Maisarah & Muneerah

Maira Zahra

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUNEERAH

This is not easy....

Special Treat for The Special One at Kiwanis CNY Celebration

The highlights of the celebration was the Lion Dance performance and as expected the piercing loudness from the drumming group send Maira into frantic and she was crying hysterically. Sheactually loves the Lion Dance minus the ridiculously loud music.

Sahabat Yang Sejati

Aku hormati masa yg kau perlukan utk menilai kembali persahabatan ini tetapi setiap hari aku seolah dpt rasakan aku semakin jauh dari sahabat yg telah aku hilang selama 35 tahun dan aku takut ianya akan berulang kembali. Ku semai ku pupuk ku bina kembali persahabatn itu sebaik shj menjumpaimu; kuserah segala jiwa dan ragaku, kuluahkan segala keikhlasan ku, kerna ku tahu kemuliaan persahabatan ini, kau tak pandai meminta, kau tak pandai merayu dan kau pastinya buntu. Aku terus menerus tanpa rasa penat dan pilu, memberi apa yg termampu, jauh sekali meminta sebarang balasan, demi menagih dan membina kembali persahabatan yg telah lama hilang. Ku cuba mengenali mu kembali baik dari segi luaran dan dalaman, kerna kurindui cerita semalam (35th). Ya kekadang aku terasa kerna mungkin usaha murni ini tak dihargai, tetapi niat ku lebih besar dari itu demi membuat kau bahagia dan dpt meneruskan kehidupan ini. Sekiranya kau imbau kembali saat2 kita bersama tidak pernah rasanya aku mengeluh tentang persahabatan ini. Cuma apa yg ku tulis agak keterlaluan membuatkan keadaan menjadi salah faham...bukankah itu resam persahabatan? Bagiku tiada apa2 kekurangan dlm diri mu dlm persahabatan ini. Kumohon diri ini diberi sedikit lagi kesempatan utk ku buktikan keikhlasan, Berapa rendah lagi kau mahu aku letakkan diri ini demi menyelamatkan persahabatan ini? Wassalam

Winter Sonata

In December 2014 I have had the opportunity to take my love ones to Korea for bonding and spending quality time together. It was enjoyable and memorable holiday trip for the kids. I hope they will put this as one of the most important chapter in their life. Love you my love.

My Black Beuties in the Holy Land

Irfan, Sarah & Muneerah - in Holy Land

BLOOD CLOTS IN THE BRAIN

http://www.md-health.com/Blood-Clot-In-Brain.html

A blood clot in the brain can cause an Ischemic stroke, a stroke that is caused by an artery to the brain becoming blocked and starving a portion of the brain of oxygen and nutrients. A clot in the brain can also cause a buildup of cellular waste and carbon dioxide because the brain will be unable to clear this waste properly. This can cause the cells around the blockage to die, and the neurons in this portion of the brain to stop working, which can cause damage throughout the body. If you suspect that you have a blood clot in the brain, immediate treatment will be necessary to avoid a life threatening condition.

Causes of Blood Clots in the Brain

Head injuries or trauma to the brain, head and neck can cause these clots to form in the brain. Blood clots in the brain are caused when bleeding occurs between the skull and the brain. The body will form a clot to stop the bleeding, which will put pressure on the surrounding brain tissue. Trauma to the head can also cause blood clots formed outside of the brain to break loose and become lodged in the brain, which can cause an ischemic stroke.

Travelling clots from other parts of the body will travel to a blood vessel that leads to the brain, causing a blockage that can lead to an embolic stroke or cerebral embolism. These travelling clots are more likely to cause damage to other parts of the body before they reach the brain.

Narrowing or hardening of the arteries, commonly known as atherosclerosis can increase someone's vulnerability to developing a clot in the brain. Hardened arteries are at risk of tearing as they pump blood, which can cause a clot to form in the damaged area so blood does not leak into the body. These clots can cut off blood flow to the narrowed artery, causing damage to the surrounding cells.

Inflammation of a superficial vein can also cause an increased risk of blood clots. If a vein is damaged due to a high trauma injury it can become inflamed. A bacterial infection in the vein can also cause this type of inflammation which will reduce blood flow to the surrounding area. These damaged areas will be at a higher risk for leaking, which will result in a blood clot. If the area is inflamed then this blood clot could cut off the blood supply to the surrounding cells.

Women who use oral contraceptives may be at an increased risk for blood clotting. Women who have a history of blood clots, are over the age of 35 or smoke and continue to use contraceptives have an extremely high risk of developing blood clots which should be addressed by your doctor.

Symptoms of Blood Clots in the Brain

There are a variety of symptoms one may experience when having blood clots in brain, ranging from headaches to difficulty speaking, depression and Ischemic Attack.

• Headaches- Headaches associated with a blood clot will normally be found on one side of the head. These can be worsened by coughing or sneezing and can impair head movement or physical activity over time.
• Speaking Difficulties- You may begin to slur your words or have difficulty speaking. This is especially prominent if you have a clot on the left side of the brain.
• Confusion- It may feel as though it takes longer to think, or your thinking capacity is not where it should be. You may feel confused or feel as though it takes longer than usual to understand things.
• Changes in Personality- A blood clot can cause your personality to become altered from its usual state. You may suddenly feel very manic or normally energetic people can feel subdued.
• Dizziness- Bouts of dizziness may occur from time to time. This may be accompanied by temporary blindness.
• Depression- Those who suddenly develop depression are frequently checked for blood clots in the brain to ensure that all portions of the brain are getting the right amount of oxygen.
• Loss of Coordination- You may find yourself unable to move with the same level of coordination that you are used to. The ability to transfer objects from one hand to the other may be especially affected.
• Seizures- Seizures caused by a blood clot can last up to two minutes. Seizures that last longer may be a sign of a more serious condition.
• Paralysis- One side of your body may suddenly become paralyzed if you are suffering from a blood clot. The arm, leg and face will be especially affected by this.
• Ischemic Attack- This is also known as a "mini-stroke," which will cause dysfunction on one side of the body. If this condition escalates it can become a full stroke.

Treatments for Blood Clots in the Brain

If you suspect you have a clot in your brain it is vital that you seek medical attention right away, including contacting emergency medical services if you believe you may be suffering from a stroke.

An MRI or CT scan will need to be used to diagnose the presence of a clot and the condition which caused it to appear.

Anti-coagulants such as aspirin can often be used to dissolve the clot. The patient may also be placed on an aspirin regimen to prevent the appearance of new clots. Do not take anti-coagulants if you are at risk for hypertension as this can interfere with your regular medication.

Surgery. In some cases, a clot can be surgically removed from the brain. Arteries can also be opened and scraped clean of plaque to reduce the risk of additional injury. Patients at risk for developing additional clots may have a tissue plasminogen activator inserted in a vein. This will release clot-busting drugs directly to the brain to stop a stroke from occurring.

SRIKANDI HIDUPKU PLEASE KEEP FIGHTING

MY MOM IS SUFFERING FROM OSTEOARTHRITIS (OA)

Overview Osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee is the most common type of OA and a common cause of disability. Early diagnosis and treatment can help to manage the symptoms of knee OA. Treatment Options For the treatment of knee OA, your doctor may sometimes recommend a steroid injection into or around the joint. The pain relief is usually only temporary, and your doctor will limit the number of steroid injections that you can receive. Another type of injection therapy is called visco-supplementation. This involves the injection of hyaluronic acid derivatives into the joint. Hyaluronic acid is a normal component of joint fluid. However, the response to hyaluronic acid injection, as with steroid injection, is variable and usually temporary. Surgery Surgery is usually only offered for severe cases that have not responded to the other forms of therapy (see section on Osteoarthritis). Both the type of surgery and the decision for surgery are made following careful discussions between you and your doctor. Some of the more common types of surgery include: Arthroscopy This is suitable for early OA of the knee, and is considered a minor procedure during which the orthopaedic specialist uses an ‘arthroscope’ to look inside the joint. This is a form of ‘keyhole surgery’. During the procedure, the surgeon will be able to clean up damaged portions of the joint, or stimulate repair in areas where the cartilage has been lost. Osteotomy This procedure is suitable for younger patients (generally less than 50 years old) with limited OA of the knee. During this procedure, the bones around the joint are cut to allow the alignment of the joint to be corrected. Symptom relief can sometimes be achieved for up to 10 years following this procedure. Joint Replacement In late stages of OA, the joint has become so damaged that the best treatment is to replace the joint with an artificial one, which is typically made of a metal alloy together with a plastic component. The entire joint may be replaced (total joint replacement), or if OA is limited to only one part of the joint, then the surgeon may choose to only replace that part (unicompartmental/partial joint replacement).

ALHAMDULILLAH...SHE IS GETTING BETTER BY THE DAY

AFTER 33 YEARS.....

SPECIAL CHILD SCORES 4As

ON the morning of Nov 19 we were nervous wrecks.

Mixed feelings and thoughts filled our minds, waiting for the UPSR results.

Finally, when it was announced my second daughter achieved 4A’s and 1B, a sense of relief and proud achievement for us as parents.

For her to achieve such a feat was a tremendous achievement in itself.

When our daughter was three years old, we notice there was something different about her.

She has never uttered a proper comprehensible word, was quiet, reserved and demonstrated slower reflexes than others.

Compared to her sister and cousins, she would be the odd one out. At times engrossed in her own world, we could sense part of her emotional disconnection to those around her.

If she wanted certain things, toys or food, most of the time she would be practically holding and guiding her parents’ hands rather than mentioning or taking it by herself.

As concerned parents, we took her for various specialist tests, including a physical ENT review, and reports suggested a speech deficiency problem with a probable case of a mild form autism.

The experts even suggested we consider enrolling her in a government special school rather than a normal primary school.

However, we were resolved and determined to help her at all costs, not to prove her critics wrong but mainly to fulfill our responsibilities as parents of a ‘special’ child.

We started to develop her motor speech capabilities during her third year. Various speech therapies, countless hours over weekends and working days were spent over the years. We even chauffeured a recommended elderly therapist from PJ to Shah Alam.

We explored pre-schools providing certain motor and human skills development until her fifth year.

We even bought knitting toys to strengthen and improve her mind and physical coordination. To excite her creative side, we even enrolled her into art classes and piano lessons.

When she was six, we started to concentrate on her phonics skills, enrolled her into a preschool specialising in reading skills, to prepare her for the next stage, primary school.

We ensured reading milestones were met, both in Bahasa and English. Against the early suggestion, we registered her into the nearby normal primary school.

Along the way, we also taught and guided her to read the Quran. It was very slow and frustrating in the beginning.

We kept our expectations low during her early primary years. To give her an ‘academic handicap’, we even had to justify and explain her history to the teachers at times.

Later we realised this was a mistake and we avoided such ‘handicap-reasonings’ from our parent-teacher discussions and just let teachers treat her on equal footing with the rest of her friends.

Over time, we could see our daughter’s positive progression in the academic subjects, co-curricular activities and even her circle of friends grew.

We really felt the emotional side of hers had ‘come out’ and we could connect. This was also evident when she was appointed as a school librarian and also deputy class monitor.

During the last two years of parent-teacher discussions, we somehow felt vindicated when positive remarks were given by teachers that saw her as being a normal student, performing even better than her normal contemporaries.

For that, we are forever grateful to all her teachers, therapists, relatives and friends who we came into contact and gave us support.

To all parents who can relate to the experience or even more difficult instances, we pray you persevere and never lose hope in your ‘special’ child.

Your sacrifices, hardwork and effort will eventually be rewarded, however small, in the end. Insya Allah.

DET & SUZI
Proud parents, Shah Alam

Back To School

To my children - the holiday season is over and welcome back to school. Start your normal routine. It's going to be an interesting 2012 school term as long as you stay focus and discipline and most importantly you must enjoy every moment of it. Student days are the best period in life. Abah and umami will always be here for you - supporting you physically, mentally, emotionally, intellectually and of course financially. To all my I'll bosses - good luck, do your best and be good. To Irfan, Sarah, Muneerah and the special buck bacam Maira Zahra - I love you soooooo much!

To ummi, I hope your patient will continue to be at FIRST CLASS!! Love you honey!!

Holiday in London 2011

Sweet memories captured at various places in London and this is one of London's landmark - the Big Ben.

The real lesson from the Jais-Damansara Utama Methodist Church controversy

by Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad

AUG 11 — The recent controversy over the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) raid on the Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) reminded me of a visit I made to a shelter for Muslim HIV patients in Subang Jaya a few years back.
One of the members of my PKR division was active in a mosque in that area. She introduced me to the shelter, which was being run by the local Muslim community.
Such institutions are important for, as we all know, the stigma against people living with HIV and AIDS is still rampant in our society and hence many of them have a tough time re-integrating with their families and communities upon leaving hospital.
The fact is some Muslim HIV and AIDS patients who are so ostracised are given a lifeline by the charitable works run by the Christian churches. This of course doesn’t reflect well on Malaysia’s Islamic religious authorities who are supposed to be looking out for the welfare of all Muslims with their hundreds of millions of ringgit of resources.
In Islam, it’s considered a very sad, pitiful thing for a Muslim to die cut off or isolated from his or her fellow believers. I’m sure this is the case with any other faith. So whenever churches engage in charitable work that involves Muslims, their kindness is viewed with suspicion.
Interestingly enough, the church involved in this episode was conscious of this fact, and so worked with the Muslims to repatriate any Muslim HIV patient they had back to the care of their community. Unfortunately, some of their friends and family refused to have anything to do with them, and so there was no other option but for them to remain under the care of the church.
From an Islamic perspective, the blame for a Muslim dying outside the faith community should rest not only on the individual but on his or her community who did not come to their aid during their hour of need as well. Muslims have duties that are obligatory for them individually (fardu ain) and duties that are obligatory for them collectively (fardu kifayyah). This is clearly the latter, where if no one in society takes up this duty the entire society is to be blamed.
Yes, these people may have intentionally cut themselves off from their kith and kin. Yes, some of them might have been involved in drugs or illicit sex (although it’s a conveniently ignored fact that many HIV infections in Malaysia are from partners, parents or through blood transfusions). But that does not mean that they deserve to not be treated with dignity, as human beings or to die outside Islam.
Islam’s emphasis is always on the mercy of God. Whatever someone’s past may be, his or her salvation ultimately lies in repentance and through God’s mercy and forgiveness.
By starting their own shelter, the group of Muslims from Subang Jaya fulfilled their fardu kifayyah and deserve credit for this.
When I visited the shelter to present a small donation to them, I was amazed at the good work they had done. They had converted a terrace house into a discreet shelter that can accommodate about 12-15 patients at one time. They were probably flouting planning laws as the shelter was in a residential area. Furthermore, running such a place isn’t cheap and they had to sustain their efforts through massive, constant fundraising efforts. But at least they were doing something.
During my visit, I realised that the shelter was teeming with other visitors. There were not only officers from the Prison Department and hospital (many of the shelter’s inmates are handed over from prisons and hospitals) but also the church leader mentioned above, who was transferring his Muslims charges to the shelter.
Compared to those who write sensational articles about conspiracies against Islam or complain about why Christians are engaged in charitable works among Muslims, these were exemplary Muslims who chose the path of action instead of just empty talk.
I asked them if they had approached the religious authorities to get funding. They told me they had, but were informed that the religious authorities had their own plans instead and so did not receive a single sen. One wonders why this noble project was not given support from the get-go, especially since the “official” HIV shelter was still in the “planning stage”?
I therefore share the view that we should be questioning how the zakat money is being spent in Malaysia. In spite of the hundreds of millions of ringgit collected for zakat and similar levels of state government grants for Islam, many deserving Muslims are unable to get assistance due to outdated policies and bureaucratic inertia. With the huge resources at our disposal, this is simply wrong.
The zakat money can certainly be better managed. For instance, I was privately shocked at being given a souvenir after attending an event to present zakat to the poor! Although one must assume in good faith that the money for the gift wasn’t taken out of the zakat, it was still sending the wrong message. VIPs are given too many “souvenirs” that we don’t really need — it’s a nice gesture but at the end of the day the money could have been put to better use.
This reminds me of a story involving my great-grandfather, Haji Wan Musa Abdul Samad, who was the mufti of Kelantan from 1908 to 1916. When the Sultan and the authorities wanted to build a concrete version of Masjid Muhammadi (Kelantan’s state mosque) to replace the previous wooden structure, he resigned in protest as he believed that the zakat fitrah (which is paid by Muslims at the end of Ramadan) — which they wanted to use to fund the new mosque — must be only given to the poor and not used for development.
My point is that the Umno-owned newspapers are missing the point by trying to pin the blame on the Christians (for engaging in charitable works among Muslims) and poor Muslims (for being recipients of the charity). Malaysian Muslims should rather be asking why some of our fellow ummah are falling through the cracks despite the many resources at our disposal to help them.
Recently, a constituent of mine told me the story of the blind Jewish beggar. At the market, the beggar would curse Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. as a lunatic or a sorcerer. When the Prophet learned about this, he decided not to get angry but instead would visit the beggar every day to feed him without saying a word. The beggar would eat contentedly without realising that it was the same person he was cursing every day who was feeding him.
When the Prophet passed away, Caliph Abu Bakar as-Siddiq took over the responsibility. But when Abu Bakar first fed the beggar, the beggar became angry and shouted that this was not the same man who used to feed him all this while.
Abu Bakar immediately cried and revealed to the beggar that the person who has been feeding him all this while was the Prophet himself. The beggar could not believe it, remembering how cruel he was to the man who showed him only kindness.
Is our response reflective of the Prophet’s exemplary personality?
We should be concentrating on helping poor Muslims (and non-Muslims), rather than intimidating religious or ethnic minorities.
* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

My Babies...Grown up version!

Love of my life.....

Oh My God.....!!!