Adding photos

There is hope yet for everyone who's been waiting for any photo that's ever been snapped on my camera since I got back to Singapore. Fresh snaps take priority coz I worked out that's the only way current stuff can be seen...but I'm working my way backwards so keep checking back on my picasa gallery and I'll fill in stuff right back to August 07 in due time! :)

Los Angeles: incoming!

It was to be an 18hr flight from Singapore to Los Angeles with a brief 1hr stop at Taipei. Having skipped sleep the night before; I was happy to get onboard, curl up and go to sleep - however, I realised to my dismay that I had two kids behind me, one kicking and pounding on the back of my seat and the other screaming and yelling. Fantastic. Oh. Not to mention angry guy one seat away from me. I paused to thank the Lord for the space of one seat and the next thing I knew, I opened my eyes and angry guy had been replaced by smiley, dimple guy - When I managed to say awake for more than 5 minutes, I realised he was alot of fun.

So anyway...I was too tired...I fell asleep reading the Financial Times re. Wimbledon as the plan began to taxi on the runway and the next thing I knew we were well and truly airborne and they were serving dinner. I recall having some dinner and then the next thing I knew we were preparing for descent in Taipei. I stayed awake for all of the 20mins we had to get off and then back on the same aircraft and I woke up to watch Step Up 2 and then went back to sleep, waking only as we were descending into LAX airspace...it was a beautiful sunset.

Ryan's flight was arriving from Detroit at 9:15pm and my flight arrived at 8:20pm so I thought it'd be just nice if I factored in time for immigration and customs...but I got a text from him saying his flight was delayed - I checked the screen at T2 and it said i would arrive at 10:45pm so I found a cafe, had a drink and worked on some accounts stuff. Eventually his flight landed...he sidled up beside me where I was standing by the bag carousel and it was soooo good to see him again! We chatted, caught up and what not while waiting for his container to arrive and Leanna picked us up outside. We went straight to Denny's and downed the grand slam breakfast in honour of old memories and towards making new ones (she has those pictures). Ryan wasn't sure of the state of his apartment since he'd been away so I stayed at Leanna's instead...this couch and the lovely four-pronged light will be my bedroom for at least two nights.














Leanna with her new dog "Dromy" and Erin's 7-wk old kittens - the grey one is "greybear" and the white and black one is "panda"

16th June (Mon) started off with a 9am meeting with Bernice at the Dream Centre finalising some details and handing in of some forms and signing off on stuff...and the whole day was spent doing scheduling and meetings and sorting out finance stuff followed by an amazing Chai Latte at the Downbeat Cafe on Alvrado and Sunset Blvd. Leanna picked me up from there, we got home, walked and bathed Dromy and then drove somewhere because she was giving her cock-a-poo (cocker spaniel cross poodle) away. We eventually had dinner round 10pm at the El Pollo Loco round the corner and did some grocery shopping at Ralph's. You can see from the photo below that I enjoyed my dinner immensely!

The world within my reach

a thousand reasons i'm glad to be home

sleepover at SGH

if only it were as docile as it sounds... (hey prepare yourselves, this is a really long entry but there's a really good ending so don't give up halfway!!)

So. After a truly washed out monday night with no sleep whatsoever under my belt, I admit myself into Ward 63 and the Singapore General Hospital at 7am on a rainy Tuesday morning (27 May) - note: myself...because my darling cuz kindda overslept!! It got to be quite a drag because initially they told my my surgery was gonna be at 9:45am but then at 12 they still hadn't called and around 1pm they told me it'd be plus or minus 2 hrs from 5pm. Since there was nothing else to do and I was feeling fine, Jo and I headed downstairs for a walk so she could have lunch and I could pick the flowers/gift that Dad's church was gonna give me... haha. That's sunflower number one + happy monkey I've named "tohggy!"

While the flowers were getting done up and Jo had deserted me in her bid to "buy stuff" at Cheers, I got the call from the ward i/c to say that the operating theatre had called and they were sending a trolley to collect me - I wondered what kind of a trolley it'd be and my mind conjured up images of the cold storage kindda shopping trolleys. Anyway, we headed upstairs and got changed into the blue operating gown in a midst of frenzy and much laughs - according to the nurse, jo and i were "hyper". I thought the gown kindda made me look like a blue angel of sorts...haha! But yeah if you've always liked me smiling, enjoy this photo for as long as you can coz you don't see me smiling for a looooong time after I come out of recovery from the procedure.

While I'm waiting in the prep area outside the theatre where they put in the IV line and ask me a bunch of questions repeatedly about contact lenses, loose teeth, drug allergies and etc, my assigned young anesthetist asks about my occupation and when I say "youth pastor", he's the first one of all the form-fillers who doesn't grunt and ask "what's that" - so I took it that he was familiar with church and the concept of pastors and such. When he turns around, I check out the cross dangling from his neck and so I ask "what church do you go to?" He doesn't give me a direct answer but motions with his hands and semi-grunts "i go when i have the time - which is like..never??" I picked up something. But it wasn't clear. I waited. I won't record the rest of what happened, but yeah...i so wanna tell the dude he should come back to church, drop by sjsm for a visit and stuff.

We head in, I'm transfered to the table, the main (old/senior) anesthetist gets them to put an arm board for my left arm, tells them I'm cold so they give me some hot air to warm me up...they put the gas mask on, tell me it'll be sweet and that I'll feel a burning sensation heading up my arm and then I'll be out. I forgot to mention. Earlier Prof Tan Kok Chai came to meet me for the first time while I was in the prep area and he told me it was gonna be a straight-forward and quick 10-15min procedure to fix the displaced nasal plate and that I had nothing to worry about. Dr Leo - the doctor I'd been seeing at the specialist clinic who'd recommended and set up the surgery was also present. I heard some joke about how they shouldn't press the gas mask too hard otherwise it might crush my nose and then they wouldn't even have to do the op and it'd be a waste of the anesthesia...and then I was out.

[ brace yourself for photo below]

When I woke up, they told me not to panic because I couldn't breathe; they said my nose was packed and I should breathe from my mouth - they told me that already. They made sure I was breathing and then pulled out the stuff they'd used to intubate me for the op. I wasn't too sure what was going on...all I knew at that time was. PAIN. SCATHING, SEETHING, UNKIND, THOUGHTLESS, MINDBLOWING PAIN. I COULD NOT THINK. I COULD NOT CRY. I COULD NOT SPEAK. IT WAS JUST TOO MUCH. I think I passed out because of the pain. When I woke up again, I was in recovery - still in pain. Someone told me I had been given morphine but that it would take time. I waited while I sobbed - not at will and without sound, eternity elapsed and I was sure it wasn't kicking in...I asked for more. They got a doctor, I got another shot....waited some more...still in unbearable pain. I asked for more. And while they got someone else to give me another shot I asked them to get Wendy - who's also an anesthetist from our church...currently in the OT (i knew that because we spoke briefly earlier). By grace she just happened to have heard my voice and was heading in my direction right then (i think i heard her say that - i'd have to confirm) and it was SO FANTASTIC to have a familiar voice in my ear, hold my hand, listen to me rave about my pain...and really the fact that she believed I was in pain - the ones before seemed to think my claim dubious for whatever reasons - but yeah I explained that my pain threshold was really generally quite high and that what I was experiencing then was truly horrible. I think I had another 3 doses of morphine before I finally settled. It turns out I was in the theatre for over an hour and and at some point she said she had to leave...and I faded out again.

By the time I got wheeled back to the ward, it was past 7pm. Wendy was there waiting - ahhh the angel :) I don't actually remember exactly who was there, but I know furry was there too...and eve and mel and the rest of the wondergroup came. I think the first night was a blur mainly because of the effects of the anesthesia and morphine combined...plus the fact that my eyes were so swollen I could hardly open them. I do know that I'd received many more sunflowers - everyone was speculating if they were my favourite flowers - but really it's coz they're the only pretty flowers from the store downstairs! haha! But seriously, the flowers were beautiful and so was "tohggy" that you'd met earlier, and now in this photo my beautiful friend a me-to-you bear that's slightly confused in a husky suit - I've named him "Akejai" in memory of Ninjai and Akela :)

[happy snaps with cellkids & akejai - oh how i love my darlings
- who were all rather sedate when they first saw me..I guess it was the surreality of the fact i was silent and not bugging them to answer questions, read the bible or discuss stuff! haha :D]

Day 2 was hell. Literally - and all the more an incentive for me to not want to end up there. The grogginess of the anesthesia had well and truly worn off, as had the morphine. pain knew new heights again in this state of consciousness and as before, it was a task to convince the nursing personnel that I required higher doses of painkillers to manage the pain. My left eye was watering still - incredibly so, and getting very sore and red as a result. A steady stream of visitors kept me prayed over and the encouragement kept me looking forward. Dad had also given me 1 Thess 5:16-18 early that morning and it was a constant reminder through the tough times to look upwards when there seemed to be nothing to look forward to ahead - be joyful, thankful and always in prayer. My dad rocks - coz he couldn't be with me during this time, he woke up esp. early in Vietnam so that he could pray for me...and reminded me that my heavenly father was here with me all the time even though he wasn't.


I think at some point in the afternoon I actually thought I'd concede defeat and forget about trying to stay strong and happy for the world around me; looking up was becoming increasingly difficult too...because the kind of pain I was going through just didn't feel like I could punch through! At 6pm though - a huge bunch of colourful, massive and happy balloons came wafting into the room and brought so much cheer that I couldn't help but smile each time I looked at them dancing in the air waves of the air conditioner. They made me want to BE well, so that I could grab them, run along the corridor with them and take them out into the sunlight and release them into the air - watch them rise and feel my spirit lift as I watch them go...balloons have that effect on me. free. very free. [Thanks tim :)]

A whole host of other flowers and gift baskets arrived and my soft-toy-family was growing very rapidly too - i almost didn't have enough space to sleep left on my bed! Ken's orange daffodil and his note was the sweetest gift of the day :) And Ryan's teddy with words and a lil gift that will definitely outlast this ordeal will stay close to me.














Day 3 started well. Pain was either lessening or I had become accustomed to it. Dr Leo came in - finally - and I had a whole host of questions for him. He explained that they'd originally gone in just to fix the displaced nasal plate but once they were in they realised there was much further damage than the Xray showed. So. Fix no.1 was the left nasal plate causing obstruction...that was relocated in its right place, fix no.2 was having to straighten the septum (main nose bone) that had deviated or been warped by the impact - this required shaving off and chiselling he said and finally, fix no.3 was a mucosal hypertrophy in the right nostril - caused again by the impact on the left, and I'm not sure if they reduced it or removed it but it was basically a lump/clot that had formed as a result of the trauma. So yeah....it's good to know it's all dealt with and I'm thankful that God gave me the clear signs to proceed with the surgery - had I listened to my stubborn self, I would've opted not to - and the doc said these things would've gone unnoticed but caused alot of problems for me in the future. Once again. God is awesome, He rocks my socks off with the way He is TRULY OMNISCIENT and somehow finds a way to let my small little mind know what's good for me :)

It's probably worth mentioning that I started eating properly again in the evening of Day 3 - It's probably coz around that time was when my sense of taste came back. They pulled out all the dressing that had been packed into my nose during the procedure at about 11 in the morning - now THAT almost killed me again. You know on a side matter, it's quite amazing how much gauze can be stuffed into one's nose. The abrasion was painful and I was bleeding for awhile after the ordeal and was in dire need of cheering up....the rest of the day was pure gluttony starting with a sugar roll from Polar, followed by meatballs and a hot dog from IKEA and to top it all off, a pint of B&Js New York Super Fudge Chunk which I promptly DEVOURED while they went to get a dvd from some super dodge dvd rental place in AMK...hahha! [Check out how I'm smiling again!]

So anyway. It's early morning on Day 4, I couldn't quite sleep before because I'd slept so much of Day3 away - coz the pain was no longer waking me from my slumber...and so I thought I'd blog...so ahlyn and david can join me on this crazy experience. I so miss having you around to love on me and stuff...like boy if you were here you could chuck me down a hill on the wheelchair and into the thrash can....again. hahha!

I just wanna say thanks to a coupla people who really made a difference to me in this time of much pain. Jo - what can i say? your sacrifice leaves me without words, Tim - best gifts, biggest heart...defo a boat floater, Pearly & Daph - love that you rocked up...and with bird's nest to boot, Cellkids/ Wondergroup - you make me smile and you give me reasons to wanna get better real quick, Gerald T - v touched leh you made it down twice when you're like sick yourself, Ken my darling son - you continue to be a sweet sweet ray of sunshine in my life, Pene - your continuous presence is a real sight for my teary eyes...not to mention the wonderful food you've brought!, Laura - a thousand sms' just so I know you're there....it worked! Dad, Mum, Jan & Dave - you're all sending me your love from various corners of the earth,Vic - you kept coming out despite how busy and tired you were...i hope you know that you're truly loved and forgiven. Alice, Margaret, PK, Grace, Young (x2), Priscilla, Lydia who took time out from the busy work at SJSM to come say hi. So yeah....You've all played a significant part in getting this smile back on my face...your love is not wasted and I truly value you and want you to know that I am grateful and hope to someday return the love and affection you've shown me - hopefully not in such negative circumstances of course!

To everyone else who took the time out to send love my way either in physical presence, with gifts and cards, phonecalls or texts....THANK YOU. I do appreciate you and feel very loved. I thank God for you and pray a whole heap of blessings on you!!

Alrighty. I'm gonna grab a coupla hours of sleep and hopefully I'll be heading home by 11am! :)

the fragility of a face

Time to sit and yet not feel compelled to do work; starbucks has that effect - coupled with the ridiculously annoying dropout rate of wireless@sg on my macbook. So that means I swop back to my trusty lil world-travelled vaio and hit the 5000++ photos that have yet to be sorted, edited and captioned before finding their way online somewhere...and with that, I thought I might as well hit the blog and give everyone the real story regarding the nose thing. It's best done with pictures...so enjoy...

the start of a very unfortunate event

the final blow...

the mayhem around me when everyone realised I had turned on the blood fountain

minutes later - after having washed off in the toilet

@ SGH's A&E waiting to see the doc - kotex icebag in place...

me with the guilty but very very forgiven one :D

So anyway...the photos should provide a good understanding and plenty of laughs :) It was truly a freak accident and I guess we learn that rules are there for a reason (ie: stay on the podiums when using jousting sticks. or, use provided helmets. or, don't mix two games together!) Still, it was all quite an experience and definitely one of those to be remembered for all time, ya know...one of those you tell your grandkids someday... :D

The experience? The smack of the rod itself wasn't actually painful...when I went down I was actually checking to see if any teeth had been knocked loose rather than whether my nose was in place. It was only after those gathered around started gasping in shock that I looked up and realised there was blood gushing from my nose - literally, it felt very...gushy. It was worse when I was washing up in the toilet and trying to ascertain if my nose was actually broken or if it was just a trauma bleed...for one, i had to cough up and blow out lumps of blood (ewwww!) and secondly, that's when the shock had worn of and the pain set in...and oh the throbbing!

Because of the pain - and mind you my pain threshold is...HIGH - we decided to head to SGH's A&E...

(oh no, I have to leave starbucks now, I'll finish up later. maybe)

Blog's Back in Business

Sooo.....7 months of silence has finally broken!

Thank YOU for your patience and I'm sorry I didn't quite reply everyone's email regarding the "death" of the blog or the fact that I had been in Byron Bay for way toooo long! haha :D It isn't that it's taken me all this time to settle back into being home in Singapore...and at this stage it would suffice to say I've been busy! :) I'm gonna chuck a thumbnail grid - foretaste of the Brisbane, Airlie Beach, Hamilton Island, Cairns, Kuranda, and Cape Trib & Daintree Rainforest Albums! So yeah...check out the rest of my round-Australia trip that marked the end of my round the world trip, and then the rest of Singapore stuff will come be uploaded in bits and pieces and I'll be trying to blog consistently here on in!

Byron Bay

I arrived at Byron Bay at about 9pm, got picked up by the hostel van and headed straight for the hostel. I was pretty drained by the long bus ride so I just settled in and read a book till I fell asleep.

18 Jul (Wed) - After brekkie I made my way to the beach, just a short 7 minute walk from my hostel. I was going to walk to the lighthouse but the beach was so pretty and the weather so perfect that I ended up just sitting and chilling on the sand, taking in the salty sea air for an hour. Eventually I stretched, got up and headed back into town.




Lunch was the agenda and after checking a few places out, I settled for Mongers' gourmet fish and chips - which was YUMMY! And considering it's price, freshness and most importantly, tasty-factor....it was truly gourmet food! haha! The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around town and stopping at a cafe for coffee whilst I read later on.

Sunset was on the beach and after it had set, I made my way up the little hill to get to the lighthouse. It was a pretty steep climb up and wasn't much fun as the mozzies settle in together with the dark of the night. However, having reached the top, the views of the coast on all sides was breathtaking, as was the lighthouse itself!
















I spent the rest of the evening laughing like mad as I got to know Samara and Claire, discussing tennis, excellence, lies, stain-making, and as we drifted off to sleep, mohitos and an old man who looked really young. They were a blast, Byron Bay would not have been half as fun nor as memorable had I not been in the same room as them! I have to say though, THEY GOT EXTRA BLANKETS AND I DIDN'T!!! Pffffttt!!

19 Jul (Thu) - I woke bright and early and went surfing with Ben, we drove for about half an hour up or down the coast I don't know...but we found some swell at that beach and checked it out from the car park. It looked small but I swear it doubled as we got changed, waxed up and made our way down. It was not fun paddling out...although I experienced for the first time, running out amongst the rocks on one end of the bay and just jumping out right out the back and then just catching a wave in..WheeeEEeeEE!! :p Repeat the process a coupla times, add to it several mouthfuls of salt water and desperate gulps to avoid crashing waves overhead and that's pretty much my whole morning. Didn't bring my camera, so alas, no photos.

After a hot shower, Claire, Samara and I head out for a hot drink and lunch - the rest of the afternoon was spent recovering from the very tiring morning and also Samara was pretty sick so she slept the afternoon away. Late that evening, Claire and I went out to have dinner at Hog's Breath...hahahh been awhile since I had a decent dinner! It took awhile to sort all my stuff out and pack up - there was also a new guy who took Monique's bunk (she left the morning before) and he was pretty funny and mentioned a certain company's website that zoomed a distant memory into my frontal lobe - unwelcome. haha!

20 Jul (Fri) - I wake up, finished packing and checked out. On the way to the bus station, I bought a huge muffin and ate it after I was on the bus and settle in for another long bus ride up to Brisbane! Oh...and I got given a pair of shoes.... :p