Snow Has Come and Hey!,..It's time for winter flu jab.

Salam to all

Winter is evidently here when the thermometer shows sub-zeros readings and the soft-almost -invisible beads fall quietly from sky. I woke up in saturday morning just to look thru the window our house and neighbourhood is surrounded with a blanket of snow.

Just a couple of hrs later, kids can't stand being in front of telly, annoying me, begging me to let them go outside. They wanna hv fun with the snow ball fighting.

And today, it is still shivering cold, at -6C. Anyhow, life must gon on! Entering the kitchen with my thick jacket, tried to gave my best to prepare the breakfast. Since our kitchen is not equipped with fan extractor, I don't hv any other choice except to let out the smoke from my cooking thru the open window. Now you can imagine how dreadful I am being in the kitchen...with some kinda 'visible breath' out released from my mouth.!! Sejukk gilersss.

Today, the white blanket is still there. The freezing is still here. No improvement. Anyway, as this is the first snow fall aka the most awaiting moments including to the local ppl, the joy of excitement is still in the air. Belom lagi turun lebat, ni br ala2 manjer gitu.

Normally; due to the extreme weather, ppl are expected to easily get into flu or cold. Melayu ckp demam sejuk. It is normal and you will get nothing except Paracetamol if you to your GP. But the most scary part is, the flu would last long up to 1 month. Adoii..sakitkepala, berat kepala, no apetite, fatigue sampai nak wat keje even take a sleep pon x leh. That's winter flu. I once experinced it and I had it enuf, tak sanggup rs nya lg.

Last two weeks, I received a letter from GP asking me to come to get winter flu jab. By appointment, I will need to go for it tomorrow afternoon. This is the second time I got offer for a jab (suntikan). Previously it was for swine flu jab + winter flu jab.


The jab is offered to all those aged 65 and over, the groups considered at risk from flu, and who will be offered flu immunisation, are those suffering from a chronic heart or chest complaint, including asthma, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, lowered immunity due to disease or steroid medication or cancer treatment, people in places such as nursing homes where flu could spread quickly, and others with a serious medical condition.

From the statement, I definitely fall into the 'suffering from a chronic kidney, lowered immunity to desease or steroid medication or cancer treatment' group so that's the reason why I'm asked to do the jab. I am not sure if other countries also practise the same to protect these ppl in certain circumstances.

Last time when the swine flu was a hot topic all around the country, not only me who need to take the swine flu jab, but also the rest of the family and this works in accordance with the statement saying that the 'high-risk-person and also the family members' because swine flu is a contagious desease.

I hope after taking the jab, I wouldnt get into long-term-fever. or at least it would prevent me from any winter-related illness syndrom. tak larat mengalaminya.

During our final winter, I do hope to be able to running my life routine excellently as well as enjoying the snow ball fighting with my beloved kids.

Bye for, now. See you soon..very2 soon. take care!

Percutian di Pulau Tenerife: Satu perkongsian.

Salam to all.

Seminggu berlalu sudah dan kami kembali ke Sheffield. Sesampai di Bristol airport selepas 4j di awan biru, angin dan udara sejuk mula menusuk ke tulang belulang menandakan ..ya. !!..kami sekrg back in England.! Pheww..Alhamdulillah selamat sampai dah pd jam 12tgh malam. Perjalanan ini agak mencabar juga, maklumlah ini fes time bercuti di pulau. Jauh pulak tu. Well, semua selamat dan akhirnya...6 jam kemudian kami tiba di rumah setelah beberapa kali berhenti di Service highway utk lelapkan mata..



Entry kali ini khas utk bkongsi pengalaman sewaktu di Tenerife Island, sebuah pulau terbesar dlm gugusan pulau Canary, Spain. Jika dilihat di map atau globe, Tenerife dikelilingi Lautan Atlantic bersebelahan dgn benua Africa (antara Morocco dan Western Sahara). Tidak hairan lah cuacanya sentiasa panas spjg tahun (24-26C) kecuali waktu winter (20-22C). Walaupun dikelilingi lautan, angin pantai belom dpt menyejukkan pulau ini disbbkan cuaca tropika dan kering. Secara geografi, pulau ini terhasil dari letusan gunung berapi di dasar laut million yrs ago. Malah trdpt gunung ganang yg jelas kelihatan hasil drpd larva letusan tsbt. Tenerife sinonim dgn puncak El Teide iaitu puncak tertinggi di seluruh negara Sepanyol dan kini menjd tmpt tumpuan utama pelancong dan diikitraf sebagai national world heritage.

Faktor alam semulajadi di pulau ini menarik perhatian kami utk menikmatinya...dan pantainya yg indah..Subahanallah.


Hari 1: Sesampai di apartment yg tltk di selatan Tenerife, Parque Albatros(10min from the airport) pd jam 7mlm, km kagum dgn keindahan kawsan tsbt. Pertamanya, tentula cuaca yg ala2 Malaysia serta pokok2 kelapa, bunga2an yg sering dilihat di tanahair. Hati mula x sabar menunggu pagi esok menjelma...Dan menariknya, waktu UK dgn waktu Tenerife tidak berubah, sama sahaja.


Hari 2: Setelah menikmati hidangan ringkas di balkoni, kami bersiap ke bandar berhampiaran itu Los Christianos menaiki bus. Public transport yg bagus dan kemudahan utk para pelancong amat baik pd sy. Ini tidk menghairankan krn sumber ekonomi mrk ialah 60% dr sektor perlancongan. Di Los Christianos, km cumer bjln2 memerhati sekitar bandar dan pantainya yg menjd tumpuan pelancong2 dari negara2 sejuk menikmatinya. Restoren makanan laut tentu la byk, begitu juga dgn kedai2. Sesampai di apartment kami mengambil peluang bersair2 di pantai berhampiran. Sgt cantik dan menawan. Itu jer lah yg dpt diucapkan. Hati sgt riang!








DI PERKAMPUNGAN NELAYAN YG DAMAI, PLAYA DEL LE TENERITAS, SANTA CRUZ.

BERMAIN OMBAK DI PANTAI GOLF DE SUR.

Hari ke3: Kereta disewa utk bbrpa hari bg memudahkan eksplorasi. Destinasinya ialah Santa Cruz iaitu pusat bandar Tenerife tletak di Utara. Tidak jauh, cuma 1j pjlnn. Bandarnya besar, dan di sinilah terletak satu lagi airport yg mn kecil sdkt berbanding airpot di selatan.


Hari 4: Ekspedisi ke puncak gunung berapi El Teidi, a must-visit-place. Perjalanan yg mencabar kerna;
ber sesat sesat, laluan ke puncak gunung zig zag, cuaca panas, anak2 meragam nak g swimming pool kat hotel. Alhamdulillah, 1 jam kemudian sampai di El Teide National Park. Kelihatan ramai tourits, samada berkereta dan naik coach. Di sini, cuaca semakin panas. Tiada tumbuhan kecuali kaktus dan sejenis tumbuhan lagi. Berbeza dgn suasana di lereng2 gunung yg ditumbuhi pokok pine. Pemandangan di sini amat indah bg saya, kawah gunung berapi , batu batan yg ringan (terhasil dr lahar gunung berapi). Pendekata, tmpt yg sesuai utk menikmai kesan2 geografi letusan gunung berapi.

5 km dari situ ialah pusat cable car yg membawa penumpang ke puncak ElTiede. Puncak ini setinggi 3.7km dari aras laut. Perjalann cable car pula mengambil masa 10min.

Walaubagaimanapun begitu, terdpt 'pantang larang aka amaran keras' yg perlu di teliti olh pengunjung sblm decide to go to the summit. Terutamanya yg ada masalh kesihatan, asma, mountain sickness yg boleh mnybbkan pengsan secara tiba2. Senang kata yg trauma apabila berada di tmpt asing di tnh tinggi. Oksigen level juga nipis apabila di tnh tinggi. Mmg betul, kami pun terasa begitu. Cuma dpt luangkan masa kira2 30 mins shj di atas sana. Pd mrk yg bw anak2, hendaklah berjaga2 krn kwsnya luas dan berbatu batan. Takut tersesat dan terjatuh.




DI PUNCAK EL TEIDE. 3717M ABOVE SEA LEVEL .

Ekspedisi ke puncak Teide terlaksana dgn jaya. Saya sgt gembira dan PUAS HATI! Teringat waktu kecil, waktu jalan tar baru dibina di kampung. Saya selalu meneliti batu2 granit dan pasir yg digunakan utk membuat jalan..Ada berbagai bentuk dan berkilat2, sehingga saya menyimpan impian kununnya bila besar nak jdk penyelidik perihal batu batan ni sumer (geologist la tu) :D

Minat dan kecintaan terhdp natural life terpendam sejak dulu dan hingga kini. Kerana itulah, perasaan sungguh lain mcm bila dah sampai di puncak gunung berapi ni. Masih ada lagi satu impian, iaitu menjejaki ke gunung berapi yg sedang aktif mengeluarkan lahar spt aktiviti kwn saya di Japan. Harap berjaya di lain kali!




Hari2 seterusnya di Tenerife, km ke tgh lautan utk 'menjejaki' dolphin dan whales. Selama 3 jam belayar dan dpt saksikan dolfin berenang bersebelahan bot kami. Whales pula dari sp hitam dan kecil saiznya. Yer lah, kalau yg timbul tu besar spt dlm telly, mau terbalik karam pulak bot kami:)



MENJEJAKI DOLPHIN DI LAUTAN ATLANTIK.



Hari berikutnya kami mendaki ke tanah tinggi sebelah west north iaitu Masca yg mjd tumpuan kedua pelancong. Berada di atas sana dikelilingi alam semula jadi yg mengkagumkan tdk akan dilupakan. Perkampungan bermula ratusan ribu tahun dahulu dan kaya dgn khazanah alam semulajd tdk ternilai.

MASCA.

Soal makanan tidak jd masalah. Seafood mmg popular di sini. Sempat sy masak bbrp juadah seafood dan akhirnya muka mula naik ruam merah dan gatal2. ditambah cuaca panas terik , muka jadk kering menggelupas. iskkk

PAELLA (pa-e-hha).

Menjelang Ahad, kami mula mengemas barang utk pulang ke Sheffield. Rasa berat utk meninggalkan pulau yg seakan2 cuacanya spt tanahair ku Malaysia.

THEIR HAPPY TIME..LIKE ALWAYS. AT SWIMMING RESTAURANT, OUR APARTMENT.

Kenangan kami di sana diabadikan dlm foto2 dan video. Ada yg sy telah share di FB. Ini tiada kene mengena dgn 'showing off' bercuti di luar negara, ttp just wanna share our precious moments dan impian saya sedari kecil yg akhirnya terlaksana. Seorg yg mencintai nature life, soal 'di mana' anda berada itu langsung out of question krn setiap tempat di bumi Allah ini adalh unik dan istimewa. Just appreciate what is around you. and insyAllah, they will make ur life happy in return.

Kala bercuti, maka hilang la keresahan dan keserabutan di benak. Kdg kala bukanlah sering di hinggapi masalah hidup, tetapi rutin yg statik menimbulkan rasa kurang enak yg bole mereputkan semangat ceria anda. Bercuti tidak semesti di luar negara atau tmpt popular, cuma itu adalah bergantung pd rezeki dari Nya. Sesungguhnya percutian ini tidak adakn tercapai jika Allah tdk mengizinkan kami memperolehi rezeki yg tidak terjangka itu ... Syukran.

Till we meet again, see you soon very2 soon. Musim sejuk dah tiba di Sheffield... sinonim dgn musim demam tak kebah2 :(

Semoga kesihatan kwn2 di sini terpelihara. Do take care my dear frenss-:) and thank you for reading.

Dreaming for the Island..

Salam to all.

Setelah berhari2 hujan disertai angin kuat, pagi ini cuaca agak menarik. A little sunshine set in yet nobody knows what will happen next few minutes! Suhu Sheffield sekarang ini spt tertera di skrin komputer ialah 11C. Boleh jadi akan berubah ke +/- 3C sepanjang hari. It usually drops slightly at night due to gale, angin bersimpang siur menghasilkan bunyi yg menarik (ala2 citer seram a'bile angin bertiup di haunted castle).

Sejak daripada semalam saya sudah mula menyelesaikan tugasan2 yg diserahkan olh my other half.. Packing, list down things to bring, exploring the websites, checking the weather and beli brg2 yg mn yg belum cukup. Untuk apa?? Untuk dibw ke percutian kami mingu hadapan.. YEAYYYY!!

Baru malam td I let my kids know about this.

Mama: You know next week we won't be here for the whole week.
Kids: Why? Mama: We'r going for holiday Kids: Where? Mama: To an island..
Kids: Does it have boat or ferry like we had last time? Mama: Yess..
Kids: Yesssss!!!Does it have beach? Mama: Yess. Kids: Yessss!!!! Dooes it has fish that eat bread? So that we can feed the fish? Mama: **Grin* Yes. Kids: Yessss!!!!!

Hehe..all of us are very excited and looking forward for the excursion. We love our nature, and beac to be specific.

From the website of the island, it says that it is all year sunshine and the temperature at
(18-24C). Brilliant! So, hopefully it will be an escapade from the chill days in Sheffield. I hope everything will go smooth as planned. Especially the 4 hrs flight to reach the island. I also hope everyone will get a unique experience in this holiday. InsyaAllah.

My kids also concern how r we going to celebrate Eid Adha on Tuesday. I told them that we'll have it during the holiday and we'll try our best to show our respect on Eid eventho we'r away from Sheffield.

To all my dear friends,
Selamat Hari Raya Korban utk semua.. Semoga pengertian korban itu tetap tersemat di sanubari sepanjang masa.

See you soon....

2nd Bone x-ray: Done.

Salam to all

Just back form Metabolic Bone Centre, Northern General Hospital to do Bone Scan. This is just a procedure for I am a prolong steroid consumer.

Whislt entering the reception, I noticed many eyes kept staring at me.. Slowly taking a seat next to vandor machine, setteled and had my self a magazine with Twiggy on the cover. try to concenterate on my reading. Yeah...that strange look is not abnormal. I feel like a very young lady among them. Ye lah, yg lain tu around 60 and above. Tak heran la kan, this is Bone Scan Centre. Usually yg dtg sini yg dah menopause or elederly yg tulang nyer tak kuat n thinner. Tentu la diorg pelik sikit apahal lak ada 'bkn org tua' kat cni :DD

Bone Scan took about 20 min to complete. I was asked to change to proper clothe and remove any metal material from my body. The xray machine is classified as I and II radiation and there is a specific room for the operator when it start scanning. Laying down on the bed with special pillow, I was also asked gently to do certain positions in order to get quality radiogram on my specific parts of body. After about 20 minute, I was allowed to change back to my clothes and was told that the result will be sent to my consultant in 4 weeks. So, by the time I come for the renal appointment, we are ready to look at the result and discuss about this further if necessary.

For your information, this hospital also known as teaching hospital joining with Sheffield University Medical Department. This is the place where the young doctors having their practical course. It is sooo normal to me and the other patients to find another doctors in the room during the consultation. Here, they also have Institute of Kidney which I think is an advantage to the kidney failure patients. Of course it will help in the treatment and will definitely save time and cost.

Back home, feel abit regret..thinking that I suppposed to snap a pic of this place. The place where I did Bone Xray, which I had never been asked to do in my hometown. Anyway, I will insyaAllah come again in late November. and will do it.

That's all for now..See you soon, very2 soon. Take care.

About Lupus.

Salam to all.

Walking back from fetching the kids from school, it's clearly seen that autunm is here. The scenery of lines of trees beside the road proof it all. Meanwhile the ground is layered by dry and composed leaves. Strong wind comes again and again to help dry leaves fall from the trees. Pouring days and people with raincoat and welly boots walking much more quicker to avoid from soaking wet. Weather turns to chilly days at about 4C. Next is, waiting for winter to come.

In this entry I'd like to share (again) what is actulally Lupus (SLE). Many more friends come to me to have a clear explanation. Yess. it's quite hard to understand..if that what they want. Well, basically you don't really need to go into it that hard :)

Ok, I'll make it in easy words.

Lupus is just a chronic illness where by there is an autoimmune activity in the patients body. As we know, antibody faunctions to protect the body cell from invader, but, unfortunately, people with Lupus develope antibody which also damage the body cell. We call it, bad antibody. Due to this autoimmune activity, it would affect important inner organs such as liver, kidney, lung and brain.
At the moment, Lupus has nothing relates to the food intake or genetic or virus/bacteria. Thus it is not a contagious disease. It also known that, researchers are still in progress to find the causes of Lupus. and they are also working hard to explore more about Lupus including how to cure people with Lupus.

Anyway, people living with Lupus can have a quality life as others. Any ups and downs in life dont really differ and as matter as fact, Lupus patients are living under same sky without nobody notice that they have chronic illness. Most importantly, whatever they call these people, feeling and emotion are still in order and functioning perfectly as normal people.

I am writing this because any misunderstanding issue related to this illness could bring to social problems between the patients and public. If some people classified Lupus patients as 'disabled people', so how about someone who cannot speak English aor Malay properly?? They are also can be called ''diasbled people''...

That's all for now..see you soon. very2 soon. take care.

Apabila visa hampir tamat tempoh...

Salam to all.

Another week another day come. Nothing best to say except syukran to the Creator. He had made our days filled with obstacles and then He showered us with his blessing after we gave our best to pull ourselves to go thru the hardtimes.
Dia berikan kesulitan, kita tingkatkan amalan dan mohon pengampunan tanpa jemu dan Dia membalasnya dgn rahmat sehingga semua kesulitan itu bertukar kegembiraan. Tidak lah patut kita melupakan takdir Nya. Sesungguhnya Allah Maha Mengasihi dan Mengetahui. Alhmdulillah.

Beberapa minggu kebelakangan ini kami telah melalui pelbagai peristiwa. yang mana menuntut kesabaran dan kekentalan.

Salah satu yg memenatkan ialah urusan visa renewal. Katakan pd sy siapa yg tidak letih melayan karenah utk mempebaharui visa mereka..dan keluarga mereka.

Bermula daripada urusan permohonan ke dept di Msia, melengkapkan borang, penyediaan kos yg sgt tinggi (pd kami laa) dan sehingga lah tiba hari nya. Meskipun sudah memulakan permohonan sejak bulan Ramadhan lagi, tetapi disbbkan teknikal error, human error dan mcm2 error lg, akhirnya visa siap 2 hari sblm visa kami tamat tempohnya! Itupun kami terpaksa bertandang di Home Reliance Office kat Liverpool, (Sheffield dah fully booked). Sebaik shj disahkan lulus, perasaan yg sgt lega dan bersyukur menyelinap di segenap ruang.

Proses ini bkn lah suatu yg asing. Malah telah dijangkakan olh setiap pelajar PHD di sini memandangkan tempoh skolarship berbeza iaitu kurang berbanding dgn tempoh complete study di dlm surat tawaran olh universiti di sini.

Saya tidak faham kenapa timbul kelewatan penerimaan surat permohonan dan sebagainya, tersalah hantar surat permohonan, pertanyaan2 spt ''kenapa perlu extent''; sdgkan difahamkan amat kurang phd dpt dihabiskan dlm ms 3 thn. Bknlah bermaksud menyangkal kebolehan pelajar2 ttp hakikatnya demikian lah. Ini adalh sekadar pandangan seorg surirumah..

Yang paling penting ialah kami bukanlah hendak sgt tinggal di negara peti sejuk ni. Kalau boleh, hari ni jugak nak bungkus kain baju dan amik flight. Mcm2 dugaan di sini, kami perlu sentiasa kuatkan semangat dan betulkan niat sebaik mungkin. Jangan la fikir kami enjoy sehingga lupa tanggungjwb di tanahair.

Walau apapun, semua itu dah berlalu. Hasil dari kesukaran itu, memberikan pengalaman yg amat bermakna.

Buat mereka yg akan melaluinya, saya doakan proses tsbt berjln lancar. tak salah sy katakan, sediakan simpanan yg sepatutnya di dlm akaun. Lagi besar bilangan keluarga, lagi byk jumlah yg diperlukan.

Walaupun sy hanya memerhati shj suami menguruskn borang dan sebagainya, saya pulak yg tensen trhdp karenah visa renewal ni. Sehingga sy tanyakan pd beliau kenapa dia cool sahaja (w'pun muka berkerut sejak akhir2 ni). Beliau katakan bhw: nak marah2 pun x guna, kerna ia akan menyebbkan konsentrasi terhdp his writing up terganganggu,,nak bc jurnal pun x leh masuk. Apa2 pun, he was the most excited man in the world once semuanya selesai. :))

That's all for now. Semoga entry ini dpt sedikit sebyk membantu pd yg berkenaan.

See you soon, very2 soon. take care!