Tests, meds and more tests

Test #1

Two thursdays ago (4 Nov) First, Simon noticed a small lump at his right parotid area, the area where the ear joins the face. It's a small but hard lump and he asked if there was an insect bite. Nope, there wasn't. We advised him to go to the doc the next day to check it out.

Turned out to be a tumor. After a CT scan and a fine needle biopsy, it turned out to be benign. But as there are five major nerves at the area, we decided it's best to remove it. What if the nerves grow around it in future. what it the tumour grows slowly over the years and cause complications later on...what ifs.

Made some calls, made some decisions, we're going back to Singapore in Dec to remove it. Firstly, Simon was going back to get the keys to our Bradell flat, make sure the place is nice and clean with new appliances for our new tenants (that's the responsible man for my husband). Secondly, it's covered by insurance. Thankfully, the planner husband decided we both should top up our Medishield insurance to get total coverage, otherwise it would cost about $S13,000 to remove a small 2-cm tumour and medishield will cover only about S$3k, leaving us to fork out S$10K! Or we could do the polyclinic way and wait.

Meds...for the kids

Then the kids fell sick....again. This time, it's my fault. Jon had a bit of cough and last Sat, we went out with a friend for a drive, stumbled upon the first MacDonald's drive-through in Miri, and decided to have lunch there. Jon played and had so much fun at the simple playground and woke up a sweat. Then he had some fries.

We went back, and took a nap. When he woke up, there was a yellow discharge at this left eye. Then on Sun, his touch, feely fingers meant the right eye got it too. And he developed a fever (must have caught a chill on Sat at Macs). Went to see doc on Mon. Doc said there was mucus at his sinus cavity, and as the nasal passage was blocked, it went upwards and out near the tear glands. Whoa, I thought mucus was only smart enough to come out as phlegm...but as discharge at the eye....man!

I had a cough and had promptly passed the germs to Jillian. Grandma said she noticed Jillian was breathing harder since Thu. I obviously didn't. So she was breathing so nosily on Sat night. and we decided she should go see doc too on Mon. Thank goodness the few dosage of meds was enough and she could carry on with them and didn't need to go under the nebuliser.

More tests

Dear hubs went for a dinner last Thu night and came back with the runs. He didn't tell me he had the runs since morning after the oily char kway teow, and mind you, it's not was oily as the ones we have in Singapore. If I knew, I would have reminded him not to eat too much that night. Well, he had suckling pig and what-nots.

So yesterday, when after Jon had fever for three nights and had to go back to get anti-biotics, Simon decided to see the doc. He has this issue of having the runs whenever he's stressed or what he eats foods that are too oily or rich. He thought it could be Irritable Bowel Syndrome. MIL thought it could be a gastric issue. So we decided he should do both a colonscopy as well as Endoscopy.

MIL was concerned and was afraid he could discover polyps. Polyps are common in adults and are harmless. However, most colorectal cancer begins as a polyp, so removing polyps early is an effective way to prevent cancer.

Praise God, nothing down there. Turns out that he has excessive stomach acids. Got some meds, and waiting for results 10days after.