The Mouth Opening Story

The weather is sickening hot. As a result, I am down with sorethroat. I just sprained my ankle 2 weeks ago when I fell at the staircase. Oh no, it's really one wave after another before it subsides. While my ankle is recovering quite speedily, I have this new situation to worry about as my KK trip is just one day away. Immediately, I went to see doctor. Found the Indian lady doctor a bit funny.

At the consultation room:

Me: "Morning, doctor."

Doctor: "Morning, what's the problem?"

Me: "I am having sorethroat, since last night."

Doctor: "Come, lie down on the bed and let me check."

I was puzzling, was this neccessary? I am just having sorethroat.

Doctor: "Take a deep breath. Breathe... Breathe... Breathe..."
(she was placing her testoscope on my chest and the back to check here and there)

After completing the check on the bed, we were back to our respective seats and she checked my blood pressure.

Doctor: "Open your mouth and say "ah"."

I followed her instruction.

Doctor: "Why ah? You can't open your mouth big ah? Just open your mouth big and say "ah"."

I was trying to do what she asked. She found it hard to see the condition of my throat or place the thermometer underneath my tongue to meassure the temperature.

Doctor: "Don't move your tongue. No, no, don't move your tongue. Ok, look at me. Just open your mouth like this."

She opened her mouth widely. I looked at it and felt like staring at a big black shark jaw. Ahahaha...

I tried hard to coorporate to fulfill her instruction but I just couldn't open my mouth wide enough and control my tongue which moved unknowingly and caused her difficulty to place the thermometer.

Me: "I can't. It's painful on my right jaw joint."

Doctor: "I notice that you have a problem opening your mouth big."

Me: "Sometimes, when I chew hard food, there's sound at the joint of my right jaw and I feel uncomfortable and slight pain as if it's not properly joint."

Doctor: "Can you put a lot of food in your mouth, like other people eating a big burger?"

Me: "I've never tried that. I just eat with the normal portion of food in my mouth."

What's the definition of normal portion when it comes to this case? I wonder...

Doctor: "Ok, place your fingers at both the joints near your ears. You see ah, when you open your mouth, you can feel the gaps deepening as you open it. Can you feel it?"

Me: "No, I can't. it's painful on my right jaw joint."

Doctor: "No, no, no. Look at me."

She demonstrated how she opened her mouth big and asked me to place my fingers on her jaw joints to feel the gaps deepening as she opened her mouth. I did as asked.

Doctor: "Now, do it again. Can you feel the gap?"

Me: "Yes, I do. On the left joint but not the right joint."

She held her fists, simulating how the upper jaw (maxilla) and the lower jaw (mandible) meet to form the emporomandibular joint (TMJ) and the correct movement when we open our mouth. She also demonstrated creatively how the lower jaw and upper jaw move when they are not properly joint. Hahaha...

Doctor: "Well, there's nothing we can do about this problem."

She then moved her jaw vertically and horizontally continuosly to show me how I should 'exercise' my jaw. Hahaha... like a robot, damn funny.

Doctor: "Do this, ee.. oh..ah... ee...oh.. ah...but don't over do it lah. Maybe you try to practice opening your mouth wide, say 10 times a day."

Me: "Doctor, I am going to KK on Thursday. Can you give me something strong to cure faster? "

Doctor: "I will give you antibiotic for 2 days. Should I give it for 2 days or 5 days? Ok lah, 5 days lah."

I was in the consultation room for about 1/2 hour, with majority of the time spent on having the mouth opening lesson. Tuoi ngiao....

At the dispensary:

Nurse: "Lew Man Lee. This is for sorethroat. This is the antibiotic. This is for fever and this is for cough."

Me: "Huh? I don't have fever and cough, why are you giving me the medicine?"

Nurse went to check with doctor and came back to her "window".

Nurse: "Doctor said, the fever and cough will come soon."

Me:".... what? So, I don't need to take the medicine if I am not having fever or cough, right?"

Nurse: " So you wait lah, take the medicine when you have fever and cough."

Wah, like this also can???

I left the clinic speechless after paying the bill. Yiii.... Where is the lozenges for sorethroat? I went back to the clinic and asked the nurse.

Me: "Why isn't there any lozenges for sorethroat?"

Nurse: "Sorry, we don't have lozenges. You have to go to the pharmacy to buy it yourself."

Tuoi ngiao.... Speechless....

Hell, I was sneezing non-stop after I took my bath at night. There's symptom of having blocked nose soon. Issshhhh.....

Keeping my fingers crossed and pray hard that I have a speedy recovery and will be fit to proceed with my KK trip . I just don't want to miss the white water rafting and mount KK. God bless me.

Hot Weekend

It's a very hot weekend! Drop dead terribly bloody hot! The sun was burning and it was extremely hot! It's so damn hot that I couldn't concentrate to do any work or sleep. It's 1:07am now and I'm still awake because I can't sleep due to the hot weather. So how and what to do? Decided to go online and and write something.

Didn't go anywhere except attending DL's house warming on Sat.

Sat - DL's House Warming
DL was having open house for his new condo on Sat. I attended the occasion and met with some of ex & existing JSP people whom I have not seen for about a year. There were some new updates & discoveries after catching up with them.

Discovery 1: Potato Salad
Never know that CL can make very good potato salad! The potato salad consisted of smashed potato mixed with mayonese, egg, and ham. Of all food served, the potato salad got the most compliment from the guests.

Discovery 2: Detetrioration
Got to know that our pretty boy, VL & pretty princess, NW have turned single again respectively. Didn't wanna ask much about the details on the change of their status.

Case 1: VL
VL's face is getting rounder and rounder, with double chin emerging. When he was lying on the bed in DL's second room(where some of us were gathering there chit chatting and catching up), I had a closer look, and discovered that it is wasn't double chin, but triple chin instead! He has gained a 'tummy' too. He's not the fat type, and luckily the other parts of his body did not deteriorate much except the rounder face and the bigger tummy. He's in his late 20s and is this a sign of aging? He jokingly said that after turning single again, he is very free and has got nothing much to do, thus eating more. So could it be a side effect? I wonder... :)

Case 2: NW
This pretty princess is originally skinny, having a few kgs more weight than I do but taller than me. Gosh! She is getting skinnier and skinnier! After leaving JSP, she went back to advertising line. The stress, the long hours & late nights working, uncertain eating hours, plus smoking might have caused her to 'slim' down undesirably. If she continues such lifestyle, her health is going to be deeply impacted in the long run. Hope she takes good care of herself.

DL - The Big Winner
We gambled after having some food for dinner. The game was called Siam Black Jack, which only people from the Northern part would know how to play. The rules are totally different from the normal Black Jack and only DL who played the banker, and his Indian friend who is originated from Penang too know the rules well. While the game was on, the EPL matches were also on too in Astro, where some of them were betting on some of the matches. After 2 hours of battle, it ended up DL emerged as the sole winner, sweeping away all our money! I didn't lose much, a few RM, I guess.

Left DL's place around 12am something, together with W & C. The rest stayed. Not sure whether they continued with some other activities, probably drinking being one of them.

SUN - Hot Hot Hot!!!
It's all about one word, HOT!!! Swallowing gallons of water and taking many rounds of bath didn't seem to solve the problem. There's a Chinese saying that goes "It'll be cooling if your heart is calm". Anyway it didn't work on this super duper hot Sunday. My room is not air-conditioned, and I am still awake now at this very moment (1:37am), battling the hot weather helplessly...