Don't judge a book by its cover

Spent an hour with this patient in clinic today.

Documented in appointment book that she was initially admitted for second operation of her brain tumor but she chose to postpone it August last year. It's easy to judge and assume that she's a bad patient.

She then admitted to not taking her medications on time, to the extent of missing 3 to 4 doses every week. Again, one can easily label her as the non compliant patient who refused intervention.

But I was given the opportunity to ask her why today.

And I'm so glad that I did.

She is a 53 year old lady, once happily married. Her daughter is already married and lives with her family at far north, about 7 hours drive from her. Life was not easy but she managed to earn a living as a cleaner. She has diabetes and high blood pressure but it's manageable with a few tablets.

Then she became ill. After a seizure and collapse at work, diagnosed with a brain tumor requiring surgery. An initial surgery was done to stop cerebrospinal fluid from leaking from her brain.

She could no longer work. Needs to take many medications and attend regular follow up. Often feels giddy and has headache. Nobody dares to hire her.

She became forgetful. That's why she forgot about her medications.

Her daughter bought her a smart phone but she didn't really know how to use it. Her daughter last visited her half a year ago.

Her husband, dishearteningly, left her to remarry, leaving her alone in a run down house.

She has 10 siblings but they all have their own family to take care of. And she doesn't want to burden anyone.

She had to rely on her neighbors to attend appointments. Or even resort to taking public transport.

She suffered all these alone and did not complain to anyone else.

I did whatever I could.
Made a few phone calls to make sure her appointments fall on the same day.
Wrote some letters so she could get some financial assistance from the welfare department.
Helped her to set reminders on her phone so that she will not forget her medications anymore.

She's grateful.
But she is still afraid about the upcoming operation. Because she doesn't know whether she will be able to take care of herself afterwards.

At least she can live a simple life now.

I hope I could have done more though.

Just some food for thought.
Don't form preconceived ideas about someone until you find out the whole truth.

Tong nam bee kopitiam- classic is always the best

Started out our journey back to hometown really early this morning. Stopped by this famous Asian style cafe at Raub.

A piece of soft and fluffy steamed white bread with a luxurious slice of butter and creamy kaya

RM 1.80

 Cheong Fun or rice noodle rolls with thick sweet sauce and assorted stuffed fishcakes, drizzled with fragrant sesame seeds. 

RM 5.50

Definitely will stop by again in the future!

The rain and flood will not douse our determination to travel and celebrate CNY with our loved ones.

Happy cny!

MYNY cafe indera mahkota Kuantan

 Hubby and I had the rare opportunity to go dating last week. This is the second time I had lunch here. We arrived relatively early so the place was nice and quiet.




Five fingers. RM 18.90

There's minced chicken with bolognaise sauce in the burger.

Cheesy wedges that taste exactly like those from KFC

Fried chicken nuggets

Fried mashed potato.

Interesting, fried cheese cake drizzled with chocolate syrup. The inside is nice and mushy with cream cheese goodness. Outside is nice and crispy breadcrumb.

Daddy Joe burger RM 7.00
 Minced beef burger with bolognaise sauce. The burger is a tad too dry though. Need mayo or some dressing for the salad too.

Special red velvet cookie milkshake. 

RM 7.90

Topped with whipped cream. Sinful beverage with nice crunchy bits of cookies in the drink. Luckily we shared the drink because it's simply too filling.

Didn't end up to have dessert since we were already too full.

Sangkaya cafe ECM - going nuts with coconuts

Spent a great afternoon with hubby, baby Bing and sister in law. Sangkaya is all about coconuts.

Two basic sets @RM 12.90 each
Coconut gelato with cornflakes and chocolate shred topping.

Coconut gelato with peanut topping

Portion is actually quite generous with 4 scoops each. Love the fact that one can still scrape fresh coconut flesh from the coconut shell.

Two coconut water

One complimentary Thai milk tea mixed with coconut water.
Tasted like instant oatmilk.

All in all, quite refreshing and not too creamy or oily. Worth the try. If you like coconuts, definitely should try this place out.

Daebak cafe Kuantan

Decided to spend the afternoon at daebak cafe with my dear Anna and family. Haven't been here for a long time. Missed the Belgian waffles. First time bringing baby Bing here :)

Chocolate thousand layer cake 

RM 13.90

Soft and velvety yet can taste the texture of the  separate layers

Ginger lemon tea for my sore throat
RM 9

Belgian waffle with icing
RM 9
Beetroot flavoured dough for Christmas festivities.

How can Bing missed the opportunity to catch a snow flake?

OK tuck steamboat@brinchang

Another night at Cameron's means more steamboat dinner! I have read a few good comments on other blogs about this restaurant.

I must say their chilli sauce is really good. I almost finished a small bowl of it! The ingredients are fresh and service is fast. However I must say I'm kind of disappointed with the stale prawns though.

Mayflower restaurant steamboat

Had a wonderful steamboat dinner at tanah rata Cameron highlands.

We ordered mixed chicken soup and tom yum soup base with one serving of meat and another serving of vegetables. Forgot to snap a picture of the soup as Bing wanted Mr attention. Haha

Portion is big. Chicken soup is refreshing. Tom yum soup a bit overpowering though. Price is reasonable RM 20 per pax for meat and RM 15 for vegetarian option.

Hearty dinner for the chilly highland :) this place also serves a variety of other stir fries.