Healthy children

I posted recently my work involvement in NGO and this is an awareness campaign on Thalassemia for the general public. The statistic shows that every 20 Malaysian, there is one carrier. And the seriousness of being ignorance about this would result in having a Thalassemia kid if you marry another carrier. And this would mean a Thalassemia major. Please read more information about Thalassemia.

I had been in the meeting with parents who have been volunteering themselves in the association. They have been through the hardship of nursing and taking care of their own children. This bubbly lady in her 40s has a son who is a major and they discovered his problem when he was 6 months old. Now he is in his 20's and monthly his medical bill is about RM8000 worth of treatment and medication.

She shared with me that some unfortunate parents with a few Thalassemia major kids will have a hefty bill to think about, and it is their responsibility to ensure that they have to manage some birth control here. Also, some who live in rural area, will give up the treatment after awhile.

After my half day discussion with her, I am even more at heart in my work especially this project to create the awareness of being a carrier and the consequences of conceiving a child if the partner is also a carrier. However, with the advance medical technology, if you are a carrier, there is also ways to prevent having a Thalassemia kid. So, not so worrying la, just do the screening and take the necessary preventive treatment.

I thank God that I have 3 beautiful children that have no major health problem (touch wood). I must count my blessing and feel lucky that even during pregnancy there were no complication. Despite them being so hyper almost every minute at home, I am glad I don't have to spend a lot of time in the hospital. I still remember when I have to spend a few nights in the hospital for a few years when my daughter had high fever, I just couldn't sleep unless there was another person to watch her.

I just wish all be well, safe and healthy :)

Take a deep breath....

Everyday we do the same ritual, rush to leave the house to beat the bad traffic..a few minutes late could affect the arrival time and etc...

Practically we have a long list of things to do, task to accomplish for the day or maybe just the routine to work on...while we are so busy getting things done, how many of us are actually mindful of our breathing !

Actually I am one of those who doesn't bother much...and to many do we need to ?? Perhaps those who does Yoga and Qi Qong will be mindful of their breathing technique! And since I have started meditation, I do take note of my breathing. Actually in meditation, there are too a few techniques to observe the breathing....length and speed of each breath and a few others.

What I really feel good is when I took a few deep breaths, I feel a sense of relief and feel less stress-up, more calm and relax. These reactions are something we all know. I did this just before I begin my brisk walk, taking in the fresh air and I feel great ! This is something that we should be mindful of its effectiveness in wellbeing of our daily life.

I am going to do this...no matter what happened the night before, I have to wake up feeling good, take a few deep breaths before I step into the bathroom...and if I am doing my walk, another deep breath and when I am facing challenges and sensed something unpleasant coming my way...take a deep breath, relax !

Quite easy and I am sure it works well !

Get healthy

I was in the hospital two days ago, while waiting for consultation at the emergency area, I couldn't help but kept looking around at everyone who stepped in.

One lady who was bleeding profusely on the nose, had a golf ball size of swollen eyes..blood all over her shirt, I felt so sad for her and it seems like she met an accident riding her motorcycle. Next, another man came in the observation area complaining of stomachache which lasted 2 - 3 days, and blood found in the urine, next I saw a woman looking pale and weak, not much of expression on her face...trying to look calm, but I know she is definitely very sick.

Witnessing all these in one night, my thought was immediately focused on I need to be healthy. I want to live a better life, not on material gain but better as in less sickness, healthy life style.

It is important to be spiritually strong in mind and our body does compliment the right mind set. I believe so and I really want it to happen that way. When I was younger, I used to go to the gym with my housemate. And when I started working, I don't exercise that much except for playing squash. And when I started to have my children, my focus was on them and I neglected my own fitness. I give all my time to my husband to have his golf game on weekly basis, while I stayed at home to look after the children. Occasionally we will go to the park with the kids. That is all I do for my fitness.

Thankfully, I am always careful with what I eat, less oil, not much of deep frying except for my favourite goreng pisang. I used to take roti canai for breakfast but I cut down and not even once a week. I take simple breakfast, toast bread, yogurt, cereal and eggs sometimes. I control what I eat for lunch, the fact is that the entire street behind my office, from the very first stall to the last are serving majority Indian or Malay rice. Only 1 - 2 stalls Chinese food serving Mixed rice, Yong Tau Foo and noodles. So, at times, I will skip or just take some fruits or if I can plan my lunch away from office, I would do so. As for dinner, it will be home cooked food, soup is the most important for my family. My kids love soup so do I. I am a very soupy person and each time when I change the maid, training them to boil soup is priority...

Generally, I am watchful of my diet and I appreciate the motivation from my dear friend to work out more, and I have started to work out regularly and it helps. I feel better nowadays and I hope to keep up with it.

I want to keep a healthy lifestyle and age gracefully....looking young haha :)

Oral Hygiene

How much do we know about oral care and hygiene ?  

This morning I was in a meeting with a Prof from UKM Dentistry Department, and before our meeting commenced, she gave us valuable knowledge about our mouth !  

You are not going to believe this, maybe I am ignorant about this information, at any moment, there is 200 million of bacteria in our mouth, consisting of 30 species.    Some of the bacteria are good ones, and they should stay inside our mouth.  And we asked Prof how to prevent bad breathe in the morning, we are convinced by the power of commercial such like using Listerine,  and this is just temporarily measure to freshen the breathe.  And in fact if you rinsed more than twice a day, you will get dry mouth, which mean you are loosing the natural lubricant !

We joked about the passing of bacteria when you are kissing someone...haha !  Hopefully only the good bacteria are passed on !

So, the best is to keep our oral hygiene well.  For example, brushing your teeth after every meal, she commented Malaysian are general less hygienic in this case as we love to leave the after food taste in our mouth ! 

When you wake up and you realised your breathe is bad, it is also a sign of your toxic level in your body is high !

So, do something about it, don't wait till you feel the tooth ache and it is never too late to start now even you are already using denture.

A smile can brighten the darkest day. 

A smile is a powerful weapon; 

you can even break ice with it.