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.