IT'S A LADIES' THING

So.

Just had my very first ever mammogram earlier this week.

Ouch!

And ouch!

And just when I thought the torture has ended, the radiologist adjusted the machine to a about 70 degrees tilt.

"OK, now we do this from the side angle. Right breast first, please."

Ouch again, twice more!

So what happens during a mammogram? Well, you (actually, the radiologist does it for you lah) place one breast on the machine's plate, adjust and re-adjust so that the whole breast and the supporting tissues around the armpit area is properly placed, then the whole thingy is compressed by another plate from above, until it is sufficiently flattened (or until your face has turned sufficiently red, whichever earlier). Then they snap an x-ray pic of it. Right, left. Then the whole process is repeated with your breast being compressed sideways. Yowzers!


Actually I had been thinking about doing it for the past few years, as I do fall into a category of somewhat-risk candidate. The fact that my paternal grandmother had breast-cancer doesn't add so much risk, as compared to other factors, like my age (above 35), never having breastfed a child etc, and also my eating habits *sigh*.

Why hadn't I done it earlier? Takuuutttt.....! Not afraid of the procedure, but afraid of the diagnosis! Itulah manusia, takut untuk menghadapi kenyataan, kan? Takut untuk dengar doktor kata "there's a lump/ lesion in your breast, we have to do further tests/ biopsy/ mastectomy". Aduhai!

Yes yes, I should be doing BSE (breast self-examination). I've read about it in magazines, in pamphlets, at cancer awareness events, even online, and of course by now I've memorized it. But I never got around to actually doing it, cause the instruction says to "feel for a lump", but I don't know how the heck a lump feels from the outside! Dulu my ex used to do it for me - well I was married to a doctor - and I took things for granted and never really asked him to teach me how to do it. Hmmph!

Finally, I decided to give myself a birthday mammogram, kira okay tak? Hehehe :-) It was definitely money well-spent. Just RM202.00 to put my mind at ease. AlhamduliLlah, semuanya normal. The staff at Pantai Medical where I went to, were very nice & professional, and the procedure didn't take very long.




I'm just glad that the girlies are fine, and are dense and bounced back huuhuuu! (according to the radiologist la, and by 'dense' I don't mean shtoopid ya) And hence the pain. Otherwise I might've ended up like this pic :-P


Next stop : Pap Smear & pelvic examination, arrrghhhhh!


Note : if the tissues are no longer dense due to breastfeeding, age or whatever other factor, the procedure is quite painless and easier for the radiologist to do the adjusting.

KOPI-KOPI

I like coffee, heck, I LOVE coffee actually. Been a coffee junkie since secondary school - dok sekolah asrama, beli le instant coffee sendiri kan? Sebab kalau kat rumah, haram mak aku tak kasik kitorang 'bebudak' ni minum kopi, takut ketagih kafein kot?


Tapi yelah, aku ni sekolah pun local, uni pun local. Jadik my love affair with coffee tu tak ke mana lah. Zaman tu, nescafe je yang ada kan. Kalau nak yang strong sikit, kopi cap hang tuah.


Tapi la ni, segala mak-nenek kopi ada, dari yang biasa dijual di kedai runcit, ke imported ground coffee or coffee beans, siap ada boutique lagi kan? Keji :-) Malas buat sendiri, beli je yang dah siap, sejuk ada panas ada, ice-blended pun sodap. Dari vendor kat tepi jalan cam Kopie-Satu tu, ke cafe & bistro, also kopitiam!


Oh, jangan lupa jugak kopi direct selling. Dah semacam trend plak orang kita, segala tok nenek ubat & herba, dimasukkan dalam kopi, kemudian dipanggil 'kopi pra-campur'. Apa sajalah Labuuuu... Ubat slimming la, ubat kuat la, ubat rapat la, you name it we've got it. Berkesan ke? Entah, mana aku tahu hehehe.... :-) I only drink coffee for the pleasure of drinking coffee, hah!


Jap, apa aku nak cerita tadi eh? :-P






Oh, hari tu masa tengok tv, aku terasa offended sangat ngan satu iklan kopi ni. Yelah aku tau la kena bagi nama produk yang menarik minat, baru la orang akan ingat dan beli produk tu. Macam kopi cap kapal api, kan ke kreatif nama tu? Eh, bukan kapal api ni yang buat aku offended okkay. Tapi ada satu produk baru namanya "Kopi J^nd^".


Hah? Kopi ni keluaran syarikat mak jands ke? Atau khas untuk diminum oleh orang yang ber-title mak jands je? Atau siapa minum kopi ni, dia bakal jadi mak jands? Ahkak kompius betul. Dan m-e-n-y-a-m-p-a-h sesangat dengan dialog iklan tu :-


(Sora pompuan nyanyi) "Kita minum, kopi j^nd^, setiap hari, tiap masa... kopi j^nd^, yang menggoda, rasa hebat, bergelora.... jemput minum kopi j^nd^ bang...."

(Sora jantz plak nyanyi) "... bla bla... Kopi j^and^ ni, memang menggoda..."


As if tak cukup yang mak jands biasanya (in most asian communities anyway) dipandang serong, ni dikaitkan plak mak jands dengan words like 'menggoda' and 'bergelora'. Yes we know you're looking for a creative way to promote your product, but this comes across as a cheap shot at popularity for both product and the limp pr1ck who thought up this ad. Total turn-off, even for a coffee addict like me!

SYMPATHY

I've just heard some pretty hard news about a new friend.

She is a single parent in her mid 40s. Mother of 2, one kid in college, another in high school. I'm not sure of her education status, but she is a non-professional, as she had been working as an exec at a small construction-based company.

She & kids live with her ailing parents, and in her free time, she bakes cakes for extra income. Her cakes are yummy! That's how I got to know her, btw - I'm a customer la.

Last month, she suddenly lost her job when the company closed shop. Not long after that, she underwent a biopsy, and she's just got the results a few days back - third stage breast cancer. She'll be undergoing a mastectomy next week.

Sometimes, life seems so unfair, yeah?

KOLAM AYOR PANAS

Masa cuti CNY minggu lepas, aku ke rumah Achik di Tanjung Malim. Saja jelah, jalan-jalan. Sunday, Achik ajak gi mandi sungai, katanya. Aku ingat dekat, tapi boleh tahan jauh gak, pastu masuk ladang kelapa sawit bagai, sungguh musykil! Oh, rupanya nak bawak kami mandi kolam air panas.

Namanya TRAP - Taman Rekreasi Air Panas, Sg. Klah. It's actually somewhere dalam kawasan Felda situ. Aiks, kena bayar? Dewasa sepuluh hengget, mahal tuh. Kena bayar, sebab ianya bukan setakat sebijik kolam air panas. Ada macam-macam lagi, termasuk kolam air gunung (sejuk) dan ladang bebuahan, kalau berminat nak rounding2 premis tu la.

Memula ke kawasan air panas dulu, aku pun masuk kolam. Mak ai, aku rasa nak melompat keluar balik, terkejut sebab tetiba kaki aku panas kan. But after a few seconds, your body temperature dah aejah, lepas tu rasa syok je, selesa. Sambil berendam, sembang2, tetiba ada suara jantz kat belakang kitorang, "ahhh.. dah masak dah telor aku...". Chis mamat nih, molot takde insurance betul. Bila kitorang toleh, rupanya mamat tu saja nak buat lawak. Dia pegang telor ayam di tangannya, huh!

Memang ada kolam kecik khas untuk rebus telur kat situ, built around one of the many hot spring sources there. Just bring ur own eggs, then boleh pakai raga yang disediakan, letak kat atas air panas yang membuak tu. They even tell you the duration - 2 minit utk quarter-boiled eggs, 8 minit untuk telur rebus keras etc. "Dilarang merebus ikan, kerang...." Duh. Nak makan ikan perasa sulfur ke?

Also, ada small shallow pools, where you can sit at the edges and rendam kaki. The temperature's pretty controlled, ada kolam yang panas betul, dan ada yang kurang panas, where at the edges tu memang ada tulis anggaran suhu airnya. Hmm... baguih le, takde la nanti jadik orang rendam kaki sampai melecur, pastu saman owner kolam ni sebab tak caution pasal suhu tu kan.

We also lepak a while at the cool mountain water pool, where there's a giant water-spouting octopus with a water slide running down it's belly. This pool was filled with screaming kids. Si Yanti teringin nak cuba, aku ok je. Tapi lepas dia slide down, dia komplen kepala dia noneng la plak. Isk isk... manja betul helper aku ni hehe.

One word of caution la. Kalau nak pegi, toksah le pegi time cuti perayaan or cuti sekolah. Hazab! Memula aku tak perasan, so ok jelah dok berendam tu. Tapi bila aku duduk kat tempat yang airnya agak tenang, baru perasan yang aku leh nampak water surface tu..... ada 'flotsam n jetsam'. No, bukan orang dari tongkang pecah. Tapi... entah berapa banyak daki, kulit mati dan kelemumur yang tertanggal dari beribu badan yang dok berendam air panas tu ye? Ewwww...!!!!

Balik ke rumah Achik, aku shower puas-puas, kasi bersih maa! Gasak la, naik la bil air dia bulan ni hehe :-)

btw, all pics here are gugel-ed. aku ada amik gambar ari tu, tapi bateri kamera dah kiok, cari charger tak jumpa la plak isk isk....

BERKAWAN

Alahai aku ni, mood meng-apdet macam pasang-surut air laut kan? Masalahnya lebih banyak 'surut' dari 'pasang' LOL :-)

Semalam sembang ngan an old friend, yang terkecik hati dengan member geng lama kami. Kebetulan masa dia di rumah Mr.X, ada kawan2 baru Mr.X datang bertandang. But instead of introducing dia kepada kawan2 baru tu, he was asked to wait in another room. Ala-ala macam nak sorok, apa qah?

Terus dia terfikir, Mr.X malu ke nak mengaku aku kawan dia, sebab aku tak setanding dengan kawan2 barunya? Yelah, semenjak berhijrah ni, Mr.X dah naik pangkat, gaji dah besar dan pakai kereta mewah, sedangkan aku ni keje biasa-biasa je, kawan2 dia tu pulak engineer & architect di listed company.

Aku yang mendengar ni pun agak terkedu (while keeping in mind that I'm only hearing one side of the story la). Boleh ke meletakkan 'ukuran nilai' ke atas diri kawan dan persahabatan macam tu? Macam kisah siTanggang pun ada gak nih.

Geng lama aku tu, aku kenal masa aku mula start keje. Bermacam background dan perangai ada, dari yang keje kerani sampai le ke doktor pakar, tapi semuanya OK je boleh masuk satu kepala. Outing sama2, dinner sama2, karaoke sama2. Tak sangka la pulak bila dah tua-tua ni, boleh terjadi kes pilih bulu.

Bagi aku, all my friends are precious, tak kira la samada kau kerani sambilan ke, atendan hospital ke, pensyarah ke, hatta seorang Ahli Dewan sekalipun. (Ahli Dewan mana yang kawan lama aku tu? Uiiihhh... ni kira namedropping gak ke? Hahaha!) Aku tak kisah nak berkawan dengan apa jenis orang, asalkan persahabatan tu tak disia-siakan. Masa aku student dulu pun, mungkin orang agak pelik tengok, aku pegi ke library dengan minah Arqam yang berpurdah, tapi balik library aku gi lepak kafe dengan minah kaki disko. So what, kan?

Tapi as much as aku sayangkan persahabatan, aku teringat satu artikel yang pernah aku baca dulu. Katanya, to get more out of your life, you have to get rid of toxic friends. Maksud toxic kat sini ialah, kawan2 yang ajak kita buat benda2 yang merosakkan fizikal, mental dan emosional kita. Like, kawan yang ajar guna dadah, atau yang suka bergosip dan menghasut supaya kita sakit hati kat orang lain, dan yang merosakkan emosional kita bila buat kita rasa terhina dan rendah diri.

Aku kongsi pengajaran di atas dengan kawan lama aku tu. Oh well, rupanya dia dah mula bertindak pun.

"Aku dah delete nombor dia dari handset aku....".

Ha, OKlah tu.