Yvonne Foong: Fighting NF

My throat’s feeling warm and uncomfortable. Yuin Yin said it could be a sign of impending sickness. She suggested drinking lemon juice with honey. I had honey but no lemon. So off I went to the store and got five.

Back home, I brought out the equipments and started to press, and press I did. My first time pressing lemon and I have to discover a new disability progress..

I tried pressing the lemon hard. My upper arm trembled, as if resisting my brain’s command. Instead of putting pressure on the lemon, the pressure was felt in the brain. Instead of exerting my hand, I exerted the shoulder where it connects with my arm, as if messages from the brain could not get through.

A ’normal’ response to weakness would be a tired hand and arm. But they felt no pressure when I tried to exert them. Instead my brain became tired while my hand was relax despite my trying to PRESS the lemon.

Instead of pressing the lemon with my hand, I exerted pressure on my shoulder while the hand remained limp.

I changed to use my left hand which I have more control and succeeded preparing lemon juice.

Many doctors and nurses do not understand the nature of our “weaknessâ€? caused by brain and spine tumors. Heck, even physiotherapists don’t get it. So when NF patients become bedridden, these healthcare professionals in GHKL would tell us to “moveâ€? and quit being lazy. I was scorn at in GHKL for not walking. But how could I walk, when I couldn’t even sit up without support? When I did manage to sit without leaning against the bed, the nurses forced me to stand. But I could not even feel the floor or know my legs’ orientation, much less tell them to “standâ€?. I collapsed like a feather.
The nurses left me there, as if a punishment.

The doctors scolded me for being “lazy�.

Brainless professionals we have.

Remember some doctors reading my blog on Pei Lee suggested that GHKL has fine doctors?

They ought to be a patient themselves.