Vote counting process on going in many areas. News from everywhere seems to indicate a wind of change.

Want to know the latest results for Malaysia’s 12th General Election? Then check out these few sites:
http://www.malaysiakini.com/index.php <– Updated quite regularly
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/malaysia2008/seats.htm
http://www.dap-elections.com/
http://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/election08/results.html

I noticed mainstream media (like TV and newspaper websites) are very slow to provide updates and results.

Today is the day where Malaysians go out and have their voices heard! This is the day where if you are not happy with how things have been, you make a change.

I have cast my vote. The process was relatively fast. Took me less than 10mins from the time I arrived at the polling station to the time I left the place. I was lucky my booth (more like classroom) was empty. I saw some booths that had quite a number of people queuing up outside.

I had wanted to write more about the 2008 General Election sometime earlier this week but I just couldn’t find the time, But here’s what I have to say about the 2008 General Elections.

Candidates
I won’t go into details about candidates all over the country but will just focus on mine - Kelana Jaya for Parliament Seat and Seri Setia for State Seat. Heck, I don’t think I want to even talk about the state seats. I have not really seen those two candidates in action. They don’t come off as impressive at all. As for Kelana Jaya, I was ‘lucky’ to have three candidates - Lee Hwa Beng for Barisan National, Loh Gwo Burne for Keadilan and Billi Lim running as an independant candidate.

Lim Hwa Beng was previously running in Subang Jaya. No introduction or explanation required. He’s been in newspapers, etc quite often. Loh Gwo Burne has also been in the news lately. You don’t know him?!? He’s the guy who taped Lingam la… Oh wait, Lingam said it looks like him, sounds like him, but might not be him (or something like that). Other than this Lingam thingy, I don’t think Gwo Burne’s being doing anything else (politically). He’s been so busy with his business that he’s got no time to even register himself as a voter. If he has no interest in politics, then what they heck is he doing running for Parliament seat? If he gets elected, will he actually be able to serve the people of Kelana Jaya? Or will it be business first, politics/ community second? I have once encountered a doctor who was also a politician (thank goodness he’s not running this year - what I heard is that there is in-fighting among the people in that party) who actually put politics first instead of his medical practice. I wonder if Gwo Burne’s even stayed in Kelana Jaya before.

Billi Lim (don’t you think he looks like Old Master Q? This is interesting (and that’s why he’s getting his own paragraph). I like his haircut. Oh good, he finally got his website updated. Yesterday it was still very crappy. From what I understand, he is a motivational speaker and the author of the book Dare To Fail. I guess Parliament can definitely do with some extra motivation and people like Bung can learn to speak better properly.

News flash: I just got an text message on my phone from +4540590097 saying “UNDILAH BARISAN NASIONAL UNTUK KITA SEMUA. SEMOGA SELAMAT AMAN DAN MAKMUR.” Does it mean if I don’t vote them, the country’s not going to be peaceful?!?

I wonder how many of the candidates have done community service? Or are the expecting a windfall when they become part of the government?

OPPOSITIONS
We do not have real oppositions. DAP? PAS? Keadilan? They only work together during election time. Plus, Khairy did raise an interesting question - If the oppositions win, who is their candidate for Prime Minister? I don’t really see anyone from the three parties that I would like to see as Malaysia’s future leader. If they are serious about being strong, form a new party.

CORRIDORS
I wonder why are all the corridors suddenly announced just before election? There have been many that says its too ambitious to have so many MEGA projects running almost simultaneously. If so, could it be that if Barisan Nasional do not get 2/3 majority, they can then say the projects can’t take off because oppositions are causing problems?

MY WISHES
I would like to see a party that is not based on race. I would like to see a party that fights for everyone - regardless of race or religion. I would like to see a party that is committed to developing our country and at the same time, care for the environment. Poverty does not only affect one race. Every Malaysian should have equal opportunity for health care, education, etc… Improve public transportation and reduce the number of cars on the road. It helps save reduce pollution and more importantly, our reliance on petrol. After all, only the rich can afford petrol guzzling cars, so why is the petrol subsidy used to benefit the rich who can afford such petrol guzzlers? I read somewhere that Malaysia will become a nett importer of petroleum in the next 5-10 years. When that time comes, what will be our country’s source of income? Proton?!? Don’t kid me…

Oh ya, would be nice to see more forward looking politicians. Most of our national plans, including election, seems so last minute. Speaking of last minute, how come the jokers who thought up the use of indelible inks never thought of the legal implications? Isn’t these the same people who should at least know some legal stuffs, especially when it comes to election-related legal issues?

As my car was still in the workshop, we decided it was best for us to just cook lunch instead of going out to eat. Mrs Tai usually does all the cooking and that means very healthy food - very little salt, very little sugar. I was in the mood for a tasty meal and told Mrs Tai that I would prepare lunch instead.

Checked the cupboard and found we had a can of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup, a can of button mushrooms, a packet of Cintan Cup-A-Mi instant noodles and some dried mushrooms. In the refrigerator, we had a lemon, an orange, a bottle of mayonnaise and yesterday’s leftover potato wedges from Kiwi Express.

One hour later…

Potato wedges with home made sauce

I have to clarify… The potato wedges were done this way in Kiwi Express. I merely reheated it. Yes, I think the potatoes were over-done/ over fried. It’s dark brownish in colour. I mixed 2 tablespoons oh mayonnaise with 1/3 of lemon juice and a slice of orange (together with the orange bits). It was a bit too watery (too much lemon) but it gave the slightly burnt potato wedges a tangy taste.

Next two dishes…

Noodles and soup

Cintan Cup-A-Mi instant dried noodles with a dash of lemon

Cream of mushroom

The noodles is nothing really special. It is Cintan’s Cup-A-Mi instant dried noodles - ala Thai flavour. Since I had quite a bit of lemon juice from the 1/3 of lemon, I used some on this noodle. It brings out the noodles taste. As for the soup, I got the inspiration from Soup Spoon’s thick mushroom soup as well as from my wife. She had prepared something similar (as paste sauce) for my colleagues about two weeks ago. I basically chopped a can of button mushrooms and about 4 pieces of dried mushrooms and added them into a can of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom. Then added some pepper and water.

It has been an ‘eventful’ week for us. Over the past few days, everything had been like a roller coaster ride for us. It gave us lots of scare. But I guess both of us have settled down and have a better understanding now.

Over the past week, we found out about 2 other people who had gone through what we are going through with our baby now. One is a colleague of mine who has a 7 year old daughter. According to my colleague, her 7 year old daughter turned out fine.
They had diagnosed her daughters condition only after she was delivered. Her daughter went for surgery on the third day and all’s well now. Another is my cousin’s cousin brother. According to my cousin, this cousin is now 21 years old and is doing National Service (this cousin of his lives in Singapore). My cousin told me everything should be OK for us as well.

All these have made us more calm now and as we go along, we will share what other things we find out about Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia.

We still have many things to prepare for our baby. Since there is a warehouse sale in Setia Alam, both of us decided to check out the things available there. The morning was spend checking out Babyland in SS2 (just to compare prices). Then we went to Little Whiz’s warehouse sale in Setia Alam. There were quite number of things on sale - baby cot, breast pump, toys, baby chairs, etc… We stared at each other… Are all these necessary? I guess we didn’t do enough ‘research’ on what is necessity and what is luxury. If you ask the people at Little Whiz, they would of course tell you we need everything!

We also took the opportunity to check out our house. There’s nothing new from out last visit except that they have even locked up the houses now. So there’s no way we could go in and check out our unit. So we just took a photo from the outside.

We took photo of this unit as it has got flowers blooming on the tree outside

On our way home…

Car breaks down again… 6 times in 6 months

While waiting for the mechanic, Mrs Tai and myself checked out the Central Park. Luckily for us, the car broke down just in front of the park. But we didn’t explore the whole place. We just tried out some of the equipments nearby…

The ‘walker’ is very fun

We also managed to meet up with a forum member and Setia Alam resident while waiting. Kelvin was nice enough to drop by and keep us company. He even offered to help me get some mechanics from nearby but I told him that our mechanic is on his way over. Derrell and Su Fei also popped by to keep us company. They were on their way to their own home in Aman Perdana. I think they didn’t actually have any plans to go to Aman Perdana (they were at his parent’s place in Petaling Jaya) but when I told Derrell my car broke down, they decided to drop by. So nice of them… Kelvin, Derrell and Su Fei.

After about 2 hours of waiting, mechanic told me he lost his way and will arrange a tow truck instead. I told him that I’ll try to start my car again and then if still necessary, will call him back and ask him to send the tow truck over instead. Luckily, the car could start and we were on our way back to PJ again.

Got back to PJ and sent the car to workshop… Again. Very good record (being sarcastic here). See… And it’s just the first day of March!

Thursday and Friday was spent once again at the hospital.

Yesterday (Thursday), we saw the doctor as part of UMMC’s admission procedure. In order to deliver at UMMC, we are supposed to register, attend a course (was told it is mandatory for all government hospitals to have this breastfeeding course for all mum-to-be) and then see the doctor (officially since Monday’s appointment was more as a 2nd opinion). We had originally wanted to use Serdang Hospital like what Dean and Adeline did with baby Shuyin. Serdang Hospital is one of the newer hospitals and basically everything there is ‘new’. But because of the complication that we are now facing, both Mrs Tai and myself have decided we will just have the baby delivered in UMMC. We understand they will have pediatric surgeons on standby during delivery.

After the course (dad-to-be are encouraged to sit in as well to provide morale support to the wife), we waited for our turn to see the doctor. As ours was a special case and we had to see one particular doctor, we faced this incident where we were told its our turn. When we went into the room, we noticed it was another doctor. After a quick check and after asking us a few questions, the doctor realised that we are a ’special case’ and told us to wait again outside for the correct doctor. There are a few doctors on duty at UMMC’s maternal clinic.

After another 10-20mins of waiting, we finally got to see the doctor. She basically explained to us again and asked if we have any further questions regarding our baby’s condition (see The ultrasound scan and The follow up scan. She then used to Doppler to listen to our baby’s heartbeat… Words cannot describe how it feels when you actually can hear your baby’s heartbeat. Seeing her images on the ultrasound scan is one thing, but hearing our baby is a totally different feeling. I felt so happy and I just can’t wait for our baby to finally come into this world.

The doctor also wrote us a referral letter for us to meet up with the pediatric surgeon on Friday (today). And before we left, she told us that she will arrange for us to meet up with a Neonatal Specialist before the baby is delivered - possibly during one of the next ultrasound scan sessions.

So this morning, we were off to the hospital again early in the morning. We had been told to come early as we had no prior appointment with the surgeon and would be considered as ‘walk-in’ patients. However, our doctor was nice enough to write the word URGENT on our letter yesterday.

It was about 2 hours wait before it was finally our turn to see the surgeon. Basically he acted more as a counselor for the two of us. He explained the situation again and even drew a diagram for us to understand further. He also explained his role - the surgeons will only come once the baby has been delivered. He also briefly explained to us what they will do during the corrective surgery. According to him, the corrective surgery is done after the baby is stabilised, which is usually on the third day. The only thing is that during the three days, baby will be on IV drips. No food (milk) until after the surgery. Even then, it will be quite a while after the surgery before the baby is allowed to take food (milk). I guess our baby will not get to taste food until the second or even third week.

First of all, thank you to all our friends who have called up or texted us over the last few days. We really appreciate the kind words, prayers and concern you have all shown. It had been one nightmare weekend for us and we really appreciate the support shown, especially my wife. She had at a time over the weekend felt very down and was blaming herself for this - if she had eaten the wrong food, moved too much, etc. But I told her it is not her fault. It is no one’s fault. In a way, you can say it is fated. We can hope it will be a relatively smooth journey for us in the next few months till delivery.

Almost the whole of Monday and first half of Tuesday was spent at the hospital.On Monday, we met up with another doctor at UMMC (University Malaya Medical Centre) who performed a more thorough ultrasound scan on our baby. She also suspects the same as what our regular doctor has suspected last Saturday - our baby is most likely to have this condition called Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia.

Diaphragmatic hernia?!? What is that? That is what went through my mind the first time the doctor mentioned it. It is the same when I tell my concerned friends… A big question mark appears. So, in my own words, understanding and illustration… Diaphragmatic Hernia basically means that the diaphragm (see illustration below) is either not developed properly or there is a hole/ tear on the diaphragm and it is causing the organs from the abdomen (like the stomach, liver and intestines) to move into the lung area.

The doctor explained how she came to such conclusion and I have to agree with her. The ultrasound scan on the hear shows that there is ’something’ located next to our baby’s heart. Scans on the abdomen showed us that our baby’s stomach was ‘missing’ or not at its place. So it is very likely that our baby’s stomach and perhaps even the bowels (intestines) have moved into the chest/ lung area. Other than this, there is nothing wrong with the baby - heartbeat is regular, growth is normal, no abnormalities with the hands and legs, etc…

Text added based on what I remember. I could have heard wrongly and mis-interpreted the photo.
According to the doctor, there is not much we can do at the moment. We will have to wait until the baby is delivered in May. Then the pediatric surgeon will take over. It is very likely that our baby will need to undergo a corrective surgery immediately. But all these will depend a lot on other factors as well. Anyhow, we are scheduled to meet with the doctor again this Thursday (tomorrow) and then the surgeon, on Friday.

Doctor have also informed us that there is a possibility of a ‘worst case scenario’. I guess this is one scenario which we hope will not happen but in a way, we have to be prepared.

Both Mrs Tai and myself have agreed that we will be open and positive about this. We will post updates as well as our experience, findings, links, etc here so that if there is anyone else who is facing such situation, especially in Malaysia (though we do hope no one else have to go through this), we are more than happy to share our experience and lend our support.

Mrs Tai is about 6 months into her pregnancy. Both of us are very excited about having our first child. We are still preparing for many things such as getting a baby bed, baby chair, confinement lady (sort of like a post natal doula), etc… Some have been generously given lent to us.

Over the past few weeks, especially over the Chinese New Year, we have had many friends and relatives asking us if we know whether its a baby boy or girl. On our last visit sometime end of January, the doctor said he could not be certain as the scan was not clear. So when asked, we would just say we don’t know but the next visit would be sometime at the end of February (in fact, it is today). Honestly, I have no preference be it boy or girl. I think both are equal and unique in their very own way.

The appointment was in the morning. So right after breakfast, we went straight to the hospital. We wanted to there early as we know from past visits that if you go there late, you end up having to wait for quite a while (can be more than 2 hours)… After about 1 hour of waiting, it was finally out turn.

As usual, the doctor will ask Mrs Tai the usual questions — Any more morning sickness (Mrs Tai was one of the few who had very bad morning sickness till the almost the end of the 5th month), anything to ask, etc… The doctor also commented that Mrs Tai’s weight gain is on the ‘above average’. He advised Mrs Tai to be more careful about what she puts in her mouth from now on.

Next, it was the part we always look forward to. The ultrasound scan. This is the time we get to actually ’see’ our baby and take home photos of the baby. Like every other time, the doctor will scan the body of the baby and take down measurements to check on the baby’s growth and development. He will also check the heart and show is how the heartbeat looks like. As always, Mrs Tai and I will be excited and happy to look at our baby.

The doctor continued to scan the baby but I noticed it was focused on a specific area. The doctor then asked Mrs Tai if she is free for another check on Monday. That’s quite unusual… Normally the appointments are spaced out about a month apart.

We asked the doctor if there’s anything to be concerned about. He told us that it is nothing to worry for now but he suspects something and would like to schedule a more thorough examination together with another specialist. I can understand he does not want us to panic. He definitely do not want Mrs Tai to be upset or anything as it can affect the baby. He just briefly told us that he suspects our baby may have what is called Diaphragmatic Hernia. He wrote it down for us on the ultrasound print outs and told us to look it up on the internet. We can then probably discuss on Monday with him.

Suddenly, everything starts crashing down. What is diaphragmatic hernia? I have heard of hernia but I never actually found out what it was. Is it serious? How would it affect the baby? All these questions racing through our minds. We were still at the hospital waiting for our turn to settle the bill. Both of us wanted to quickly go home and look it up. Mrs Tai was visibly upset and worried. I have to be strong for her. We settled the bill, got home and started to search for information on diaphragmatic hernia.

I guess no parents can really prepare for all these. No matter how prepared we think we are, everything still crashes. The heart sinks… We are still in a shock. What does all this mean? What happens next? We hope to find out more on Monday. At the moment, we can only hope for the best…

Some sites for further reading on diaphragmatic hernia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congenital_diaphragmatic_hernia
http://www.chop.edu/consumer/jsp/division/generic.jsp?id=81164
http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/UVAHealth/peds_hrnewborn/dph.cfm
http://fetus.ucsfmedicalcenter.org/cdh/

Another hamster died last night… She was nameless (she and two other hamsters, of which one died last month) but like other hamsters, she was cute. This is the thing I realised about hamsters… At pet shops, we see very healthy and very cute hamsters (I wonder what happens to the not-so-cute ones — do they become snake food?). But like all other living creatures, hamsters can also fall sick and die.

When I first got my pair of hamster, it never occured to me that some of the hamsters may fall sick, get injured, etc… After all, I was so in love with them after seeing them at the pet shop all clean, fat chubby and adorable. But when my pair started to have babies (and they really had lots of them), I realised that some of them will die early, some of them will not be chubby, some may have problems with their eyes, etc… The point is, hamsters are not that easy to care for after all.

Previously, when the hamsters died, I would use a hammer, a chisel and a screwdriver to dig up a grave… That’s because we don’t have any gardening tools such as spade or even a cangkul (hoe). Being kinda late already and feeling tired and sleepy (I try to go to bed by 10pm these days), I thought it would be easier to call a few friends and just borrow a hoe from one of them…

Tried the first one. He threw away his hoe a few months back. Actually, I remember my family used to have a hoe, a rake and a few spades… I guess after we cemented the porch, there was no need for the gardening tools anymore and my parents probably threw them away after that.

Called the second friend. She said her parents threw away the hoe as well…

Tried the third friend. He said he don’t have one.

Hmmm… It makes me wonder… How many of us actually still do gardening these days? Does anyone still have trees and plants outside their house? Have we gone so high-tech that we have no place for trees and other greens anymore?

It was a rather uneventful week.

I was back to work on Monday after a long Chinese New Year weekend. My Waja is still trying to maintain its record run. It clocked-in its February visit on Tuesday after spending a night at my office’s basement carpark on Monday. In fact, my car outdid itself and had two visits for January (the last week of January for a tyre change). I can’t wait for March!

Parliament was dissolved on Wednesday. Valentine’s day was celebrated at home… Home cooked food is always the best… Tasty and full of love. I took Friday off and spent sometime with my wife and in-laws. Went to check on my new place in Setia Alam. Looks like my house is almost ready…

The house is almost ready now. VP expected in April 2008

A mini playground… A half basketball court… We can’t wait to move in

Managed to also visit Dean over the weekend. What else…?!? Oh ya…

I had a few friends over at my parent’s place during Chinese New Year. I wasted no time introducing them to Wii…

This is the result… Fun, fun and more fun!

I am just glad nothing like this happened…