[F-Diary] #36 MON 30 SEP - The Day....

Reported to Counter C, another clinic which looks more cosy than the main area.

Today is the day to remove the cast. Today is the day when the covered area gets to see light after 5 weeks. 

This is the only photo with my Doraemon forearm. Am still masked up as I've not recovered from flu yet. 

Just before the 3-week old cast is 'cut'.... 

Removed!  The first thing is looked. at my hand, though the focus is actually the wrist. The palm thumb area is dry... as expected, but did not expect it to peel immediately. The discomfort - the roughness. 

The main area looks ok ... though the arm hair at the covered area needed to be awoken, I supposed. 

Yeah! The forearm looks normal 👍 though I could feel the weakness.

The X-ray on 30 Sep has not shown much difference, compared to the previous X-ray.

... compared what's on 9 Sep, the difference though not significant but can see the closing up at the healing part 😌

The hand is really weak... or psychologically, I'm afraid - to hold any weight. The weight of approx 750g almost dropped. But becomes quite comfortable as it rested on the arc between the thumb and the1st finger.

What needed to be done: Strength the fingers to gain mobility. Also to train up the strength and my writing, too - which obviously is badly affected, I believe.

Saw the occupational therapist. Christina was very patient and gentle, and to the details, and very comforting. 

Among the first things she did was to measure the wrist diameter. The circumference of my right (affected) wrist is 1cm more than my left. It's still swollen. It's normal.

A series of the simple exercises is expected... stretching exercises involving the entire arms. Then the finger exercises. I think I can do the first few quite regularly. 

Have chosen a nearer date to return for the next therapy session... next Monday.

Hopefully can see some good process.

Received this 3-fold double page leaflet. 

It look like... it's a common injury

[F-Diary] #33 FRI 27 SEP - Flu caught up with me!

I knew it was coming... but I thought I held it up quite well in the past few days, the droplets from the nose was minimal. Today, I knew, it's unavoidable. I need to go see the doctor ... as I'm left with only 1 week to nurse my flu. 

I thought the number went quite fast, but somehow it was stuck at the number just before mine! I wonder what went on.....  

I had fever, running nose, sore throat and cough - all symptoms of a flu, obviously. 

Had this pretty "interesting" medication - it's both for aches and also acts as a muscle relaxant. See the colour? I wonder if it's expected each time. take a blue an a white one?

Had an MC for FRIDAY, which will not be put to use - not because I don't want to rest from work ... but it overlaps with my hospitalisation leave. 

[F-Diary] #32 THU 26 SEP - From Daniel Pink... Decision making strategy

In the most recent Pink Cast, Daniel Pink shared the 9-word question could transform decision-making is "What would I tell my best friend to do?"

Reason being, we are good at advising others what to do when challenged to make a decision - from a third person perspective, I supposed. However, we seldom look inward to give the same advice. I guess, it's when we tend not to exercise our troubled mind in a rational manner when clouded with the issue. This advice/ suggestion, I think is similar to the advice on why we should not send an email reply when we are still emotional over the episode/ encounter that just happened - there's always this cooling period which we should observe. Reason being, at that point, we could not or would not be able to think clearly or rationally in order to respond appropriately. 

I think, more to the point would be - keep calm (or calm ourselves down first), then lay the issue out and if necessary, dissect the question carefully, then list down the pros and cons systematically and clearly - which is essential for us to weigh with informed (potential) consequence of our choices. I guess, that's why a genuine friend would do - help the friend to think when he/ she is unable to do the thinking properly. However, don't forget that - we could be making assumptions, too.... the lack of info that could be critical to the choice! Hence, probing responses would be critical to be helpful. On the other hand, when we apply the same for ourselves, we are fully aware the limitations behind the possible moves. 

LINK

[F-Diary] #31b WED 25 SEP - Marathon Meetings

It's been a long time since... that my schedule for the day is packed with just meetings... back to back... Those were the hay days - where I was managing several FS@SG projects, meetings after meetings... evolving plans and implementations. Indeed, I quite enjoy those days, though they were stressful and jam-packed. 

Actually, I enjoyed that!

Yesterday, have 6 meetings back-to-back, except one with an hour break in-between. Time flew. 

Today's meeting indeed is more intensive, and I'm involved in 4 items, of which 3 solo pieces :)

Is it payback time? Hm... my payback time? OR those who need to do some work's payback time? I don't know... but what I know is, anything not done will contribute to "payback"... and it could be extremely stressful.

Strangely, it's a sense of achievement at the end of each day, after seeing so much could be accomplished. 

🤭🤗

[F-Diary] #31a WED 25 SEP - Ops! The MRT train is stalled

Took this photo while waiting for transport to go home after the day's meeting. 

The train was there since morning, around 9.30 am - due to power trip caused by a faulty train that had served for more than 30 years. Hm... I can't believe it! More than 30 years? We are testing the endurance of the public transport... ok... land public transport? OR It's the confidence we had on the product. Cars have a certain lifespan - which had to be scrapped after they "expired" (a term I borrowed from my Bhutanese students). Buses, too, I believe. Airplanes, definitely - in Singapore. "Old" enough planes are sold off to others. What's the average age of the SIA fleet? I believe it's less than 15 years! To maintain that kind of standard known worldwide.

Why an over 30-year-old train is still in service while the new trains were progressively brought into service. Very puzzling (?).  

[F-Diary] #28 SUN 22 SEP - 4 full weeks

Time flies.

I have been on hospitalisation leave for 4 full weeks!

I thought I could accomplish a lot of things (other than work) when it just started.

Not really... I've been quite busily engaged with work.

Life is never dull. The only concern is... too little time to do what's needed to be done - some of these are meaningful works that I do not wish to be left out.

Living life to the fullest possible - though at a slower pace...

[F-Diary] #19 FRI 13 SEP - 1st mission completed

I did this before.... considered once to twice a year. What is special this year is - though each year is I'll do so this part single-handedly; this time, it's really literally single (left-) handedly to get the Structured Revision spreadsheet up - and professionally formatted. I am proud of myself 😅

[F-Diary] #18 THU 12 SEP - It's Doraemon

BLUE was chosen for practical reason - amongst other opinions - less obvious when it becomes dirty. However, a spark came when I was looking at my cast...  from different angles - It looks like Doraemon's 圆（援）手 🤣

I wish this 圆（援）手 will find its way to be really helpful ☺️

Indeed, it's also the first time I disclosed my injury in the social media. 

• Those not so sharp guessed the "riddle" correctly.
• Those who probably came across fracture, be it self or others, guessed very quickly something was not right.
• ❤️‍🩹

[F-Diary] #17b WED 11 SEP - On the road

Today, I spent close to 1.5 hours on the road - both ways, to and fro.

Struck a conversation with both Grab drivers - on pretty diverse topics - and were pretty interesting. 

Both were curious what's SST? and therefore did a quick introduction, using the simplest layman words to explain how it takes in its students and what part of the curriculum differentiates itself from others.

From HOME to SST (noon):

• We spoke about education system, how the approach has changed over time - how children learn. He shared the difference between how he learnt Maths in the past compared to how his child learns today. 
• One contrast is learning in the past seemed to emphasise on production and outcomes, also tended to require one to commit to memory; which he noticed one big difference.
• I was curious why the car came through the Street 45 carpark instead of the one facing Avenue 9. There was also a change in the route he took - it seemed that there was an option. 
• There, I learnt the it is not necessary for the driver to follow the proposed route by the system. 
• The driver also shared that the system offers 2 different modes that he can choose to accept a job - one is auto accept, the other is manual accept.
• As his setting is of manual setting, hence, he knows my destination.

From SST to HOME (evening): 

• Skillsfuture was the main topic in the journey. The driver shared how his wife had attended a pastry/ cake baking where she learnt the Japanese art in baking. Nevertheless, he doubted the usefulness when his wife now hardly apply teh skills learnt.
• Other courses he came across was wine tasting course and other cooking course.
• He also noted some skills like driving - remains largely handle by the bigger enterprises.
• He also shared that attending Skillsfuture course has also evolved to become a dating activity.

[F-Diary] #17a WED 11 SEP - Back for Business

Went back last Monday to tidy up my desk... getting the stuff and table ready for the relief teacher.  

Today, was back for more a more serious matter, a meeting that matters not so much to me, but for my jobholders. Had prepared the necessary since last week. Jumped in the opportunity when offered an option to attend online. For such meetings, regardless what, face-to-face is certainly more effective. 

I felt energetic, actually. 

I felt that missed the meeting.

Actually, I had not stopped working though I could choose to leave everything behind for a while and take a break. Given hospitalisation leave, it's as good as rest at home instead of occupying a bed there.

Somehow, I could not bring myself to do it - pause everything. Yes, I remember this - no one is indispensable. However, by choosing not to touch work could result in lots of inconveniences to others. Why should I create this inconvenience when I'm capable of doing some of these keyboard work? I guess, it's about responsibility?

At the same time, I've also openly declared FOMO - I don't know what it means only until this tear of missing out just kicks in.

Now, it's as good as working from home WFH (again). Yup, working from home is never about idling. Instead, I'm doing more work.