Eczema- conquered

Dear Ian,

I’m happy to say that after years of fighting, we finally have an upper hand in controlling your skin conditions.

This skin condition seems to be on quite a pandemic scale, there are so many books written about it, there are so many articles in the internet written about it, so many medical professionals talked about it. Well, all this attention to find cure and solace is understandable; on a minor case, we all have some degree of skin irritation that one can generally classify as ‘eczema’. I have some, your mum has them, sometimes I gets it in the feet, sometimes elbows, and one time I remembered vividly, the cheeks of my butt. But taking it all in, it has never bothered me much, it came, it went off, it comes again, some other time, some other spots.

For your case, it seems to be quite bad, bad enough to have almost your entire body covered with scabs, scars and scratches. More often than not, you are bleeding somewhere, some place, scaly, flaky, dried skins pocketed your body. It affected your psyche as you can’t seem to keep still and there is a tendency to scratch them to your hearts content, at the expense of broken skin, irritation and sometimes, infection.

We, like most parents of course tried whatever we could, moisturizers, steroid creams, essential oils, diet controls, abstaining from milk, we gave you soy, which you hated. You’re a milk person, but we couldn’t give you too much of that. There were hypothesis upon theories of allegations on allergies. Life was not good.

Of course, there are many, many well meaning folks who tried to advise us on how to handle your conditions. I know it was bad, but not bad enough, yet to seek serious medical treatment. So we treated you with the usual topical cream. It did help, but it was like guerrilla warfare with you. You break the skin and scar yourself on the legs, we cream the legs and it healed, then you go and scratch yourself raw somewhere else, on your chest, and neck, we went there to fight the itch and heal you, you went to scratch your hands, and wrists. It never ends.

Until recently…

Things seems to get a bit better, and better, the scars healed…

I cannot specifically put it down to what we did ‘right’. We tried topical cream like Hydrocortisone, we tried Diprocel, we tried Egocort, we tried Betasone, we tried Dermasone.

We even tried essential oil, like Lavender, which helped to ease the inflammation, and heal the scarring.

For moisturizers, we tried Cetaphil, Aqueous Cream, Johnsons and Johnsons and many other brands.

For soaps,we tried Pears, Cetaphil, Seba Med, children’s soap, moisturing soap and a lot of other alternatives

Sembawang Hot Spring

In early July, we had an opportunity to visit the Sembawang hot spring, more like to look and explore parts of Singapore we’ve not been before. There’s many. many stories about how the hot spring water helps to cure many various forms of skin conditions, even rheumatism, and other ailments. We didn’t believe much in it, but your grand parents and 4th grand aunt, wanted to give it a shot on your skin.

Why not? After all, it is just hot water (very hot water) from the ground, and we used a wet towel to soak in the water and rub it on you. We didn’t think much of it, and still don’t. Your skin conditions of late has taken a turn for the better. For me, as your skeptic dad, the verdict is still out there, and I wouldn’t bank on the hot spring water being the SINGLE source of cure for your skin conditions.

But it has indeed became much better.

Sembawang Hot Spring

Then and now

This was your leg more than a year ago, at the height of your eczema, and I can remember vividly, fighting a losing battle. The scarring was bad, your inability to stop yourself from scratching was making a bad situation worse.

And this was your leg again, back then, and now.

Your neck, was another source of our headache, a familiar battleground where your scratch to no end.

What I did

Eventually after years of trial and error, I finally settled on 2 of these.

I cream you every night before you sleep and make sure your skin stays moisture through the night. Somehow this regime works and together with the topical cream, your scabs started falling, and the wounds started to heal. now all we have left are shadows of your woulds, nothing a little sunshine and swim can’t heal.

In a nutshell, I cannot conclusively say that there is one specific thing we did that helped, was it the hot spring water? I honestly don’t know. But all these started happening after that July outing to the hot spring. Perhaps it was, but I’m still not willing to bank my last buck on it.

The creaming regime is something we had done before, again with mixed results, sometimes it works, sometimes, it didn’t.

Growing up stronger

I also want to give credit to your body’s own immune system. Perhaps, Ian, you’ve grown old enough to heal yourself, and the body is now stronger to fight the allergies that is causing these flare up. But again, there are arguments and adults out there who are still suffering from eczema.

What I’ve just said won’t mean a bat crap to many people. Some of these friends I know still suffers from very bad bouts of skin breakages and irritations. So how are you brought up different that you’re able to heal yourself when you’re older now, when there are other older people who cannot yet heal and recover from their own skin conditions?

Keep going strong, and stronger

All I can say is that we have declared victory over your skin conditions, but it is not over, your skin will flare if we falter on moisturizing you, marinating you for top to toe with cream. Making sure that you are clean and continue to fight these outbreaks where ever it happened.

One thing for sure, right now, as your dad and a parent, I’ve never been happier to mark this as one of my milestones, helping you heal your body, so much so that you say you feel like a ‘normal boy again.’

Perth: The Adventures of Day Three Travellers

We woke up day three, with a plan to go and pick oranges. This time, we were in no rush at all to go out and we took our time and had a light munch. We knew where we are heading and at this place to pick orange and erroneously put ‘Orange’ and ‘Grove’ together.

So we punched in ‘Orange Grove’ into our GPS.

And started a whole new adventure!

You see, there is no ‘Oranges’ in Orange Grove, Perth Australia.

I vividly remembered, during my initial recon on Google Map in Singapore that the orange picking place was about 20 plus minutes drive ‘up’, and I totally forgotten about that when I punch in ‘Orange Grove’ and drove 30 plus minutes ‘down’, way down to a place called Kalamunda.

The plan was to head for Kalamunda to have our breakfast then head to ‘Orange Grove’ to pick oranges. So off we go!

It was like day two, a nice drive, and the trip to Kalamunda took us uphill, that is where the i20’s puny engines start to show strain, the pick up was slow going against gravity, but it was still manageable, I’m on holiday and there’s absolutely no rush. Except that we are all heading towards the wrong direction!

We found the ‘shopping belt’ in Kalamunda and parked our car, by then we were famished as we walked around hunting for a late breakfast, and we found Chatterbox Coffee and Juice Bar. It was a nice quaint cafe with a nice warm Perth service. We got our breakfast, although the wait was a little too long, well, any starving soul’s wait for food will be too long!

We got ourselves a nice platter of food, and this ‘Everything Burger’ which was everything you have on a breakfast on a burger, the harsh brown, egg, bacon and cheese, stacked in between a burger bun. Not bad actually. Your mum, on the other hand, learned a new dish called ‘Avocado Smash’ and it looks exactly like how it sounded. She came back to Singapore and did a dish like that, which tasted not bad.

After breakfast, we settled in for a stroll, the day’s warming up nicely with a good chilly breeze. Kalamunda is a hilly place and there’s slopes everywhere, which makes a good hearty walk.

After our trip, I cam to realise that Perth isn’t too big on escalators, other than those we see in the Airport, the other one we traveled on was in Kalamunda. Well, perhaps, it is Singapore who is crazy over escalators!

We went through the shopping area quickly and headed off towards Orange Grove, at the same time, stopping by a petrol station to get a top up for our little car. The drive around Kalamunda is quite a breeze, as it is off the main city area, we headed downhill, meandering down a slight gradient. It was a clear day and from that high point, we can even make out Perth City from that distance. It gave us a good sense of how vast the land is and we can never get this kind of view in Singapore, as the skyline is mostly peppered with buildings, antennas, bridges and other structures.

We didn’t lost our way, while we enjoy the scenery, thanks to the ever-so-reliable GPS voice guiding us, we can never be lost! Or so we thought!

‘You have reach your destination.’

I look at your mum and she looked back at me. Right in front of us is a junction.

No oranges.

No nice farms.

No orchards.

Oh shit…

By then panic has set in a little but we simply cannot stop at the junction to find out what’s wrong. we drove ahead and found a little side road, park to figure out what went wrong.

Finally, we realised, yes, the GPS brought us to Orange Grove, where we should be going to GOLDEN Grove, which is at Chittering Road, more than 40 minutes drive away.

What a way to start day three!

So without delay, we drove off! heading back towards Swan Valley, and towards Golden Grove.

It was a very different view compared to Kalamunda, we were heading back to Swan Valley and the familiar greenery filled our view, but with a long more rolling plains, cattles and magnificent views.

Collage_Fotor kalaumnda 5 — Views from our car

It was a nice car-less drive, there was not car in sight as we head deeper towards Chittering Road, the whole landscape has changed as we head out and away from the more tourist centric main Swan Valley belt, where traffic was heavy with RoadTrains and other vehicles. But the drive into Chittering Road was scenic, relaxing and you can just cruise.

This time, with the help of the GPS lady, we found the right destination.

We all got so excited we get to ‘work’ immediately. The orchard was right behind and it is nest on a slope with an array of orange. The topographical map shows the range of oranges all over the farm. It was a climb and we didn’t made it to the top, where the creme ala creme, Berri Valencia 12 are planted. We realised that when we headed back, those top range oranges were already harvested. Heng ah!

The deal was we can gather 2.5kg per adult,at AUD 4 per kg. We have 2 adults, so we must gather a minimum of 5kg, which makes AUD 20. Well piece of cake, or so we thought!

Golden Grove is after all a kind of touristy place, and these tress are meant to be plucked by inexperienced hands, tourist hands. much of the oranges, the better ones has been plucked. And as with anything in nature, things are random, we really need to climb, clamber a bit to find the good ones, the nice ones. Some are taken by birds, others not ripe, or some too ripe, rotten. Overall, the quality of the fruits are still good. The nice cool weather helps as well, with a cool breeze cascading down the slope, there is really little to complain about the laborious work.

We went back after a good hike to only find out that we only did 3.2kg! WOW.

So the nice lady there took some from the stock and top it up to make up the rest of the 1.8kg. On top of that, we get taste some really nice, freshly juiced oranges. I also bought this very yummy bread spread called ‘Lemon Butter’. Your mum bought raw honey comb. Everyone left the place happy!

Mondo Nougats

Our next stop was a Nougat place, this is one of the more touristy place called Mondo Nougats. It was along the Swan Valley spot and we have rush there before they close for the day. Good thing we reach there 30 minutes shy from they closing time, 5pm.

Collage_Fotor mondo — Sunset at Mondo Nougats

We did a quick round of shopping and bought quite a few items (almost AUD300 worth to be exact!) as gifts for our friends and families. From there we need to know what we can get for dinner as Australia tends to close early for the day. The kind folks at Mondo directed us to Ellenbrook where there is a couple of large supermarkets where we can grab our dinner.

We did much better than the night before and managed to buy Sushi, a roasted chicken, a bunch of instant noodles. Going there also allow your mum to reprise her ‘aunty’ role, by shopping through the aisle, looking at the groceries and stuffs. We had our fill before sleeping, knowing that we had a fun-filled day.

The good thing with free and easy holidays like this, is that we are completely unhindered by tour schedules and group timetables which we need to stick to. The error which brought us to Kalamunda, helps us explore other parts of Perth which we might not have went, as it was really off our tangent.

We look back and was glad to have gone there, learned a couple of things and now your mum came back with a new dish, Avocado Smash!

Another Ghost Story! The Pedestrian

Dear Boys,

Here is another ghost story that your dad’s friend told him some time ago. It appears to be a true story as it is personally told to me by my friend, Sam.

He was serving his in-camp training, and when he got a nights off, he went out for a drink with his friend, who had a motorcycle. On their way back to camp after their drink, while riding down this road, back to camp; Sam as the pillion rider, told his friend over his shoulder to look out for the lady in front.

His friend tilted his head back, and gave him a weird look, but said nothing, and continue the journey until they were safely back in camp.

It was only then his friend asked him ‘What lady?!’

Sam said there was a lady crossing the road ahead just now, and he told his friend to slow down and be careful.

His friend said that there was no one on the road.

Sam came to the realisation…

And fell sick with fever for the next 2 weeks.

He told me he was quite shock as he could clearly see the lady crossing the road; and he was having a few light drinks with his friend, he justified, nothing too much to impair his sense. He claim that he can hold his alcohol. (This I believed him as he is a known drinker, he stocks his fridge at home with beer.) He also said that he meant well, and came with a good intent, so that his friend notice the ‘pedestrian’ and not knock her down.

Anyway, this is a REAL story, told to me by your dad’s friend, the thing about it which I do not understand, is many times when you listen to a ghost story, many of these human ‘victims’ of such sightings will typically succumb to a long bout of ailment, as with the case of Sam, he was ill for about 2 weeks. which makes me wonder if there is any truths to such myth, and of course there’s no way for us to find out!

(Speaking of myths, do look out for my next post, boys, where I will list a few parenting myths and taboos my friends shared with me, some of which are quite original!)

My other ghost story:

https://thisisyourfather.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/ghost-story/

First published: Dec 15, 2015 @ 00:00

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Jason Chee, the True Singaporean Hero

Jason Chee picture 1 — The People’s Champion

Dear boys,

This is a person worth mentioning, because he is simply too inspiring not to.

Well, to begin with, Jason Chee was a ‘nobody’. Or he was someone who would have been perfectly happy with his job and carry on working, just like anyone of us. I’m sure he has his fair share of happiness, sadness, anger, and all those healthy emotions any healthy human beings would have. Being a sailor with the Republic of Singapore Navy, he would have his fair share of the Sun, the Sand and the Sea. He is one of the many countless headcounts in the RSN numbers, and with his looks, he wouldn’t even qualify to be a Navy poster boy!

Jason Chee picture — Once a sailor, always a sailor.

Well, his life took a turn for a cruel twist when he was a victim of a very tragic accident at sea. His appendages and left arm was severed when he was operating a winch which has apparently malfunctioned. That was back in 2012.

His story gripped the nation, out of sympathy and angst. He is a sailor, serving his duties on board a ship, how can something so horrible could have happened to him? What went wrong? Who can we blame?

Road to Recovery.

The loss of his limbs and left hand is permanent, the RSN decided to keep him on active duty, albeit desk bound duty, as he still wants to serve. I was thinking, of course the Navy would keep him, he is the son of RSN. We never abandon our men, as long as you’re in uniform, in service, you’ll be taken care of. But I can’t help but spare a thought of sympathy and pity. Perhaps the RSN kept him because of that. They owe him that much, as a token of apology.

He didn’t take it sitting down (pun intended). Now at 1.3m in height, from his standing 1.67m (he went from taller than your dad, to shorter than your dad), he rose to the challenge and focused on sports. He choose Table Tennis (he has been playing since 5) and trains hard in it. I was still thinking, ‘Yeah, sure, sports will help him rehabilitate, and get his mind off the horrific past.’ It a good sport for him to heal and recuperate. And thought nothing of it.

He wanted to participate in the Asean Para Games, and play competitively. I was thinking, ‘Yeah sure, what chances does a (Ex) Navy guy got against younger, better trained opponents?’ Yeah, getting him to compete is another way he can channel his energy into something worthwhile. (No, I didn’t think he’d win, not bronze, not silver, much less gold!)

I WAS WRONG.

No I don’t know him, but right now I’d love to. He made me eat the skeptic in me. He proved me wrong. He won gold, and beaten a younger opponent. He wasn’t doing this to ‘pass time’ or ‘feel better’ about his lousy self. He didn’t do it, so that he can let the world take pity on him. He did it to win

Life’s a big bad irony

To think of it, boys, had he not met with that accident, he would have still been a Navy guy, the whole nation (now the entire ASEAN) will not know about him. I don’t think he would have been a person who craves attention. He’d probably be a quiet professional, doing his duties earnestly and see the job is done.

Now that life has taken away what most of us will die if we were to lose them, 75% of our mobility. 2 legs and and arm. The irony for him is that, he rose to fame, because of his loss. Its a twisted fate.You don’t go through that pain and horror, you cannot rise to your epitome of his life, he will never become an ASEAN Para Games Table Tennis Champ.

Or he could have taken another path.

He could have gotten angry, gotten the best lawyer and sue the Navy for negligence, for putting him this predicament. He might win, he might have gotten untold amount of damages. What happens after that? He can play the blame game, no one would blame him if he did. He didn’t.

He showed gratitude instead, for the Navy, for taking care of him despite of being so critically maimed, by a ‘faulty’ Navy equipment. He talked about the support they have rendered him, the family they are to him. He used all of that to rise, and bring glory to himself, and his country.

He used the time given to him (perhaps out of sympathy) to train. He could have used the same free time to wallow in self pity, and cash in on the sympathy around him, get donations, get people to crowd fund him, milk the charity. He didn’t. He trained and trained, so that he can self actualise his goals, he got there, all by himself.

Now he has personally written a chapter in the history books, he can be proud that he did it, and no one can take that away from him. He set an example for all to see, able and disabled alike. Life can take away all your endowments, but life cannot take away your ability to choose. Life
is cruel, but we can choose to respond with love and kindness. He got where is is with love and kindness, and with that he is destined for greater heights!

The Perth Dolphins

For all of our holidays, we never could, wake up early. Perth was no exception, even though we need to be at Mandurah by 11.30am to catch the boat out to see the dolphins we fly almost 4,000 km from Singapore to see.

Our Hotel

You see, we woke up late. And then we were delayed when we realised the kind of beautiful landscape that is outside of our hotel room. you see, our hotel is called The Vines Resort & Country Club. It is a couple of nice things put together, One; the hotel, accommodation, Two; a vineyard theme, which means there are some grapes kind of hanging on some vineyard thing. Actually not a big deal to us, but it does adds to the ambiance. Three; the golf course, afterall, it is a country club!

I don’t think the concept is anything new, as we have such offerings in Singapore, The Orchid Country Club, is one. but the Vines is special, as there are some residents staying at the golf course green… KANGAROOS!!!!!

Lots of them!

So close we can almost touch them! (Of course we didn’t, these are wild Kangas and we don’t know how they would react. They instinctively kept their distance and we did our part to respect the gap.)

They were just minding their own business, lying there, without a care in the world, and we Singaporeans, going crazy over every single one of them like they were this week’s ToTo winning ticket. But hey, how often do we get to go so up close and personal with these Kangas?

Hit the road Jack!

After our gaga over the Kangas, we hit the road, mindful that we need to be at a certain place by a certain time. Again we relied on the GPS to take us from The Vines to Mandurah, some 100 kilometers away, a good one hour’s drive. Today is yet going to be another first, your dad driving the longest at any given time! I know to some this is no big deal, but for your dad, it is any and every reason to celebrate!

So off we go!

We are on high spirits, for many reasons, we felt really, really happy to be able to come to Australia together, drive in such a wonderful weather. Being in the small i20 is great as we can all bond over the road trip and us parents listen to you kiddos’ usual banter and occasional quarrels. And you kiddos listen to us parents talk about adults stuffs.

We don’t drive nor have a car in Singapore, so driving in Australia gives us a rare intimacy, putting a family in a car can give. It is nice knowing that we don’t own the car and will return it once our trip is over.

There are many things in Australia we can see that is not in Singapore. And one of them is…

R-O-A-D-T-R-A-I-N!!!

These are HUGE trucks that has not only just pull one wagon, but up to 3 wagons! These are powerful trucks that ply the entire Australia, delivering vital supplies and goods. They are a part of the Australian traffic and every time we see one on the road, I’d scream out ROADTRAIN! You boys picked it up and soon the whole car is screaming ROADTRAIN! This did not please your mum.

And your mum, snapping tonnes of photographs, simply didn’t snap any decent roadtrain photographs. Well, that gives us a reason to head back to Perth in the near future to snap these pictures!

The Animal Farm

We see animals of all sorts, horses, cows, sheep, dogs, chickens and of course, Kangas…they are everywhere! That said, I know the probability of a road kill is real, so everyone is belted up for the just-in-case.

There is also a lot of greenery and wide and wild open plains. It is a very refreshing change from the usual brick and mortar landscape we have in Singapore.

The Open Plains

Well, the road condition in Perth is really good and we get good signal from the GPS all the way to Mandurah, Traffic was light and we really enjoyed the road. It was quite stress-free, the drivers there are generally more courteous, and possess better road ethics. Sure there are some speeders and some clowns who don’t signal when they lane change, but generally, I drive like I’m driving, and not in a defensive manner, half the time expecting something bad to happen or some crazy nut cutting into my lane. It was a pleasant drive I would not have enjoyed if I am in Singapore.

Mandurah

We reached Mandurah and for Ian, your mum and me, it was a revisit. We came here almost 10 years ago. Now we are back, looking back at some of the old photos, little has changed in Mandurah, other than a couple more condos up, and more developments and crowd, it is still a pleasant place to be.

The Han’s cafe was there in 2007, and it is still there. Reading Cinema was there and is still there. but I don’t really see a cinema crowd and I wonder how does it stay profitable? Mandurah seems too laid back for any business to stay profitable and given a competitive landscape in Singapore, they would have turned Reading Cinema into something more profitable and Han’s cafe might have been long gone, due to the changes in rental. But is is nice to be in Mandurah, knowing that somethings don’t change. That give a very familiar nostalgic feeling.

We are not really in a rush but we are kind of hungry, so we ate what tourists comes to Mandurah to eat. Cicerellos!

Honestly, eating in Australia is what eats up our money. One meal can be as much as AUD15 bucks, something equivalent in Singapore would have cost S$5. A single meal for the 4 of us can easily set us back at least AUD 50 plus dollars. Nonetheless we are there to enjoy as tourists and we are quite willing to spend.

We had our meals in a jiffy so that we can catch our boat to see the dolphins. For

the cruise, they also have meals included, Fish and Chips (what else?), but we already have our fill and politely declined.

There are 2 decks on the boat and the top deck can take only 11 people, an Indian family of 6 has already take the better part of the top deck, and with the 4 of us, we fill up the space nicely. It was a good decision to take the top deck.

We started the cruise easy, all excited about the potential marine mammals we flew so far over to Australia to meet. We were thankful our captain was very experienced with the waters around Mandurah, much more experienced compare to the 3 girls ( I called them Charlie’s Angels) who commandeered our boat trip back in 2007, our maiden trip to Mandurah.

It didn’t take us long to spot the Dolphins, swimming in the shallow waters hiding amongst the many boats parked along the Mandurah waterway. The Captain (who had more than 20 years of boating experience) skilfully maneuvered the large boat around, kicking up mud from the shallow water bed. It was our first sightings, and we almost certainly thought it was our last.

We head out to the waterways and cruise on in our bid to find more of these elusive dolphins. We went up as far as our 1 hour boat ride can take us, and we went under the Mandurah Estuary Bridge, before turning back, with an ominous feeling that that is all the dolphins we get to see.

We went back the same way we came and the Captain’s keen eye spotted some break in the water, hinting a pair of dolphins. We eagerly looked out and thanks to our vantage point and being just next to the Captain, we were able to get his views spontaneously. for the folks seated downstairs, they can only hear him if he used his microphone, and sometimes, he didn’t as he was basically thinking out loud.

The elusive pair disappeared again and we sailed on, going back to port. Then it all happened….

The family of four swam right next to our boat and everyone on board was ecstatic about the sightings and how close they came next to the boat. For whatever speed we did, the dolphins swam easy, without much effort, making a few jumps as well. It really made our day and we felt that our trip was very much completed.

This was certainly the highlights of our trip and we came to see dolphins, we get to see dolphins.

We went back to Cicerellos again to grab our lunch and this time spend anotherbomb, ordering their famous, but oily fish and chips, milk shake, and waffles. The chilly weather makes us burn up our energy real quickly and we were hungry, wolfing them down. Enjoying every bits of it.

After that we went exploring the vicinity of Mandurah, just walking and we came across this dog just lazing there, I think it’s a Labrador and friendly enough, I patted it and soon, both you boys followed the dad and started patting the dog. Bad move for Wayne.

The dog moved quickly and bit off one of your gloves, with no intention of giving it back to you, it will be its new play toy! The mutt’s owner was nowhere in sight and I had to half coax and half pull/drag the slob, wet mitten out of the dog’s mouth. thankfully, it decided to relent and let go. We all had a good laugh right there, and this certainly adds to the experience at Mandurah.

Our Family Photo at Mandurah, Wayne without his mittens

We ended our fruitful day with another long drive back to The Vines, by now, you boys are dead tired and we were thankful we had the car as the both of you konk off almost immediately when we drove off.