Gastric Pains!

When I first came to Singapore almost 3 years ago, one of the bad habits I developed was to go without meals and sometimes have only one meal a day, just to save a few dollars, especially over the weekends. During the weekdays, I work at the canteen at Chai Chee Technopark and at least meals were provided and I usually have a good breakfast and lunch but still would go without dinner. The timing is also different as we have to eat at a time when there are least customers. This means we have our breakfast at about 11am and our lunch at 3pm, the quietest time of the day.



The medicine I brought with me!

 Towards the second year, I developed gastric pains occassionally. Sometimes the pain get so intense, I have to take MC. My colleagues and room mates have always reminded me to take my meals regularly.

Recently, I developed gastric pains again and I had to take the afternoon off. When I came back a second time to Singapore, I brought some pain killers from China but they did not help.

The aweful medicine!

My Singaporean colleague, Ah Mei, happen to stop work at 2pm that particular day and told me that she will take me to see a doctor. We went to a Chinese doctor she recommended and he gave me a concoction which taste like a "water and soil" mixture! Yucks! And I was told I have to finish the whole course, which will take up to 2 weeks! Oh dear, one taste and I could almost puke! And to top it off, I had to pay SGD96 for the whole treatment! That's a lot of money for some "soil" like tasting mixture!

Some of my Singaporean colleagues had also advised me not to visit any Chinese doctor as many are not properly trained and may cause more harm than good! Is this true? For me, back in China, we visit Chinese doctor alot and many have proper certification and training in Chinese Universities.

I have since gotten well but I am not sure if it is due to the medicine or just that time heals. I'm wondering if I should stop taking the aweful tasting medicine! Yucks! I still have about half of it left!

Sick!

On Monday, my sister came home with one big red eye. I asked her what happened and she said she wasn't so sure. She had Chicken Rice for lunch and right after that, her eyes swelled and became red. It was also a little itchy and she had to rub it, making it even redder.

She said she was going to take a rest and the next day, she should be fine. That night, she slept early at about 9pm.

However, on Tuesday, the redness did not go away. She went to work anyway but the discomfort got the better of her and she took half-a-day leave to come home to rest. She sent me an SMS saying she wants to go see a doctor when I get home.

I was a little concerned as I wasn't sure if it was serious. Sometimes, it's a tough feeling to be worried and yet having to continue to work, knowing that there is no way I can help until the day is over.

When I got home, she was already waiting for me. I had a look at her eye and indeed it was getting worse. We proceeded to a doctor in Bedok Central, the same doctor I visited the last time when I was down with flu. I always prefer to visit doctors I am more familiar with. This clinic seems clean and the doctor was very professional, kind and friendly the last time I visited her.

There was about couple of people before us, so we had to wait about 20minutes for our turn.

Our turn came soon enough and we were ushered in to see the doctor. The doctor had a look at her and said it's a common infection. It could last a few days if not treated and there was nothing to worry about, she added. She should be fine with some medication.

With this, she prescribed some artificial tears for her and gave her a day's MC to rest at home.

We both felt a lot better after the visit knowing it was nothing serious!

Drink lots of water!

I seldom fall sick... very rarely actually... touch wood! However, recently, just before Christmas, I fell sick and it was bad enough that the doctor gave me a day's Medical Certificate without my asking for it. Since I recovered, I had been trying to analyze to see if I had done anything wrong to have fallen sick! Was it my diet? Was it my work? The environment or the stress?

I think I am quite a healthy person, especially since lately, I have started jogging on a regular basis... so the sickness came as a surprise for me!

Since then, I came up with the answer... at least I think so. I'm not 100% sure but here's what I realised. Since working here, I have been pretty busy and with my sister around, I have been even busier. One of the things I forget to do when I am really busy is to drink lots of water.

I remember my mother always telling me to drink lots of water. To her, water will heal anything! If you have a fever, drinking lots of water will cool you down. If you are tired, drinking lots of water will energize you! If you have bad skin complexion, drinking lots of water will smoothen your skin. Since young, she made us drink lots of water!

I'm not sure if this is some old wife's tail... but then it's worked pretty well for me through the years. So here is what I decided to do! I am going to drink a big glass of water before I go to work every morning, drink a big glass of water every 2 hours and drink a big glass of water before I go to bed at night... as long as I don't ahve to keep going to the toilet!

Sick and so close to Christmas!

For the last two days, I had been feeling lethargic and had a slight sore throat. However, today, it got worse and I could barely wake up. Unfortunately, I was the only one holding they keys to my work place so by hook or by crook, I have to make it to work!

I dragged myself out of bed but I was already late. The clock showed 5.30am when I normally got up at 5am. I rushed through washing up, changed my clothes and headed out the house to make it to the work place just in time. I was dead tired and felt like fainting! Nevertheless, I continued to make coffee and sandwiches just like I did everyday until about 8.00am when I could not take it anymore and called my boss to tell him that I had to go see a doctor.

I came home and went to the nearby clinic at Bedok. I was surprised as there were already quite a few people at this early hour. The doctor detected a fever in me and gave me a day MC and some medicine. He advised me to take more rest and drink more water. I figured that I must not have had enough rest.

Since my sister came, I had been cooking for her every day. She works late and comes home about 11pm every night. I normally wait for her and have a chat with her till midnight before we both go to bed. The problem is that I have to get up at 5am while she gets up at 9am. So since she came, I have been having about 5 hours of sleep every day, which is barely sufficient!

Well, anyway, I did tell her that once she is used to the food outside and working life, I will have to stop cooking and worrying about whether she will find her way home at night. It's just not the worrying alone I guess, I also want to see her because her off day is on Monday while mine is on Saturday and Sunday. Our working hours just don't match quite well which means we will hardly ever talk if I sleep early and she wakes up late...

We'll see how things work out!