The Morning After

The first order of business for the day was to drop by Ampang Puteri to check in my Mum. Alhamdulillah the vessel had opened up nicely and the ECG looks much better although still her blood pressure was a bit in the low side with the occasional abnormal heart rhythm. But this was expected after what happened to her yesterday afternoon. And she was back to her old self, talking and chatting away.

Julia told her about what happened to Anita and she kept asking about her daughter-in-law. Told her about what happened and that we would be waiting to see what the scan showed.

After half and hour or so, the Cardiologist dropped by and was happy with Mum's progress. He was already making plans about home. But not after spending another night at the ICU from the looks of things.

So, off to Subang next. Anita was due to have a CT scan later that morning. This more or less pointed towards appendicitis. One of my Surgeon colleague then dropped by and would schedule Anita to have the surgery later in the day. We were still waiting for the confirmation while I escaped to have a quick lunch next door. The boys were with Anita at the moment, causing havoc of course. Anita insisted on seeing her boys before going for surgery.

Will keep all updated with the progress later.

A Long 12 Hours

I was due to be on call yesterday but one of my colleague was nice enough to cover me for the day. And the reason why I had to leave halfway through my call you may ask?

I received a phone call from my Dad right around 4.30 yesterday afternoon. Both my Dad and Mum was at the sura, just finishing off a Thursday afternoon class, and was about to perform their Asar prayer. While waiting for the Imam, my Mum suddenly felt unwell and decided to go ahead for the prayers before the crowd started. And by the time she finished, she had a crushing pain in her chest, and she had to lie down. Sweat started pouring from her, and she felt breathless.

Unable to do anything as I was across town, I asked my Dad to bring her to the nearest hospital, which happened to be Ampang Puteri. En route, they stop by a GP friend who found that my Mum was dropping her blood pressure and a quick ECG showed something was wrong with her heart. She was rushed through to Ampang Puteri. Anita was already waiting for her at the ER.

A repeat ECG confirmed a heart event and she was moved to ICU to stabilise her. The Cardiologist soon arrived.

I was just sorting out my admissions and ready to.keave when the Cardiologist rang me up. As my Mum was brought early to the hospital, we decided to go for an urgent angiography and try to open up the vessel causing the blockage with a balloon.

That was done and we found a major blockage to her main blood vessel. A stent was then put in.

She would be spending the next couple of nights at least under close observation. She was tired by the time all that was done and it was close to 11 o'clock when we finally left. We then had a quick dinner with Dad and my sister.

But that wasn't the end. Anita woke up at around 1.30 with a stomach pain. Shortly she felt dizzy and the pain then became unbeatable. We then rushed her to Subang, and she is currently being admitted for observation. She needed a couple of rounds of painkiller before she finally slept in the ward.

I was about to leave her when I drafted this entry. My Mum's maid would be staying with her while I head home to have some sleep. It's going to be a long day tomorrow......

Idlan is Nine

Idlan is Nine today but Daddy had to be on call. Although the grand plan was to spend the long weekend at the apartment and basically chill out. I took Idlan out for dinner last night, asking him where would he like to go. Of course the answer was pretty straightforward.

We left after Maghrib and as soon as the roast beef arrived, the boys duly devoured them quite literally.

So, my baby boy is now nine but for the both of us, he's still our baby. In actually fact, he is more manja than Irfan. Still couldn't go to sleep without us around.

Happy Birthday Idlan. Sorry that Daddy couldn't be there when the cake arrived later. Daddy got to earn a living :)

At the Apartment

I decided to spent the evening at the apartment since I was called out to the hospital and was too tired to take the drive back to Gombak late in the evening. Added to that, I will be heading out to ParkCity for my morning clinic. Even though I prefer to head back, I knew I would feel too tired. Plus having to wake Anita up to let me in. Too much hassle since it would be pass the boys' bedtime.

That also meant that I would be missing my tub of asam which my Mum bought from Sungai Petani. I ate so much of the stuff earlier that I felt thirsty even now....... that's not going to be good for my gastritis as well I was sure.

New Flickr. Y No Pro?

I've been a Flickr member since Nov 2007, before converting into a Pro in 2009. I've never looked back ever since. I do host most of my photos on SmugMug though and I tried 500px and Picasa in the past. I've never trusted Facebook with my photos. I was keen on Google Plus but felt Flickr was still the clear winner.

So, I was glad to learn that Marissa Meyer made Flickr one of her main products when she took over Yahoo! Certainly Flickr is a good product, and the previous management neglected this diamond. So, which way did the new regime was taking Flickr?

I knew things were serious when the 3-months Pro account was given away before Xmas last year. I was waiting for them to implement a face-lift a lot earlier. So, when it finally came, I was actually very happy. Google probably caught wind of this change since they only updated their Plus experience only last. For the better.

I'm happy with the new interface. Definitely more modern. But the subscription model made me sit back. I felt that the company missed one important element here. Flickr was actually built on loyalty.

During the lean times, the user stood by the product. They wore their Pro badges with pride. I was one of them. By abolishing Pro - only allowing old timers to be grandfathered in if they have a recurring payment program - these hardcore band would wither away. I personally felt that the loyalty wasn't rewarded. In the days of social media, 6 years is a long time!

The jacked-up interface was a welcomed change. But I was hoping that there would be movement to recognise these Pro group of users who had stayed on through thick and thin. If there is one, I would sign up in a heartbeat. To have to pay extra just to have no advert is just plain lame.....