Jonathan

The part of having kids that I hate most - as it dawned upon me - is when they get sick with a very serious illness - so many things that are out of your hands or control...

My nephew, Jonathan, was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in the stomach (neuroblastoma) at the tender age of 2. It is never a good time anytime to contract cancer BUT at 2??? The poor kid had to undergo a battery if tests within the first 24 hours of detection of the growth that includes, a biopsy, a bone marrow test, a bone scan, a CT scan, blood test and urine tests.....

He had been having mild fever for the the past 4 weeks. No other major symtoms that should alarm any of us - but he was admited into hospital for tests and observation and the doctors could nt find anything wrong with him. X-ray, UltraSound tests, blood tests and urine test did not find anything wrong with him - so he was just given anti-biotics to suppress the fever.

Last week, it was suggested that a second opinion should be seeked, and so to another doctor, at another hospotal he went - NObody would have been prepared for what's to come.

The pedeatrian discovered a lump in the abdomen the size of a lemon - and immediatly called for an ultra-sound - and he found that the grwoth was bigger - 14cm x 7cm! - almost the complete size of the stomach. An operation to remove it is not an option due to its size but a biopsy was immediately called for - although the doctor and the onchologist was already painting a very bad picture.

Within 24 hours, Jon was subjected to the torturous battery of tests to diagnose the situation properly. It is now confirmed that it is cancerous and that the 3rd rib bone at the back had been infected. Praise God though, that the Bone Marrow is clean. This will enable a Stem Cell transplant to be done later to help in his recovery.

At the time of writing, Jon has completed his first 72 hour Chemotheraphy session at the hospital. He will also be returning home today (24/6) to recuperate at home before his next Chemo session on 10 july.

His appetite is not very good, although he does ask for food - but he eats very little and he is very undernourished. The doctors has put him on drips and a feeding tube inserted to enable fluid and nutrients to be injected into his body. He also has tubes inserted into his veins for the purpose of administering drugs as part of the chemo theraphy. He has lost a lot of weight and generally his moods arent too good. He is very afraid of the nurses and doctors and would refuse to eat his oral medication. His blood pressure is also high (100s/150s) and still has a fever.

Hopefully, returning home wil put him more at ease and will help improve his appetite, moods, blood pressure and that he will take his medication. Due to Chemo, his immune system is also very low and is very susceptible to infections - so the parents have a lotto do to keep him safe, healthy, and monitored... Growing pains...

Please help pray for little Jonathan Chang.

Me Part 2

The long awaited part 2? Well.... before my memories start to fail me and my muscle limbs start to laze in the sun, I thought it best to write my case and leave behind my legacy for my kids.... (ok so I don't need to explain but to write something about meself is always .... interesting... LOL)

I ended Part 1 with something about me sister - I guess it will be nice to start with her too.... Well, she came into the family as the youngest grandchild on both side of the family. The little princess was precious and with a name that means "grace", it speaks much about the hopes of my parents back then. It was God's grace to bring her into our lives... although I don't necessary share that thought at that time...(LOL) ... but she was cool. We were playmates; we will run through the house on the wooden floorboards making as much noise as possible; we would play with our friendly neighbours; we would play with our mini zoo....

At 6, I was ready for school and I was enrolled in the best Kindie School in the whole of Ipoh - St. Michael - and spent the wee mornings getting ready for school and play. I could still remember (the pictures did help) how I, in my purplish sweater and black short pants, posed in pictures for my first day of school - "Hey! I am old enough to go to school! YEH!" Never did I once thought I have to do that - everyday - for another 20 years!!! It was a conspiracy - I don't remember signing one bit of any contract that bound me to go to school!!! But I did - obediently as I possibly could - I endured and enjoyed the best 20 years of my life!

A life without worries - a life without qualms - food on the table when you want it, or when you don't - free toys - NO bills - NO need to make decisions - The costs? Well, student life cost me not a single cent but it came with a price - homeworks, exams, tuitions, no TV, no late nights, no parties, naggings, naggings, naggings, naggings - did I mentioned naggings?

But it was cool.

I enjoyed every bit of my student life.

I breezed through kindie. The only time I got a whacking (or at least one that is still in my memory) was when I was playing this "pretend cycling" on the floor with my one other friend and suddenly somewhere from the top, a sudden quick swift of a cane came swatting down on our legs - OUCH!!! And that was the end of our little game.... Other than that - the only record I have of my kindie life is a smudged class photo... but I still do remember some old friends that graduated with me to primary school - I remembered Hong Kin, Chee Kin, Bremma, ..... ok so I am bad with names.... but I should try and find that old photo again..... and try with the names again!

I also remembered y parents giving me a choice as to which school I would like to go for my primary education - I chose ST.MICHAEL'S INSTITUTION! (over ACS of cos!!!) and there I went for another 6 years.

I went to SMI 2 and the first 3 years was pretty drabby

• I remembered squatting by the corridors learning to brush our teeth - we have this dentist clinic in the school compound and so we have to have this regular yearly checkup (which I don't remember going to) and this "basic training course" of brushing teeth - so we will all squat in a straight line along the corridor by the drain and we, equipped with our mug and toothbrush, will follow the "nice" dental nurse who will brush this gigantic teeth that she holds ( I remembered we joked about which dinosaur or monster she got those teeth from...)
• I remembered I was in 1C, 2C, 3C - the classrooms that I was in, and these 3 classrooms were very near the Headmaster's and Teacher's room.
• I remembered attending "catholism class" where a Catholic brother will come and tell us bible stories - that was fun - as I would always, almost every time, know the ending of the story and will help finish the story (that's for paying attention in Sunday School!!! ahem!)
• I remembered we use to pay only 15cent for a small plate of chee cheong fun and for 5 cent, we can have 2 sweets or a sticker!
  
• I remembered standing on my chair for not remembering my multiplication tables!
• I remembered using my fingers to remember the 9x multiplicaiton table
• I remembered sitting on the floor chatting while the teacher was teaching and having chalk pellets thrown at my head (the teacher's accuracy was amazing!! even with a full length distance of 20m, the teacher will hit the student with an amazing 95% accuracy!) I remember getting a mouthful of chalk too when I got hit with a duster! (those days, the used a "cloth" duster" that was bound tightly and stapled together - it doesn't hurt but you are bound to get a white face from it!
  

The next 3 years of of primary school was more fun - I was in 4C and that was when sports was my favorite - it was 1982 when I enjoyed my first World Cup (Spain) and football became my first love. Liverpool was the coolest team then.... and still is today - This was also the first time I was allowed to stay late, or wake up in the wee mornings to watch football!!! (cool dad I had!!),.... and thus began my affections and love for football. Every evening, I would be on the football pitch behind my house.... i would become one of the best in class and House but never made the school team ... I think it was because they played me out of position!!! (hmmm...) but I remembered scoring goals, running up and down the flanks..... it was cool..

And of course, I participated in every game and sports event there is.... badminton, sepak takraw, athletics, ..... and would come back with trophies and medals... I would do well in exams too... I knew I was an avegare student in my first 3 years but std 4 onwards, I would be among the tops in class and among the top 10/20 in the standard.... I was made prefect in std 5 and 6... some fond memories:

• I remembered getting top marks and having to stand in front of the entire school to get my "book" prize"
• I remembered leading the school in singing the national anthem every other day during assembly - I think I was one of the committee members on the prefect board back then (??).
• I remembered playing football and running barefooted!
• I remembered waking up early on saturday (it is extra-curricular activities day) and it was to be the earliest day of the week that I would wake up - at 6am - and without the parents waking me up- and I would take a public bus to school at 6.15am in order to reach the school by 6.30am to be the first to reach the badminton court to "book the court". We had an unwritten rule - whoever hangs his badminton net on the court first, gets to play first and gets to choose the players who can play on the court - needless to say, yours truly are almost king for a day most of the time.....
• I remembered haing to "babysit" the smaller students when the teacher have to have teachers meeting and we would have 2-3 prefects writing down names on the blackboard (yes - the boards were black back then!).
• I remembered one of my best friend then, and my class partner - Rozali - he shit on his pants in school!
• I remembered starting wearing my nerdy glasses when i was 10!
• I remembered sitting next to the doors of the classroom and would be among the first to dash out during recess time to book the "concrete courts" outside our classroom to play "kong kuan" aka "galah panjang" or "tan kuek" aka "one leg hop" and those were days we accumulated our battle scars from "flying" across the court to tag the opposition. I was one of the best at "tan kuek" back then - fast, agile, and I even had my trademark "flying tactic" to leave behind... so I was always the popular ones that everyone wanted on their team!
• I remembered doing the "rhyming selection" to choose teams for "police and thieves" or for team games....
• I remembered catching spiders at the school garden hedges to "fight" with other friends' spiders.
• I remembered being a librarian in a storeroom like library where we only allow book borrowing - love the job as I loved reading - of course I have first access to all the "Hardy Boys" and "Nancy Drew" mystery and detective books... I remembered hiding some of the books in special hiding places so that others could not find them or borrow them until I get a chance to read them first - we had a quota as to how many books you can borrow at any one time. I remembered the joy of having my first library card at the Public library where my dad would take me there once a week. (The public library would turned out to be one of my favourite places to be in!)
  
• I remembered some ghost stories about the Ugama classroom and the library - some headless japanese soldiers... more of this next time...
• I remembered they built the new teachers room during my time there
• I remembered my teacher calling my parents to come to school because i did not write my "u" properly - always leaving the final stroke down - and was penalised for it by having all the words with "u" marked as wrong in my dictation test until my teacher had a word with my parents - eventually my test result was marked as 98%!
• I remembered singing to "Beat it" and "Karma chameleon" after their grammy award wins.
• I remembered playing "Five Stones", "Bottle Caps","chongkak", "Liu Chai", "Sting Bomb", "Rubber Band guns & pellets" and "hide&seek"
  

Hmmm.... maybe I should find some time to write about these childhood games.... maybe next time...

yah.... next time....