Cheesy Home-Baked Lasagne

I've been craving for lasagne since last few weeks. So much so, that I went to bought all the ingredients last two weeks after Sister found out that her multi-cooker can actually work wonders. But unfortunately, the following weekend, Sister had to attend some Commonwealth Liaison Officer course in Genting Highlands.
Last weekend was Brother's birthday, so I was hoping Sister would bake lasagne as part of the celebration. However, Sister went out with her friends since early morning, so I decided to go out & buy some pizzas instead.
Upon returning home, I actually found out that Sister did prepare the lasagne but couldn't bake them as her multi-cooker went "kapoot". That nite we ended up eating Domino's pizza & I found out NY crust was the best among all.
Last nite, I was more determined than ever to ensure that the lasagne goes into an oven & becomes edible. After coming back from work, Sister, Iris & I went looking for an affordable oven to buy. We started off at Cosway coz initially we wanted to buy the UFO oven using some coupons but unfortunately Cosway is coming up with a new redemption catalogue so the existing catalogue is no longer valid.
We then went looking in electrical shops, but there were not many options + the prices are way higher than my budget. Finally we went to Jusco, and there it was: Cornell Electric Oven with its price, size & functionality very much suited to my expectation.
Without much deliberation, I bought the oven & went straight home. That nite, I was finally able to satisfy my cravings for cheesy home baked lasagne. It never tasted so good before. In fact we still have some leftovers from last nite and I can't wait to get home today to finish it all :)

Why Specialists Are Rich

Last weekend, we went for Iris follow-up with Dr Azam. I also intended to collect the medical report from Dr Vann's clinic on Iris' previous admission in July 2008 (wow, that was long time ago!). The reason why the medical report was not collected was because my insurance agent been asking me to negotiate on the fee charged by Dr Vann which was exorbitant. It's freaking RM250 as compared to the fee charged by Dr Azam which was usually RM50 only. And being the usual me, after the first couple of calls made to Izyani (Dr Vann's nurse) had been futile, I was lost in the hecticness of day to day job & completely forgot about it.
Since Iris was admitted again last week, and now it's time for another medical report (luckily this time it was Dr Azam's), I had to settle the previous claim. My agent thought if I collected the report myself, I would be able to get it at a much cheaper rate. Unfortunately, the staff there told me that RM250 is a standard rate for Dr Vann's medical report. Well, there goes my RM250 for just some scribbles on a couple of pages.
Anyway, the check-up was brief. Dr Azam could see that Iris has fully recovered but he insisted that I still puff Iris with Seretide twice daily since her lungs are quite weak & susceptible to infection until his next review in another 3 months time. And now I'm more determined than ever to ensure Iris takes her daily dosages of multivitamin (Dr Azam was recommending Kiddie Pharmaton) to boost up her immunity.
After the check-up, we went to Midvalley for lunch. I wanted Hubby to try Nasi Bojari (although I've never tried it before) which seemed delicious during my last visit to Madam Kwan's. I'm glad that Hubby loved it (usually he's pretty particular about the taste).
During our lunch, Iris decided to poo-poo so I had to bring her to the toilet. Midvalley's toilet is so un-friendly to parents with kids. I had to carry Iris up the next level because the toilet on Level 1 does not even have water pipe. And the cubicle was extremely tiny, I was afraid Iris might slipped down the toilet bowl. Phew! That was really a challenge.
After lunch, we went for some grocery shopping at Carrefour. Poor Iris, she fell asleep on the trolley & all the way back home. That nite I felt extremely tired & aching all over my body, or to be exact, I felt like an old granny after a long walk. *Sigh*

The Aftermath

Been quite awhile since I last blogged. To be accurate, I haven't been blogging since we left hospital last Saturday. There were so many things to do around the house & at office as well. Alhamdulillah, Iris was finally discharged after being warded for almost 6 days. The paed seemed reluctant to let her go but I could see that she was already restless & couldn't wait to get back home. Many things been happening, which I'd like to update though not in so chronological order.
1. Happy with Iris improvement. She seemed more active than before. It has always been like that every time she recovered from any illness, especially one as bad as this. Apart from that, being admitted broke her from some of her usual patterns, for instance sleeping after midnite (she now slept between 10.30pm to 11.30pm with exception for tonite), watching too much Disney (she now allows us to watch other channels, sometimes!), would only eat in front of TV (she now joins us at dining table though she wants to sit on my lap), etc. In other words, she has turned out to be an obedient little girl heheh..
2. Found out that there is actually a cure for my slightly twisted spine. Few days back Hubby has been telling me that he thinks it's the spine that's causing so much pain in the back, hip & pelvic area during my current pregnancy. But I thought that since I was born with it, there's nothing much I can do. Then it so happened that Dilah was telling me her sister had the same symptoms during pregnancy because she also had a slightly twisted spine. And she went to see an orthopaedic who recommended her to do physiotherapy to make things better because if you don't fix it when you're young, there's bound to be more problems later when you grow old. That is so scary man! I need to look for an orthopaedic ASAP.
3. No renovation took place in the office though it should have been completed by now. Buat penat jer pegi packed up my things during Iris' 1st day in the ward. To make things worse, I've sealed up all the boxes & there is no way I would open them until the renovation is over. Be it next week, next month or even longer than that. If anyone wants anything from my boxes, they will have to wait.
4. Traffic jam has become more & more unbearable from the last time I can remember. There was this morning few days back, I left at 7am but only reached office at 8.40am. To top it all, parking was already closed! I was so frustrated, I came to office very late for the next two days. Save me some heartache caused by traffic jam, in fact i also managed to get free parking!
5. I met a long lost friend on Facebook last nite. She used to be one of my closest friends way back in primary school, afterwhich we lost contact until last nite. Well, that has been about 18 years! At first glance, she looks really happy & sweeter than ever, got married to a mat salleh & settled down in Australia. Farrah, how I've missed u.
6. I had lunch with an ex-mrsm-mate this afternoon. He & wifey came to pick me up from office & we had lunch at Mid-V. We talked about lots of things, I discovered many wonderful but some shocking stories about my other schoolmates. Thanks Syahid & wifey for the fabulous lunch!
6. Brother finally decided to come home after he went missing for almost 3 weeks. I have mixed feelings about that. He said he'd like to pursue the Oracle class which I have helped him enroll earlier. I hope he doesn't screw up again this time.
I think enough updates for now. Iris is asking me to read her a story book on A Greedy Fox. Till then.

4th Day: Iris Got Better

Today we had slightly different things to do as compared to the previous 3 days routine. Mainly because Iris has gotten so much better & playful though not 100%.
First we went for xray checkup. As we wheeled by the playroom, Iris requested to be brought here coz she wanted to play. After coming back from the xray, I bathed her then off we went to the playroom. Iris was happily running around & pushing chairs though there were not many toys around. She had this imaginative play with me whereby she pretended that we were at home and she would cook for me, wash my hands, etc. I just played along with her.
After she got tired of playing, she asked to return back to the room whereby she agreed to eat some porridge though not a lot but at least something went into her now flat tummy. She also had some milk & afterwards she fell asleep until about 3 hours later.
Nurse came in to put her on neb again but this time she didn't cry like always. But when the physiotherapist came to perform the physio, she cried like crazy until the procedure completed. Luckily the physiotherapists were such nice young ladies who have much tolerance.
After that, we ate lunch, she agreed to have some bread with mushroom soup, and some rice with chicken. She was really in her playful mood, she created some game for herself whereby she took her socks off, fold them in a piece of paper, then later wore the socks on her hands. Iris can sometimes get really funny.
Then she wanted to draw, so I handed her my notebook. She drew a lot of imaginative drawing & later asked me to draw clowns, traffic lites, herself & her Papa. Later she asked to read her book. While we were reading, Dr Azam came in & told me that the xray result showed that the pneumonia was worsening, but I need not worry because clinically her condition is improving. I can't really comprehend the situation, but he got the message across.
Before he left, he advised me to seek treatment for my cough & cold coz if I don't it could become a ping pong game between me & Sumayyah.
I am definitely going to see a doctor by tomorrow coz all of us can't wait to be back home.

4th Day: Another Incompetency Story

Let me share with you another incompetency story of the medical staffs here. Iris was asked to go for another chest xray this morning since her cough still seemed pretty bad. The cough would definitely take some times to heal but Dr Azam wanted to make sure that the infection is cured.
So off we went to the Imaging Department, ushered by one of the nicest matrons I've ever met, Iris consciously riding on a wheelchair (this was her 1st time on wheelchair). Hubby couldn't stay around for the xray since he has got an appointment with a customer so I was expecting there would be someone, a medical staff who would assist with the xray procedure coz I won't be able to hold Iris down due to my pregnancy.
The matron left as soon as she handed over the documents to the counter, telling me that she would come to pick us up later. Several mins later, Iris was called in by a male staff. He asked me if anyone could help to hold Iris down so I said no. He asked if there was any staff with me so I told him that she has just gone up. So the guy told me that Iris had to lie down on her own since it would take some times should he call someone to come down from Ward C5.
I found the idea pretty ridiculous but I've got no other options, though I'm sure the guy did, didn't he? But he simply proceed with the xray after putting Iris down on the table though Iris was wailing like a huge siren. I had to hide in the changing room during the xray, praying hard that Iris would lie still since the table was pretty high.
You see, anything could have happened within the few seconds but luckily my baby behaved though she cried like mad.
Afterwards, the guy still had guts to cynically ask me to send his regards to the nurses upstairs as if indicating they should have allocated a staff to help him. Well, that is between them, and as a customer, he shouldn't involve me.
Then we waited for the matron to come pick us up but she was nowhere to be seen so I decided that we went back on our own. On my way back I couldn't help wondering how could such a prestigious & highly paid hospital staffs could behave such.

3rd Day: An Incompetency Story

Tonite I felt so happy watching Iris getting all lively & chirpy & all smiley-faced. I guess I've been missing that side of her for the past few days. She was so sick she couldn't even sit straight up. Only God knows how glad I was as I watched her growing appetite. She managed to gobble down quite spoonfuls of fried mee & her favourite barley drink whereas previously she only wanted to have at most 2 spoons of porridge or soup.
On the other hand, I started coughing pretty badly today (or did the cough start yesterday?) but whatever it is people started to notice that I wasn't pretty well myself. I'm not sure whether I was emotionally unstable today or was it because I was feeling unwell but I got really ticked off by this Indian nurse's attitude. At first a Malay nurse came in to put Iris on neb but as soon as she saw Iris was sleeping, she told me to buzz her when Iris has waken up. Less than 5 mins later this Indian nurse came right in & straight away starting to put Iris on neb without even some consideration for her sleep. Then as she was holding the neb, she started asking,
IN: Have u been taking medicine for your cough?
Me: No... (Duhhh.. Obviously I don't have any medication with me since I've been here for the past 3 days.. But well nevermind maybe she wanted to offer me medication or so I thought.)
IN: You're pregnant...
Me: ....... (Good that she noticed that I'm pregnant coz the physiotherapist this morning didn't. Maybe she has extra concerns for my health since I'm pregnant.)
IN: U know when u cough like that ur spreading it to Iris.
Me: Well, I think I was the one who picked it up from her.. (What is she trying to suggest actually? That I don't have slightest consideration for my own kid? Dah kalau batuk nak buat macam mane, I still have to take care of Iris & be near her.)
IN: U picked up from her is OK, she shouldn't pick it up from u.
Like hello? Excuse me? Is this supposed to be the correct way a medical professional should talk to a patient? The way she conveyed the message is as if I am so ignorant about this. She should have offered to get me some medication or at least suggested where I could get some. She was as if saying that it is OK if I am sick as long as I don't spread the germs to Iris. I pretty well know I shouldn't, I think everyone else also know common sense but the thing is I also shouldn't get sick coz if I am, who's gonna take care of my baby? Plus the fact that I'm 7 months pregnant, all the more reason for me not to get sick coz it could affect the baby I'm carrying. If a medical professional is being ignorant about this, I don't know who else is.
I'm determined not to let the short conversation affected me but I couldn't lie that it did. Silly huh?

2nd Day: The Day Iris Got Admitted

Only tonite I managed to get online from the ward. Here's what happened yesterday.
Monday morning, Iris woke up with high fever, which never seemed to subside even after 5 days. I was worried sick, started suspecting that this could be pneumonia instead of normal fever & asthma. Hubby suggested to revisit the panel clinic that we went 3 nites earlier since Dr Azam's clinic was closed that day.
After assessing Iris condition, the doctor suggested we seek further treatment from the hospital as Iris had previous history of pneumonia & bronchiolitis, among others. Doctor cautioned that Iris might have to be warded at least for a day.
Taking his advice, we went back home to pack some stuffs in case Iris was to be admitted. At the emergency, the nurse had to sponge Iris due to her high temperature. The doctor on duty took some blood sample for testing & ordered for chest xray to be taken. True enough, the doctor decided that Iris to be admitted & I went to register her in. When I came back, Hubby told me that they had performed the xray & not much later, the doctor came by telling us that it was a definite pneumonia.
Actually this is the 6th time Iris been admitted, and 2nd time due to pneumonia. I had never thought she would be warded again coz lately she has been pretty healthy & all. So as usual, Iris would have to go thru all the procedures of setting the drip line (this time it was twice coz the first try wasn't really good.. poor baby..), taking the nebulizer & what i dislike most is physio to remove the phlegms.
Now it's the 2nd nite, Iris hasn't gotten much better so Dr Azam decided to change her antibiotic and put her on drip since she seemed very lethargic. As i'm writing this, Iris has fallen soundly asleep & her breath sounded pretty clear. But as far as I could remember, this time was among the toughest. She cried a lot, painful due to heavy coughing & her high fever still has not yet subsided completely. She is still relying on the suppository to reduce her temperature every now & then.
Baby, mama will always be here for u & will never stop praying for your recovery. I can't bear to see u suffer so pretty please cepat baik okie sayang. I love u to bits!

Chelsea-Liverpool match anyone?

I wish I could stay up & accompany Hubby to watch THE match tonite but I don't think I could. Last nite, I slept at about 3am, woke up today with a headache which lasted until evening. I'm not going thru it again.
For the past few days, I've been busy tending to sick little Iris. On Friday nite, her temperature spiked up to 39.6 degrees. We were worried sick so we brought her straight to the clinic. Luckily the doctor said her asthma had subsided, her lungs sounded clear, so it was purely high fever. The doctor was very detailed, running thru the list of things that we should do to reduce the fever. This is the kind of service expected from a doctor, which we usually experienced otherwise.
After that nite, Iris got slightly better, but not completely off the fever. Instead she started to cough quite bad until now despite me giving her cough syrup & also ventolin puff. If the cough has not subsided by Tuesday, I think we will have to bring her to see Dr Azam for further checkup. I pray it is not pneumonia again.
As she is unwell, her crankiness is sometimes undescribable. I would have to stay beside her, not being able to do anything. I managed to sneak off to do some household chores while she was sleeping but not for long coz the bad coughing would certainly wake her up every now & then.
Tonite, looking down at her, she seems to be sleeping rather peacefully. I hope it will continue until tomorrow morning, insya Allah.