Dad’s gastro/hepatology visit + colorectal & endocrine visit + my gynae visit + Jess' bday lunch @ Blanco Court prawn mee & Hvala + "Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery" + lunch w Gwen @ Whisk & Paddle cafe

1/1/26 Thurs: Went over earlier to my parents to help dad with planning his finances… hopefully it helps. Had nice bitter gourd soup, fish and Potato’s favourite scrambled egg cooked by mum for dinner!

2/1/26 Fri: Saw the doctor this morning for my ongoing vaginal itchiness when urinating and which has been on and off for three weeks now. Did a urine dip stick test ($10) and Dr Verma said there were indications of vaginal infection, hence she prescribed me with two 3g Fosfomycin sachet (antibiotics, $32) and 10 Ural effervescence granules sachets ($15) for symptom relief. Total bill came up to $87 and I paid it with CDC vouchers. Hopefully this solves the problem so I don’t have to go back to do a urine lab test to determine the exact bacteria.

Cleared out some old books for donation and Potato cooked tom yam sotong and lady’s fingers with onions and scrambled eggs for dinner~ very thankful for him! *suspect my light-headedness is stress-induced haiz*

3/1/25 Sat: Nothing much for me today, so I decided to go back to my parents’ in the afternoon to play some games with dad. Spent about 45 minutes playing Reversi with him and yes he takes time to think, can’t really strategise and would keep forgetting the rules, but he tries and with patience from my side, we managed to complete the game! Also took a while to ask him if he plays any sports or chess games when he was young, but he said no. 

Showed him a video doing resistance band exercises and he tried his best to follow, albeit coordination not so good, and do it with the resistance band I gave him. *He even “complained” said it’s painful when he did the final stretch. Well, at least he recognises pain.* He still remembers to boil water and can do it himself, and when we talk about my relatives and his work colleagues, he could share a bit like usual. It’s just he does a lot of things slower now, and is quite dependent on holding things when he walks because of the pain in his right leg (good thing his right leg does not look as swollen now). 

Downloaded two games for him and he can play the match mahjong tiles one quite easily on his own. So, it makes me wonder if it’s more of depression than possible dementia in his case? Anyway, I’d have to tell the doctor my observation when I bring him for his memory clinic consultation on Jan 16.

Potato decided we should eat kimchi jiggae for dinner after watching an episode of “Culinary Class War” yesterday night haha. There were tofu, cabbage, shimeiji shrooms, enoki shrooms, chicken, shrimp tofu, lady’s fingers, kimchi and Korean vermicelli!

4/1/26 Sun: Usual race day work but my eyes felt super strained, especially earlier on in the afternoon before I took a shower. Potato microwaved the tuna gimbap, stir-fried potato slices with onions and cooked miso soup with cabbage, shimeiji shrooms and tofu for dinner. The potato slices had a nice buttery taste to it and the miso soup was very delicious.

5/1/26 Mon: Nice cardio boxing session this morning because it felt like it’s been a while since I exercised properly haha.

6/1/26 Tues: Tedious morning trying to locate which part of NTFGH’s Tower A was dad at because he didn’t listen and wait for me at the bus stop, said Tower B at first and I went to the wrong building, and all he could say was “I came down to the first floor already” repeatedly on the phone. Tried to whatsapp call him but he don’t know how to pick up the phone, but somehow in the end we decided he should go straight to level 3 clinic and with someone’s guidance, he took the lift up. It took us half an hour or so to meet for him to register for the visit at 11am… so it’s a good thing we said to meet earlier. *Damn he spent like around $800 on 4D in the past three months, minus the days he was hospitalised! Worse he couldn’t be bothered to check them and want to throw the slips away… then why buy!? Need to find a way to kick off his gambling addiction.* 

Understood from Dr Wong he was supposed to do blood test end of December, but he missed that, so doctor could not check his blood level today. So dad had quite bad ulcer in his stomach and small intestine (duodenum), which could have been caused by a painkiller Etoricoxib he took for his pain in the leg. It has improved after his second scope, but Wong wants dad to do a third one to check and remove everything hopefully, and also check a rare bacteria helicobacter pylori organisms is cleared, so he also prescribed dad with two weeks of antibiotics. Dad also has a wort on his caecum, but Wong said it’s big and he cannot remove via endoscopy, so have to rely on another department’s doctor to look at it and decide next step. Also raised my concern about delirium but Wong kept saying dad’s not and wouldn’t entertain me on that. He said he’s not a specialist in that area, and told us to refer to the memory clinic on Jan 16 and see if they need to refer him to hospital haiz.

Anyway, dad took a blood test, listened to the endoscopy procedure and costing etc before we went for lunch. Bought Hubago’s batang fish set ($9.80 each) for us near the hospital and it’s expensive yet no carbs omg. Realised dad is very picky with food because he would not eat the non-leafy part of cabbage (probably affected by the fact he don’t wear his dentures fully and it doesn’t fit exactly), skin of cherry tomatoes and skin of batang. 

Took us 1.5 hours to finally collect his medicine. Also re-made his appointment to meet the bone specialist for his scoliosis and leg pain issue. Took him to JE mrt and saw him board the train towards Lakeside. I got home only at 3+pm to work.

Thanks to Potato, we had a good penne bolognese for dinner~

Had a heart-pouring session with Potato at night and he stayed up beyond his usual sleeping hours to lend a listening ear to the troubled wife~ I appreciate that a lot dear! Trapped in my own thinking and it can be bad for me mentally in the long run, so after listening to him, I do see the need for me to re-frame my mindset in order to be stronger, and not bogged down by my emotional and softer side.

7/1/26 Weds: Was happy for a moment because dad managed to pick up my Whatsapp video call this morning. But though he remembered the umbrella this afternoon, haiz he forgot to bring his phone and pouch, and went back to his habitual way of putting money and ez-link card in his pant’s pockets. *Mum and probably me too have to stop being so panicky and get used to things for the time being I guess.* 

Took my laptop to SPH to replace the keypads and had chicken rice with lotus root soup ($5.3) for lunch… not bad. For dinner, Potato made mille feuille because it’s a rainy day~ he used the dried mushroom I soaked since morning, cabbage, onions, enoki shrooms and bacon, together with mirin, light soy sauce, cooking wine, white pepper and the mushroom water as the base… nice umami flavour. Ponzu sauce was a good dipping choice too.

8/1/26 Thurs: Waking up my dad this morning was not as hard somehow. Enjoyed my resistance cardio starters workout this morning because it was a great boost to my mood and focus in such times. 

Had shiok lotus root ginger chicken feet soup for dinner at my parents' and installed Life360 app on their phones too.

9/1/26 Fri: Dad was 45 minutes late for his appointment with the endoscopy doctor! I already told him to leave home earlier and he was still late because he was confused and lost between Tower A and B at NTFGH haiz. The doctor said he has a 1.5cm polyps near the rectum, so they will do incision to remove it and send it for further test. We saw her at 10.20am or so, and his next appointment with the thyroid doctor was supposedly at 11am... ended up seeing him at 11.30+am. 
He explained a CT scan during his hospital stay revealed dad has a 2cm growth on his left neck, so he asked some questions in case he had symptoms etc, but dad seemed to answer negative to them. But doctor still advised him to do a ultrasound scan to ensure it's benign. Thereafter, we went through the whole "financial counselling" again for the polyps removal surgery, and apparently, he has blood test, ECG and anaesthesia to be done to prepare for the surgery. He had his blood test done today... whoa I saw how the nurse prick so long in the back of his right hand before deciding to draw blood from the usual right arm I also scared. Dad was obviously in pain but it only showed on his face and he did not tell the nurse... so it looked funny for a bit haha~

Made his consultation payment of $109+ by Medisave and we left the clinic at 1pm. Took him to the food court at IMM for lunch. He ate yong tau foo ($6.3) while I had tempura udon ($7.9) which was meh. I asked if he wanted to use the toilet before leaving and he said "no", but halfway between the walk to the bus stop, he said he "urgently needed to pee" omg... luckily we were at Tower B of NTFGH so there's toilets. Saw him board bus 99 for home at 2.20pm and I rushed over for my gynae appointment at 2.30pm... which I arrived on the dot phew.

Besides two fibroids that was found in the ultrasound scan in Polyclinic earlier, the doctor said the 5.5cm cyst on the posterior wall of the left ovary don't look weirdly-shaped or of concern in general, and cysts like these normally would become smaller after a few cycles of period, so I could just return for ultrasound scan three months later. But she also said I could do a tumour marker by taking blood test, but because I'd be going to NTFGH so often this month for dad's appointment, and I am worried about "opening a can of worms", I decided I will go for ultrasound and monitor from there. And regarding the "dull ache" on and off on the lower right side of my pelvis, the doctor said it's not related to the womb, unlikely bladder either, so it's most probably just a muscle ache... which I hope of course.

Potato "rewarded my hard work" today with very flavourful vongole spaghetti for dinner~ he cooked the spaghetti till 80% or so and soaked it in the sauce to cook further so they were packed with richer flavour in the end yummy!

10/1/26 Sat: *Mum spent some time in the afternoon teaching dad to familiarise himself with Whatsapp calls... appreciate that~* Potato cooked my favourite tom yam maggie with prawns, tofu, scallops, cabbage, shimeiji shrooms and onions drizzled with spring onions for dinner as we watched an episode of "Culinary Class Wars"! So shiok~ The soft tofu tasted so nice with the slightly crunchy spring onion bits!

11/1/26 Sun: Met Jess, Ahna and LL for Jess' 37th birthday lunch at Blanco Court Prawn Mee. We queued for about 15 minutes before we got a seat for four. I bought the prawn mee ($36+) for everyone while Ahna helped with the ngor hiang ($12+). It wasn't "wow" for me and I think the one at Bukit Timah hawker centre is still better and cheaper haha. Ngor hiang was meh too.

We then went to Hvala at Raffles Hospital for dessert ($39+) and chats because there's less people and it's a comfortable place. The mochi was so-so, but the catch-up with the ladies was great. Thanks to the nice Mayday tee from Ahna and LL's belated Christmas tea and coffee gifts too!

Watched "Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery" with Potato on Netflix after our salmon sashimi don dinner hehe.

Somehow this movie did not intrigue me as much.

Rating: 3/5

12/1/26 Mon: *Dad felt more "awake" this morning when I called him... not as confused as he seemed previously. Hopefully, for the better now!* Good chair and reformer class with Margareth this morning and I tried taking a video of myself doing the chair yay~ shall find better angles in future!

Potato cooked minestrone soup for meatless dinner tonight! There were shimeiji shrooms, celery, tomatoes, onions, garlic, spring onions, carrots and potatoes in the tomato and chicken stock-based soup, and the croutons turned out extremely yummy!

13/1/26 Tues: Attended大光明禅修in the morning and I kept telling myself "everything has its time" so that I don't get anxious and try to do a lot when in the now. 

Tried stir-frying bacon with potato strips for dinner and it turned out not bad I guess, albeit Potato had to help me deglaze the pan in the end because of the burnt bits left there. Also made teriyaki chicken and cabbage with shimeiji shrooms~

14/1/26 Weds: Coach Gerald focused on eccentric exercises (as opposed to concentric exercises) this morning in Metabolic Plan class, which is the lengthening phase of the muscles that essentially builds strength in us. They were not intensive overall but still brought the heart rate up to about moderate intensity (Zone 2) for me.

Cooked simple somen with shrimps, scallops, cabbage, celery, mushrooms, egg, tomatoes and spring onions in seafood stock and mushroom water, but it turned out a bit salty after the somen was added in, so I think this somen has some salt itself.

15/1/26 Thurs: Barre-less Barre class this morning with Agnes was tiring as usual! I felt my lower back ache soon into the class because the non-stop warm-ups were enough to kill lol. It’s always a whole body workout in her class and I just feel like I’m much weaker there haha~ but it always feels good after the workout!

16/1/26 Fri: Mum and I accompanied dad to Jurong Polyclinic for his consultation with the memory doctor. After he asked him and us some questions, we agreed dad could have been disoriented after the hospital stay, hence his poorer memory in the past one and a half months, which has gotten better in the past week from mum and my observations. In the end, they KIV and ordered another memory test for him in four months’ time.

Potato made sunny side-up and dry udon, which we mixed with sesame dressing, and seared chicken with celery, tomatoes and celery… the skin was crispy because of the Maillard reaction he said~

17/1/26 Sat: Met Gwen for lunch at Whisk and Paddle cafe and my prawn rose pasta ($24+) was only so-so. Felt really nice sharing my stuff with her and she also shared hers. Glad to learn more about business things from her but this talented lady just needs to decide on what she wants to do and “get down to business” asap haha! I like how she’s so actively networking but when I look at myself I feel lazy lol. 

18/1/26 Sun: Potato cooked penne Bolognese for dinner and it was yummy as usual! *I think I have been affected by Persistent Postural-Perceptual Dizziness since my mild orthostatic intolerance combined with post-meal blood pressure dips in Europe in early December. I feel slightly unstable whenever I'm seated without support for extended period of time. Hope it goes away soon.*