Pam's Blog (Life, Marriage & Parenting)

I am not sure whether you are conscious about what you are thinking but I try to be present with my thoughts as much as I can.  Maintaining Social Bonds This morning I had many fleeting thoughts. When I have thoughts running through my mind, I'll think if there's anything that I can do to make that thought meaningful. Of course there are so many thoughts and it would be difficult for me to put every one of them into actions so I choose the ones that are recurring (usually these are the ones that matter). Some examples are reconciliating with former colleague whom I treasured but due to some office politics, we stopped talking. I'm glad every single time I chose to take initiative. I have managed to save several friendships and maintain relatively new ones by being authentic. I believe that if the relationship matters, the other party would respond accordingly. At the back of my head, I would imagine if I were to suddenly pass away, there would be very few words left unsaid....

29th June 2021: "When Breath Becomes Air" by Paul Kalanithi is the best book I have read hands down. I dare say that it's better than my old favourite by Oscar Wilde (though they're of different genre). It's the most irresistible page-turner simply because it is so authentic and I felt like I'm acquainted with Paul through the words he has written. I decided to read this book after recounting my experience with ruptured appendicitis and navigating within the public hospital systems. Furthermore, I recalled several people recommending this book and for some reason, this book has been sitting on the top 10 charts for a long time in various bookstores. Let me cut to the chase and share my thoughts about the book: (1) Compassionate - Paul struck me as someone who was profoundly intellectual. It was only when I first read about his thoughts and what he did during his visit to a home for people who had suffered severe brain injuries (as part of the curriculum during...

Mendell is 9 months old and I have decided to document short reflections of my motherhood journey in another blog: Pammie Schoolhouse . Please pop by every now and then. 😄 Health & Well-Being I know the photos looked like some slimming ad but I am just so glad about where I am right now in terms of my weight! So if you have read my "Our Son, Mendell" page, you would've known that I gained a total of 26kg during my pregnancy! (That's crazy... Mendell was born at 3.6kg. If you are keen on the breakdown of pregnancy weight gain, you can read up here ) Though I was healthy, I was worried that I could not lose all that weight. 9 months later now, I am only 2kg away from my pre-pregnancy weight. My hard work (living a healthy lifestyle) has paid off and I am really glad!  However, my abdomen is still flabby so I guess I have to do more core exercises after surgeon approved (I had appendicitis surgery a few weeks ago so I need to check in with surgeon on next appointmen...

On 6th June 2021, I went home feeling great! My church and close friends had sent over some "get well soon" fruit & snack baskets. My mother-in-law was at my place playing with my son and all seemed well. Bleeding We bedshare with my son so he always nurse and sleep. I got up to urinate at around 3am and was shocked to see blood on my underwear and urine. In addition, I was having the dull pain that I used to experience before the appendicitis surgery. I shared this information with Nat and he decided that we should proceed to the A&E for a checkup.  I could see his anxiousness as he had shared that he should've sent me to the hospital previously when I mentioned that I had recurring pain. I guess all of us go through life and learn things along the way. Sometimes we wished that we had done things differently and sometimes we blame and can't seem to forgive ourselves for the things we didn't do. I think the books that I have read brought me peace and I cou...

As the title of my entry suggests, I am going to talk about my encounter with appendicitis.  The Beginning On the morning of 28th May, I woke up with a  bad (I won't use severe because I don't think that was what I experienced) episode of gastric pain. I wasn't actually sure that it was gastric but having experienced it, that was the closest that I felt. I woke my helper up to make a simple breakfast for me but she made a heavy breakfast that consisted of toasts, egg and milo. I remember having a hard time trying to consume the food that I resorted to using utensils (yeah, I usually eat bread of any kind, including pizza with my hands).  After eating, I literally vomited everything that I consumed. For some people, vomiting is uncommon, for me though, it is quite common. I am unfortunately prone to feelings of nausea while having my menstruation, almost throughout my pregnancy and sometimes episodes of mild food poisoning. Hence, I was not overly concerned. I also defec...