Time flies and before we know it, it's the end of the second day of the Chinese New Year and most people will be back to work tomorrow.

This year, my "ang pow" harvest is slightly lesser than last year. For Roy's family, this will be the last year we are collecting red packets and we will have to give out red packets next year.

Thankfully, for my family, traditionally, the newly-weds only need to give red packets during the second year after their customary wedding. So, next year, I can still collect "ang pows" from my relatives!

Welcoming the year of the hardworking Ox.

恭喜发财！

牛年行大运！

As Roy has to work tonight, we had reunion lunch instead of reunion dinner at his parents' place. As per last year, we had steamboat.

After the lunch, we were watching last year taiwanese Chinese New Year variety programs and playing with MiuMiu, their silky terrier.

Went for express mani+pedi, with nailart today. One word, PRETTY! Thanks to Susan of Precious Nail Services.

Feeling better today. Eat as normal though still avoiding hot liquid. No longer relying on painkiller.

Weighed myself and gained 1kg. In fact, from surgery till now, I had lost 2kg and now gained back 1kg. Not eating excessively but perhaps the 2kg I lost earlier was really from water.

Anyway, just eat normal and healthy for now. Will look into losing weight after Chinese New Year.

My ears hurt, badly.

Slacked at home with Hubby today. When Hubby left for work at 6pm, I went for my hair treatment. I was on G.A. (General Anesthesia) during my surgery followed by 2 weeks of antibiotics. To a certain extent, these drugs cause hair loss and I am not spared. I thought I better go for my scalp+hair treatment weekly, at least for a month.

As it is, my hair is so thin and little. I definitely can't afford any hair loss!

Chinese New Year is coming but Hubby got to work on CNY Eve, 8pm to 8am. This means that we can only have reunion lunch. Thank God he doesn't have to work on 1st and 2nd day of CNY, then we can go 拜年.

I lost 2kg from the surgery till now. Not much as I gained this 2kg from my Bangkok trip. Really got to work harder at losing weight. Will start my bellydance again after CNY and Hubby and I gonna pick up Salsa together.

Wish me luck!

So much for commenting that I was normal yesterday. Immediately after midnight, I sneezed once and to my horror, the phlegm and saliva I spat out were bloody. And for the next ten minutes, I was at my bathroom's basin coughing out blood, from the throat.

I woke Mummy up and she was shocked too. Quickly, Mummy gave me a glass or iced water to gurgle. After gurgling 3 cups of iced water, the blood flowing out subsided. Partly also because my throat was very dry and I have no more phlegm or saliva to spit out.

Then, for the next hour, the little phlegm which I coughed out, was not bloody. We waited because we are not sure if my condition really warrants going A&E. Mummy went to sleep at 2.30am. I drank some water then.

At 3am, as I was going to bed, I felt some phlegm swelling in my throat and spat out using a piece of tissue. To my utmost horror, it was bloody. Then I rushed to the bathroom and continued to spat out lotsa blood. I shouted for Mummy and when she saw me at the bathroom spitting out those bloody phlegm/saliva, she was terrified. We decided to go A&E.

Mummy called a friend who lives next block and asked me to change (I was in night dress then) to go A&E. Think I was spitting out blood for five minutes at the bathroom before I went to change and hurried downstairs. Brought a plastic bag along for coughing out the bloody phlegm.

Mummy's friend is so nice and we routed to Ang Mo Kio to pick Hubby up to join us. Coincidentally, Dear went home last night after dinner as he has a facial appointment today. Anyway, we reached A&E about 4am.

We were quickly registered and a nurse ushered me in while Mummy and Hubby waited outside. By then, my throat was too dry and I was no longer coughing or spitting. Was attended to by the A&E doctor on duty and when he checked my throat, could find no visible bloody wound. So, they called for the ENT doctor on duty.

I waited about 30 minutes before the lady doctor from ENT arrived. She checked me like what the A&E doctor did and said no bleeding externally. I muttered that if I were to drink water, I would definitely be spitting out lotsa blood. She sighed and asked if I could drink then. I told her I would try and immediately drank the cup of iced water she gave me thereafter. As I drank the cup of water, I had a sinking feeling that the whole bloody episode with blood-filled saliva/phlegm spitting will start soon.

The ENT doctor walked away for about 5 minutes to bring the equipment over for nose endorscope. She said that since there were no external bleeding, she just wanted to check if there was internal bleeding. Before she inserted the scope into my nose, she commented that I could go home and just needed to use iced water to gurgle to stop any bleeding. But I told her that there was too much blood to stop the bleeding.

She looked exasperated, as if I was lying and did not believe me, partly because when she was checking me earlier, when I spat, there was no blood. But I do know, it's because my throat was super dry and there was nothing to spit out.

Anyway, she did the endorscope on me, inserting into my nose and then leading to the back of my throat. It hurt. I hated that feeling. Immediately when she took out the scope, I spat or vomitted and there was lotsa blood. From that moment onwards, I just kept coughing or spitting out blood. Lotsa blood. The doctor was stunned.

It was so bad that I had to get up from the bed I was at to go to the basin and when offered the cups of iced-water to gurgle, I did as told. Gurgled the iced water and spat out. Whatever water that was spat out were bloody. I mean, like fresh blood. The doctor asked if I could try not to force out the blood and to follow her to the consultative room. I retorted that I did not deliberately forced the blood-filled phlegm out, instead it was swelling behind my throat and I had to spit it out.

I finally managed to follow her to a room, about 20 metres away. There, she asked me to sit down. I could not. Upon reaching the room, I raced to the basin and kept coughing out bloody phlegm. The nurse accompanying us was shocked too. The doctor held me to sit down and started putting some suction thingy into my mouth. She said she needed to suck out the rest of the blood filling my mouth first before she can burnt the blood vessels which are spurting out the blood non-stop.

But as she did the suction (maybe a few seconds), I could feel phlegm swelling behind my throat and coughed out blood once more. She pushed me to sit still and said I have to try to not cough out blood. I told her I would try but I could not help it.

Finally, she asked me to hold a plate under my chin and said that even if blood or saliva were to flow out of my mouth, just ignore, so that she can suck the blood then insert a stick to burn the blood vessels. We tried and finally after her doing the suction 6 times and successfully inserting a stick inside 4 times for 2 minutes each time, we are done. The bleeding miraculously stopped.

I gurgled lotsa iced water after that for 10 minutes before the bleeding stopped. I was then sent to the observation ward and the nurse said the doctor would see me again in an hour to see if the bleeding stopped.

Finally, at 7.15am, the doctor looked me up and asked there was still blood. I told her slight blood when I spat now after drinking water half an hour ago. She said ok and I could go home. I asker her what happened to me and she said that the back of my throat were grazed and the blood vessels were exposed, and spurting out blood. She advised me not to drink hot liquid as that will dilate the blood vessels causing the bleeding all over again.

I informed her that I was not drinking any hot water but there was still bleeding. She said she was not sure too but abrasion like this can occur anytime during recovery period and asked me to be more careful with my diet, especially to avoid hot and spicy food or liquid.

So I was discharged and got home about 8+am. Was so tired and immediately, Hubby and I collapsed onto bed.

This whole episode has indeed been very tramautising for me, Hubby and Mummy. Just pray hard that this will be the first and last occurrence.

It's already the eleventh day after my surgery and other than the blocked nose, occasional ear pain and swelling phlegm in throat, I am pretty much normal. Eating well too.

Went for my due facial today at Beauty 21 after a sumptuous lunch of Clam Chowder Soup, Sirloin Steak and Grill Dory, and ice-cream. It has been about 4 to 5 months since I last went to Beauty 21 as I prefer to go Castelli now. But I still have a facial package with Beauty 21 so might as well go back to utilise it.

However, after the treatment, there was a red patch on my right cheek, likely to be sensitivity. Told Mary about it immediately and she gave me some cream. Mary said I should have informed her about my sensitive skin but well, I have been going Beauty 21 for close to 10 years and they should know my skin is sensitive. Duh. Anyway, glad that the redness subsided.

On a happier note, Hubby bought me a watch as an early Valentine's Day gift. Couple watches actually. Very pretty and I really like it. For couples watches I have seen, the female version is usually very un-ladylike which I don't like. We got the CASIO CHRONOGRAPH - Pair design models. Very nice!

Casio Men's EDIFICE Watch, Chronograph Series.
Model No.: EF-503SPP-7AV.
• 1-second stopwatch
Measuring capacity: 11:59'59
Measuring mode: Elapsed time
• Date display
• Regular timekeeping
Analog: 3 hands (timekeeping hour and minutes, stopwatch seconds),
3 dials (timekeeping seconds, stopwatch hours and minutes)
• Accuracy: ±20 seconds per month
• Approx. battery life: 2 years on SR927W
• Size of case/total weight
46.5 X 41.4 X 10.4 mm / 135 g

Slight pain today and managed to survive the day without any painkillers! Had lunch about 2.30pm, followed by ice-cream about 4pm and dinner at 8pm.

Oh no, I am starting to gain weight.

Watched Ong Bak 2 today. Waste of time.

Pain is subsiding. Had proper meals today and only took painkillers once.

YEAH!

Mummy accompanied me for my 12pm appointment with Dr Chan. He was so late and we waited an hour before my turn.

Dr Chan said that I am healing well and continued to prescribe me more antibiotics. lozenges and painkillers. I told him about the pain and he said it's alright and just to take painkillers when necessary. He also mentioned that the pain would subside when I start eating more often.

Then, it was another long wait at the Pharmacy for my medication. To make things worse, only my antibiotics, painkillers and cough syrup are available at that pharmarcy and I had to go to the retail pharmarcy section for my nasal spray and lozenges. Another wait though not as long as the pharmacy at Specialist Clinics.

By the time we left SGH, it was about 2.15pm and we grabbed a cab to have late lunch at AMK Hub. Had Wanton Soup Noodles. Then I went for my manicure and pedicure at Nail Palace whereas Mummy shopped around before heading home.

Today is strictly classic mani+pedi and I will be doing express mani+pedi and nailart next week to have prettier nails during Chinese New Year period. YEAH!

Only 1 manicurist tended to me today and took about 3 hours. So, it means that Jon waited an hour for me for dinner. Felt so bad. Anyway, he was quite nice about it and we went to grab some food thereafter before proceeding to Upper Thomson for a drink and prata (yah, I ate a bit of the prata).

Reached home at 9pm. Tired. Think got to hibernate at home next 2 days as the weekend will be super crowded and the doctor already warned me to stay away from crowd.

Oh, I forgot to mention, Dr Chan extended my hospitalisation leave till 30th January. This means that I only need to be back in office on 2nd February. A long rest for me and I think, in a way, is good as I am so afraid of infection. Well, at least I can access to office emails from home. But need to go back to office for a while on Monday to send out some emails. Will see how.

Enjoy your weekend, folks!

Got better today but still taking painkillers. But I can eat now. Had my first decent meal at Delifrance today. Though I took a while, still managed to finished 3/4 of my bread, followed by a Hershey's Sunday Pie from Burger King. Sumptuous!

Anyway, went Causeway Point with Mummy and Dear earlier and ended up shopping for more skincare products. Mummy kept complaining why I never seem to have enough of skincare but well, what can I say... women will always be women!

Due to see Dr Chan tomorrow, followed by my manicure and pedicure session at Nail Palace. Can't wait!

My nose is still running and pain still persists. Am still relying on painkillers.

Anyway, Dear is on off today so we went to catch Red Cliff II (赤壁：決戰天下) in the afternoon. Actually, I think is this part 2 is quite nice, not too bad at all. Not sure why so many of my friends complain so much about this part 2.

It was 5.30pm after watching the movie and I was so famished. My last meal was a pancake from McDonald at 11am. So, I had a chocolate milkshare from McDonald at 5.30pm.

Then at about 7pm, drank soup and ate a bit of rice. Had Yakult too. Am hungry again now. Going to have some ice-cream!

May tomorrow be a better day!

My throat, ear and jaws hurt badly. It was so bad that I woke up at 5.30am to pop painkillers. And for the whole day, every 4 to 5 hours, I have been taking painkillers.

Yesterday was bad too but I endured and used ice packs. But today, I could not bear the pain, so the painkillers got to come in. It felt like the connecting nerve from throat, nose and ear is pulling, tremendously.

On a more optimistic note, the pain when swallowing anything is not as bad now. Ate porridge today. Intend to go McDonald to have pancakes tomorrow morning with Dear and Mummy.

Tomorrow will be a better day!

My jaws hurt and I have been using ice-packs on my jaws for a few hours. Ear drums are hurting too.

Although I am not sneezing as much as yesterday, my cough still persists. And my throat is itchy. Optimistic me treats it as a sign of recovery. Afterall, whenever we have the cough or flu, itchy throat normally occurs when we are about to recover.

Tomnorrow should be better...

Am waiting for the Hubby to buy porridge back for hungry me. My last meal was at 11.30am, about 1/4 bowl of fish porridge and 1 Yakult.

Dear has been very patient with me throughout this whole ordeal, especially yesterday when I kept throwing tantrums due to difficulty in swallowing any food. I was so hungry! And today the Hubby bought the fish porridge for me this morning. In fact, he basically just "burnt" his precious weekend looking after me!

Still feeling miserable as I have been coughing and sneezing non-stop since 5am. My ears and teeth are still aching even though the pain is slightly better than yesterday.

Sure hope that the sneezing and coughing will subside tomorrow!

.... after your Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty :

Just got a surprise from my department.... A Get-Well Baseket comprising of tonics such as Essence of Chicken and Bird's Nest. Received the one from the company earlier and thought that is it.

Now, another from my department.... really nice of my colleagues! Thanks so much!

Discharged this afternoon from SGH. Throat is hurting terribly and my nose keeps secreting bloody mucus. Doctor Chan has advised to stay at home next 2 weeks and to avoid crowded places as I will be very prone to infection during this period.

So, just to throw some light on the 2 surgical procedures I went through yesterday morning; Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty & Tonsillectomy. The latter is quite obvious, the removal of tonsils.

Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) is a procedure used to remove excess tissue in the throat, which widens the airway. This sometimes can allow air to move through the throat more easily when you breathe, decreasing snoring. UPPP involves the removal of the uvula and back of the soft palate, which widens the airway, and is often accompanied by Tonsillectomy.

Now, that explains my difficulty to swallow even my saliva and also secretion from my nose and even blocked nose. And guess what, Cheryl and Zijun dropped me a surprised visit last night at SGH. So sweet of them, thanks babes!

My follow-up appointment is in a week's time. Meanwhile, Dear bought ice-cream for me so that I can eat. Drinking cold water too. Earlier, I ate some porridge with a plate of minced chicken with egg for dinner. I was having difficulty swallowing the minced chicken too. But because I was really hungry, I forced myself to finish the dinner.

Oh yah, received a Get-Well basket at 7pm. It is from the company. So nice hoh?

So busy today. Lotsa to do. Doesn't help that my PAT (Pre-Admission Test) is at 1.30pm tomorrow and I have to prepare for an important meeting on Wednesday morning.

Think my PAT will take a few hours and I should be heading to UE Square to join some colleagues to eat something then back to office. They are likely to stay back for the KTV session. Seriously hope that I have time to complete my work by tomorrow. Argh.

All I want to do is to clear all outstanding work by 7th so that I can peacefully go for my operation on 8th. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!

Dear helped me call SGH's ENT (Ear, Nose & Throat) Centre and managed to fix my Pre-Admission Test (PAT) on 6th at 1.30pm. I have no other choice as all appointments are fully booked.

Am feeling a little anxious because I have a 9am meeting on 7th at an external site. The PAT may take the rest of the day and I am concerned of having no time to rush back to office.

Anyway, spent the day at home with Dear but my poor Dear has slight fever and flu. My poor baby.... was asking him to go on leave tomorrow but he said got to go to work unless he can't climb out of bed!

Ate a lot for dinner too... so much for losing weight. Really need to trim down after my tonsils operation. Am contemplating blogging my daily meals so as to keep reminding myself. Do you think it will work?!?

Went to work as usual today and nothing unusual. But realised how muddle-headed I was when I got home and realised that my PAT (Pre-Admission Test) at SGH is today and not this coming Monday!

I was so frantic that I asked Dear to help me call SGH tomorrow to fix a PAT on Monday. My tonsils operation is scheduled for 8 January 2009 and I have confirmed. Really hope that nothing crops up to upset this schedule.

So, I will be going for my operation next Thursday then will be on 2 weeks hospitalisation leave. I will be staying overnight on the 8th at SGH and will be discharged on the 9th.

Should not be able to speak until a week after the operation. And I have told my boss that I would be accessing to emails from home. Hope my work won't pile up with me clearing some at home.

There are also 2 important meetings during the 2 weeks I will be away, and I may have to attend them while on leave. Will see how. Am telling myself not to be too stressed out over work. Afterall, it's 2009 and am wishing for everything smooth-sailing in work and marriage!

Looking back at my 2008 resolutions, I don't wanna comment too much and make myself down.

Basically, I gained weight, lotsa weight, over the past year. I will try my best to shed a few kilos but I really do not want to feel depressed it I don't.

So, for 2009, it's gonna be a year busy preparing for my customary wedding. So, my 2009 resolutions as below.

As I was away during Christmas, we decided to meet up to celebrate Cheryl's belated birthday and count down to 2009 on NYE instead.

Unfortunately, Zijun was sick and could not join us. So, it's just me, Yanling and Cheryl with our partners.

Dinner was at Outback Steak House at Millenia Walk, after which we headed for Paulaner Brauhaus for beer and to countdown to 2009.