road to recovery

I'm sure by now everybody who knows me is aware of the incident that had happened to me a while back. It has been slightly over a month now since it happened and I'm happy to say that I'm well on the road to recovery and am doing really fine, Alhamdullillah. It was indeed a great shock and a terrifying ordeal for my dear ones, especially so for me and my hubby. It came like a thunderbolt and the first couple of weeks had been one hell of a rollercoaster ride for both of us.

It was a really difficult and trying period for me.. I was emotionally and morally drained. It wasn't easy to be far from my family at the state I was in.. but I have the most wonderful husband who takes very good care of me and who's constantly there by my side every single day throughout my (long) stay in the hospital. He is my pillar of strength who keeps my courage up and warms my heart and makes me happy.. he makes it much easier for me to deal with my situation. I'm truly grateful to my dearest hubby, family, relatives and friends for their prayers, support and encouragement for my quick recovery.

I've regained all my mobility now though it's still not up to 100% yet.. certain things take longer to recover. I'm most grateful to be able to move about normally now.. it was a really scary thought to not be able to move on your own and be constantly dependent on the people around you. The basic daily things we do become a great struggle once you've been hit by a major sickness like the one I had. You'd realize then just how precious your health really is. I'm really fortunate to be recovering speedily. When I first got out of the hospital, carrying out basic tasks like making yourself a cup of tea or folding the laundry, takes twice as long but it's by doing things like these that I'll keep on fine tuning on the motor skills that were lost on the affected area and I've had huge improvement since.

After 3 weeks of hospitalization, I've lost 3kg, had what seems like gallons of blood taken from my body and gone through a battery of tests; the most horrifying being the endoscopy (ECG) where a long cord the diameter of your index finger is thrusted down your throat, making you gag constantly throughout the whole process and leaving you with a bad sore throat after.. never would I wanna go through such a thing again!

French doctors make me nervous sometimes but they're really nice people who take good care of their patients. You would expect the doctors here to be able to communicate in English with their non-speaking French patients but their English is like my French in that I understand the language much better than I speak it.. but with my personal translator at hand, we're able to understand each other better.

Having gone through a major thing like the stroke made me more aware of the sickness and have more empathy with those who had been through similiar path or are going through it. Though older people have a higher risk of getting stroke, it can happen to anyone in all age groups. So the best preventive measure one can take from being hit by a major sickness is by taking extra good care of one's health (if you smoke, quit) and lead a healthier lifestyle cause that's the most valuable asset you can have in life.


"The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not."
- Mark Twain

salam lebaran

my weekend getaway

Hi everyone!.. just a short message to say I'm doing fine and am recovering well. I'm on my weekend break and will be back in the hospital for another week or so.. hopefully not longer than that.. still have to go through a few more tests. It feels really good to be back in the comfort of our home and be close to my dear hubby even if it's just for the weekend.. I feel rejuvenated.

I'd like to thank you all for your concern and constant support and encouragement. I'm pulling through this difficult ordeal and your presence (in mind) makes it much more easier for me.

I'll write longer once I'm back home for good.

Thank you guys once again!

selamat menyambut Ramadan

"Kami suami isteri ingin mengucapkan Selamat Berpuasa kepada semua umat Islam."

Well this is our third year fasting here and I'm missing the familial ambience you'd have in Singapore especially during berbuka.. and not to mention the festive sights prior to Hari Raya and the effervescent bazaars with the abundance of good food!

Fasting here is a simple, quiet affair for both of us. And in just 4 weeks, we'll be making our way there, back in the arms of dear family and friends. We're really looking forward to that!

one year

That's the age of my blog.. it was exactly one year ago when I first started blogging.. didn't think it would last this long but here I am still. There are over 70 entries in a space of one year.. some months saw some furious writing while others a mere speck.

Perhaps it's time for my blog to have a 'facelift'?.. on verra bien (we'll see)..

Well here's to more tapping on the keyboard!


"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing."
- Benjamin Franklin

fahrenheit nine one one

Last night, we saw Fahrenheit 9/11 for the first time on the cable and I have this to say to Michael Moore - "Well done!". After 2 hours of intent watching, it further fuelled my dislike and ire towards Bush and his cronies and brought sympathy to innocent loss lives. The world has (really) been had.

Even if we caught the movie 2 years after its release, I'm glad I saw it. Go watch it if you haven't already.

oh, lame saint!

After two weeks of back-breaking, neck-aching, eyes-squinting endeavour, we've finally finished assembling the puzzle of chère Mona Lisa. She has been framed up and happily sitting in a corner with her eternal smile beaming on us. We're gonna have to tuck her away pretty soon though, given the limited space we have here.. and living in a rooftop studio doesn't leave us with a lot of straight walls for such a massive frame. I said massive.. well it's a 68 x 48 cm puzzle and that's huge enough. So she'll be joining Monet's Water Lily puzzle of the same size in the 'frame section'. Well there's actually a total of 999 puzzle pieces instead of 1000 due to technical reason.


Oh those who've read The Da Vinci Code would know what the title of this entry's all about.. but if you've figured it out without reading the book, then give yourself a pat on the back :)

[chère=dear]