Guess who these gorgeous little girls are??(no we haven't adopted again!) shame really....
Nearly four months ago mum was a diagnosis of Pancreatic cancer. Most people with Pancreatic cancer don't live past 1 to 3 months and given her age well.....
The good news is mum is still alive, still completely pain free, has no infections and in relatively good health considering her condition. (TOUCH WOOD!!) . She has lost a lot of weight and looks skin and bones. I tease her when she makes comment when I shower her in the mornings and tell her- "Not to worry, at 85 you're too young to enter the bikini contests anyway ".
As per the last post, Mum went into respite for two weeks in a wonderful hospice, but unfortunately the single room with the great view was short lived. However the care from the staff was absolutely fantastic - so the view paled into insignificance.
Mum had an array of room sharers, one going through a very terrible painful end, and that was very depressing for mum, but then she had a Greek lady and the last room-sharer was a 95 'bright as a button' lady who was a real scream. You can imagine my Mum who is sharp as tacks and this woman together in the same room. One night after enjoying lots of chats with mum across their respective beds in the same room, she said, "I really enjoy your company - if you want a chat again, you know where I live".
During that time, Mya and I enjoyed having George all to ourselves for 9 days. Selfish as that sounds, even when in Singapore our time together as a family is rare because of George's work travel demands. So to have his undivided company and attention was truly a wonderful experience where we felt like a family again. It was hard though when he left. Mya asked every day if dad was coming home tomorrow. We'll see him again in August but unfortunately he is working and we'll only see him the day he arrives and the weekend before he leaves.
As per the last post, Mum went into respite for two weeks in a wonderful hospice, but unfortunately the single room with the great view was short lived. However the care from the staff was absolutely fantastic - so the view paled into insignificance.
Mum had an array of room sharers, one going through a very terrible painful end, and that was very depressing for mum, but then she had a Greek lady and the last room-sharer was a 95 'bright as a button' lady who was a real scream. You can imagine my Mum who is sharp as tacks and this woman together in the same room. One night after enjoying lots of chats with mum across their respective beds in the same room, she said, "I really enjoy your company - if you want a chat again, you know where I live".
During that time, Mya and I enjoyed having George all to ourselves for 9 days. Selfish as that sounds, even when in Singapore our time together as a family is rare because of George's work travel demands. So to have his undivided company and attention was truly a wonderful experience where we felt like a family again. It was hard though when he left. Mya asked every day if dad was coming home tomorrow. We'll see him again in August but unfortunately he is working and we'll only see him the day he arrives and the weekend before he leaves.
Also another great experience in the time George was here was that Yuko , John and Emma (who were our best friends and lived in the same apartment blockas us in Singapore - and are now posted to Sydney, came and spent the weekend with us in Melbourne). It was really fantastic- Mya and Emma(aged 2) were inseparable - it was lovely seeing the old playmates back together again, and we really like John and Yuko's company. The weather was unbelievably Melbourne - ie. Changing every few hours and we left to go and see the city (John had never been to Melbourne before) and then we went to the Victoria Market in full sunshine and got caught in a major downpour. But that didn't stop us. We really cherished seeing our friends because their transfer happened suddenly and I hadn’t seen them for over 2 months, so it was a great chance for me to have so much lovely company around. Mya and I did a "show and tell" book with all the photos of our weekend together and Mya really loved showing the class her friend and how much they looked alike - they could almost be sisters ( so the mystery children above in the photo are Mya and Emma).
I've got to just digress for a second and tell you this amazing true story: Yuko and I were extremely busy there for a while she was helping her sister in Japan and I was down in Melbourne. Weeks passed and we only swapped one or two emails to touch base. I didn't even know about the move till George told me. So one day after their arrival in Australia, I decided to ring her in Sydney, but I only had her Singapore number. So I left a message on her old mobile number and asked her to ring me when she could. Literally 5 seconds later my mobile rings, and I said "Hi Yuko, how are you?" She said 'How did you know it was me?", I said "Because I just left you a message," she said "No you didn't". She didn't have her Singapore chip in her phone anymore, she had a new Australia sim card so didn't get the message. She just was thinking of me and rang me at the very same time I was ringing her - even though we hadn't spoken directly to each other for over 9 weeks!!!! Talk about telepathy between friends.
Back to Mum. She has cut back a lot on all the visitors and making phone calls etc, she's limiting her energy usage, as she gets tired most days. But when she came home from respite, she had obviously missed a few things, (she was what I'm going to be like when I get back to Singapore. I'm going to go into my sewing room and go into a sewing frenzy) - mum came home from respite and went into a domestic frenzy. Despite my working for hours and hours the previous days making the house good enough by mum's extremely high standards, She got in the front door and within no time I found her down on her hands and knees and bleaching the shower floor tiles! Groan. But I understand. After she got over the initial domestic grip, things have returned to normal.
Loretta and I have a new roster where we work 2 days on then 2 days off, and both of us have every Wednesday off whilst other carers and friends come in. This gives us a clear break from the house, the routine and the caring. It's psychologically easier for us as we know there is some reprieve in sight every week. Not that we are complaining, but 24/7 care and no outside refreshing change can be strenuous on everyone.
We have also stopped the outpatient visits to the hospital and instead have the doctor come home every fortnight to check on Mum, because the strain of driving into the hospital and waiting in outpatients wasn’t a high priority when Mum was actually well enough to go and see her best friend who is also very sick - there was some irony in that.
I've got to just digress for a second and tell you this amazing true story: Yuko and I were extremely busy there for a while she was helping her sister in Japan and I was down in Melbourne. Weeks passed and we only swapped one or two emails to touch base. I didn't even know about the move till George told me. So one day after their arrival in Australia, I decided to ring her in Sydney, but I only had her Singapore number. So I left a message on her old mobile number and asked her to ring me when she could. Literally 5 seconds later my mobile rings, and I said "Hi Yuko, how are you?" She said 'How did you know it was me?", I said "Because I just left you a message," she said "No you didn't". She didn't have her Singapore chip in her phone anymore, she had a new Australia sim card so didn't get the message. She just was thinking of me and rang me at the very same time I was ringing her - even though we hadn't spoken directly to each other for over 9 weeks!!!! Talk about telepathy between friends.
Back to Mum. She has cut back a lot on all the visitors and making phone calls etc, she's limiting her energy usage, as she gets tired most days. But when she came home from respite, she had obviously missed a few things, (she was what I'm going to be like when I get back to Singapore. I'm going to go into my sewing room and go into a sewing frenzy) - mum came home from respite and went into a domestic frenzy. Despite my working for hours and hours the previous days making the house good enough by mum's extremely high standards, She got in the front door and within no time I found her down on her hands and knees and bleaching the shower floor tiles! Groan. But I understand. After she got over the initial domestic grip, things have returned to normal.
Loretta and I have a new roster where we work 2 days on then 2 days off, and both of us have every Wednesday off whilst other carers and friends come in. This gives us a clear break from the house, the routine and the caring. It's psychologically easier for us as we know there is some reprieve in sight every week. Not that we are complaining, but 24/7 care and no outside refreshing change can be strenuous on everyone.
We have also stopped the outpatient visits to the hospital and instead have the doctor come home every fortnight to check on Mum, because the strain of driving into the hospital and waiting in outpatients wasn’t a high priority when Mum was actually well enough to go and see her best friend who is also very sick - there was some irony in that.
Next week I will have been here 15 weeks (yes George is counting!!) and I haven't seen many of my friends in Melbourne, so now's your chance if you are nearby please call in because after mum passes, we won't be coming back to Australia for quite a while.
On the note of friends, thanks to Sue and Tony who have been galiant friends looking after Mya, looking after me, and always being there. And Vicky thanks for the coffee breaks and coming along to the quilt show it was great fun, and congratulations on your new sewing machine (Bernina of course!) As for me, I'll have to sell some more bags I think - or stop going to quilt shows - one or the other.
Thanks also to those who despite being on holidays in shores afar still remember to send an SMS or email from time to time. You are amazing. I really appreciate all my friends who are supporting me at the moment. I might not get time to write lengthy replies to your emails, but I read them when I can and enjoy hearing about everyone else's life and adventures and reply as soon as I can. It's true that really good friends are there in the hard times not just the good times. Like other times in my life when things have been tough, I've been amazed at the random acts of kindness of some people. My sincere thanks.
I have to go back to Singapore in November because our lease finishes for our apartment in January and I have to find us a new home for us, and a new school for Mya. All that takes time especially as we don't want to hit school and festive holidays as happened to us 2 years ago when we were on our Look See and the choices were very limited. I will be staying in Singapore until everything is moved into our new place.
NOW FOR SOME GOOD NEWS AND SOME VERY FUNNY ANECDOTES OF LIFE WITH A 5 YEAR OLD.
Good news:
Mya got her school report and she is doing above her class average on all aspects of her school work, she got a "Very good" for effort and an "Excellent" for class behaviour. - Wish I could show that report to her Singapore school! Needless to say with her unsolicited comments of "I love going to school Mummy and I never want to leave Australia" I was neither surprised at the results nor at all concerned about pulling her out of the money making business venture called her private school in Singapore which failed to educate her adequately over the last 18 months. Mya and I have been working every night on her reading and to my sheer delight she is now a confident and confident reader.
Funny 1:
Mya has to do "Show and Tell" at school every week. Last week we did some work and internet research on the universe and it's planets. I bought her a colour-in place mat with the planets and their orbit paths around the sun. We made a rocket out of hand roll and silver paper with flames of gold and silver wrapping and red cellophane. We role played the Earth orbiting around the sun (the round coffee table) and I was the moon orbiting around Mya, who was the Earth... (Anyone not knowing what we were doing would have called the asylum bus to come and collect us immediately) - it was really funny. Anyway we got into some very detailed discussions and she got a really good grip on the universe and the planetary systems....or so I thought.....
When doing the revision before the actual "Show and Tell" I asked Mya if she could name any of the planets...
"I know the planets Mum" she said confidently: "Mercury, Earth, Mars, April, May, June."
I asked her what else she was going to tell the children at "show and tell".
The planets circle around the sun in an August (orbit).
Then she said, "You know, I want to be an astronaut mum". I said:
I answered, "If you want to be an astronaut darling, you have to be good at Maths and Science."
"I AM good at Maths and silence mum". (yeah!!!!)
Funny 2:
Another day we had discussions about what she wanted to do when she grew up. I told her I thought she'd make a good judge. She asked me what that was, and I told her it's the person who decided who goes to jail and who doesn't. She'd actually make a great policewoman but I'm scared she'll get shot. But in the meantime she's the seat belt police, the manners police and the behaviour police, but not when it comes to her own. She liked the Idea of the judge, and a few days later out of the blue she asked me. "Mum, what do you think, should I be a judge or a servant.....?"
Today she decided she wanted to be a politician because they make all the rules.
Funny 3:
We were about to watch a program on television about what quirky questions children ask you as parents and whilst waiting for it to start, she asked.
"Why do people die?"
I answered: "People die when their bodies are tired of working...."
Funny 1:
Mya has to do "Show and Tell" at school every week. Last week we did some work and internet research on the universe and it's planets. I bought her a colour-in place mat with the planets and their orbit paths around the sun. We made a rocket out of hand roll and silver paper with flames of gold and silver wrapping and red cellophane. We role played the Earth orbiting around the sun (the round coffee table) and I was the moon orbiting around Mya, who was the Earth... (Anyone not knowing what we were doing would have called the asylum bus to come and collect us immediately) - it was really funny. Anyway we got into some very detailed discussions and she got a really good grip on the universe and the planetary systems....or so I thought.....
When doing the revision before the actual "Show and Tell" I asked Mya if she could name any of the planets...
"I know the planets Mum" she said confidently: "Mercury, Earth, Mars, April, May, June."
I asked her what else she was going to tell the children at "show and tell".
The planets circle around the sun in an August (orbit).
Then she said, "You know, I want to be an astronaut mum". I said:
I answered, "If you want to be an astronaut darling, you have to be good at Maths and Science."
"I AM good at Maths and silence mum". (yeah!!!!)
Funny 2:
Another day we had discussions about what she wanted to do when she grew up. I told her I thought she'd make a good judge. She asked me what that was, and I told her it's the person who decided who goes to jail and who doesn't. She'd actually make a great policewoman but I'm scared she'll get shot. But in the meantime she's the seat belt police, the manners police and the behaviour police, but not when it comes to her own. She liked the Idea of the judge, and a few days later out of the blue she asked me. "Mum, what do you think, should I be a judge or a servant.....?"
Today she decided she wanted to be a politician because they make all the rules.
Funny 3:
We were about to watch a program on television about what quirky questions children ask you as parents and whilst waiting for it to start, she asked.
"Why do people die?"
I answered: "People die when their bodies are tired of working...."
"Will I die if I never work and just keep playing...? "
She hasn't made too many life plan changes because when she was all of 2 years old we went to a doctors and he thought she was extremely bright and he said to her:
"Would you like to become a doctor when you grow up? "
Emphatically Mya replied “NO" as if she really knew her career choices at 2.
Surprised at her tone and thinking she might already have chosen something even more prestigious, he said - "Well what DO you want to do when you get older?"
She replied "Go to the beach!!!"
Emphatically Mya replied “NO" as if she really knew her career choices at 2.
Surprised at her tone and thinking she might already have chosen something even more prestigious, he said - "Well what DO you want to do when you get older?"
She replied "Go to the beach!!!"
Funny 4:
I teasingly asked her, "Who made the world?"
She answered. "God." (They're doing religious Instruction at school)
I asked her , "Who made God?"
"Santa Claus and he lives in the sky with Buddha."
Funny 5:
After having a thoroughly enjoyable time cooking this morning and photographing it all to make a visual recipe book for her friends at school for next "show and Tell", I thought we'd better get out of the house a bit. So I bundled Mya into the car and said "is there anywhere you'd like to go darling" she said "You choose mum". So we went to the Zoo. After paying an amazing entrance fee we spent the remaining 2.30 hours before closing time seeing lots of amazing animals. The best was the butterfly enclosure, the seals being fed, of course the primates and her favourites the tigers. As we drove home she said" Mum the zoo was nice, but I actually only wanted to go to the supermarket.."!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At night mum was trying to make conversation with Mya and get her to talk about her time at the zoo said "Did you see animals at the zoo?" Mya looked at Yaya in amazement and said "Of course there were animals at the zoo Yaya!"
Mum almost gave her her ususal "you know zoo is from the Greek word Zo-o which means animal." But the laughter prevented her.
With that, you can see that although it's tough, Mya's an absolute joy to be with.
Keep well dear friends and thankyou for reading the blog. Oh by the way, after wasting 1/2 an hour reading the useless instruction book only to find out on page 27 how to answer the *&^%$#%$%^ new phone George bought me, I also found out what that horrible word "blog" is. It's short for web log. I suppose it wasn't so useless after all.
Post script:
After months of trouble with computers I can't afford any more viruses. I have the highest security level, firewalls and screening, my computer is now deleting ALL attachments and I am deleting all Forwards and ALL bulk addressed emails (irrespective of who sends them) without reading them. All those sort of emails end up in the junk box then the delete box. Don't stop writing though, I do enjoy and appreciate REAL emails. Thanks
Post script:
After months of trouble with computers I can't afford any more viruses. I have the highest security level, firewalls and screening, my computer is now deleting ALL attachments and I am deleting all Forwards and ALL bulk addressed emails (irrespective of who sends them) without reading them. All those sort of emails end up in the junk box then the delete box. Don't stop writing though, I do enjoy and appreciate REAL emails. Thanks
