Coronations Original Watercolor Painting

Lovely for the Mothers!

Purple Flowers Original Watercolor Painting

Love to paint these simple yet intricate flowers!

The Details

Yellow Flower Original Watercolor Painting

I found a group of photos of flower with simple stems very pretty. I thought they were very nice to be painted in watercolor. This is the first one Yellow Flower. 

Red Berry and Blue Bird

Blue birds are the loveliest to paint. I would love to paint blue bird all day!

Thank God we had a big thunder shower this afternoon. It is the first time I smell the fresh air for the past one and half week.

Willow and Bird Original Watercolor Painting

Haze is still here and more paintings.

Good Morning Original Watercolor Painting

Still no outdoor activities are allowed today due to haze problem, but with more paintings and cuddles.

Lily Drawing with Ink and Watercolor

I am so happy that haze has gone down a bit today and although I am still not completely recover, I feel much better now. I am glad that things will heal with time.

Drawing Peony Ink and Watercolor

Haze doesn't seem to get any better. But I feel much better from yesterday that I can start to enjoy drawing and painting again. I hope things will be stable soon the haze and my health problem.

Outdoor activities are all canceled. We only go out for grocery shopping. The good thing is that we spend so much time together as family these days under tight encapsulated home.

Smoke!!! Unbearable Smoke!

Dangerous smoke filled up Singapore for the last few days. The PSI reading reach to 371 today. The smoke coming from the burning of plantation land in Sumatra invaded Singapore because of the dry season. Beautiful Singapore is so much ruined!

Every door and window is tightly closed. Child is forbidden to go out. Painting and a lot of paintings today with my daughter. This is the only way we can forget about the misery outside. 

Fairy With Magic Wand to Clear the Sky

I am still fighting with the ear problem. Taking so much medicine making me very sick and tired. Looking out of the haze filled window, I wonder when can all these be ended!  When!

Battling Ear Disorders Following Sinus Lift Surgery

 

I was so happy that I was recovery and things got much better. But all the problems came back again last Friday when I woke up many times in the night with the fullness of ear and very bad sore throat.

I think I am now in the most difficult time in my life. After the sinus lift bone graft surgery and subsequent taking out of the graft surgery, I have been battling the ear disorders for almost 2 and half months now.

The problem with the disorder is that the fullness and discomfort of the ear keep me waking up in the night at least 2 to 3 times and sleeping is the most difficult thing for me. It made me difficult to breath and very dizzy.

I cannot rest and have no energy to do what I like to do. The only thing I am doing now is seeing doctors and try all sorts medicines they gave to me. The worst thing is that some of the so called private ENT specialist who use your consult time and sky high consult fee to advertise his own surgery method to you without showing any concern to your problems or suffering.

Just a caution for those who are going to do sinus lift surgery for dental implement. It is better to go through a reliable ENT specialist to evaluate your suitability for the surgery. If you have existing sinus or ear problem, you should be very careful going for the surgery.

I have sensitive nose all along. Normally I will sneeze and have running nose when wake up in the morning. But just a while, I am fine. I have never expect that this could be a cause for the current problem. My dental surgeon never questioned if I had any sinus problem, nor gave a proper warning of the possible consequences. She didn't even explain how she was going to do the surgery, only saying that she will put some bone under the sinus. I didn't even know the term "Sinus Lift" before the surgery. I went in for the surgery to think that it was a just very small thing to do. Only till moment the surgery was over, I sit on the surgical bed almost crying. I really felt that that was something I shouldn't do. But it was really too late.

Just as an old Chinese saying "天有不测之风云， 人有旦夕之祸福“， meaning sky has constant changing wind and cloud, human has happiness in the morning and disasters in the evening.

Battling the Nose, Ear and Throat Problem After Sinus Lift Surgery

It's been more than two weeks since my last surgery. Although my energy level is almost up to my usual self, I am still irritated by ear fullness, nose and throat discomfort.

All the doctors I have been seeing gave me antibiotic, steroid, nasal spray and decongestant. I yet to see another ENT doctor to see if there is something different in the treatment because it makes me very sick and more uncomfortable of taking the nasal spray and the medicine.

In desperate, I remember that I have learned Chinese Medicine in a local college for one year before and why not I try Chinese Medicine myself. I search Internet to see if there is any available information out there. Finally I analyzed my situation and gave myself the following Chinese medicine.

桔根 （Platycodon root) 10g, 

元参 (Yuan ginseng) 10g,  

杏仁 (Semen Armeniacae Amarum) 10g, 

 橘皮 (Dried Tangerine peel) 10g,  

半夏 (Pinellia Tuber) 10g,  

茯苓 (Indian Bread) 10g, 

两面针 （Zanthoxylum nitidum) 10g，

山慈菇（Iphigenia indica A. Gray） 10g, 

甘草(Radix Glycyrrhizae) 8g

Most of the ingredients are very mild that are in some of the tonic soups many Chinese family cook in Singapore, except the 两面针 （Zanthoxylum nitidum) and 山慈菇（Iphigenia indica A. Gray). I use these two medicine because I found that my throat in the surgical side are very inflamed and a bit enlarged. These medicines are good to clear inflammation and swollen in the throat site, but they are a bit dangerous that causes diarrhea and poison if not taken properly. What I do is that I drink the medicine after meal and drink it bit by bit till I feel that my stomach is going to be uncomfortable.

(Warning!!!!  Do not take any of the medicine that I listed here without first consulting your doctor or physician. Taking some of the medicine without your doctor's supervision may cause diarrhea, kidney problem or even death.)

If you delete the 两面针 （Zanthoxylum nitidum) and 山慈菇（Iphigenia indica A. Gray), the rest of medicine is very good for allergic sinusitis with main symptom of clear mucus. The medicine circulates the Qi around your stomach to clear sputum in your head.

I feel much better after taking several days of the medicine. My head is lighter, and ear is much relieved. But the symptoms still persist more obvious in the morning.

As Chinese, we usually think that Chinese medicine has less side effect and safer. But I am not very sure about it. There is no strict scientific proof as what have done to the west medicine to believe that with long term us of certain Chinese medicine is safe.  We only have our long history of 5 thousand years of using Chinese medicine to back that it is generally safe to use certain Chinese medicine under good control.

But what I am sure is that steroid definitely has side effect even with small dosage. Chinese medicine on the other hand has many ingredients that may help each other to minimize the side effects and enhance the treating capability. It tries to cushion your whole body well to fight the disease. While sometime, not always, west medicine is analogy to fire fighter that when fire coming out, you kill the fire but you never try to understand the cause of the fire and how to eliminate the cause.

Of course most important ingredients that you need on top of your medicine are:

1. Optimism
2. Exercise
3. Balanced nutrition 

I know it is very difficult sometime to keep optimistic. I am so scared to think that I will live forever with the problem. But most of the time, I tell myself that things will gradually to be manageable if you try hard. As old Chinese saying "病来如山倒， 病去如抽丝”， meaning when disease comes, it comes so quick as the speed of falling mountain, but when it goes way, it is as slow as pulling the thread from silk worm cocoon. Be patient!

Exercise enhances your Qi and blood circulation which is very important in Chinese medicine. With fluent flow of Qi and blood, you body can fight many diseases well. 

As for nutrition, I have stop eating chicken, orange, diary products, and my favorite fruit mango and some more. My ENT doctor told me that they pron to cause allergic reaction. I eat much less meat and more green leaf vegetables now.