Kin Chi Bee Hoon @ Jalan C.Y. Choy

Turns out the Kin Chi Bee Hoon from last night was actually lousy. Everyone else at home who ate it also agreed that it was tasteless and just blah. So it wasn't just my tastebuds acting up! Haha. Memang lousy punya.


So, since I've got nothing but Kin Chi Bee Hoon on the brain, the Husband went off in search of Kin Chi Bee Hoon again for me tonight. Today, he went to Jalan C.Y. Choy to tapau on Papa's recommendation. Good call! Cos this totally hit the spot.

Soooooo yummy! 🤤

One packet not enough. 😅

2nd FT Date With EJ

Was exchanging rants with her midway when suddenly, I see her finger floating in front of the screen for no apparent reason at all. I stop and ask, "Eh. What you pointing at??" Then she goes, "Oh! Hahaha. I trying to take a picture!" LOL! 

So yes, we issa taking

screenshot pichas after that. 👯‍♀️

And then we went right back

to Rant.FM hahaha. #priorities

Seriously though, I felt so much better after our chat. Was feeling kinda down in the dumps earlier. This is why women need girlfriends in life la. Even The Husband noticed the difference later and said: "Eh, you look better today. Happier. Tell EJ she must call and talk to you every day. No excuses." 😂

The Old Days

During the drive home yesterday night, The Husband told me that I was right – that JJ was going through Mommy Withdrawal Syndrome. In that same conversation, he also told me about a sad conversation he had with JZ when he picked JZ up from school on Friday.


JZ: I miss the old days, Papa.

The Husband: What old days?

JZ: When it was you, and me, and Mommy and Didi together. Always.

The Husband: Oh. ☹️

😢 Well, I miss the old days, too, Baby. 😢

After that, The Husband and I had a heart to heart about how important a mother's role is. Then he said that I should blog about the conclusions we made tonight so I never forget, and so that I can also encourage other moms out there who need a morale boost – moms much like myself once, who feel drained and all tired out from loving and giving and caring for every one around them but themselves, every single day, with no gratitude to expect, and no end in sight. Yes, I shall blog that someday sooner than later. Stay tuned. 

Mommy Withdrawal Syndrome

JJ has been acting up recently. He's been extra naughty, extra whiny and extra difficult to handle. Especially when it's not me handling him most of the time. So much so that he ignited the wrath of The Husband yesterday during homework time and received four strikes in return for his misbehaviour. 😓 #ouch 💔


All I can say to that is that I know my son. And from what I can see and tell, it's Mommy Withdrawal Syndrome – plain and simple. #mommysintuition 🙆‍♀️ I tentatively suggested it to The Husband. But of course, it would be ridiculously pompous of me to just assume so and push my suspicion without basis, rhyme or reason at first glance, riiiiigghhhttttt???

Well, tonight, The Husband finally concured:

Yep, JJ's got Mommy Withdrawal Syndrome.

And he's got it baaaaddddd. So bad that he came up with the lamest excuse to not go over to his cousins' house to play the afternoon away – "they always make me run and sweat and I don't like to get sweaty" 😅 – and instead, just stayed at home to basically do n-o-t-h-i-n-g but chill out and chat with me on the sofa while I rested outside my isolation room. The only semi-fun thing we did was spend 5 minutes drawing tattoos. And even then, it was his idea; not mine. 😕


Can anyone say, "Awww???" I mean, this kid basically gave up a play-crazy afternoon of fun and games with his cousins... in order to spend quality time with boring, ol', tired-out Mommy!! 👩‍👦 How impossibly sweet and sacrificial is that when you're a gila-main, ball-of-energy 5yo, I ask you!? 🙁❤️

Haih. I feel so bad for JJ.

It's so unfortunate that at 5yo, he's had to deal with an absent mom. Especially since he's spent every single day with me and every night snuggling up to me, all his life up till now. And unlike JZ who kinda understands what's going on (I think 🤔) without knowing the specifics of my situation, I kinda feel like JJ is just going with the flow of things and taking each day at a time, innocently trusting us when we say, "It'll all be over soon," or, "Mommy will sleep with you again next week."


I mean, it started off well enough after my first round of chemo. He adjusted to my being the less present parent so very well that it actually took me by surprise. But then I guess the excitement of sleeping over with Ah Ma on a makeshift bed quickly wore off. And when I went back to sleeping in the same room and on the same bed with him on Week 3, he probably thought, "Oh! Mommy's back! Yay! Life goes back to normal now! Hurrah!" 🎉

But, nooOOooOooOoo...

It was short-lived.

Week 3 just flew by and we're now right back at Week 1 again so Mommy's gone back to being the absentee mom AGAIN. 😢💔 Problem is, what he's blissfully unaware of right now is that we'll have to rinse and repeat this nonsense FOUR more times after this. Sigh. Makes me feel like such a crap parent and a lousy mom. This truly is the part of cancer that really blows – the toll it takes on my relationship with the kids. 😔 #cancersucks

Big Crustacean, Little Satisfaction, Minor Inconvenience, Major Frustration

Suddenly felt like eating baked crab tonight so I quickly called upon my crab kaki – Mee and Dee – and before I knew it, we were standing in front of an extremely bubbly aquarium at Northam Beach Cafe, picking a big, fat mud crab for dinner. Haha. 🦀


I know, I know. The Chinese believe that shellfish are "tok" (Hokkien for "toxic" or "poisonous") and that one with cancer shouldn't eat "tok" food yada, yada, yada. 🙄 But heck it la, no doctor of mine has said that shellfish is off the menu; only red meat and processed foods. So if crab is what I want, crab is what I'll hunt! (Hey, another rhyme! ✌️)

And boy, did I get a big one!

Big, right??? Mind you, this bad boy wasn't the biggest mud crab in the aquarium. There were a few others that were significantly bigger! But bigger = more expensive. So, no thank you. We decided to stick to a reasonably-sized crab with a price tag we could swallow. LOL. 😅😂

BUT... I so, so sad in the end!

The crab somehow didn't taste like I expected it to. Damn these blasted chemo tastebuds!! 😡😩 I mean, it was ok la. But it wasn't great. And for the price we were paying, I was expecting greatness. Argh! I only managed to down it when I drowned it with the leftover sauce from the Sweet & Sour Fish we ordered earlier. (Wah, I am on a roll with the rhyming tonight! 🤪)

Halfway through the crab, I pula felt like I maybe kinda wanted to eat Kin Chi Bee Hoon. So after crabbing, The Husband and I went off in search of some good, old-fashioned Kin Chi Bee Hoon at Kimberly Street. Balik balik... guess what?

Tak sedap also. 🤦‍♀️

It was just bland and tasteless.

What the heck is going on!?

Mother-Son One-To-One Tattoo Bonding Time

JJ decided that this afternoon, we would draw each other dino tattoos with the new Muji colour pens he received from Ah Ma and Ah Kong. So, like the good, tired, chemo-shot-up mom that I am, I agreed. So, draw dino tattoos, we did! I drew his and he drew mine.

I gave him a T-Rex, which I very uncreatively and unimaginatively named REX. 😂 Bagi chan la. It's Day 6 and I'm still aching from my last Nivestim™ shot of Chemo Round 2. This mom is tired max la. Just close one eye and move on, ok? 😅

JJ gave me a velociraptor and named it Travis.

He spelt its name all by himself! #proudmom

All tattooed up and happy
from the quality time spent together.
Just my youngest boy and I. 🙂🙃

My Happy Little Chef

I got to spend some quality time alone with JJ this morning while The Husband brought JZ out for Football ECA at school. I wanted to make myself some scrambled eggs on toast and asked if he would like to join me and help me make it. Of course, my little kaypochee jumped at the opportunity to get his hands dirty in the kitchen. No hesitation whatsoever.

Le Grains sun-dried tomato bread in the toaster,

kampung eggs broken into bowls and lightly seasoned,

and there's JJ on the counter, all ready to beat some eggs.

I showed JJ how to make scrambled eggs by making mine first. Dumped the eggs into the pan and started stirring till they were done. He watched, paid close attention and listened to my instructions. After that, I left him to make his own. 

And... here we go!

STIR! STIR! STIR! DON'T STOP STIRRING!!! 😂

And... tadaaaaa!!

The beaming chef with his first plate of scrambled eggs on toast.

Look at that smile. He was so, so happy with what he had achieved! And I was so, so proud of him! He did an excellent job. 👏👍💪 Ok la. My work here is done. From now on, JJ will be our family's breakfast chef. 😆 #cucitangan #passingonthebaton

Yum yum. Chef approved!

All in all, I think my little boy had fun spending time with his mommy. And I'm really glad we got to do this together cos I've really missed spending alone time with him, too. 😘 

You see, back when we were still in KL, JJ finished school at 12pm daily, while JZ finished school at 2pm on days without ECA. That meant that I had at least 2 hours of alone time with JJ every. single. day. from the time he started preschool at CH at 2y4m until 5 July 2019 when we officially left AS.

That's 2 hours alone with mommy – without Kor For or Papa around to compete for attention – 5 days a week, for 2 years and 11 months of his 5 years of being alive. Quite a significant amount of time for a child, if you ask me. (And this doesn't even include JZ's ECA extra time in school and the 1.5-hour alone time that we get when JZ is at The Little Secret and he's not!)

In those 2 precious hours during mid-day, we'd eat, catch up, talk, cook noodles, make jelly, play games, watch videos, sing songs, go shopping, and do other random nonsense together. We even went to RedBox for karaoke buffet together before. 🎤 Just the two of us. Twice, I think! LOL!

So yes, coming back to Penang, going to a new school, living in a new home, and dealing with cancer has brought many changes for JJ and I. But one of the biggest changes is the reduction of alone time that we get to spend together. I must remember to create more pockets of precious moments like these for him and JZ, too. I want to continue to be one of the reasons they smile like this:

Change Of Scenery

Back at the hospital again today for my last of three doses of Nivestim post-chemo round 2 and – for the first time since I started treatment – I'm not being attended to in the usual treatment unit. Instead, I'm being given my jab at a small corner office in the onco doctor's clinical area. 

Why?

Cos they're cleaning the onco treatment unit.

Can't possibly complain about that, can I? 😆😅

#Ilikeitclean #cleanfreak #germaphobe

Love Notes From My Little One

JJ came home from school with some

surprise mail for the family today. 📮

This is mine. 💌

"IT IS for..."

"IT IS for mI mummy"

He loves drawing and had started to spell phonically

so this came as a wonderful surprise for me. 😍

A bee, a flower and a sun.

This boy may look all rough and tough on the outside but he's a real sweetheart kind of cuddly marshmallow on the inside. He's always making me things and drawing me stuff. 😘 But I wasn't the only one on the receiving end today.

The Husband received a

somewhat odd looking dino, too. 🦖

Though his Ah Kong received a nicer looking one

(much to The Husband's dissatisfaction). 😅

And Ah Ma got some pretty flowers. 🌸🌸

I don't know about everyone else on his love letter list but Imma keeping mine from now till forever because I know these days don't last a lifetime. They pass in a blink of an eye and before I know it, he'll grow up and grow out of this stage. Too soon, I'll get text messages and emoticons which, you must admit, aren't quite the same as a hand-drawn picture that comes in an envelope that says:

"IT IS for mI mummy." ❤️

New Chef In Da Haus

After a total of 18 years together, which includes, 9 years of dating, 1 year of engagement, 8 years of marriage, and 7 years with kids... there were, of course, numerous times in between where I heard that "one day" The Husband would try his hand at cooking the family dinner. Well, that "one day" finally arrived. 😃 #patienceisavirtue

Chef in action.

Very pleased with himself. 😆

Salmon Spaghetti Aglio Olio.

The chef and his creation.

Ahh, I think after this I can
retire from the kitchen liao. 😝

Hello, Nivestim™, We Meet Again

Bright and early, and I'm back at the hospital again

for my first-of-three immunity jabs post chemo. 💉

I got lucky! Today, I chanced upon a nurse who was onboard with my intention to photo-log #mycancerjourney (Hence, the photo above. Usually, I have to slyly sneak in pics. 😎) As you can see, she even helped me hold the label straight so I could get a good shot. Haha.

Good nurses are hard to find la. But so far, I've met four angels here at the Gleneagles Oncology Unit. One was Chong, another is a 22yo Malay girl named Husna, then there was the Indian Nurse Manager (I always forget her name 😅) and finally there's today's Chinese nurse who's also super sweet. #muhibbah 

It's truly a blessing and a comfort when the one who's sticking a needle into you is nice, gentle and kind. On that note, I'm running out of places to cucuk. 😅

Making Sure Fiction Doesn't Turn Into Reality

The Husband: Eh, your hair not bad ah... Still got a lot.

Pam Song: Ya ya. I'm also surprised. I thought sure no more di by now. 

*2 seconds later*

The Husband: Why don't you just shave it all off?

Pam Song: Why!? Later la. So inconvenient to go out without hair. Now still ok ma. 

The Husband: Don't wait until you look like Smeagol. You know Smeagol?? "My preeciiiioouuusssssss..." 🤪

Pam Song: 😠😡

Kanasai betul dia.

Hanging In There

I was never one of those girls with luscious, thick hair. I've always sported thin ponytails, which require 3-4 turns on the rubber band in order to keep it in place. Heck, even during my wedding, my hairstylist had to stuff one side of my hair with tissue and douse it with volumising powder in order to puff it up nice and good. 🤣 #confessiontime #thetruthisout Yup, all my life I wished I had more hair. More so now than ever. 

Chemotherapy hair-loss is no joke. After seeing the amount of hair I lose daily, it really is no surprise that patients get warned about it beforehand, more so than they get warned about all the other side-effects. Because seriously, there's no way a normal person would be unaffected by the sheer amount of hair that comes off. It's actually pretty scary. Me, I guess I'm just grateful that I made it to my second chemo without going bald and that the majority of my hair is still hanging in there. Quite literally.  😅😂

Me at the dining table, trying to down a bowl of soup,

with whatever hair I have left. Picture courtesy of The Husband.

Tick Tock Goes The Clock

*crickets*

5pm and already, I'm the only one left here in the onco unit. Been that way for awhile now although, I must admit, I didn't see the last patient leave. Sigh. I guess that's what happens when you have double chemo and an extra immunotherapy IV. Everyone else gets done before you do. Me? I'm only just done with Herceptin IV and am midway through Taxotere IV. Never even see the Carboplatin bag yet. Looks like it's going to be a long and lonely evening for me. 😔

ABC – Easy As 123

Lunch is here! And guess who made it?

THE HUSBAND! 👏👍👏👍👏👍

Can you believe that?? Man has made soup from scratch! From going to the market to boiling up all the ingredients – no stock cubes involved! This is truly a #hariinidalamsejarah moment and I'm so grateful and proud of The Husband for doing this for me. And that, my friends, is how you do marriage. When one goes down, the other steps up. 🤝 How to not love this man, I ask you?? 😘

Ready For Chemotherapy + Immunotherapy Round 2

It's Tuesday and yes, I'm back at the hospital for Chemotherapy + Immunotherapy Round 2. 😩 Started the day off with a basic blood test to ensure that I'm ok to proceed with treatment. (Standard procedure cos you need to be kinda-sorta-almost healthy in order to undergo chemotherapy... or the chemo would kill you. 🤪 Harhar. #notfunny)

Blood test kar chang.

Line in.

Waited forever, eventually saw the Oncologist, and was finally given the OK to proceed with treatment. Today, I made sure I came prepared. That means I came ready to camp out for days in the onco treatment unit like it was the end of days and zombies were roaming the grounds outside. 🧟‍♂️ LOL!

Warm poncho courtesy of EJ on!

Hot water bottle courtesy of Irene ready!

iPhone in hand, MacBook on my lap, iPad Mini beside me,

portable charger in a sleeve and some EARPHONES.

Lots of water, drinks and snacks to last me throughout the day.

Snagged a BED!! 🛏 Very, very, VERY important.

I'm starting treatment at about the same time again today – 2pm – but I really hope it won't take as long as it did the first time around. Theoretically, everything will be sped up a little today because it's my second time so... fingers-crossed, let's hope I finish up before the zombies come out to play! 😝

Chemotherapy Dos & Don'ts

Wah, the most ridiculous thing just happened. It's chemo day again today and The Nurse Manager just sat down with me to take my medical history, give me a chemo briefing, and tell me the dos and don'ts during and after chemotherapy. 😳 Just before my second round of chemo. Like, WTH!? 🤯 3 weeks too late lor...


Shouldn't this have been done PRIOR to me getting my IVs done?? How is this considered safe patient care? And when I asked, she replied: "Haha. Kadang kadang banyak patient first time so tak de masa lah." 😲 Urm... then at least give us a printout we can read la. This is just dangerously negligent.


SO... for the sake of anyone who's going to undergo chemotherapy, here's a list of Dos & Don'ts you should know BEFORE you start treatment. 🙄


-------------------------------------
CHEMOTHERAPY DOs & DON'Ts
-------------------------------------

1. When it comes to food, no need to pantang. The chemo handles everything and kills all the baddies anyway so just eat whatever you can. Just make sure you eat!

2. Steer clear of raw food. This includes salads and green juices, which people generally assume to be good and healthy for you. They could make you really sick! Raw fruits are the only exception.

3. Don't consume any Chinese herbal food or drinks. They somehow interact with the chemotherapy drugs. I was given this example: A man drank a lot of leng teh (Hokkien for "cooling herbal tea") because he felt heaty after chemotherapy. Problem is, it caused the drugs to not leave his system. By his next chemo, he OD-ed on the chemo because he still had some toxins leftover from his previous round. 😱 Dangerous sial.

4. Make sure you drink a lot, a lot, a lot of fluids – 2L to 2.5L daily. This includes soups and any other liquids you can consume. You'll need it to flush out the toxins.

5. Don't hold your pee. Your bladder is going to be holding on to a lot of toxic chemicals if you do so. So cut it some slack, give it a break and go pee whenever you feel like you have pee. Please ah... mai kek jiou!

6. Constipation is a common problem after chemo so if you find that you can't poop, get help. Ask the  hospital to prescribe you some poopy pills to kick off some pass-motion action down-under. Don't keep it in! 💩

7. You'll be tired but make sure you still shower and keep yourself clean. A dirty body leads to other problems and complications. Duh!

8. You need to be super careful during the next 24 hours after chemo. Everything that exits your body contains toxins – pee, poop, saliva, etc. So use a separate toilet if you can.

9. Physically, you'll feel your worst during the first week post-chemo. Take your nausea / vomiting / indigestion meds and don't miss your immunity booster shots. Because once that super bad week is up, a new problem arises...

10. Your immunity drops between days 7-14. So be super vigilant about cleanliness and your health during that second week. Don't hero it out.

11. You'll feel your best during your 3rd week so, do whatever you need to do then... before it all goes back to square one again. 😩

Now, tell me... shouldn't I have known
all this BEFORE my first session? 🤔

The only thing bright side to that conversation was when she asked, "Eh? You second time today, kan? Tak jatuh rambut ka?" Haha. When I told her I started dropping hair just a few days back, she said, "Wah. Strong ah, your hair!" 💪💪💪

Dunno will last how long la but... 

I'll take whatever compliment I can get 

and keep whatever hair I can keep! 😆
#syoksendiri

Post-Chemo Side Effect Log: Round 1

Jotting down this 3-week log so that I know exactly what happened after Chemotherapy + Immunotherapy Round 1. With this, I hope to be able to establish a pattern and thereafter, plan and schedule the next 4-5 months of my life around the "good days". So that I can at least LIVE LIFE A LITTLE in some way or another la instead of just mope around hoping for the "bad days" to pass cos I have the memory of a goldfish and would probably forget this all by the next cycle. So...

Here we go!

3 SEPTEMBER 2019 (Tue): D-Day a.k.a Day 1

• 370mg Herceptin IV + Zoladex shot 💉 + Taxotere IV (Chemo) + Carboplatin IV (Chemo)
• Long day at the hospital so naturally, by the end of the day, I was totally pancit. 

4 SEPTEMBER 2019 (Wed): Day 2

• OK day.
• Started taking Motilum 10mg (nausea/vomiting) + Apo-Ondansetron 8mg (vomiting) + Dexamethasone 4mg (vomiting/swelling) as prescribed and will continue to do so for the next 3 days.
• Food started tasting a little weird but still felt good, all things considered.
• Insomnia, racing heartbeat, general feeling of anxiety, dry and itchy skin, tiredness on and off – cumulated side effects of the many drugs I received.

5-7 SEPTEMBER 2019 (Thu-Sat): Day 3-5

• Very, very, very bad days. 🤢😪😭
• Daily Nivestim immunity booster shots. 💉💉💉
• Nausea, indigestion, lack of appetite, extreme tiredness, body aches, joint pains, constipation. 
• Insomnia, racing heartbeat, general feeling of anxiety, dry skin – worsening.

8-9 SEPTEMBER 2019 (Sun-Mon): Day 6-7

• Bad days. 🤢😪😭
• Nausea, indigestion, lack of appetite, tiredness – improving veeeeeryyy minimally.
• Diarrhoea (12 times in 2 days!), insomnia, racing heartbeat, general feeling of anxiety, shallow breaths (feels like I'm drowning half the time 😵,  which is a very scary feeling) – worsening at an alarming rate.

10 SEPTEMBER 2019 (Tue): Day 8

• Visit to the hospital to see the Cardiologist 👨‍⚕️ + ECG + Echocardiogram.
• Started on 1/2 tablet Concor 2.5mg daily to manage rapid heart rate and protect my heart.
• Felt a little better thereafter.

11 SEPTEMBER 2019 (Wed): Day 9

• Good day! 🎉
• I started feeling more normal after today. Appetite – OK. Heart rate – OK. Energy level usually dips at about 4pm but, all things, considered, still OK.
• Sore mouth – side effect of Carboplatin but what's a sore mouth compared to everything else I've been through la, right? Pfft. Child's play la, bro. 💁‍♀️

12 SEPTEMBER 2019 (Thu): Day 10

• Good day. 🎉
• Acne starting to flare up on the forehead – side effect of Zoladex.
• Insomnia, mild headache, sore mouth.

13 SEPTEMBER 2019 (Friday): Day 11

• Manageable tiredness, unstable heart rate (cos of insomnia last night, I think).

14 SEPTEMBER 2019 (Friday): Day 12

• Manageable tiredness, unstable heart rate, shallow breath on and off (cos I had to wake up early for JZ's school swim trials this morning after a not-so-good night's sleep). 

15-19 SEPTEMBER 2019 (Saturday): Day 13-17

• Good days. 🎉
• Manageable tiredness. Energy levels dip by evening. 
• Stopped Concor midway cos I started to feel a little better on the cardio front.

20-23 SEPTEMBER 2019 (Saturday): Day 18-21

• Good days. 🎉
• Manageable tiredness. Energy levels dip by evening. 
• Noticeable hairfall. 

SUMMARY a.k.a NOTE TO SELF

• Days 1-7: Don't bother doing anything. Just try to eat and sleep the days away. 🤐🤢😴 #Igiveup #letitgo
• Days 8-14: Diarrhoea and sore mouth. Appetite on the rise. Aside from stuff that can be solved by Concor, things are looking up!
• Days 15-21: Do whatever you can, when you can. Be free! Fly far! Soar, Little Bird, soar! 😂 

----------

How quickly time flies. 3 weeks have passed; I survived the horror. And with that, it's Round 1 – done and dusted. Tomorrow we embark on Round 2. Here we go, here we go... I'm ready; let's do this!  🙆‍♀️💪😎

Jump Here, Jump There, Jump Everywhere

CONFESSION:

Yes, I've been blogging here and there

...and backdating. 😬🤭 Whoopsie!

Sorry la. Life keeps zooming by and I'm always playing catch up with blogging, Google Photos album organisations, and YouTube video uploads. 😩 #neverendingstory But don't worry. I haven't jumped past 2019 so I think it's not too difficult catching up on missed posts. Kthxbai! 👋

Fake It Till You Make It

Applies to all things fashion/food/lifestyle-related...

...as well as to chemo hair loss. 🤣

All you need is some basic hairstyling skills,
a good comb, and a sparkly hairband. LOL.


----------

Hello hello! Turns out last Sunday's syok sendiri dress up party wasn't my last weekend to do up my hair cos, hey, it's Sunday again and I still have hair to mess around with! Wheee!!! *cartwheels all around* 🤸‍♀️ Grab all the hairbands, hair clips and scrunchies and let's have a partaayyyyy!! 💃🕺


Bet you can't really tell I've lost hair if I didn't say upfront that I did. But I'm super grateful that my hair has held on for so long. Am really not looking forward to the bother of scarfing and wigging through my days, and was secretly praying that my hair wouldn't drop though I actually glass-half-empty expected to be a botak head by Week 2 post chemo. (O Faith, wherefore art thou? 😅 #smallasamustardseed)


Thing is, earlier when I spilled the beans and told The Husband about my secret prayer, he went, "Eh please la. Don't pray something impossible la. You know it's going to happen wat." But, but, but... why not?? My God is a God who can do a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g. And with Him, n-o-t-h-i-n-g is impossible! Aaaanddd... even if God eventually tells me, "No," and I end up losing my hair, it doesn't hurt to ASK. 🙋‍♀️ (Matthew 7:7; Philippians 4:6-7)


Well, here we are, 2 days shy of my next chemo session – with my hair still intact 🎉 – so... don't you agree that God is good and he answers even the most impossible of prayers?? Even prayers from superficial women who want to keep their hair for cosmetic, beauty and convenience purposes?? 😅😂 #truth

🎶 "My God is so big, so strong and so mighty

there's nothing my God cannot do... for you!" 🎶

...and for me!

I have hair!

Do What You Can, When You Can

Time flies. With Chemotherapy + Immunotherapy Round 2 coming up this Tuesday, I figured I'm probably feeling my very best possible right now so... I better get to doing whatever I can, while I still can. 💪


Got productive and sorted out all my CROWN Relocations moving boxes that were stacked up to the moon in Mama's guest room 📦📦📦, and put them into 45L storage boxes that I bought from TESCO at a discount.

Tadaaaa! All stacked up and neatly arranged from heavy (bottom) to light (top), and organised by room and content type for easy unpacking later. #OCD Quite a good job, I think. Nice and neat.

 Ok la. Exercise for the day – done.
Now time to pancit. 😅

Post-Chemo Hair Loss: The Morning After

About 20 strands of hair dropped off

while I slept last night. Hmmm.... 🤔 

But when you really think about it, 20 per night is not too bad wat!! 😆😆😆 Thought would be like ratus-ratus or something. Hahaha. Cos everybody I met told me that once its starts dropping, it comes off in CHUNKS. And that the hair-loss would be in ugly patches all over the head. 😮 Sure la, it came off in a big chunk when I bumped my head yesterday. But if it's like this when there's no trauma, it's not too bad la. I can live with this! 💪💁‍♀️🤗

JJ's Birthday Dinner @ IPPUDO, Gurney Plaza

When I asked JJ what he wanted to have for his birthday dinner, he immediately picked, "the noodle shop with the soup and yellow egg" – that's IPPUDO for you in JJ talk. 🍜 We used to frequent it at BSC, KL but we've never tried the one at Gurney Plaza, Penang before so... no better time than now! 

Very happy to be there.

They don't offer kids' meal options here – unlike in KL – so I ordered a regular adult-sized Shiromaru Tamago with 1 extra egg for the boys to share. (My boys are not very big eaters.) Tasted exactly the same! As good as it does in KL. (Hurrah! 🎉 More familiar food options for us! Miss KL food heaps.) And I may step on a few toes here, but I actually prefer the Shiromaru at IPPUDO, BSC even more than I liked the one at IPPUDO, Tokyo. 😅 #blasphemy

JJ throughly enjoying his noodles. Sluuuurp!

Thankfully Melsong flipped through the promos because they offer FREE birthday jumbo juice if your birthday falls on that month! Must kiasu and sapuuuu!!! So we ordered it. Muahahaha. Just too bad Melsong and I had already ordered our Green Teas. Or else would have saved RM10 there. Drinks at IPPDO are just crazy expensive. 😰💸 Can only order if sit long long and keep refilling. 😂

You see how happy he is?? Like he won the 5yo lottery. 😝

Birthday boy is contented. 🙃

Very curious as to what those floating orange squares

inside are. They're mangoes cut into cubes.

And the next 3 pictures will show you how tham ciak (Hokkien for "greedy") and pia (Hokkien for "driven in an aggressive way") this birthday boy is.

He loves the soup so much he still has some in his bowl but he's already stealing more. LOL! Ok la ok la. Since your birthday, I give you face. Actually I don't like it when the kids double dip their spoons into common bowls wan. Germ fest! And I can't afford for anyone to be sick right now. Even worse if one goes down and takes the rest with them! Horror of horrors! 😱😨😰 #myworstnightmare

We happened to be seated right under the aircon blower so it was so, so cold 🌬🌨❄️ that we had to borrow each others' necks to warm up. We didn't go prepared and weren't dressed for autumn. 🍂 LOL. 

 Melsong caught my brand new bald spot

glowing in the spotlight. 😂😂😂

Also, we were sitting there for so long la. Apa body heat also gone liao. Cos they refused to let us reserve a table for 6 at 7pm when we asked at 6.30pm. No reservations, they said. *rolls eyes* So we just gangsta walked in and sat till 7pm. 🤣 And then we ate and sat through dinner, too. That plus the FREE jumbo mango punch, we ended up freezing our butts off. Hahaha. 

Anyhoo, we enjoyed our dinner – the birthday boy especially – and then we went home to cut JJ's 3rd dino cake. 😅😂 But more on that later!