Maintenance .....

I spent my last week in Msia .... sending Mom see doctors .. cos she had diarrhea for four days in a row. We first send her to see the government clinic since she was due to pick her monthly med up ... the clinic doctor just gave her salt water. It was FOC.

Then send her go see Indian doctor the second day cos wanted to do colonscopy on her ..but told the doc that she was tummy upset ... go toilet many times ... the doctor pulak check2 her ... did ultrasound and all .... say she "bagus" .. semua bagus ... why put old ppl thru the torture of colonscopy. He straight away ask me ... what if I find out something from the colonscopy ... what I will do .. what is my objective? His point is .... leave the old people as they are ... unless there are clear sings that they are sick. For the first time, we actually sat in the doctor office for about 20min .... patut pun ... the bill came to RM205 - consultation, ultrasound and gastric pills! Mom say mahal!!

Anyway, his advise was to go Pathlab to do full blood test plus CA marker ... then bring back the result for him to read ... that will be another day, another visit ... another $$$$ ...

Then when we got back that night, mom was running to the toilet at the rate that frighten us. I almost send her into emergency that night to put her on drip. But we decided to wait till morning before we send her to see another doctor. That night she telan 6 pills to stop diarrhea!! The doctor think she overdose herself di .. if she does not ... she will need to camp in the toilet and loose lots of water -- dehydrated.

Anyway, we went to another doctor 1st thing in the morning. The doctor in Seremban Chinese Maternity was very good. He is very careful in his diagnose and checked Mom carefully. He also carefully prescribe medication for Mom. I find him very good .. and has good interaction with the patient as well as the patient's family. Helps us to understand what he is going to do, his diagnose and his prescription. Then he suggested that Mom also take the full blood test. So we did. The bill came to : RM220 (for blood test), RM30 for consultation (so cheap) and RM15 for medicine (cheap again). PTL! His diagnose was accurate.Mom stop going to toilet and in fact, she constipated for 2 days .. lol ... overdose of non berak ubat.

So, in 3 days Mom's medical bills came to RM500 minus the monthly medication for her nerves, bones etc free from Government clinic.

In order to maintain and sustain Mom's health, we need to spend quite a bit.Mom takes quite a bit of supplements as well .... you can see the amount of supplements she takes in the pix .... to maintain and sustain her physical health . The 2nd pix is actually "spare" supplements waiting to be consumed.

Friends, how do you maintain your physical health? I know I am guilty of not taking care ... I dont exercise regularly .... and the food I eat is not healthy. Hope to improve this area.

But .... how then do we maintain and sustain our emotional, mental and spiritual health? Do we even bother to take of it? I really appreciate time of reflection and time of connecting with my inner self to check and update what's going on in me emotionally. Friends who know me will say that I am one of those who have the least emotional baggage but I find this not true because human beings are very complex and our heart is very deceitful. [The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jer 17:9)]. So, no matter how much of time we spend to understand it .... our hearts can be very misleading and many times we will end up finding out more things ..... Do we dare to take a look at the condition of our hearts and confront the things that surface from our hearts? Be intimate with yourself .... do not fear your own shadow ... do not run away from your own shadows..... do not isolate yourself from self ..... Keep your heart strong and healthy because your heart is the well-spring of your soul. This is why the sign of love is a heart .... heart is the heartbeat of our entire being ..... physical and emotionally. Guard it well ... do not simply give it away .... do not simply allow the enemy in the form of men or things to rob or attack your heart and give you heart sick ...... Do not allow your heart to be moldy from bitterness and unforgiveness .... For this reason, the author of proverbs ask us to "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." (Prob 4:23).

How do we take care of our mental health? Remember, we have the mind of Christ. (1 Cor 2:16). I can think of 2 ways suggested by Paul :

i) "Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature." (Romans 13:14).

ii) "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." (Phil 4:8)

Net-net ... the rule garbage in garbage out applies here... so, take care of our mental health for God have given us the mind of Christ.

Spiritual health --- no need to say much ... but the foundation of being Mary position is the fundamental key. If we can't sit at the feet of Jesus to receive our nourishment ... how to grow la .... if we dont do .. we may mati kebuluran spiritually like the starving Utopians. And the next key is just to trust and obey .... trust and obey ..... trust in Him ..... and obey Him immediately, not delayed or partial obedient ...

Lastly, I strongly believe that we need to go for a mental, emotional and spiritual "medical check up" regularly to connect with our own self, to connect with God and then we can connect with others, in a deeper and more meaningful level. :0 ..