it breathe – let it fly out there in the form of generous words, and watch what you get back. Giving is ultimately sharing. 

A message sent by dad ?

Today , a few dragon flies were hovering over my head , making loud sounds that made me dart for safety instantly . I mistook it for  the buzzing sounds of swarming bees , What a relief too see that they were just red dragonflies ! An unusual sight , though it is not the first time  I see these red species ! I used to have a small pond in the yard , it was a regular sight  then !