Rockin' Ramadhan

Salam Ramadhan everyone!

Coincidently it falls on 1st August 2011, it's a good booster because we can stock up Baskin Robbins on 31st July!



We went to BR in Giza as early as 10am and about 5 people there, don't have to push around or queing! The only drawback is it's quite a small outlet, so the flavour is not that extensive. Even the normal Old Fashioned Butter Pecan wasn't available.

This time we bought 4 quartz! So tamak! It's Pistachio Almond, World Class Chocolate, and Baseball Nut x 2. Yum yum, Baseball Nut is my current flavour.

Talking about fasting month, how's your preparation? I wanted to go to talk or seminar before this, to prepare myself. You know, as a catalyzer to do my best this Ramadhan, baru la semangat kan? But things has been very chaotic this few weeks and have to sail through this without much preparation.

Mentally I'm ready, only on the physical side, I'm very tired lately. Feel so heavy and with Zahra yg a bit on emotional side. Banyak tantrums and very angry, I think it's because of the medicine as I ask around patients yg pernah Nephrotic, yes they have the emotional side effect. Hopefully I manage to puasa penuh this year, ameen...

Wishing you guys a very meaningful Ramadhan. May we achieve a better Ramadhan this year. It's a good time to shape ourselves to be a better Muslims, and may it lasts throughout our life, not only for a month ;)




I

zahra and Nephrotic Syndrome: Allergy Drama

We had another scare last Thursday. Zahra had a few allergy bumps around 145am but since it's nothing serious, I just rub her and put her back to sleep. In the morning, the bumps went away, so I thought it must be something she had last dinner, even though we ate pretty much the same food. The only different is the mint chicken that I gave her, it is cooked with yogurt but I already wash the sauce and gave her only the chicken.

During lunch time, I received a call from her baby sitter that some red patches appeared around her cheek, legs and hands. It's not that bad according to her, so I didn't go and take a look. Furthernore, both of us had training at TTC that time. We called Dr Anushree and she said it looks like allergy reaction if it comes and go. During evening when we picked her, the patches gone, so okay lah..

She had her usual dinner and suddenly the red patches reappear. It seems like it flares everytime after meal. It's so weird because she is on Prednisolone, it's like the strongest medicine and is also used to counter allergy, and yet, she has allergy? Since she is not showing any discomfort, I just let it be and around 10pm it went away.

She had her before sleep milk and I was woken up at 1245am by a very sore boobs. One thing about Zahra, she won't cry if she feels uncomfortable during sleep, instead she will keep on latching and bite my boobs. I was tired as well and fell asleep and didn't realize she was sucking hard, almost gritting actually, hence the soreness.

When I pull my boob, she will cry, then I knew it she still not in deep sleep and it's so unusual of her, so I switched on the lights and so panic to see her whole body is covered with red patches!

We've been dealing with allergy few times already so normally I won't be that worry but since she is in Nephrotic treatment, I am afraid this is something else so we quickly rushed to emergency at TMC.

We brought along the steroid treatment letter and the Dr on duty checks her up and made a call to Dr Anushree to brief her. Since her airways is clear, she is given antihistsmine medicine to stop the allergy reaction. Poor my baby, has to take another medicine...

According to the Dr, yes, Prednisolone is used to treat allergy, but since Zahra is on high dose of Prednisolone for over a month now, it will bring down her immune system, hence she is easily attacked or infected. That's the drawside of the steroid. The allergy can be triggered by anything, food, insect bites, dust, pets, etc..as she is totally immunocompromised.

The patches gone after 2 dose of antihistamine (that will be 16 hour gaps, 8 hour per dose) but I decided to give her 3 complete doses to make sure it's gone for real. Alhamdulillah, no flare after she taken any food after she finished the medicine.

Kesian my baby, she's so vulnerable now.... Not only the allergy, she had a thick discharge from her eyes after that. I read online and it's because conjunctivitis bacteria or her body is dispelling toxin. But the discharge gradually reduced today so we decided not to go to doctor yet as she will have her checkups this Monday.

On the protein reading (test done at home) is very confusing. After the hike at 4+, it reduced to 2+ yesterday, and today back to 3+ *sigh*.

I hope all is well this Monday. Aminnnn..

Zahra and Nephrotic Syndrome - The Update

It has been confirmed the reading shoot back to 4+ which is weird because she still within treatment and it is an indicator of steroid resistant but at the same time conflicting because she's responding to the steroid well for the past 1 month.

An appointment has been made with Nefrologist team in HKL on 8th August 2011. We don't know how it's going to be yet, most probably change the medication which only can be prescribed by the Nefrologist or continue with higher dose of Prednisolone. That's what we are told for now but still up to the Nefrologist. How the Nefrologist going to diagnose/check, I still have no idea. Hopefully nothing scary.

As for now, we are continuing the 25mg x 5ml Prednisolone and Dr Anushree will see Zahra next Monday for some blood test.

Wish us luck!

The BoboiBoy Girl

Ok, enough of sedih-sedih. Lets talk about happy thing to kick the morning :D

We went to Sushi King Ikano last Saturday and below is a couple of happy faces of Zahra Elena! I love these pics so much she is not the photogenic type and most of the time her pic will turn out like a boy! Haha.

But she was very happy last weekend, most probably because it is 9PM already. That's the normal her, she will be all giggling and happy before going to bed. It's like she's on high or something.

Eating edamame and udon!

Singing something - swinging her head left and right hehe.

After the dinner I took her walking around and she went to the Speedy next to the Sushi King (because that's where kids like to be sbb ada TV haha) and look what she found:

Boboi Boy!

It's her current favourite show and she spotted it by herself! Mata Zahra ni boleh tahan tajam, kalau nampak mickey mouse ke boboiboy ke, barney ke..cepat giler. I mean, I will have a hard time to spot those character especially if they are small. Maybe sebab mata mummy melilau tengok baju kut hehe.

Oh ya, the moment she saw the CDs, she shouted:

"Boboiboyyyyyyyy"

And I pun pulun la cari where is it where is it and tak sempat nak cari, she already showing me the place :D

And fished out the whole CDs and give them to my sister. I am too heavy to chase her around, thank God my sister was with us that night, she's keeping an eye on her.

If you haven't heard of this cartoon, it's an animation series by Animonstamedia - a local product! *proud to be Malaysian!*. Cerita dia best okkkk! Haha. Sometimes me pulak yg ketagih to watch it instead of Zahra.


Below is the making of the soundtrack. Yuri Wong (the composer) is so handsome kan? Don't cerca my taste ok..but well, most of girls senang cair with org yg macam cool and pandai main gitar kan? Hahaha.


*off topic*
Oh oh oh do you know that MrComot plays guitar too? In fact, he plays classical. Wowwwwww.. Ok, I didn't know that until after we gotten married. He never la nak show off dia pandai main ke apa.. and he doesn't have the time pun. But yeah..he plays classical! *heart*


Ok enjoy the music video and happy Tuesday everyone ;)

Zahra and Nephrotic Syndrome - A relapse?

I wanted to rant about my shiny black push present, but I got bad news this morning..so..hmm yeah, lets talk about the bad news first.

As per her progress last week, we pretty much excited about her condition and send the urine to TMC this morning with peace of mine.. until this noon when Dr Anushree called us up and inform us that her reading is bad. It's 4+!! The exact count is 5.0mg, while last week was 0.75mg. Such a big difference.

So it's most probably a relapse. Ok, I get it, Nephrotic syndrome can reoccur, but a relapse within a treatment? And she hasn't even finish the treatment yet.

We have to repeat the urine test tomorrow to confirm on this issue, and if it maintains at 4+, she has to be referred to HKL for nefrologist (kidney expert) for further diagnose.

It's too much for me to absorb.

I was stunned at first, part of me in denial, part of it just don't know what to think.. or what to expect. I mean, if we are not dealing with straight forward Nephrotic, what it's gonna be? How are they going to take kidney biopsy from Zahra? Are they going to poke her around?

After about an hour in haze, I burst out crying because I was too sad. And can't stop crying for ther next hour.

Now I'm all alright :)

Hopefully the reading was wrong. We gave the sample 1 1/2 hours late and maybe it's contaminated. Well, urine within 2 hours is acceptable, but can't think too much now, just wait for tomorrow's result pulak.

I'll rant again later.

The catalogue girl

Zahra's current favourite hobby, browsing through catalogues while baby-talking like explaining the product hehe..




Posted from XpressMusic5800 via Celcom3g

Zahra and Nephrotic Syndrome - Day #34 and The Progress

It has been over a month my little Zahra on the Nephrotic Syndrome's treatment. Alhamdulillah, she's progressing well even though I have this urgency, cepat-cepat lah turunnn bacaan protein, so that she can stop eating that ubat! But what to do..it's a long process, I have to bear with it to get a good result.

We went to see her paed last Monday and her urine lab test came out with a very good reading, 0.75 (2+). The week before it was 1.5 (3+). She still taking the high dose cortisteroid, 25mg prednisolone.

Oh ya, talking about medicine, I was a lil bit mixed-up previously. I thought we will start with low dose first, if no response then will go for higher dose. Actually it's the other way round. The treatment starts with high dose, then if good response, will go to lower dose.

So, Zahra has taken the high dose for a month now..and is going to continue it for another 10 days. According to the latest study, a 6 week high dose treatment will make it most likely not to relapse. So we are following the track. We going to submit her urine next Monday and if the reading is 1+, we will start the lower dose treatment - prednisolone 20mg x 5ml taken on alternate days.

If the reading achieves 1+...

Please please please Ya Allah...let it be on track.

BP check by the paed

Her blood pressure is also good, Alhamdulillah....

She still cries when we meet the paed, maybe remembers about the blood withdraw but turn to cheeky and happy baby towards the end. She will say bye-bye to the paed and even throw her a flying kiss! Haha..macam tahu2 je nak balik. Oh ya, she also hates the blood pressure check and will cry whenever her paed wrap that thing around her arm but finally we found a way to avoid the crying..just by standing! Maybe she feels farther from the paed, thus safer :P

Below is her progress tracking. Dr Anushree said I don't have to test the urine everyday anymore, can do it on alternate days. So sometimes I do selang sehari, sometimes 2 hari hehe..Depends on how busy the morning is.

Date	Result	Weight	Dosage
2 July 2011	3+	9.0kg	25mg x 5ml
3 July 2011	3+	9.0kg	25mg x 5ml
4 July 2011	3+	9.0kg	25mg x 5ml
6 July 2011	3+	9.0kg	25mg x 5ml
9 July 2011	2+	9.0kg	25mg x 5ml
10 July 2011	2+	9.0kg	25mg x 5ml
13 July 2011	1+	9.0kg	25mg x 5ml
15 July 2011	2+	9.2kg	25mg x 5ml
18 July 2011	2+	9.5kg	25mg x 5ml
21 July 2011	2+	9.5kg	25mg x 5ml

Her urine test this morning, my eyes is saying it's between 2+ and 1+.

^_^

On other health issue, Alhamdulillah, she's doing well without any extra sickness. Last week she had a small cough and it almost gave me this heart attack, afraid she couldn't take it and it will get worse but thank God, nothing serious, kejap je dia batuk, tak sempat bagi ubat pun and it went away. Allah Maha Penyayang...

Overall my baby is doing great. And please stay healthy ok? with the haze and hanky-panky weather now.. Mommy try to contain you the best I can. Oh ya, we also have to burn our flight tickets to Terengganu to visit my parents..well, I haven't cancel it yet, but most probably have to la..sbb it's gonna be this weekend and a high time to monitor Zahra if the reading going down or not. But at the same time I miss my family there and we not gonna be in Tganu for Raya because I'm gonna be 8 months then.. then confinement pulak..sigh. We'll see how lah. Yang penting Zahra okay! ;)

The Most Expensive Ever Kurau

Giant KD has become our second home lately. We rarely go to mall, most of it because I don't have the energy to walk around and handling Zahra at the same time. I feel too heavy! Giant has become the most convenient place for us to shop, because somehow we need to buy wet food for Zahra's soup - chicken, beef, fish, vege, stuff like that.

So we are more or less can fold-blind our eyes and know exactly where to get the stuff haha. Last couple of weekends, we encountered with kurau and MrComot's eyes lighted up "Wahhhh sedapnya kurau!"

I was like, is it? Ok..I think I had kurau before, but I don't remember how it tastes, not to mention how to cook it. I just recognize the taste of ikan kembung, ikan sardin, ikan terubuk (yum! my fav!) and ikan tenggiri.

So I said,
kita beli lah! But I don't know how to cook it.
Alaaa..goreng je
You sure? It won't taste weird or something like that?
Takpe..goreng je

Hahaha.confident je kan. So we bought 2 slices of fillet and went to the counter to weigh it and guess what? It's freaking RM20!

Ok.. I know Kurau is expensive. But I never know it can be THAT expensive. And we can conveniently put it back if we don't want it, but since MrComot said want to eat la sedap la apa la..why not, just try it la kan.

So here is my expensive Kurau.

RM20!!

That's not the highlight of the event. The best part is..

we burnt it!!!!

Ok, to my defense, it wasn't my fault ok. First, the flesh is tooo soft, more to mushy texture I will say. When it is nicely brown, I pick it up and taste to check, cooked or not..and it still mushy. So I put it back on the fire and after a few mins, it burnt! To my horror, the taste still mushy! Ok, maybe that's how the texture should be but MrComot said it is different last time, firm just like Tenggiri.

Nevermind, we just eat it (in my heart still fearing it is undercooked despite of the long fry). Then I called up my mom and ask, she said normally people use kurau for asam pedas and not cook it too long. The flesh is soft (but I don't know her level of softness as mine is too soft!) but takde la hancur.

Nak cakap tak fresh, it looks fresh to me T_T

So there goes my most expensive Kurau. Kalau ikut tekak ni, memang tanak makan okk..but to think how much it cost and tak baik membazir, makan jugak. Nasib baik 2 keping je..kalau tak, sia-sia je *nanges*

Banana with M&M's

We were roaming around in MidV yesterday and I saw this bright color blocking dress in Arcadia, Jusco and spontaniously asked:

Cantik tak?

And to my horror MrComot replied this:

Sayang nampak macam pisang kalau pakai baju ni..and with M&Ms!

Kannn..pisang ngan M&Ms la.. To me macam comel je baju tu.. It's interesting to see how people see things hehehe..

My 18-months biter

Zahra Elena is 18months! But it's 17months according to the ticker. Lebih kurang la hehehe.

She's one fine lady..so cheeky and make me happy all the time. Well, maybe not all, but most of the time. I love staring at her while she's sleeping and can you believe that she still co-sleeping with us?? Ahhh so much want to teach her sleep in the cot lah. Actually part of it is my fault as I have no patience to lift her and pat her or whatever and then bring her back into the cot. She's too comfortable snugging with us and want to be next to me all the time. If she doesn't feel me next to her, she will roll roll roll and making some sounds in her sleep.

I forgot to tick her height (later will do, already bought the cute height measurement for her :D) and she's about 9.5kgs now.

Lately she loves to biteeeeeeeeeee and she will bite everywhere especially if it's not covered - direct to your flesh, eg: when you wearing shorts, she will bite your leg but when you wearing jeans, she will attack your arms. Hahaha.

This is her current teeth. She already has the four big molar and can you imagine when she bites me using the molar? Berdesinggg ok. If using the thin front teeth pun berdesing jugak hehe.. depends on where she bites me.

Sometimes I find it cute but sometimes when she went overboard, it's quite irritating and dangerous. She even bites few of the kids in the babysitter's place! Luckily it lasted for few days as the babysitter will jentik her whenever she does that.

At home, when I tried to jentik her, she will laugh it off. And when the daddy jentik her, she will cry. Haihhhh tak takut dengan mommy!

Her favourite songs are twinkle-twinkle little star and itsy bitsy spider. She even dances with the song. For twinkle-twinkle, she will do the blinking stars using her pointer and thumbkin, and for itsy-bitsy spider, she will do the itsy bitsy fingers and put both of her hands on the head at "out came the sun and dried up all the rain", to show shielding the head from the sun. So cute!!!! I tried to record it but whenever I on the recording, she became conscious and stop dancing hehe.

She still calls me Mama! We've tried it so many times,

Zahra, Zahra, nama sape?
Zaaaya
Daddy?
Deeedii
Mommy?
Mama
Nai-nai?
nai..nai..
Yeh-yeh?
yeh..yeh..
Auntie Pijat? --> my sister
babat

Haha I don't know why she calls my sister babat, but that's not fluke, mmg call for real.

Her favourite food still broccoli and tofu!! I want to call her broccoli girl la! Haha. On the weekend, for a quick brunch food, I just sauteed some garlic slices, add tofu, broccoli and then boil it with baby spaghetti (baby pasta is a smart ass invention! nnt I show pic) and a small pinch of salt, yum!! She will wallop it a whole bowl.

Oh ya, she also become a bit aggressive lately but it could be due to the cortisteroid side effects (I'll share about this later in the Nephrotic Syndrome entry). Sometimes she will become easily irritated and temper and quite possessive. If any kid wants to touch her stuff, she will shout "No no no no!" and become angry. And last 2 weeks we went to OU, she grabbed one girl's hair because the girl took her chair in the baby room. Sigh.

I tried my best to teach her it's wrong, but not by pukul or snap her (depends on how bad the situation is). Most of the time, I'll take her hand, look into her eyes, and said "No, don't do that, Zahra good girl. Good girl don't do that". Sometimes terbabas I will pukul sikit her hands, but I notice that she doesn't resort well to violent. If I pukul, lagi dia tak kisah and repeat it. So I have to be very patient and tegur her nicely again and again to make her listen to me. After all she's only a kid. You have to keep repeating. I hope this is really temporary and will be gone once she finished the treatment.

Other than that, Zahra is such a wonderful and clever girl. And also healthy one, except the NS. Stay good and strong yer sayang, mommy loves you so much and happy 18months!

Zahra in the tunnel, at TMC's playroom.

On the swing, singing twinkle-twinkle.

Rocking Chair

One thing I love being pregnant with second one is because nothing much we have to buy, except for the clothes (as Zahra's almost all in pink hehe). The big-big stuff like warmer, sterilizer, baby cot, stroller, etc, already in good hands, so recycle it is.

Since we are not going to buy anything big, I decided to buy this rocking chair on the first time I laid my eyes on it. We were buying some creams for Zahra Elena at Fabulous Mom TTDI and I saw this on display, and also on big discount! It was really love at first sight!

It's part of impulse and rational buy. Really. First, because I like it - that is impulse. Then I rational it, ok nanti ada 2 anak senang nak handle, duduk diam-diam dlm rocker tu hahaha. Lepas beli mula la rasa..haishhh mahal nya, mcm tak berbaloi je hmmm...

But the plus point is, it's for newborn to toddler (18kgs) so Zahra can use it as well! So just close the eyes la :D

Assembling. Tengok Zahra, ke hulu ke hilir busy nak tolong.

And all giggles when she finally get to sit on it.

Her favourite time, watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or Boboiboy on the rocking chair, while munching on some snacks. Sometimes I give her koko krunch, sometimes boiled frozen peas. And not to forget that I have to ON the vibration button. But she likes for a while only, after that tak kisah sangat dah hehe..

Btw, kids will always be kids. She only obsessed with this chair for few weeks (we bought it in May 2011) and now she's happier climbing on the chair and trying to slide it, macam-macam stunt lah that I have to shout most of the time "Zahra! No!!! Nanti rosak, tak sempat adik nak duduk!".

Hahaha. I hope it can last until babyG pop-out. Seriously.

28-weeks

I've been abandoning to write about my 2nd pregnancy, a lot. I guess it's just a matter of life. You always excited over the first one. Not that I don't feel excited with this one, only that, other things become higher priority now - work, raising the little one, juggling life, yeah..something like that.

Anyway Alhamdulillah I'm doing well with this pregnancy. Very well I might say, no sickness or whatever. Only that it becomes harder for me in the second trimester. I started to feel the heartburn sensation especially when I missed few brief meals in between. The heartburn will start after lunch and keep on flaming the whole evening. Pedih sangat :(

I also started to feel backpain and sakit-bontot-dont-know-how-to-describe-it. It's so painful that I can't walk properly and up to sometimes, I feel like crying. But I noticed it is avoidable. If I wear socks and proper cloth while sleeping, it won't be that bad. So I guess it's just angin. After all I am the easily badan berangin type. Masalahnya, PANAS okkkk..how to pakai stocking bagai *nanges*. We sleep in air-conditioned room, but with stocking on? sangat la tak best.

Not to mention I'm very tired nowadays. I don't know how to explain it. Maybe part of it because I'm getting older? Sometimes rasa macam nak makan pharmaton je to boost up the energy, but tak berani la pulak. And Zahra is so lasak nowadays. Not that I'm complaining, it just I've been pampering her quite a lot. Sikit2 with mommy, sikit with mommy. I love her sooooo much. I'm so kesian with her...tak dpt manja2 more than 2 years :(

Ok baby time. He's around 28 weeks now. Yeah, you read it right, it's going to be a HE! haha. Most probably la..according to scan. But who knows after pop-out not a boy kan? God's will. Well, insyaAllah a boy :)

Weighted at 880 gram based on last weekend's checkup and doing fine. This little one I noticed loves to be move on the right side. I can always see he bulging out my right tummy, as for Zahra dulu, she loves to be on the left side.

We call him babyG (not the name will start with G, but it's just inside joke between me and MrComot, so I'm going to use the nickname from now on).

I haven't bought anything yet for him, because most of the stuff is already there. Oh ya, we just bought a nice rocking chair for him, but it is being used by Zahra now hahaha. I hope it can last until babyG pop-out. I'll write about the chair later.

My latest pic last week.

Oh ya, I'm about 50kgs now, last time I started the pregnancy with this weight hehe. I know I'm a bit on the underweight side. Hopefully I'll be good after the delivery, not skinnier *takotnya*.

Zahra still on breastfeeding, not that I have milk pun, maybe a few drops or so. It's just she still wants it, and I wanted to wean her but then dia kena Nephrotic pulak, so tak sampai hati. It's like ripping off her comfort time. So I just let her latch and do whatever she likes. But the doctor advised me to seriously stop at 7 months..to prevent premature delivery. I've read some and there is no proof breastfeeding will lead to premature newborn but if you have history, it might contribute to that. So yeah, meaning I still need to wean her somehow..in any case...

Such a dilemma. I'm about 7 months already. We'll see how later. Just play it by ear.

Zahra and Nephrotic Syndrome - Day #18

Just a short update on the last Saturday checkup. We went to TMC in the morning after collect the urine, unfortunately we didn't see the Paed at all because the there is an emergency in NICU and it was almost 1PM already (waited since 11AM) so we decided to go back home first.

Finally we talked to her Paed and had discussion via phone. Haha..so sempoi and easy. I don't mind really, as long as all the messages delivered. Before we shoot off to home, the urine result came out and Alhamdulillah..it went down to 3+. It's not that significant because I was hoping for 2+ or something hehe, but better than nothing right? The blood count in the urine was very positive, last time 250 and last week was 10.1 only. The normal reading will be 10 and below.

Anyway the Paed just informed us that now is the most critical time for Zahra as when it shows good result, it means that the steroid starts to kicking in and she is in the most vulnerable stage of immunocompromised and we have to treat any fever or cold immediately instead of relying on the natural immune system. And she might have stomach cramp due to the medicine and we have to send her to hospital immediately if she ever vomits out.

I have to cancel a lot of plans, for fearing there is a bacteria floating outside and harm her, like going to bird park :( sorry Zahra, you have to wait much later, nanti after u finished the treatment, your adik pulak born, so much much much much later then we'll go visit the birds ok? :(

For now, please stay strong and no vomit out or stomach cramp or whatever bacteria infection. Mommy and daddy lovessss you sooooo much! :*

Oh ya, we going to see the Paed again tomorrow morning, I'll update on her progress later.

Zahra and Nephrotic Syndrome - Treatment and Overall health

It has been 2 weeks after Zahra is diagnosed with Nephrotic Syndrome and 12 days on medication.

So far we can see improvement on her body change. Her swollen face and body already gone, only big round belly due to the steroid. Her urination also started to frequent, around 4-5 days after on medication. One thing about NS patient, they don't urinate like normal because the

water went to the other part of the body, hence the swollen. Overall, her body is responding to the treatment, Alhamdulillah..Alhamdulillah..

I still remember, on the fifth day, her diapers are heavy with urine 3x more than usual (before she is sick) and siap leaking lagi. First time leaking ok, I'm not sure how to react at first, I mean, does it a good sign? Or too much urine is not good? So I contain my excitement until we met the Paed and she said, it's goooood!

She is given 25mg x 5ml Prednisolone (corticosteroid) to surpress the antibody and 1.3ml Zantac for gastric. The Prednisolone is too strong for her stomach, so she has to take Zantac first to coat the stomach from Prednisolone effect.

Prednisolone is a controlled medicine. We had to wait about an hour at the pharmacy to get this because the pharmacist had to pound it upon request.

Actually we have two choices, to give this raw pound which is very thick and bitter x 5ml x 1 time a day or give Zahra the pre-mix one which is super sweet x 10ml x 3 times a day. We chose the 1st option, not because I care about the sweet sugary thing, but I know Zahra, susah betul makan ubat. I rather go through the hassle and screaming once a day, not THREE! Dr Anushree said, we'll try the bitter one first, if she rejects it for few times, we'll try the sweet one. And if still rejects it, she has to be warded.

On the first day I gave her the Prednisolone, she vomits it out, like a shower. But I think it's partly my fault because I gave it too sudden, right after she drank her milk. I tried to mix it with guava and apple juice, Peel Fresh punya tauuuu..so sweet, but can u imagine the bitter taste still lingering around and she rejects it. I tasted it a bit and went.. no wonder she doesn't want it..

On the second day, I was a bit clever hehe.. After I gave her the Zantac, I let her play loose..then fed her porridge, wait half an hour, then I force the bitter medicine. Thank God she didn't vomit this time but she cried sooo hard and refused everything I gave her after that. I gave her sumijelly pun taknak! Then I tricked her to have a bath (boleh main air!) and she calmed down a bit.

Then the few days after that, she's taking the medicine with her babysitter and she's getting better and better, but still crying while slurping the medicine. Only it doesn't last long, after done with the 5ml, she stops crying. Good girl.

Only that, whenever she sees we shaking the Prednisolone's bottle, she will say "No no no no noooo" and like want to cry. Kesian betul, but what to do baby, sorry sayang.. you have to take it :(

Since this is long term treatment, we don't have to go to the hospital everyday, only last week we had to go twice since she still in early stage to have the blood pressure checkup. All I have to do is to collect the first urine in the morning, then dip with the protein stick and check the color and track the reading daily.

The urine bag, to tap at the private area.

It's a bit hard for me to use the urine bag because Zahra still sleeping early in the morning and we are rushing to work. I can't wait for her to urinate and all so the Paed gave me an idea to put cotton ball in the diaper. So after I finished my Subuh prayer, I'll change her diaper and insert some cotton ball, then around an hour after that, I check the diaper and squeeze out the soaked cotton ball and test it.

It's not that accurate but good enough, only in the weekend we will use the urine bag.

The protein sticks. Can you see the reading, it's 3+ yesterday, yeay!!! Previously semua still 4+.

Below is the tracking I made:

Date	Result	Weight	Dosage
19 June 2011	4+	10.1kg	25mg x 5ml
20 June 2011	4+	10.1kg	25mg x 5ml
21 June 2011	4+	10.1kg	25mg x 5ml
22 June 2011	4+	10.1kg	25mg x 5ml
23 June 2011	4+	10.0kg	25mg x 5ml
24 June 2011	4+	10.1kg	25mg x 5ml
25 June 2011	4+	9.8kg	25mg x 5ml
26 June 2011	4+	9.5kg	25mg x 5ml
27 June 2011	4+	9.5kg	25mg x 5ml
28 June 2011	4+	9.5kg	25mg x 5ml
29 June 2011	4+	9.5kg	25mg x 5ml
30 June 2011	3+	9.4kg	25mg x 5ml
01 July 2011	3+	9.4kg	25mg x 5ml

We also need to weight her because she supposed to loose some weight as the heaviness is from the water that is retained under the skin, not the real flesh.

Other complications that comes as side dishes with this disorder and treatment is, Zahra will have high cholesterol because the liver starts to produced some of lipid (fats) due the to protein loss and we can already see the impact. Last blood test shows that the cholesterol is above 10, whilst normal is maximum at 5. But the Paed said nothing to worry about, it will be temporary, once NS gone, it will stop. Hopefully her body can take it with no extra medication to counter the cholesterol pulak.

As for the medication, she might develop high blood pressure and we are monitoring it now. So far so good, her blood pressure is at bay.

We also have to carry this steroid treatment card everywhere we go because a normal cold and fever or infections can be very dangerous to her. Alhamdulillah, she hasn't been countered with any other sickness til now. Zahra is all happy and active, only occasional stomach bloated due to the steroid. Please please please God, let her stay healthy until she finishes the treatment...

The steroid treatment card

And this is her latest pic, yesterday morning.

Crying because I off the laptop. Pagi-pagi nak Mickey Mouse! So drama. Mana larat nak layan, mommy nak pegi keja ni hehehe. Abaikan rumah bersepah, tu semua baju baru basuh tak lipat :P

Her being cheeky in the car. At NKVE.

We are going to see the Paed tomorrow morning and will do full lab urine test. Hopefully the reading is going down for real and can get the exact protein count.