Jaden turns 4 :: Part 2

Jaden always get to celebrate his birthday twice. Or at least gets to have his cake twice because no matter what, we will always have this birthday candle blowing session sharp at 12am every year on 28th Sept.

This year was no exception.











Our usual birthday guests reached our house at 1145pm and we sang him his customary birthday song and finally, on this one special day of his, Jaden decided to eat one of the cupcakes I made for him! After several times rejecting my baking skills, he actually ate one whole cupcake down! I AM SO HAPPY!!!!!







We invited Gynette and PeiSan too but the boy got his date all wrong and ended up sleeping instead of appearing up at my doorstep. *slaps head*







It was rather a quiet affair, with just 4 of us adults singing Happy Birthday all over again for the boy who enjoyed the moment tremendously.



The next morning, I woke the birthday boy up rather early and out both of us went to Aquaria KLCC.

We met up with two of his therapists who has made some time in their busy schedule and agreed to come along.

As Jaden has never stepped foot on a train/lrt before, we took the LRT from Kelana Jaya station all the way to KLCC, 30 minutes train ride. Jaden was of course very curious and amazed at all the sights zooming past him and at every single stop, he wanted to get down and out of the train, only to be restrained by either me or his therapists. All in all, we had 14 stops before KLCC, you do the math! =p




Luckily I brought the stroller along, so when we reached KLCC, we still have quite a distance to walk over to Aquaria. Lets just say, the stroller is one of the things I am most grateful for when bringing a child out. Just strap him in, stroll him along and no whining, no chasing .. bliss!




We had lunch before heading into Aquaria at the nearby foodstalls. It is RM35 for Malaysian adults and RM25 for Malaysian kids. This time, the lady at the counter just asked if I am Malaysian and did not bother to check for MyKad but if you are planning to head on to Aquaria, its always best to bring your MyKad along, just in case they decide to charge you tourist price instead.

















Jaden just could not take his eyes off the animals and aquatic life featured in there. After a walk around, we ended up at the Aqua Theatre where there is this huge glass panel where one can stand in front of the glass and take pictures with the fishes swimming by and Jaden was particularly amused with this one school of fishes which just kept swimming in front of him.







We waited until it was the tiger-shark feeding time and two professional divers will dive to the Aqua Theatre while bringing food for the fishes. Since the tiger sharks were fed at 12pm earlier, and we were told tiger sharks only eat 2% of their actual weight so we are guessing that they are still full from their earlier feed, thus the non-responsive behavior towards food in their face.




BUT there were other hungry fishes and stingrays and the sea turtle. It was so cute to see them feeding out of the divers' hands.







We left soon after, to escape the after-working hours crowd at the LRT and the boy? well, guess the trip tired him out and he fell asleep as soon as we went aboard the train heading back to Kelana Jaya.








.. and he slept all the way home, despite being moved from his stroller up into the car, back into the stroller when we reached home and out of the stroller onto the bed...




Birthday boy slept from about 3.30pm till 8pm that day. What a birthday right? =) I am glad I was able to bring him out like that as his birthday treat! Although daddy was a no-show that day because of work, well, if it wasn't for him, we would not have the moo-lah to go too so oh wells.. daddy did play a part in his birthday trip after all. =p




Targeting a zoo for him next year now that he is more aware of his surroundings and could relate some things he watched on TV or taught by his therapists.

Doctor Doctor

SimonYap clan started the day very early on Thursday, 22 Sept.

I woke up at 6am to bathe, and then got everything prepared, eyedrops ready and then I heard the little one woke up. Oh noes!

:: at Starbucks Midvalley on Mon 845am for his first eye check appointment ::

Hubby, too woke up because of the commotion both Jaden and I were making. Him crying while I trying to drop some eyedrops into his eyes as instructed by Dr Choong. We need to drip 2 drops of the eyedrops in his eyes 2 hours before we can wheel him in for the eye refraction test.

:: enjoying his people and car watching, good early morning breeze minus a cuppa ::

So it was quite a fight la between the three of us. Hubby nagging and scolding a bit that I should have drip those eyedrops into Jaden's eyes before he woke up, Jaden screaming at both of us for holding him down and attempting to drip something into his small little eyes and me, pressing both Jaden's arms and legs down, pinning him so he can't find an angle to escape while Hubby quickly deal with the eyedrop saga!

*phew* Luckily Hubby helped. If not, I don't know how I would have dealed with the situation. We all soon left for ISEC (International Eye Specialist Centre) at Midvalley, reached in time for our 830am appointment. The nurses attempted to take his temperature and listen to his heartbeat. I use the word attempt, because they did try but failed as the boy just did not want any more foreign stuff near his body. Took his weight and it seems that he lost weight. :(

:: My little Jedi ::

We changed him into the robe, they dressed me up in robe and bundle up my hair into the hairnet too as I was going to be the accompanying parent for the anesthesia session. The little one gladly followed into the surgery room as he thinks we are going to another new part of the building only to realize that something is wrong when I held him sitting down on my lap tight, and five others came to help keep his hands and legs and head in place so they could place the gas mask over his nose. After a few struggles and a comment coming from the anesthetist that Jaden is a very very strong boy for his age, the boy fell asleep due to the anesthesia.

I was not allowed to stay inside so I waited by his bed. Hubby was clearly worried and upset that the little one had to go through all these at such an age. The procedure was rather fast. In about 15 minutes, Dr Choong came out and told me the results.

:: The sudden squint in my baby boy ::

Good news. It is not brain lesion. Bad news. Jaden has hypermetropia (long-sighted) and both his eyes' power are at 1.5 each. Its still pretty low a power and the best thing to help him correct his vision is to let him wear specs and hopefully we can see some positive changes in his squint in 1-3 months of constant specs wear. Now, that is going to be a challenge but I will choose this road rather to put him down for surgery to correct his eye muscles. Will be meeting back Dr Choong for further checkup in about two months.

:: Waiting for Jaden to wake up on his own after the refraction test ::

Jaden took about 45-50 minutes to wake up after he was wheeled out into the daycare room. He just sprung sitting up, holding me close to him but did not show signs of nausea and being uncomfortable. As the gas could be quite dry on the throat, we gave him a lot of water to drink and came home straight and fed him his first meal of the day.

Yea, the little one had to fast 6 hours the night before, hence the early morning procedure so he could just go straight to the centre on an empty stomach right after he wakes up.

We came home to rest for a while, and then off we went again to The Gardens to meet up with his DAN doctor. This is our very first consultation with her and were lucky enough to secure an appointment with her here in KL instead of us having to fly all the way to her country instead.

Had the normal Q & A sessions about Jaden's medical history and then, she explained his previous lab test results to us and told us that she would require Jaden to do further tests to determine if we should head down the chelation way soon or treat other problems first.

The first test we did was the Urine Porphyrin test. Trying to get his pee in a dark environment, really dark was crazy for both him and I. I tried to get his pee from Thursday to Saturday and failed as the dark toilet amused him and Jaden, in an excited state just would not pee. Luckily, I caught sight of his ready-to-pee behavior yesterday evening and thank my lucky stars, it was good pee, enough to fill the test tube right up to the brim!

Cleaned my hands, wiped the tube clean,wrapped it around with a few papers to avoid light and then into the ziplock bag and into the fridge to have it chilled for a while before I take it back to the doctor. She was scheduled to go back today and I got the pee on the last night she was here in KL. You cannot imagine how happy I was when I got the pee !! =)

That Urine Porphyrin test? It set us back RM1290. Yes, for that 8ml of pee! Now, all we have to wait is for the results to come back and *sigh* things are still not settled yet.

I have another challenge to go through and this will be totally on my own as it requires blood drawing -might be up to about 3-4 tubes of blood from the little one and that, Hubby totally stated that he will not have a hand in all that nor presence when the test is being taken. Good luck to me! Gonna be heartbreaking but its got to be done. Just got to search for some mummy to accompany me along, those with experience with dealing with their own child who needs blood drawing too...

oh boy... and then we will be meeting both these doctors back in two months' time!

Wish us some good luck!

Jaden turns 4 : Part 1

In a blink of an eye, and it has been a year since we last had his birthday do at Marmalade cafe at BVII.

:: little one oblivious to what is going to take place later in the day ::

This year, due to his GFCF diet, it was a bit hard when it came down to planning food for the little one and we decided it is best to do it at our poolside, get a caterer to come in to prepare food for our guests while Jaden can have the luxury of eating home cooked food.

:: enjoying himself max in the pool ::

I decided on a pool party for him but plan failed as he was the only one in the pool but he enjoyed it tremendously until the water got too cold for him.

:: and the guests starts arriving one by one ::

Took him back up for a warm bath and a change of clothes before bringing him down to greet his guests.

:: 4 year olds ::

The little boy enjoyed his birthday party tremendously this year as he got to swim, and then played on the swing to his heart content, under the watchful eyes of his father while I was running around trying to be a good host to the invited guests.








We prepared Jaden's favourite fried beehoon, porkchop, beef burger patties and pork ribs. It is as if he also has his own mini-mini buffet line to choose from. We did not want him to feel left out, watching others eat a variety of food while he is just tied down to one.

As some might have known that every year, I try to give Jaden a special birthday cake and this year, it was really special. This cake has never been commisioned before and it was specially created by Hubby and me. Yes, you heard me right! I made a cake!!!! Actually I didn't lah but I came up with the concept after surfing the net for some ideas and Hubby took his time out to create the cake.

Can you guess what cake we created for him?

:: 100% Fruit Cake ::

Anyway, he was really happy when everybody gathered round and sang him the birthday song. Jaden had this huge grin, as if he knew that the song was dedicated to him. He, could not take his eyes off the cake too. Yay! Success!

:: one for the family ::

I prepared some party packs for my guests too. Each one gets a paperbag that is filled with mini raisin box, mini mentos, two jellies in a cup, mamee snack and a Cadbury ZIP chocolate. Since there was only two kids there below the age of 4, both of them get an additional Transformers Animated colouring book and a set of mini colour pencils. Yes, everything mini-sized! There were other children too but since they were rather big already, they get the adult party pack!

:: Jaden's 1/2 team of therapists ::

:: Hubby's friends ::

:: their birthdays are a day apart ::

:: me cousins (above pic & bottom except for Arthur who is in green and white stripe tee) ::

:: finally, his kai-yeh's clan & Gyn & Peisan ::

As usual, I ordered helium balloons so I can decorate the bare space with some colours. It was a hit with both the children and adults. Since my poolside has a playground, that space was not spared too by both children and adults. It was a good location for a birthday party do to keep people entertained! =) Self-entertainment works best at times like these.




I commisioned a bakery to bake me a cake, Le Marquis, just for my guests. A small one that costs me about RM200 plus delivery charges. Lets just say the cake melts in your mouth -mmm alas I could only serve most of my guests one bite size each so everybody gets to have a bite of that delicious cake.

Will I order again, maybe.. for myself to pig out but then again not anytime soon as today I got a comment from a few guests. They think I am pregnant. Guess, that is saying I HAVE A BIG FAT TUMMY.. the perpetual ring float I carry around, the baby pouch that I am eligible to sign up as a mother kangaroo. That really brought me down hard on the floor as you know, how body conscious I get about myself... self esteem? Just hit the negative mark immediately. :( I am still feeling very depress with my body right now and I don't think it will go away unless I do something about it.. damnit!

:: handmade birthday card from Sam Boy, sweet kan? ::
was told that the boy practiced for a week to write this card =)

In conclusion, it had been a wonderful birthday party for the baby boy -weather was good, thankfully as it has been raining quite often the past week.

:: pressies ::

Another bump on our journey ...

I have not been blogging much again, have I? Well.. as some might have read it off my fb status updates, Jaden is going through another bump in our journey towards recovery and this time, it concerns his eyes.

His situation currently? Below's excerpt from will help you understand his situation at the moment and he will be having his EUA (Examination Under Anesthesia) this Thursday, early in the morning. *sigh*

Strabismus, commonly called squint, is a condition in which the eyes are not looking in the same direction.It is the misalignment of the two eyes so that both the eyes are not looking in the same direction. This misalignment may be constant, being present throughout the day (constant squint), or it may appear sometimes and the rest of the time the eyes may be straight (intermittent squint).

It is a common condition among children. It may also occur in adults.

WHAT CAUSES SQUINT ?

1. Paralysis of one or more muscles responsible for eye movement (paralytic squint).

2.Sometimes a refractive error hypermetropia (long sightedness) not corrected by appropriate spectacle or non usage of spectacle may lead to inward deviation( convergent squint) of the eye ( accommodative squint).

3. Poor vision in an eye because of some other eye disease like cataract, uncorrected refractive error, corneal opacities, vitreous opacities, macular diseases, optic nerve disorders etc. may also cause the eye to deviate outwards (divergent squint). On one eye can be squinting (Unilateral squint) or both eyes can deviate alternately ( Alternate squint)

Therefore it is important in all the cases of squint, especially in children, to have a thorough eye checkup to rule out any other cause of loss of vision.

WHAT ARE THE PROBLEM WITH SQUINT ?

1. Normally the images from both eyes are superimposed in brain and we see only one image producing 3 Dimensional picture. In children brain would ignore the image coming from the deviated eye because of poor quality of image from deviated eye, and thus sees only one image. And in the process, he loses the depth perception. This suppression of the image from the deviating eye results in poor development of vision in this eye, which is known as amblyopia which can unilateral or bilateral.

2. In case of paralytic squint , where vision is fully developed, brain can not ignore the image from either eye, and therefore sees double vision (Diplopia). This can be very annoying and may interfere with work.

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF SQUINT ?

In a child, the parents may notice the deviation of eyes.

Adults may notice double vision, or misalignment of the eyes.

EXAMINATION OF SQUINT PATIENT:

The eyes are checked thoroughly to see for any refractive error, any defect in visual pathways such as Lid ,cornea, lens, vitreous, retina, optic nerve that may be responsible for squint.

In younger children Examination under anesthesia (EUA) is undertaken.

Degree of squint, whether squint is unilateral or bilateral, whether paralytic or non paralytic, is ascertained.

Next the eyes are checked for presence of amblyopia. It is important to treat the amblyopia before treating squint.

TREATMENT OF SQUINT:

If there is any significant refractive error present, it is treated first. In some cases,a correction of refractive error is all that may be required to treat squint.

Treatment of Amblyopia (lazy eye)::

This is the most important aspect in squint treatment. Treatment of amblyopic eye is started as early as possible as best results are obtained if treated before the 10 years of age. Occlusion by various modes depending upon age is practiced and parents cooperation is of utmost importance in curing the disease.

Once amblyopia is corrected the squint is treated by surgery of either one or both the eyes. The surgery involves weakening or strengthening of the relevant muscles to restore the balance and to get a good coordination. In some cases with double vision, prisms may be added in the glasses to ease the symptoms.

Hauls

Each time Hubby goes off somewhere, he will try to find time and make sure he gets both me and Jaden something and well, he sure does not disappoint!

Earlier this year, Hubby went on a one week holiday trip to Taiwan and these are some of the things he got me. I have yet to take photos of what he got Jaden but Jaden sure got lots more than I did -shoes and all!

:: playsuit / dress / two pants / and a TAIWAN shirt (missing in picture) ::

Then, just last weekend, he was on a work trip in Bangkok and these are what he got back for us.

:: shirts and pants for J ::

:: 2 dresses for me ::

:: a paperback pants for me ::

not to mention the SNACKS he bought back..ooooh lala, fried pork skin and all..mmmm.. how la to maintain 45kg? gonna be hitting 55kg instead of 45kg.. there goes all my diet plan!

My mom, too, went over to Padang Besar with my aunties over the Raya weekend and she got more of these bermuda shorts for Jaden. *sigh* why I don't have ???? =p

:: 2 bermuda pants and a BenTen shirt for J ::

Hari Raya break

Malaysians have this tendency to go on a week hiatus when it comes to Raya and Chinese New Year breaks, or at least our hearts are always looking forward to a week long festive break despite cinapek companies will only allow the compulsory two days off and that too if it falls on a Fri/Sat -hailat I tell you. Then it will be just like any other weekend break.

Anyway I only allowed Jaden to take Thursday and Friday off throughout the Raya week long break. He still had classes on Monday and even arranged for his therapists to come over on Tuesday and Wednesday, as he is showing signs of improvement in learning -might as well let him go on. 3 days of learning out of 7 days is considered quite lenient on my side.

Brought him to swim quite a lot too and he absolutely loves it. Showing me his water tricks by diving into the pool, spreading his limbs out like a frog underwater without any floats or so. He has become bolder now in the pool and is putting all his diving observations from diving competition into use. *slaps head*

Hubby left for Bangkok early Friday morning for work and won't be back till later today in the afternoon, which meant that I had the weekend to myself at home alone with the boy. Luckily, I had cousins down and that brightened up my weekend. The two boys reached KL Friday and we went out for dinner at One Utama. Jaden was pretty alright with both my cousins, allowing them to hold his hands while we walk around One U after dinner.



Yesterday, his ABA supervisor organized a movie outing for her 'children' and their families to watch Cars 2 and *phew* I had it quite easy. Jaden actually was quite immersed 1/2 part of the movie before he evolved into a full fledge monkey when the movie nearly ended. There was this boy who would not sit in his seat and would rather come over to my row, and then decided that he prefers to sit with Jaden.

Of course, as usual, Jaden got mistaken as a girl again by others. Jaden actually allowed the boy to climb up to his seat and share the seat with him. After a while, the boy's mother asked us if we would like to exchange seats with them so Jaden could seat comfortably instead and then, that was when it all started.. with me moving him up back two rows from ours, he thought we could then move around freely in the cinema and that triggered the monkey in him but overall, it was a good experience and well, the crowd in the cinema was rather forgiving and understanding as we all somehow, are families with special needs children. Both Jaden's therapists were also there and they helped me, nearing the end to keep the boy entertained. After the movie, as requested by his father that I should get Jaden something, we went into Toys'R'Us and I got him more apparatus to add on to his swimming experience and 2 Dvds.

Must give myself a pat on my back for bringing Jaden out on my own without the stroller. *touch wood* He actually walked properly and held my hands without throwing any tantrums. He even last through the short Jusco visit for his baby wipe purchase.

I took the opportunity of the weekend to clean the house up a bit and is rather satisfied with what I have done. Not sure what Hubby will think about it but I think I did quite a good job.

Later, at night, both my cousins came again and we went out for dinner. Jaden sure had fun with them and was all over them when they came up to the house. It was good to see my cousins again after years of not being able to meet up with them.

Dad will be arriving in KL this evening too. Can't wait to see him... and of course, the dictator is returning from Bangkok today too.. there goes the peace and discipline I had trained over the weekend because once Hubby is back, Jaden thinks he automatically gets permit to do everything and anything he wants! *bangs head twice on the wall and on table!!!**