TB Test (for overseas UB application)

Booked her a TB- testing near us (DTAP Kovan) and my poor girl was poked twice but he couldn’t draw out anything from her. Blood should be vacumned out into the vial automatically but nothing happened. Thin blood vessels she has as what doc says. On the contrary, doctors love me coz mine is very easy. No wonder! Everybody wants to drain my 🩸 including my kids. When I got back and told the man what happened, he mentioned that it’s the same for him so they had to draw blood from his hand. Err…… same for her but nothing too. I wondered if the lack of squeeze ball affects at all? Anyway, whack her arms and hands so many times also macam no use.  

In the end the doctor only charged us $10.70 coz he initially insisted FOC for us but I also felt bad that he had to waste one kit - QuantiFERON - TB Gold Plus so he charged me an 意识意识 amount😆. 

In between the 2 attempts, while he was smacking her again, I asked if can use legs? All the while I thought it’s the back of the knee but doctor clarified it’s the ankle. When I asked him the question, che-che gave me that “what the heck r u up to? I’m the one subjected to pokings not u.” look. Decided against it and asked for other alternatives. 

There is another way - prick test which requires 2 visitation 48hrs apart. I asked doctor to help me double check that it’s the test that is required/ stated in the forms I wouldn’t want to bring her do a test to only have done a wrong test. 

PPD stands for purified protein derivative is a skin test used to diagnose silent (latent) tuberculosis infection. 

extracted from : https://www.cdc.gov/tb/topic/testing/tbtesttypes.htm

The TB skin test is also called the Mantoux tuberculin skin test (TST). A TB skin test requires two visits with a health care provider.
On the first visit the test is placed; on the second visit the health care provider reads the test.

• The TB skin test is performed by injecting a small amount of fluid (called tuberculin) into the skin on the lower part of the arm.
• A person given the tuberculin skin test must return within 48 to 72 hours to have a trained health care worker look for a reaction on the arm.
• The result depends on the size of the raised, hard area or swelling.

T-spot TB test requires only a one time visit and doctor will need your precious lovely 🩸 as well. So this option is out for che-che. 

How does it work? 

Difference between QuantiFERON-TB Gold and T-SPOT

The wT-SPOT. TB test detects individual memory T cells that produce IFN-γ in response to M. tuberculosis antigens, using the enzyme-linked immunospot technique. The QuantiFERON-TB Gold test measures IFN-γ in the supernatant of antigen-stimulated cells by enzyme-linked immunoassay.

He tried for the second time and wasn’t successful. I’ll blog about her PPD test next time. I think I’ll have to delay a week + later as next week will be lil’ one’s finals, I’ll have problem shuttling between two kids. Have to find a suitable timing for test too coz her uni schedule is so weird. 

1 wk to finals

Pumped up with tuitions now that she’s officially on study leave starting this week. 

Last tuition with Mr Go on 27th Sep (Tue) for 3hrs. It was suppose to be his second last lesson with the next one the next day. But coz he’s flying off  ✈️ so we can only have one lesson and I increased to 3hrs. He’s been with us since che-che was in Sec 3? Another long service award tutor with us 😂. 

Cheryl will have one lesson with her on 28th Sep (Wed) to make up for her missed lesson last Sunday, and then her last lesson with lil’ one will be on 2nd Oct (Sun). Cheryl only starting tutoring lil’ one in Sec 3. A very friendly and generous lady. So friendly that it’s hard to believe that we only got to know her only a year plus ago, it felt like we’ve known her for ages. So generous with the girls that she likes to order bubble tea and treats for the girls. I feel so paiseh to keep receiving things from her. 

Ms Wong will have an extra lesson with her on 29th Sep (Thu) and another brought forward lesson from Sat to Fri. We’ll see her for 2 consecutive days before we wave 👋 goodbye to her. Another friendly and generous lady who’s also one of the recipient for Long Service Award 🤣. She’s very good with her hands - creatively, baking and in plants. Her lemon yoghurt cake is so yummy. Gifted us plants which I’m not willing to put inside the toilet. How can I put my gifts in the toilet?  The plants she gave are in the living and dining area instead, the pennywort she gave unfortunately mati. That plant really needs lots of water. Very creative person who will wrap things up so asthetically nice together with her handwritten cursive lettering. I communicate with her a lot. 

Mr Teo will see her for another 3 lessons. For the last 2 Sats, I added another half hour. Not sure if the extra 1/2hr can accomplish anything but perhaps I’d choose to believe that they can. Last day will be on the 10th for whatever things he needs to drill into the girl. Mr Teo came only this March and he gets the shortest service award 😉. However it may be short, I see an improvement in her grades. 

Then I can finally put the lock on the PES gate. 

Time went by too quickly this year. I just can’t wait for her to finish all her papers. Then we can relax. 

A visit to the dermatologist

Che-che complained that her skin hasn't been better. The last time I brought her to the nearby clinic was more than a year ago. Well, she hasn't complained to me that usually the medication is temporary as it reoccurs. (Yah girl ah… you don’t tell me how would I know?) It’s becoming more and more unbearable with sleepless nights that she finally spoke up.

Hubby decided to bring her to see dermatologist after that. Her first visit was on 27th Sep. 

She came home with different medication (obviously) and was told that she has mild to severe atopic dermatitis. Dupixent will help her internally, and we thought better to get her cured quickly before she flies to USA. She's afraid of the needles so it takes huge courage for her to sit still. Maybe she'll get used to needles after that. 

The creams that she came back with :

1) Elomet (Mometasone Cream 0.1%) - $150/-

2) F/S Clobetasol Cream - $72/-

3) Atoderm Intensive Gel Cream - $75/-

4) Acne Forte Lotion - $13.09

The subsequent dupixent jab will cost $1500/- . 😱 OMG!!

I really hope it works. Better be.. since spending so much money.

A comfort toy

 

She had this small Shellie May keychain displayed infront of her water bottle during both SS and EL exams.

She explains that seeing it helps her calm her nerves. Haha! As long as it helps, as long as she doesn’t clam up in panic and forgot everything that she has learnt, I guess I can let her bring to school. I asked if the invigilator said anything. The invigilator saw and smiled at her for bringing a toy and didn’t remove it from her. 

Today was her EL papers and she told me in that short period of time for Paper 2 she was given 2 breaks to stretch out which she did by closing her eyes and walking around the room.

 *positive vibes* 

I hope she does better than her prelims. And don’t clam up. Next week she doesn’t have to be in school as there are other papers ongoing. The next week after that is study leave and then the second half of the finals. Just a few subjects left (biology, chemistry, geography, math, POA)

Booked tour

Things I can only accomplish when she’s in school. 

Needed to book the tour so while the girl sat for her EL papers, I went down to Buddha Tooth Relic to 拜拜 in the morning. Sat in People Park’s Macs reading and listening to music. I made my way to NamHo which opens at 10am. Booked a tour to Vietnam then made my way to Parkway Parade to run some errands until the time I need to pick her up from school. Got some Vietnam Dong whilst I was there. 

Tour related stuffs - I’m left to 

: e-register with MFA

: purchase travel insurance 

: pack bags 

Why did I eventually booked a tour instead of doing it F&E which is what I would prefer?

I’m stepping into the land of unknown. Hanoi (HAN) and Ho Chin Minh (SGN) are turnaround flights on SQ so usually we don’t get down the aircraft. I remember the caucasian tourists coming onboard with huge hats and I always pray hard that none of them got squished in the A310 small overhead compartments. 

I did some planning initially but also found there's problem with transportation. And would I risk having 2 females in Vietnam? Would I put ourselves at risk walking in the streets where vehicles don't stop for pedestrians? 

In the end I felt it would be safer to join a group instead. 

So why Vietnam? 

When I was planning on where to bring lil’ one for a trip, I initially wanted to bring her to 🇩🇪 Germany. Did a quick calculation on where I was planning to go which I must say it was an interesting itinerary I had come up with. Even though I was saving half the price if we had gone on a 

1) “omg!what kind of itinerary tours” - this kind of plan also can cost so much?!

2) “we’ve been to more almost all the places they are bringing people to” - so why bother join tour? I think I can be a tourguide and guide through small alleyways / shortcuts instead 😂

by tour operators. Anyway, proposal was thrown aside coz finance minister says too ex. Anyway, I also didn’t consider the trap I would put myself in. If che-che sees us going Germany, she’d want to go to another place with me. (she's been telling me she wants to go Italy and Greece) Not fair right? So ….. good thing FM didn’t approve my proposal.

Alternative destination Japan is out coz need to go through tour operators and there’s a backlog of visa applications. I’d need at least 2 months to submit and I wouldn’t want to risk it all since I have less than a month to departure date. If not, Japan would be top on the list - DisneySea! All the かわいい purchases, all the Japanese food and snacks and countless trips to Family Mart. Not much of sightseeing coz we’ve done almost all. 

How about Australia? I can bring her to Melbourne since she’s not been there. Moving around the city area is fine but if I want to bring her to Great Ocean Road, how? I don’t want to drive, ok it's the lame excuse "what if we get into an accident there?" I can join land tours from there I suppose. But this country again requires visa. Sigh…

How about Korea? No more sightseeing so we’re basically there to eat, walk aimlessly and eat? Might as well just stay in Singapore and do that? Subjected to testing upon arrival. Haiyah so troublesome. 

That leaves me with Cambodia and Vietnam, places I’ve never been to. Though I think the country is generally safe but if we are only 2 females I wouldn’t want to risk it all so decided to join a tour. 

** Link to my previous ranting ** 

Tidying up the PES

Work in progress

Trying to tidy up the balcony but it looks more messy instead 🙄. 

The bigger pot of adenium doesn’t sit nicely on the shelf so will have to move it to another spot. Unless I can repot to a planter box that fits the shelf, and doesn’t kill the plant/root for insufficient space. 

The single layered shelf rack is only temp, I’m going to transfer the plants into water and move indoor when I feel like it. Maybe move the monsteras there after that without the shelf rack? 

Still need more small planter boxes? I’m suppose to plant blue pea, cosmos and magnolias but maybe pot is also too small? Sowed in new sunflower  🌻 seeds so cross fingers that I’ll have flowers.

The delivery guy came to my front door and I directed him to the balcony instead. He saw my plants and he asked me “you buy shelves to put more plants to sell?” I thought he really look highly of me and told him  “I’d be thankful if I don’t kill my plants. How to sell? Who wants it anyway?” Then he explained that a lot of people are buying plants from them and re-potting into more pots and sell them. Ok, ah-nia not so free to do such thing lah! Just tend to my plants, if die then re-plant lor…

Can’t wait to clear her room

Lil’ one’s room is in a terrible mess. 

Her study table drawer is messy, her bookshelf is loaded with stuffs which I really feel like throwing them all away NOW. Her room is … some will say it’s already not bad compared to theirs. Perhaps these are words of consolation that people want to hear, however it doesn’t work for me coz my eyes can see THE MESS! 

I have been progressively trying to scan things that I want to keep - some notes; her exam scripts (for memories sake); no school journal this year so nothing to scan. And throw the rests away. But yet on the other hand, there’s still that apprehension of “what if?!” “What if she did badly and is retained?” to really throw more materials away now. 

I forsee myself getting so busy getting rid of school materials in her room, clearing some new unused stationeries that we have - I call them our mini Popular Bookstore (yup! I have a supply of whatever nots so I don’t have to drop by the bookstore that often. I believe after my current membership expires I have no need to renew it anymore). 

I just can’t wait for the day to clear and tidy her room. To have that minimalist look that I’ve always dreamed of. 

Tutors slowly leaving

郭老师‘s last lesson with lil’ one was on 24th May (Tue) as MT paper is on 30th May (Mon)

One down! A bit sad coz she’s taught Che-Che since Sec 2? Or later part of Sec 1? So she was with us for 7-8 years. Great no one will come into the house via PES on Tuesdays now but I still can’t lock the gate. Then I’ll hang on to the rest of the tutors like a lovelorn lover. Her results came back with a distinction so she’s not re-taking end of the year. She can concentrate fully on other subjects. 

With both her SS and EL papers on 14th Sep (Wed) and 16th Sep (Fri) respectively.  11th Sep (Sun) was Mr Mak’s last lesson with lil’ one. Ok, so I hope I don’t need to see him again next year in my house. (Bump into each other in the streets can) Mei-mei better clear her papers. Likewise, another tutor that taught both girls (he taught che-che in Sec 3 so seeing him on a weekly basis for the past 6 years is so habitual.) He is the most organised tutor that I have, and I like his style. Organized mom meets organized tutor. When it came to CB in April 2020, he was all ready to jump into online tutoring, in fact the first. He had everything all ready. All he did was to email us the papers to be printed at least two days in advance and she sees him on screen. BUT I have a disorganized daughter! She throws the papers around her bookshelf/table. 

After he leaves, I only have the remaining 3 weeks with the remaining tutors. Yes, finally I can lock the gate though with a heavy heart, coz when they do come by it feels like our friends visiting us 😁 . They’ve been here since we moved to this place. From then on, we won’t have regulars visitors to our house, I think I’ll welcome the rats and shrews with open arms. It’ll be a different phase of our lives as the girls grow older, all in tertiary and not needing tuitions.  

Absolutely crazy!

Secretly planning on a holiday with lil' one, I think she's worked hard and deserves a treat. I deserve one too!  

But air tickets are insanely high. 

Even tour packages I wanted to use as a comparison is crazy high. You know what’s beyond insanely crazy? That the price of a Japan package tour can cost close to $5k for a 7D trip to Osaka and Kyoto! I saw packages to Japan is almost comparable to Europe, so I might as well fly to Europe instead. 

Then again, I did a calculation to submit a proposal. Well, it fell thru coz the man said it was too ex.😢 The estimated cost of our (lil’ one and my) airtickets, train tickets with reservations, accommodations adds up to $5637.97 for a 16D15N trip. Whereas a 11D tour to Germany but not quite the places that I’m planning to go is already $4238/pax. I don’t think we’ll spend $5k on all the misc stuffs right? We can budget on food, I will still bring my cookpot. Most places don’t require entry fees anyway, and we’re not driving thus don’t require any parking fees. And I think our trip will cover not only the old town and churches, it includes castles and concentration camps x2. Not Dachau anymore please 😅, I’ve been there like 4x already. Although the plan fell thru, on hindsight the itinery is saved in laptop and can be used the next time? If there is a chance. 

A 8D7N ChiangMai and ChangRai costs $1988!!! OMG! what's happening? Airlines and tour agencies trying to recoup their losses over the years? 

Japan - can forget it. There must be an influx of visa application and will need more than a month. We don’t hv time! And we only want to go DisneySea! 

Korea - e.visa  is required and even PCR testing. Air tickets prices are also increasing, unless we go on Asiana. SQ is going to slash our throats with their prices. 

First lash maintenance

Did my first maintenance, which was about close to 2 months after my 3rd treatment on 13th July

Can you see the progression from the first day, before treatment till now? If only men just look at the eyes, I think I can attract them? 🤣  or perhaps with a more longer lash now, I’m able to trap ants 🐜 

Oops! Just realised I wrote a wrong date in my collage. It’s supposed to be “13th July - right”

Will make an appointment for my eyelash perm 3 weeks later. I can’t wait to see how it’ll be.