Enlarged Lymph Nodes

Remember I had written about the swollen lymph nodes in Sherilyn's neck sometime back? Well, after more than 3 months, the lump can still be felt on her right neck. Though it has shrunk in size considerably but the fact that it's still there made me uneasy. So upon the recommendation of her paed, we brought Sherilyn to Pantai Cheras Medical Centre last week to have an ultrasound scan of her neck. The radiologist explained that the lump was only an enlarged lymph node and said that it's very common in kids, especially after an infection or flu. It's not a lump or a cyst. So that gave me some relief but I still have to monitor the size of the lymph node.


Sherilyn was so tensed as she lay on the bed in the cold air-cond room.

When the radiologist put the cold gel on her neck, she cried and struggled, so daddy had to hug her and carry her throughout the scan.

Purple Flower, A Natural Anti-Oxidant & Remedy

I had promised earlier that I will blog about this 'Phong Far' (as the chinese call it in cantonese), a flower with purplish, greenish petals and tiny white flowers inside the bud. This flower has been known for a long time to be a natural anti-oxidant and remedy for various ailments and diseases. The leaves are pointy and long and also purplish and greenish in colour.

My late maternal grandma used to boil the flower with either pork or raw yellow sugar whenever my youngest brother had eczema decades ago. My mum is now drinking this purple flower water boiled with raw yellow sugar to treat her goitre and fibroids.

When I went for my pap-smear and annual medical check-up a few months ago, my gynae had detected a very tiny fibroid of apprx 1cm in size in my uterus when he did a trans-vaginal ultrasound scan. Naturally, I was alarmed and stunned. My gynae was however very blase about it and said I don't need to take any action and said that fibroids are prevalent among women (1 in 5 women has it) and normally would not turn malignant.

Some time last year, when my mum went for her routine medical check-up, her gynae had also detected a fibroid in her uterus. My mum's friends then advised her to boil 'phong far' with raw yellow sugar to shrink the cyst. Miraculously after months of consuming the 'phong far' water, the ultrasound scans showed that the cyst had vanished. My mum's friends who had cysts in various parts of their internal body also drank this flower water and swear by the miraculous healing properties. One of my mum's friend's surgeon also recommended this flower water to his patients with cysts.
I plucked these flowers from a bush next to a playground near my house.

I add 1 tablespoon of raw yellow sugar to approximately 4 cups of water.

Put the flowers and yellow sugar into a pot of water and boil for approximately 1 hour.

Washing the flowers is quite a onerous task as I have to open up the petals of each flower and wash out the soil and dirt under running water. It takes me half an hour to wash 2 handfuls of flowers.

The 'phong far' drink. It has a sweet fragrant flowery taste.

I have been boiling 'phong far' with raw yellow sugar for myself, Alycia (for her eczema) and Sherilyn for her swollen lymph nodes for the last 2 months and have so far consumed it more than 20 times. Sherilyn has no problem drinking it, in fact she LOVES it. A few days ago, when I touched the lump below Sherilyn's jaw, it had reduced in size and not so tender anymore.

* Disclaimer : this is not intended to be a medical advice*

Sherilyn Has Swollen Lymph Nodes

We just came back from the paed's clinic. My poor baby Sherilyn's lymph nodes on her right neck, just below her jaw are swollen and infected. She has also been having gluey yellowish-greenish goo on her right eye for the last 3 days and I thought she was just plain 'yeet hei' as the chinese say it or heatiness in her body coz she had been eating quite a bit of durian, biscuits, corn flakes and pan-fried tempeh lately. I am also having a strep throat and slight runny nose with phlegm and I guess Sherilyn must have gotten the bug from me.

Careless mummy me didn't even notice the swell in her glands near her neck until daddy felt it last night as he was cuddling her while reading to her. When I touched it and felt a lump there, I really felt a big lump in my throat, so did DH. Being the wimp in us whenever health issues affect our 2 precious daughters, we were actually quite worried, more so as the swell is on the lymph nodes in her neck. All sorts of morbid thoughts came flashing through my mind and I am sure DH's too, coz I could see he was just as worried but just put on a "nah.... nothing to worry wan" look on his face.

The paed said Sherilyn's lymph nodes are infected and if we brought her to the clinic a few days later, the lymph nodes could get inflamed and then more invasive medical treatment is necessary. The lymph nodes got infected as they were trying to fight off virus from invading the body. She also has URTI (upper respiratory throat infection) and antibiotics (Augmentin) is needed to treat it. She was also given an ointment for her eye and allergy medicine for her nose.

As Alycia has also developed a slight cough this morning, she was also given an allergy medicine for her nose. Both the gals have sensitive nose and get nose allergies easily, or so said the paed. The total bill came up to RM140. Cost aside, DH and I are both relieved that Sherilyn's swollen glands are nothing serious.