Growing up in sunny Singapore in the Katong School by the Sea, I\u2019m a free-spirited Patrician born in the post independence era. Life\u2019s been pretty good to me despite the usual twists & turns for most part in the first 54 years of my existence.<\/p>\n
After returning from Cambodia, my last teaching stint in SCIA as a pioneering Gr 1-9 faculty, I started experiencing difficulty in my bladder & bowel; & walking became a laborious task even as I strive to work in HopeHouse with the De Lasalle Brothers of St Patrick\u2019s Community where I was nurtured.<\/p>\n
It was a scary, dark phase and it did occur to me to make my alma mater my resting ground. Yet the love for my family & friends kept me going. In early Feb 2020, I lost all confidence in walking safely and sought out my eldest to bring me for a lumbar x-ray ordered by my endocrinologist.<\/p>\n
I am fortunate he was in office early and I got to see him. Thus began my metamorphosis into a SpinalAVM Warrior @55, joining a 1% in the world with this very rare genetic and crippling condition.<\/p>\n
A battery of major medical tests culminated in a T4-7 opened surgery to dissect 3 AVMs out. Took 20 months of physiotherapy amidst channeling on the Healthcare Conveyor belt of SGH (5weeks), OCH (5weeks) & a Chinatown Care Home (2.5 years) before I was discharged in untidy manner home with my walker, wheelies and my scooter!<\/p>\n
It was a major psychological, physical & financial battle (on-going), to reintegrate back into the Land of the Living, after a 3 year absence from family, Church and society in Kg Glam where we\u2019ve resided for 33 years!<\/p>\n
Sheer grit, silent contemplations & patient love became my mainstay even as I continue to be stronger & better with the help of pain meds, mindfulness methods, acupuncture, continued rehab twice weekly and even weekly chiropractic treatment session, managing family, mobility, bladder & bowel as well as chronic fibromyalgia issues.<\/p>\n
The alternative option would have been an easy return to a nursing home, have assisted living and fade away. Such is not for me! I have much to do, to surmount the living environment for wheelies, to regain respect & dignity even as a PwD and live life meaningfully with dreams of travel, a SpinalAVM Foundation to assist fellow warriors & their families to alleviate life\u2019s pains a little and live to a 100! I\u2019m on my way!<\/p>\n
#spinalavm
\n#kgglam
\n#eldercare
\n#physiotherapy
\n#occupationaltherapy
\n#mentalwellness<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Growing up in sunny Singapore in the Katong School by the Sea, I\u2019m a free-spirited Patrician born in the post independence era. Life\u2019s been pretty good to me despite the usual twists & turns for most part in the first 54 years of my existence. After returning from Cambodia, my last teaching stint in SCIA … Continue reading “Surviving SpinalAVM in Singapore!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16324,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","hentry","category-35","category-4","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/silverhairsclub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/silverhairsclub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/silverhairsclub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silverhairsclub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16324"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silverhairsclub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50678"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/silverhairsclub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50721,"href":"https:\/\/silverhairsclub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50678\/revisions\/50721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/silverhairsclub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silverhairsclub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silverhairsclub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}