Hello...

Hi, its me.. :) Long time no see eh ?

Let's see what's new in my life...

Been getting lots of stuff (big and small) for my new house.. so spending lots of moolah..

I have done my first body checkup here. The usual - fasted the night before, went early to see the doctor, had 4 viles of my blood drawn for testing. All these for free.. Well, not exactly free, just paid for, 100%, by MediCare.

Work has been pretty good. Kept me busy, supporting different sales people. Travelling around different states as well. Just been to Melbourne and back few weeks ago.

Even though its busy with lots of projects and reports to complete, I never once felt "stressed". Maybe it helps that I spend 60-70% of my time away from the office and have more time to myself and more time to rest.

Financially, ok. No money to dabble in stock here for now or anything else. But getting along just fine. Wait till I save enough dough. Going to get myself a tax accountant/adviser to try to minimize my taxes. No details here of course, but it will probably be a well-spent $150 (or around there.)

Ford launched their new 2009 Mondeo, Titanium version (with all the gizmos like voice activated air-con and stereo, bluetooth to phone, auto-everything-from-headlights-to-wipers, heated leather seats, adaptive cruise control with collision avoidance/warning, 2.3L engine with 6-speed auto gears, 18" sports alloy wheels, etc) starting out from $41k. Probably will be changing my car to a new and bigger one, maybe in the next financial year.

Socially, getting to know a couple of friends outside work, and on ok terms with my neighbours. Not so much partying. Dinners with colleagues, drinks with ex-colleagues, etc. Increasing slowly and steadily.

Didn't see much things on the roads to comment about. Not much road rage, or weird drivers, etc.. So yeah, a bit boring at the moment and thus nothing much to blog about. I am sure I am not going to make this into a "Dear Diary" thing.

Till the next post..

Weather and blood pressure

Sydney is now cold due to rain. Its still summer now and temperatures of below 30 in the day and 19 at night.. It feels like autumn is here earlier.

I was just back from Perth last week, and it was still hot out there. Day temperatures of near 40.

Parts of Queensland is flooded.

Parts of Victoria is burning.

And what has this gotta to do with blood pressure ?
Nothing.

At least until I went to the doctor's yesterday for my cough, and ask the doctor to check my blood pressure due to the fainting I had a couple of months back.

Turns out, my pressure is a little low. She said 90/60. Nothing else feels bad (except my cough now) so she told me to increase my salt intake slightly.

At least I know it is blood pressure and not brain tumour...

Bad start for the year

Few days ago, I had a bad start to the new year. I fainted and knocked my head.

I had woken up and walked to turn off the alarm. Then all I remembered was I felt faint. Next thing I knew, my housemate was trying to wake me up.

I woke up but I could feel a small lump on my head.. I must have bumped my head on the wall or the floor.

Must have been lack of sleep... or I just jumped out of bed too quickly...

I guess I just have to be careful from now on...

And no, this bump on the head didn't win me the top prize of the $30million lottery here... Oh well, better luck next time...

More on Medical and Insurance

I have recently gotten myself Private Health Insurance (PHI). I have gotten hospital and extras cover.

The reason is mainly 2 folds - (a) Reduce taxation (b) Get extras that cover part of my dental expenses.

First of all, I am above an income bracket where I will have an additional 1% tax on my income to suppliment the govt's free Medicare if I do not have PHI.

Furthermore, govt will subsidise 30% of the PHI premium. Well, one can say that in most sense, this doesn't make much difference as almost everyone is entitled to get that 30% discount. Thus they are calculated into the premiums already. 

The most important part is, I have additional benefits above Medicare. Now Medicare already covers all doctor's fees (Read my previous encounter) and that's true even for hospital. But for some operations, especially elective, public healthcare doesn't cover for them, or one had to wait in a waiting list for a long time to get it free. 

With PHI, I am entitled to be treated as private patient in public hospital for everything and my PHI will cover the gap (additional fees). That means I can choose my specialist, get faster attention (for non-emergency treatment), stay in better wards, etc.

Also, with PHI, for some operations (depending on level of cover), I can choose a private hospital and choose a doctor and still have everything covered - 100%, less the excess amount. And the excess is capped per year.

Second type of cover included is what we called 'extras'. That is something above the normal hospital cover. It include things like dental, optical (glasses, contacts, etc), massages, therapies, etc.

Now, as everyone knows, dental expenses are higher in Australia compared to Singapore, I estimate at least 50% more expensive. For example, filling for a large tooth here (they measure by type of filling and number of surfaces the fillilng covers) cost me about $150, whereas I can get it filled in my neighbourhood dental clinic back in Singapore for about $70-80.

I bought the basic level of cover, which means I am entitled to claim 65% of my dental expenses, limited to $500 per calendar year. I am also entitled to claim up to $200 for glasses prescription, up to $300 or so for various types of massages (foot reflexology, oil massage, etc, by licensed practitioners), $300 or so for therapies (aromatherapy, physiotherapies, etc, again must be by licensed practitioners) every calendar year. 

My premium for the extra's portion is about $200+ per year. I can claim back about $500 per year - its already an advantage to me. Also, I can claim 100% of 2 x dental cleaning and scaling per year, and 100% of 1 x flouride treatment per year. 

Since I have bad dental history and weak teeth, I would have to use the dental services in Australia sooner or later. Based on history, I spend a few hundred buck a year anyway, back in Singapore. Here, with the claims, my out-of-pocket and premiums, it works out to be slightly more per year (about 30% more) but I can now regularly visit the dentist to repair and also, hopefully, to prevent more problems.

Not too bad a deal, especially when I need to get PHI anyway to save on tax. The amount I save on tax is more than my premiums in the first place !

In future, I can increase my cover, PHI will even include heart operations, joint replacements, and up to 95% of my expenses on dental, etc (and the cap per year will increase too, not just $500).

So in summary, with the govt's Medicare and my PHI, I am covered for all medical expenses (I pay only $500 excess) if I am involved in accident, or develop any cyst or tumour, appendicitis, requires minor eye surgery, or any joint reconstructive surgey, or even to repair a slipped disc.

My First Deal with Medicare

Time for me to talk about my first experience with Australian Healthcare.

A few days ago, I had to see a doctor about an infected eye. So I went to a nearby medical centre.
Registered at the counter and showed my driving license and medicare card.

The first thing that I saw was the sign that says if you wish to get a faster consultation with a doctor, you can opt for 'Private Appointment' and pay A$55 first, and claim a $35 refund from Medicare.

I am guessing that is to 'skip queue' to go to a 'VIP Queue'.

Of course, I opted for the free one. So I waited. The place was crowded as it was located at a high-traffic area. There are at least 20 other people there.
And so I waited.

25 minutes later, the doctor came and called my name. I went in. Told the doctor the problem with my eye. And it has been recurring on the same eye. He dripped an orange dye and used UV light to see if there are any growth in my eye. He can't find anything. And he told me that since it has been recurring, he would recommend to see a specialist.

He asked if I want to go to a nearby private specialist centre, where they are good and the fees is about a couple of hundred dollars. Or I can go to the Sydney Eye Hospital in the city, where it is free. Of course, I opted for the free one.

So I left my car in the garage, and took a train down to the city after my lunch.

I reached the hospital at 3pm. Went to the reception, created a file with the triage - medical details, allergies, etc. Then I was told to sit and wait.

10 minutes later, I was called by a sweet lady to go for an eye-sight test. After which, I get to sit at the waiting area again.

15 minutes later, I was called by another sweet lady. She's the doctor. Did more eye examinations, more dye, more lights in the eye, etc. She called another senior doctor to examine me. Explained more things to me. Final conclusion, not too big a deal, just need to take more care of my sensitive eyes.

Gave me a prescription for an eye-drop. Now that is the only one that costs me money during the whole day. A$25.

3 Months and holding

Its been just over 3 months since I came over. Haven't been out to many social events. But still I guess I would like to comment on what I felt so far, and see how my opinion change over time.

(1) Work Culture

Most of the guys here are quite ok. I think its about the same most places. But most of the people leave on the dot. Except for some guys/gals who probably don't want to waste time in the traffic.


(2) Social Issues

Not much to talk about yet, as I wouldn't consider myself immersed into it at the moment. However, based on current affairs programs on TV and the news, recent events stand out :
- Rising cost of living,
- Rising costs of petrol (and the subsequent cut in petrol tax to help a little),
- Pensioners trying to cope with rising cost of rental and living,
- Rising property prices and mortgage rates,
- Putting paedophiles away in jail for life,
- Over-reaction to people taking photographs of children (worrying that the photos will be used by paedophiles)

And if any campaigns were to be used to gauge what is the latest issues, it would be :
- Speeding and Drink Driving
- Pedestrians not using proper railway crossings


(3) TV/Radio/IT

Internet here is not as cheap as Singapore, definitely. And they all have a monthly limit. Even those plans where I don't have to pay extra, anything over the limit most probably will be throttled.

I am probably not one for very heavy downloading. So far, I haven't been really able to exceed the 150GB per month that I have been allocated. Even the 40GB during peak hours (anytime except 3am to 9am) is just about fully utilised.

Free-to-air TV programs are about the same quality as in Singapore. Though it is all DVB and almost all channels have an HD counterpart.

All programs carry a rating warning, and more adult-themed ads and TV shows are late at night (like after 9pm).

TV and Radio programs have openly gay hosts and it is not the end of the world...


(4) Traffic

Peak hour traffic is bad on major roads. Probably not as bad as in Singapore. But comparing peak hour traffic at my previous workplace in Singapore and my current work place, it looks the same - faster to walk out of the business park.

Though Sydney is probably the most expensive in tolls compared to the rest of Australia.

And yeah, the roads are not as well maintained as Singapore roads during the IMF/World Bank Conference 2006.


(5) Neighbourhood

Very quiet. Probably if you visited the city and lived in hotels in the city, it would be more lively. But out in the suburbs, anytime of the day it is usually quiet. How quiet ?

On average, I meet 3 cars per week on my way in and out of my garage and the main service road outside my house.

On the average, I get to say 'hi' to ALL my neighbours (not just the next door) in the whole area once or twice every weekend.


(6) Finances

Interest rates are high, good for savings. Since income tax are withheld at source, don't really feel the pinch other than reading payslips. What I get in my bank is what I can spend.

It's probably too early to estimate yet, but probably I can achieve the same savings at the moment.

Total amount I spend on food is about the same, in real dollars, as I had spent in Singapore. Of course, I get to make my own food more, but I think I am eating a more healthy diet. More juice, milk and veges.

Oh, and I will probably be getting some amount back every year on tax rebates. Just have to pay a little more attention to these details.


(7) Medical

Can't say, as I haven't used any of the medical services yet. But I think I will still pay a bit more for private health insurance.

According to colleagues, some went through things like child-birth and cancer treatments for their relatives - all on public health. Free and not too bad. But of course, that also means you are not able to find the best of the specialist if you want.

Some would prefer taking up the private option, so that they can have elective surgeries done by the doctors of their choice and at a date of their choice, instead of waiting in queue.

Of course, there are horror stories in public hospitals but isn't it the same in Singapore ?


(8) Overall

Overall, I would say it might have been better if I came over earlier. Been hearing comparisons by various people on how they are glad they bought their houses years ago.

As early as 5 years ago, a house probably costs a third of what they costs now. Even with mortgage rates of 18% pa, its much better off than it is today. Mortgage servicing takes up less share of their take home pay.

As global inflation/recession is on the horizon, there's no escaping. I think I wouldn't live in Sydney forever. But for now, I think I am not too much better off (yet) , but I am no worse off either.

Yeah, had to spend a lot initially, but I think that will last me quite a while.

At least, I can still see my net-worth chart (in my MS Money) growing the last few months.

A Receipient of Malaysia Healthcare

Went to Malaysia to visit a family friend yesterday. He is a middle class man of about 77 years of age. Children grow up, running businesses and some working in Singapore. Living in a 2-level house built on a land that they own, in a middle class section of some parts of Johor.

Went up to visit him cos my father heard that he was involved in a motorcycle accident a while back..

I shall skip the details and come to the crux of this post. Basically fell off his bike and landed in a deep drain. Sent to a govt hospital.

Hospitalized for 3 days. In that 3 days, he had x-ray or MRI (he don't know what it was but he had to lie down for like half an hour for them to "scan" his head injuries) and then sat down and took what was most likely an x-ray for his kneecap.

Total bill for the entire episode - RM$15.

They took deposit of RM$30 at the beginning and when he was discharged, refunded RM$15.

We even asked again - EVERYTHING ? Including all the x-rays and stuff ? He said yes.
I am assuming all the medication, glucosamine, etc that he has to take AFTER being discharged as a separate payment. Even then, it is pretty surprising.

My Tooth...

Woke up in the middle to this morning , feeling very cold. This is probably one of the highest fever have ever felt. I had to take 2 panadols and I still feel cold.

Tried to sleep. Then I woke up at about 7, and took a cab to Alexandra Hospital A&E. I figured, after all, with high fever and such, it probably requires some medical attention and not just from dentists.

The A&E doctor referred me to the dental centre. It only opens at 8.30. But I guess my timing was just nice. Walked into the dental centre, and waited for about 15 mins before being seen by the dentist, who called in another specialist.

The specialist told me that chances of saving that tooth is very slim, so I decided to just extract it. It's obvious that the infection is getting worse by the day. I looked like this in the morning :



The Specialist gave me another 2 rounds of anti-biotics and told me to take them first, before going for the extraction at 2pm.

I went to the canteen, ate a bowl of tau-huay and a cup of soya bean drink. Took the pills and not knowing where to go, went back to the dental clinic to wait for the time.

The nice extraction surgeon (another dentist) saw me sitting there about 11+ and asked the nurse who I was, as he couldn't tally his dockets with the number of patients.

When he knows I am waiting for the 2pm appointment, he said he will extract for me once he is ready. So I got my tooth extracted at about 12+.

Nice guy, who manages to pull out my tooth in a couple of minutes :



He was saying things like "Oh my, that is a lot of pus" , "Wow, a lot of pus is flowing out"... Goes to show how infected I was.

Total bill was $80++.

So now, my face is still swollen, but at least I think my fever is not coming back. So probably will need to wait for my body to clear the swelling.

Now my whole body is aching, and still very tired. And not to mention I still have to wait for my gums to heal, and wait for the extraction wound to heal.

There goes my weekend. :(

Terrible Toothache

My lower left 2nd Molar was crowned for a few years. Few days ago, it developed some pain but the dentist's was full.

Yesterday, I couldn't take the pain any longer and walked in. He managed to see me, but he can't do anything as my gums were inflamed. Gave me anti-biotics and pain-killers. Book appointment to follow up in 2 weeks.

Today, the pain got worse. My right eye swelled in the morning. I thought it was an allergic reaction to the medications. But it subsided in about 2 hours. Then after lunch, my lower lips were a bit numb.

By the time I rushed to see my dentist again, my left eye swelled again. Told me to go see a specialist in hospital.

Damn, I hope it is nothing too serious. But the pain is still pretty irritating. Plus the numbness. I hope they don't have to saw away my jaw or something... Ewww..

Terrible End to my ICT

Saturday was a good day for me... Ended by eating a lot of ice-cream and milk shake.

And yesterday was a terrible weekend. I had diarrhoea for the whole day, accompanied by mild fever and major loss of appetite.

Damn. Must be the over-eating.

At least for today, more or less recovered. But feel very dehydrated.

Tomorrow I will be back in office. I don't know why, but I am feeling that I prefer the army life than work...

I had acute gastritis in Taiwan

Woke up this morning feeling ok. After breakfast in hotel, needed to go toilet.

At first, it was like the usual food-related problem. But after about 2 hours and 2 bowel evacuations later, I developed some strange pain in my abdomen, just below the ribs.

It comes in 3 or 4 cramps every 5 or 10 minutes, punctuated with a few more emergency bowel evacuations.

Tried to rest and sleep, but woken up every time the pain comes back. It felt like there was a pulling cramp right behind my stomach/gastric area, not the intestines. Every pain was sharp and pulled me into a curl on bed.

Hotel staff told me doctors do no come on house calls and sent someone to escort me to the nearest hospital.

There I had a shot, and 2 x-rays - one of my chest and one of my intestines.
Doctor suspected either Gastric ulcers or Acute Gastritis. Turns out, no ulcers.

Feeling better now, and I am flying back tomorrow afternoon...

Terrible Day...

Last night, I couldn't sleep again.
This morning, I woke up with diarrhoea, and I actually had to stay in toilet twice before I had the energy to shower and come to office.

Why not see a doctor, I can hear you ask.

I am a workaholic. A little diarrhoea is not going to stop me from performing my office duties. At least, even if I suddenly cannot control my bowel movements, I am driving now and will not be embarrassed like The Last Time.

At least, it will just be a tough job getting smelly stains out of my leather seats. No need to rob people of their toilets.

Yeah, right.

Actually, the reason is that I do not want to see the doctor nearby. As I know it will be crowded in the mornings with everyone trying to take MCs.

Secondly, I always preferred the doctor at my office. And I always visit after lunch. Hardly any queue. And anyway, I do have pills for diarrhoea on my own. Nothing the doctor can do to make me well instantaneously.

Thirdly, once I arrived in office, I realized that my boss is not in, and probably will not be in in the afternoon, so I better enjoy another day without my boss on my back.

Fourthly, I have such wonderful colleagues that keeps me happy and uplifted, that I will have separation anxiety if I take one day's MC.

Hahahaha...

Oh dear, need to go release more water again...

Updates of My Mum

My mum has been back home since last Saturday. Seems like she is recovering well. Thanks to all for your concern.

I learnt from this episode that :

1) Blood Platelets are there to clot bleeding

2) If White Blood Cell (WBC) counts go below the normal range (4x10^9/L), it is most likely a Viral infection

3) If WBC counts go above the normal range (10x10^9/L), it is most likely a Bacterial infection
Of course, stress, therapy and trauma can change these counts as well

Updated - PIctures of my visits to my Mum

My mum is still quite weak. Rashes has developed and she is feeling itchy. Pain and itch is causing her to lose sleep.

This morning, she was sent to see an eye doctor. Blur vision is an expected symptom of Dengue Fever.

I hope she doesn't suffer much and recover. Nothing much can be done as it depends entirely on her immune system.

~*~*~*~*~

When my mum first went to TTSH on Sunday (2nd October), there was a "research nurse", asking her to sign a paper to allow them to draw blood from her for research purposes.

My father was with her. I guess out of social-mindedness, my father willingly agreed. Since it is only drawing of blood and not testing of any new medication/drugs.

Then they drew 3 big syringes of blood !

And they are the bigger ones, bigger than those that TTSH use when they drew her blood for her regular blood tests.

We were told that in total, they will draw the blood 3 times ! And only after the 3rd time (read : 9 big syringes) they will give a compensation of ....

make a guess ?



*drum roll*



S$30.



What the hell !

At a time like this, when the patient needed their blood the most - for the immune system to fight the virus - they draw so much ! How the heck do they expect the patient to recover faster ??? What happened to the "First do no harm" ethic ?

Oh wait... They are a Singapore research firm. Not medical doctors. They are NOT bound by the Hippocratic Oath...

My mum has always been weak and the Dengue is making her lose appetite and sometimes throwing up. We are going to stop this donation...


And the S$30 is not enough to buy Brands Essence of Chicken or any tonic for 2 weeks (which is the time an average Dengue patient takes to recover).

~*~*~*~*~

First time I ever went to CDC and the new CDC 2. CDC 2 is a new ward. Just beside TTSH A&E Dept, and beside Ren Ci Hospital.

This is how it looks like in the day :

Main Building

Lobby


And this is how it looks like at night :

Main Building

Corridor 1

Corridor 2


Does look like some secret hospital that is researching on some scary illegal stuff..

And since CDC is a place of concentration of highly-contagious diseases, precautions not to spread into the general population is there :

(1) Visitors are required to sign in and given a mask (though it is not a N95 mask)
(2) Disinfectant before leaving the hospital

Mosquitoes...

My mum was hospitalized this afternoon for dengue fever.
She is weak as she couldn't eat a lot. Been having fever since last Thursday.

So, if all goes well, she should be recovering by next Thursday - as it usually takes about 2 weeks to recover.

Now, I don't know when, I got stung 2 times - one on my arm, another on my thigh. I do hope I am not going to get it. Ok, going for a mozzie-hunt after I finish this post.

(No, I do not live with my mum.)

~*~*~*~*~

On the work front, everything (well, almost) is smooth and going ok - at least the major stuff. Next weekend, we are having a company anniversary trip to Bintan Club Med. I heard the place is great. I will see for myself then.

Almost S$500 per person, 5-meals per day provided, free flow of wine and soft drinks during lunch and dinner. Reaching there Friday morning, leaving on Sunday afternoon. I think it is a good deal, if the meals and wines are good.

~*~*~*~*~

2005 is coming to its last quarter, and very soon, I will be doing my own end-of-year stock check. Time to review what I have achieved this year, and where am I in my overall goals, and what I can do better next year.

Or I could just pretend to be ignorant about it. Afterall, Ignorance is Bliss, isn't it ?

Dental Visit

Just came back from the dreaded dental visit. It was precipitated by my dinner last night.

Ok. Promise not to laugh. Put up your hand and swear... Really...

Had dinner last night with a few friends. One of them is trying his baking skills. So he brought some cookies for all of us to try. I took one. It was hard. Took the first bite with my front teeth and started chewing.

All was fine, until I finished the whole cookie. I felt something stuck in my front teeth, thus I used my tongue to get it out. Couldn't. So I excused myself and went to the washroom. I discovered, to my dread, that a filling had disloged.

It did not come out completely, but it is definitely loose. I managed to scrape through dinner and supper. Once I got home, I tried to get the piece out. After 10 minutes, I managed to do so. It left a slight gap between my teeth.

This morning, I called the dentist and went over asap. Got it filled. Now I am back. I have to watch what I put in my front teeth.

*~*~*~*~

You promised not to laugh !

Oh well, it was not unlike an incident that I knew of, long time ago. Except that it was more dramatic and I was the one laughing. Ok. Retribution.

I am still sick.

Still feeling the blues today.
The 'flu is affecting me very badly this time.
Having blocked ears and swollen eyes.
Too much congestion due to blocked nose.

Doctor's orders of "Drink lots of water, and get plenty of rest" are mutually exclusive. Had to wake up 4 times last night to empty my bladder, effectively putting a stop to any deep sleep that I was about to go into. My dry throat is not helping either, due to me having to breathe through my mouth due to blocked nose.

I guess my golf game on Thursday doesn't help my flu. Was under the sun for half a day before I flew back to Singapore and reached home mid-night of Thursday.

On a happier note, I do intend to get well and be in perfect health for my trip to Perth. Needed a holiday. Oh well, been having quite a few, but there is no such thing as overdose of holiday, is there ?

Condoms only 85 percent effective - not true!

I just "hate it" when people hijack issues, put in their moral grounds, and perpetuate their dogma onto others. Worse when they do it without letting you know.

Condoms only 85 percent effective - not true!

Tells of how statistics in scientific studies are misquoted or misinterpreted by non-statistically trained people.

From 99% effectiveness, to less than 85% :

...(snipped)...

These studies followed sero-discordant, sexually active heterosexual couples over a period of time. 'Sero-discordant' meant that at the start of the studies, one partner was HIV-positive and the other HIV-negative.

...(snipped)...

In layman's language:

For every 100 couples having sex repeatedly through the course of a year, using condoms every time, only 0.9 persons sero-converted to HIV-positive.

(This suggests that if you are HIV-negative, and with the consistent benefit of condoms, you had sex with an HIV-positive person over a 100-year period, your chance of being HIV-positive after 100 years would be 0.9%.)

For every 100 couples having sex repeatedly through the course of a year, but never used condoms, 6.7 of the initially HIV-negative partners, sero-converted to HIV-positive.

And where's the "85 percent" in all this? By this mathematical formula:

(6.7-0.9)/6.7 = 0.85

What the researchers said was that the condom-protected couples, with their 0.9 sero-conversion rate, had an 85% lower likelihood of getting HIV compared to the no-condom couples. They didn't mean to say that if you used a condom you still had a 15% chance of getting AIDS.

Your chances of actually getting HIV, with consistent, correct condom use is estimated to be less than 1% even after a hundred years of sex.

Know more about Vioxx

Educational site on what the Vioxx thing does.

Me no doctor. But me understand.