Appointment With Cardiologist

Yesterday I met with a cardiologist at a private hospital in Subang who is the hubby's family friend.  I know that my heart flutters are caused by my extremely low blood count / low iron as our body needs red blood cells to bring oxygen throughout the body. The lack of blood may cause shortness of breath and heart flutters and in extreme cases, even heart failure. My gynae had warned me of heart failure if I do not increase my iron ASAP!

But the hubby wanted me to see this cardiologist, just to get a second opinion.  So off we went  to the hospital yesterday morning. The doctor had asked me to fast from 12 midnight. I had my last meal at 8:30pm. By the time I had my first meal, it was already 12:30 noon, a fast of 14 hours.  Surprisingly, I didn't feel hungry as I drank lots of Izumio :)

Anyway, no test was needed and my fasting was in vain. Never mind.  Good news is there does not seem to be any problem with my heart.  The only problem is my low blood count and of course the fibroid in my uterus that's causing the heavy menstruation.

I left the hospital feeling relieved that I am not a heart patient as feared. I have to continue with popping 2 Sangobion iron tabs each day with lots of iron-rich foods. The doctor mentioned medium rare steak with oozing blood! Oh. My. Gawd.  I am not a lover of beef and definitely not a sucker for anything with blood oozing out!  He also mentioned pork liver.  Another Oh. My. Gawd. food which I absolutely abhor!

What choice do I have?  Eat these blood rich meats or risk collapsing!

After we left the hospital, the hubby brought me to tuck into my favorite bitter gourd pork noodles. This time, I ordered extra pork liver, eeeewwww!  And ate the bowl of noodles as if it were some kind of Fear Factor yucky stuff.





Back home, I forced myself to eat more meat and had char siew and chicken, washed down with a mug of red dates water that the mil boiled.




Tonight I will be having double boiled chicken essence again.  Gosh, this is really starting to feel like confinement minus the baby!  My doctors have advised me to indulge in beef, lamb and pork liver to my heart's content and forget about the cholesterol. When your body craves for blood, it will be able to accept all the rich food without causing much problems.  And I think it's true. I feel great these few days and can even run without feeling breathless anymore. My exercise session each morning has increased from 30 minutes to 45 minutes 🙌  And the heart flutters have lessened a lot too 😊

Breast Cancer Risk Scare

I had a '3% breast cancer risk' scare early this week. After my yearly check-up at my gynae's clinic at PMC last week, my gynae referred me to a breast doctor at the Breast Care Center  and to another gynae (oncology gynecologist) to handle my uterine fibroid.  After a very stressful time last week of having to deal with the diagnosis of having severe anemia (reading of 6 g/dL.  Normal range is 12 - 16) caused by heavy periods contributed by the fibroid, I have to face yet another stressful week this week with work and another two appointments with doctors.  The damage to my wallet last week was over RM1,000 and this week's damage is another RM1,000.. holy crickets!!

On Wednesday this week, I met up with the breast surgeon on referral by my gynae.  She had a look at the ultrasound scan images and commented that while the cyst did not look round with a nice shape like it should (round and nicely shaped means benign), other markers did not suggest any malignancy.  The radiologist indicated a BIRADS III grading.. which means 'probably benign'.  She told me that while it is not malignant, there is a 3% cancer risk. My doctor's words were a sucker punch and I felt like I was slapped with a slow death sentence.  She ordered for a Mammogram done immediately.  For those of you who have had experience of doing an MMG, I am sure you feel really 'exploited' as your boops are being manhandled by 2 female imaging staff. That's really a very unpleasant feeling, not to mention the pain of having your boops squashed.

The MMG report further confirmed that the cysts are benign with a BIRADS II rating, oh thank you Lord Jesus!!  However, I will have to see the breast doctor in 3 months to have another ultrasound scan done to monitor the cysts. The 1 hour+ waiting time for the MMG report to be out was painful and tensed.

The BI-RADS assessment categories are:

• 0- incomplete
• 1-negative
• 2-benign findings
• 3-probably benign
• 4-suspicious abnormality
• 5-highly suspicious of malignancy
• 6-known biopsy with proven malignancy

My mum used to be very prone to fibrocystic breasts too during her pre-menopausal days and had undergone several open surgeries and fluid aspirations. In fact, she still gets lumps in her breasts occasionally now, at the age of over 70.  However, ever since she started consuming Izumio and Super Lutein, the products seem to be helping to shrink the lumps.  I am now taking extra dosage of Izumio and trying my best to keep my stress and anger level in check.  These two emotions are a big culprit in causing free radicals and intoxicating the body.  No matter how much Izumio I down, how healthily I eat and how much I exercise, anger and stress will negate the benefits of all these good stuff that I put into my body.

The stress hormone, cortisol, is public health enemy number one. Scientists have known for years that elevated cortisol levels interfere with learning and memory, lower immune function and bone density, increase weight gain, blood pressure, cholesterol, heart disease, cancer... the list goes on and on.

For the past few days, I have been telling myself not to sweat over the small stuff. Shouting and screaming at the kids have been reduced significantly, cussing and complaining have been kept down and I am learning to forgive and FORGET.  And I feel good about it. Practice makes perfect.  😊

Mykōri Dessert Cafe, Taman Desa

On one of the evenings during the school holidays in December last year, the hubs brought us to a newly opened dessert cafe after dinner.  Mykori Dessert Cafe is a purveyor of Japanese snacks and desserts with a twist. Their signature items are their array of taiyaki (fish-shaped cake) with different fillings in both sweet and savory options - the cheese croissant version is high on their list and cheese lovers will love the cheese filling taiyaki to bits.  We ordered one cheese taiyaki initially but one was definitely not enough for 3 adults and 3 kids, so we ordered another one later and sure enough, it was gone in just seconds after it arrived 😛  Another of  Mykori's most popular choice is the Melon Kakigori which is very refreshing and light. Generously topped with fresh melon balls on a bed of finely shaved and soft ice, the Melon Kakigori is just perfect on a hot day.  The ultra soft shaved fruit flavored ice reminds me of the ice-cream sold at 100 Yen Shop, which we would indulge in occasionally in the past when 100 Yen Shops were still operating around KL.


Source: http://www.buro247.my/lifestyle/food-and-drink/5-new-dessert-cafes-around-kl-to-visit-in-october.html




Melon Kakigori and Strawberry Cheesecake Kakigori







Taiyaki (fish-shaped cake) with lots of oozing soft and melting cheese hidden inside. The chewy strands of cheese can be pulled high up. Fans of cheese will love this savory dessert.









Mango yoghurt kakigori...












Recognize this handsome chap? He's our regular 'makan' buddy.  You may have seen Alan Yun in TV commercials, magazines and local movies.



Mykōri Dessert Cafe, Taman Desa
No 28, Jalan 2/109E Desa Business Centre
Taman Desa, Off Jalan Klang Lama
58100 Kuala Lumpur

Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan In Ipoh - 28 December 2016

We had one full day to amble around Ipoh today.  Ipoh is my beloved birth place as well as the hubs. Driving around the streets of Ipoh always makes the both of us feel mawkishly sentimental. It brings back waves of our sweet childhood memories and we have so much to talk about when we are traipsing in Ipoh while hunting for all our childhood favorite food.

Our first stop was at Hugh Low Street where all the biscuit shops are located. We went into three biscuit shops and ended up over a hundred Ringgit poorer... just on Ipoh-made biscuits 😒










Next, we went to Ipoh Old Town to 'Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan' while waiting for the mil to buy some dried food provisions from those decades-old pre-war shops. These are the shops that my late maternal grandma used to patronize before Chinese New Year to shop for all her dried food stuffs and waxed meat. It sure brings back lots of fond memories walking past these shops.







Below - I think this toy shop has been around for over 30 years. I remember going into this shop with my mum before Children's Day each year to shop for toys and snacks for our Children's Day celebration in school. That was in the early 1980s.  Our girls stumbled upon a 5x5 Rubics Cube at this toy shop and were so excited. But I didn't manage to get it for them as it was about to pour heavily and we had to run back to our car.  The next day, the hubs went back to this shop and got them the 5x5 Rubics Cube.  His princesses were SO happy!




A shop that sells a panoply of exotic dried food stuffs -- starfish, snakes (EWWW!!), sea horses, sea lions, gigantic sea shells, etc. etc.














Then we made a pit-stop at the ever popular Sin Yoon Loong to enjoy a cuppa Ipoh white coffee and desserts.







We had initially planned to make a stop at the Ipoh Stadium food court or Mushroom Hut (Tung Koo Teng) at Ipoh Garden to tuck into some hawkers' delight but alas it poured heavily. So we headed home, had a short rest before adjourning to our next destination for dinner - at Wah Chai Seafood Restaurant in Menglembu to tuck into some delish dishes. I'll save the pix taken at Wah Chai for my next post 😊

Our 2016 Christmas & Boxing Day

Our Christmas 2016 morning was spent worshipping in the church.




After church, we spent our afternoon indulging in sumptuous Japanese food at Lot 10's Isetan Japan Store. There was a whole jing bang of us - my parents, my younger brother Roy, my older brother Ray and his family, the mil, hubs and our 3 girls.

After lunch and tea, everyone had a rest at home before the onslaught of Christmas dinner at the hubs' aunt's house. While everyone rested at home, I quickly did a quick clean-up of the house as our part-time helper was on leave for several days.

As with previous years, our Christmas dinner has always been pretty traditional with such retro treats as roast turkey with stuffing, cold ham, grilled sausage with bacon wrap, roast lamb leg, Christmas pies, Christmas pudding, Panettone bread, an assortment of salads, spaghetti, pasta and fruits.






















Our yearly Christmas dinner always ends with  gift exchange and unwrapping of gifts towards midnight along with lots of camwhoring 😄

Below - my mum with her 2 youngest grand-daughters - Cass and Raelyne.




On Boxing Day, we had desserts of ice-cream and waffles at Inside Scoope. Below is a charcoal waffle 'injected' with salted duck's egg atop, GLORIOUS!  This must be the latest food trend that cafes have caught on. It sits well on all spectrum - sweet, savory, crispy and cold. It's so very scrumptious!







My baby girl and me 😍 and this little girl with an appetite bigger than her tummy was reluctant to share her 2 big scoops of ice-creams with me 😡