1 August – Nurses’ Day Here In Lil Red Dot!! Happy Nurses’ Day!

I have a list of Who’s Who to thank on Nurses Day as they have spent every hour of their shift hours, checking in on me, ensuring I am alive, not in pain or at least comfortable.

I am a difficult patient, not because I am demanding but because my body is not easy to take care of.

It protests at foreign items such as drugs, bandages or dressings when attempts are made to introduce into me, to help me get better.

IV drips will cause backflow after a while as the veins will collapse and gee, hunting for a new vein is as good as prospecting for water in the Sahara Dessert with a “Y” fork.

i hate IV drips and will always beseech the surgeon/my trusty Dr Boey to remove is asap and that I promise to drink like a fish so as not to get dehydrated.

My nurses are fantastic beings as they would come in and check on Garfield and I. If My foot is bandaged, they would also do a bandage for my inanimate furball.

Arm sling that is had sewn by Nurse Joanne when she worked night shift!

If my arm is in a sling, so will Garfield’s arm as one of the nurses would painstakingly sew a sling to fit my inanimate furball.

Bandage on Garfields paw or foot done by Nurse EJ

It is the wholistical care they shower on me, complete with indulging in my inane love for an inanimate being.

These little things, besides, wound dressings, sponging me, helping me with toileting etc is not just a job but a job they do without an ugly or unwilling face.

From my heart, I wish all nurses a happy nurses day, filled with safety and protection against Covid-19 and may they be richly rewarded for their kindness, graceful touches of making the ill well again.

A rose for my nurses to thank them for their care and love for each Bates Motel Incarceration I am in for, and walking out alive each time!

Blessings and Garfield Hugs!

What’s In A Blog Post?

The WordPress community is a friendly, kind and supportive one.

True, not everyone is the same and I do get an occasional oddball – in fact in all honesty, with 7 years of blogging under my belt, I only had one ranter who heckled, chided me for posting about pokes on Orange Man and blogging about my illnesses or about lil red dot.

I did a post on this when it happened and was heartily surprised when my blogging community supported and reminded me that any reader has an option to choose to read. Ranter could ignore my blog and move on to read others. Yet she chose to read and gave some odd comments. I should feel flattered that she chose to read, but had a difference of opinion.

I felt this ranter (a “she” by the way) had a very bad day and was on a melt down or an avid supporter of Orange Man. Who knows, she could have been a staff of Orange Man and had to stand up for her Boss?

My posts have always been about humor, on myself venting of the illnesses I face and work blues.

Thankfully, the latter is manageable now as Monkey Lord is decent and work is really busy but at least I need not be fending off knife wounds!

But what does get into my head when I sit down to do a post?

My primary intent is that it must never debase any human being.

No racial slurs or mean things.

Everyone is a sister or a brother in this zone.

We are all the safe. Orwellian theory does not fly here although some are super great bloggers with hundreds or thousands of “likes” and followers!

I use nicknames for the humans I meet in life but they remain anonymous, known only to me.

No personal attacks or hurling of vulgarities but a good dose of sardonic humor.

I look at things as they are and say it as I see it.

I do not sugar coat things as my messaging gets watered down and that defeats the punch lines I want to deliver. I need to give it that “kapow” LOL!

I appreciate good government, good work ethics, honesty and sincerity.

I dislike hypocrites, dishonest people and those who love to do a “Knife To The Back”

I have long searched for my true love and realised that this person does not exist. There is no romance waiting for me. Romantic love, marital love and all kinds of love tags elude me.

I have questioned the Almighty Lord but He has not found the time to reply me. I am in spiritual limbo for sure. I guess with Covid-19 now, the Good Lord is even busier.

I challenge my medical team of specialists such that they confess they have sleepless nights trying to figure out how to keep me alive.

I quote Dr Short Tongue (Brilliant specialist and a trusted medical chap for the Who’s Who who stutters when he is excited about a find or observation. He is a big wig in his field and it shows me that despite whatever challenges one has, one can aspire to climb to the top because of meritocracy!) and admire him for his honesty with me.

He said that so long as I “stay as I am, without major shifts in conditions, then I am well” and that he has done his job. I trust him with my life as he asked me not to invite viruses or germs to my body when I asked if I should take shots against this or not.

So, now I ponder – if a Covid-19 vaccine becomes tenable and available, should I take it? Or will I react against it and instead die from it? I must remember to ask for his opinion when I next see him! Hmm! I wonder what he will say?!

The insaner side of my posts are about my raggedy inanimate furball Garfield and how he hands out Garfield hugs and squooshes to keep me sane. Garfield with his beady plastic eyes accompany me on stays at Bates Motel and keeps me company when I groan in pain and recover from my many slicing and dicings!

There is always a child in us and I applaud Pam, another blogger who does fantastic quips that really made me think when she did a post on this. I have a big child portion in me but unfortunately due to the position I carry at work and in social work life, I have to be an adult.

Being an adult is draining as I have to always behave in a politically correct fashion. No tantrums, speak in soft tones and be mindful of who the characters are in my plot of what I call life.

So what’s in a blog post? Or specifically, my blog post?

Who’s to tell? I get all sorts of ideas and when the light bulb lights up, my fingers go to the key board and tap away.

But I believe in not deliberately hurting anyone in life or in words as I know what is is like to be hurt. It is not nice!

A blog post is a window to a life I think I need for the day.

A blog post offers me refuge from my daily adult life.

A blog post lets me laugh freely.

A blog post lets me vent my frustrations.

A blog post lets me share my thoughts and elicit views.

A blog post, most importantly, is my own work.

Silly Me & My Inanimate Furball

Garfield’s asleep,

Nary a beep!

Silently Garfield sleeps,

Exactly how inanimates sleep.

Garfield on my bed is king,

The corner is his thing.

Garfield hugging is my thing,

Happy, contented – I sing!

Judgemental As Loyalty To Owner Only

Dogs are fiercely protective of the owner.

I know as my dogs were.

They were ferocious guard dogs and other than the occupants of the house of the owner, they were judgemental in that no one else is a person they like.

Dogs are precious and after losing my last dog to heart worms, I swore never to own another live dog.

Hence Garfield my inanimate furball came about. Garfield lives on and on, just shabby from over hugging!

Donating My Cadaver

I shared with some of my close friends and siblings that I chose to donate my cadaver when I leave the human realm and these are their hilarious replies:-

My Sibling1

“BTW, long distance swimming and treading water!😨”

Note1

Obviously Sibling1 has the heart to worry about my ghostly spirit doing long distance swimming and treading water in eternity. Clearly Sibling1 is worried about me getting tired at some point or another. But hey, being dead, so I feel anything? I am unsure but his statement spoke volumes to me.

My Sibling2

“Ha! Ha. Wonder who goes first?”

Note2

Sibling2 is skirting the issue and chose not to comment. I expected this as Sibling2 is not one to talk about death freely and without qualms. A sibling of few words and a polite guffaw.

Mr Docile:

“I cannot applaud this. But you are very brave and am proud of you. I salute you”

Note3

Mr Docile cares a lot about me. I was only blind not to see it. He has never stopped caring for me since the first day I met him. Till this date, I get daily greetings and questions from him on my well being or how am I doing. As to what to make out of his reply, it could be he is not happy about it, but he has to respect my wishes as this is not an easy decision he feels for anyone.

Chicken

“Aiyoh!”

Note4

A lament in Singlish, our colloquial slang!

Ms Legal Eagle

“I always wanted to. I am scared. I want to get rid of my body in the most biodegradable way possible. It would be nice if there is an alternative to burial in lil red dot. Basically, they “plant” you as fertiliser for a tree. Being a tree would be nice.”

Note5

Ms Legal Eagle is a planned out and well thought out person as I suggested for her to be buried in a private property that she buys and no one would know LOL! She said there were laws on proper disposals of the cadaver. She is a good lawyer!

I have a niche ready and my epitaph on it could read as,

“Here lies Garfield Hug 1993 (date bought from ToysR Us till his Master’s Expiration) Whilst Master At Sea!”

I hope you enjoyed and laughed here. It is not macabre. To me, it is addressing a reality of life.

Robotic Garfield

Robotic Garfield On Display In Changi Jewel. It Costs Almost SGD1,000

Bird saw this in the display cabinet in a shop at Changi Jewel.

I will not buy it as it is not huggable haha!

Ode To Garfield #22 – Best Pals Forever

Fu Manchu the rat was missing from my inanimate furball Garfield’s life for about 3 years.

Fu Manchu Is On The Left With Garfield On A Table In My Office

Why?

Mum gave it to her friend despite my telling her not to do so when she found Fu Manchu cute and cuddily and I loaned it to her for company.

I was sad as one day when I visited her, I found Fu Manchu missing from his favorite plastic chair.

I was very sad and cross with mum as she ignore my instructions never to give away Fu Fu Manchu as he was a limited edition mascot of Mercedes Benz and was given to me by Mr Mercedes Guy.

Fu Manchu at retail price at that time is $1,200!

Best Pals Together Again!

Mum retorted by saying that if I wanted it back, she can ask for it back from her friend.

I told her it would be awkward as a gift to take back is oh so very wrong!

I guess mum knew my pain of losing Fu Manchu and last week she retrieved Fu Manchu back for Garfield.

Garfield and pal, Fu Manchu are now reunited, happily and seated side by side in the passenger seats of my car.

Snugly and securely fastened by seatbelts, it is good to have them both together again!

Reunited and it feels so good….reminds me of an oldie song but I forgot the singers’ names!

P.s. I named the rat Fu Manchu as its face reminds me of a character named Fu Manchu in the Pink Panther series – the classic Return Of The Pink Panther (1978)

Ode To Garfield #21 – All Things Huggable

I am a child of yesteryears I feel as these days, children do not like huggable toys because of artificial intelligence (AI).

This explains the slow death of Children’s programs such as Sesame Street as AI takes over with console gaming, 3D modelling amongst others.

Last evening I had to catch up with Mr Mercedes and I saw a brilliant yellow colored A200 coupe that is souped up with all things AI to capture the millennial market.

A class is the entry level of luxury cars in the Mercedes Benz totem pole of cars.

A class

B class

C class

E class

S Class

Maybach

AMG

E class car paintwork is never loud or eye catching but drabby. When I showed mum the new bright yellow colored car (it brought me back to memory of Transformers colors) photo, she said it was gorgeous.

LOL! Mum is a millennial at heart.

When I asked Mr Mercedes if this yellow hue comes in E class, he said outright that such gaudy colors will never attract a post baby boomer, Gen Xers, Gen Yers or seious businessmen.

Sigh!

Where is the fun right?

Back to Garfield….so now that huggable soft toys are near extinction, I dread the day when Charlie Brown’s Snoopy, Cookie Monster and Disney characters will all end too as no demand for them.

A200 coupe has a function that allows the driver to speak to it like Siri.

As it is, now cars have all the bells and whistles and much of it, I do not even use constantly.

I enjoy the GPS on screen, touch screen functions for SMS to be read aloud to me, a mouse to use, and intelligent warnings on lowered tyre pressures.

But I miss the touchy feely feel of a squoosh and a Garfield Hug.

New children born after 2019 may no longer have the luxury of such toys as iphones, androids, tablets will the main stay of their life.

Farm animals live in the tablets or in the supermarkets in body parts and not alive, strutting on farm land or in its fine feathery plumes.

Where is the warmth?

Where is the humanity – will we become thinkers like androids or robots without conscience and only see black and white?

Will compassion or empathy be lost?

Tic Tac Toe Or Eeeny Meeny Miny Moe!

Getting 3 giants in their own respective fields in the same room as I, is a huge challenge. It is akin to me trying to find my 3 Lords to be together in one room for any meeting.

Surgery has been tossed between Saturday, to Sunday and now it is back to Saturday!

All this is causing me tension and apprehension as it reminds me of the inevitable. I wish it is over soon and I do not need to mull over it.

I hate mulling over decisions and re-thinking. I make decisions like a man and for better or for worst, once I decide, my mind is made up but the doctors keep giving me different views.

What if the histology report comes back and it is non cancerous, would it not be a waste of a surgery? I know it would not be cancerous as lead time has taught me that if the hospital does not alert me within hours, then the tumor is not cancerous.

I remember once, how quickly the hospital reacted to get me to operate on my cervical spine as failure to do so, would render me paralyzed.

It becomes harder to find when the tumor is deflated.

Blah blah blah and it goes on.

My decision is based on management principles.

If a problem is there, let’s solve it. I do not want it lurking out there, waiting to rear its ugly head anytime soon or in the future.

True, if it was not cancerous, would I regret the surgery asked one surgeon?

Would you beat yourself up if after surgery there is a side effect and the tumor could have remained?

*Eyes rolling here*

I replied him “no” as it seems a Whartin tumor or whatever tumor they label it, exists and I do not want it residing in me. Hmm, they could name it the Garfield Hug tumor LOL!

Decision making is hard but my 2 stalwarts agree with me that it should come out.

So, my team of doctors now comprise, Cardiologist, Dr Daniel Yeo; Anesthesiologist, Dr Boey Wah Keong; Gastroenterlogist Dr Lui Hock Foong: Neurosurgeon Dr James Tan Siah Heng, Head Neck and shoulder surgeon, Dr Andrew See; and Neurologist, Dr Lim Chai Beng.

All except Dr Andrew See is a new comer and unto his hands I will entrust the removal of the more worrying tumor whilst the brain tumor is left to Dr James Tan.

How exciting my life is! Sigh!

I could use lesser excitement and more peace really!

Whatever the outcome, I can only look at the skies and as there is little I can do.

I can just hope for the best and wish for the best outcome.

People Who Love Furbies Or Inanimate Furballs

As you would all know, I love my inanimate furball Garfield and this furball would go with me to Bates Motel (*Euphemism for hospital], travel around the world, accompany me on my bed as a huggable object.

I have another colleague who is Ms Legal who collects all sorts of furballs. She particularly likes the brand “Nice” and would bring her different furballs to work and loan them out to colleagues to hug or adorn their work desks.

Prince of Lord does not like this as he strongly advocates hot desking and dislikes us minions bringing furballs to work.

I learnt to toe party line and no Garfield sits on my desk. It is just hard core sweat shop type of desk (thankfully I am not one to be hot desked as human relationships are built on normal same sited desks for other minions to seek out)

Ms Legal when speaking about furballs is soft spoken and almost gentle and kind.

But she has a nasty temper and would shot, scream, slam or throw things if during meetings anyone asks questions.

She is what we call temperamental but fiercely protective of the company.

I remember when I first entered the kingdom of Monkey Lord and she was told to move out of her designated room to let Eunuch occupy it, she was livid.

Prince of Lord had to spend days to placate her and temper her anger.

Many of the Lords would almost always ask what is her “weather vane” or mood swings? LOL!

I am the opposite now. I used to flare up easily in my younger days but what is the point? The Kingdom’s financial gains or savings I make for the Kingdom will never be mine nor will I ever own shares of it.

I have learnt to deliver C standard of work as the A+ standard that I believe in is only valid for my own things.

If C standard gets me by, then it suffices. Why ache over straight A+ work when a passable grade that meets Lord’s expectations is good enough?

Through awful work lords, I learnt that it was no use fighting what is the law of the Kingdom.

I have learnt to let it go and not get upset for work issues, so long as it does not involve me taking on extra load or work that does not fall under my ambit.

Only if I was seeking to do my PhD, will I strive for straight A+ as this would matter to me, myself and I!

Selfish?

Absolutely!

Lazy?

Of course not – I have learnt to be street smart for work matters!