Sunday 5 November 2023

Home stuff

It has been a busy couple of months, not too sure where the time has gone. Slowly making my way through all the admin, dental check ups, health check ups. It feels like it's never ending.

Put together some almond butter and sauerkraut. Also, obsessed with these pickled beets.






Monday 23 October 2023

Sydney

 Long weekend in Sydney. Birthdays and visitors






Monday 2 October 2023

Happy Mooncake Festival

 



The luxury mooncake business in Hong Kong is big business. There's also more awareness being brought to the millions of mooncakes and mooncake packaging that ends up in landfill. In my efforts not to waste mooncakes, I've managed to eat two so far.

Saturday 16 September 2023

Blur

I know I say this A LOT, but since returning to Hong Kong, time has felt like it's motoring by at an unenjoyable rate. I think it's the combination of being at work, being busy at work, and not really having many holidays to look forward to. As a result, my weeks feel like they go by so fast. The same monotony. Wake up at 6, go to the gym, sit in the sauna, head into the office before 8. Remember to take a breath, have some water, go for a walk, maybe buy some groceries. Actually, work isn't bad at all, the lack of mobile phones and Red Zones in the office definitely makes it feel like it's more intense than it really is. Leave the office by 6:30, try to make it home by 7:30. Friday comes along, the weekends pass in the blink of an eye and it's Sunday evening. A lot of my weekends results in being admin, life admin, so much life admin. Visiting the bank, trying to see medical specialist, laundry, doing things I can't be bothered doing during the week.

That being said, I have been reconnecting with a lot of friends. The interactions are different, they're less about being out at 10 pm having your fifth drink of the evening. It's more about casual lunches, home cooking, and just general chit-chat. We're getting older. 

Also, had some visitors in town which was nice. Relatives visiting the Jordan, Kowloon side which was nice, as well as a certain somebody else passing through. I wonder if that's why the weeks feel like they move by so fast. I have a new rule, no more than events after 3 during the week. 


Here's some screenshots of a recent 24-hour holter monitor. Some interesting stats from this all, looks like my heart rhythm has changed in the last 12 months. It also could still be changing.


 



Sunday 27 August 2023

The Twins

Hong Kong, the home of many hikes, non more intimidating than the Hong Kong Island "Twins". 




Sunday 20 August 2023

Bali

Being invited, or not invited to a wedding works both ways. Sometimes you may be surprised at being invited to a wedding. Sometimes you're not invited to a wedding, maybe it isn't a case of being surprised or disappointed. The challenges of keeping a short guest list is not lost on me. There was a time in my younger years where I would see an invitation and say "Oh, that's nice, they're getting married, I did not expect getting an invite"; I found myself selectively declining invites. Not to say that I had the luxury of picking and choosing weddings to attend, but that was when the social circles were larger and people at our age were getting married. Being based in London also meant that a lot of weddings were back in Sydney and the cost of travel was something that I had to think twice about. 

Fast forward now, most of the friends are married, the frequency of weddings in my social circle has slowed down (we're in our 40s) and now that I think about it, there's not too many more invites or wedding that I really expect. With that in mind, I was truly a surprise when I was invited to a friend's wedding earlier this year. I knew that he had gotten engaged but we'd lost touch over the last couple of years. The wedding would turn out to be a small wedding of 60 people. The groom shared that he really  appreciated our friendship during the early stages when he moved to Hong Kong. What did this look like, it meant emailing him on his work phone during a time of whatsapp to keep him abreast of weekend/social activities. It's interesting to see how little gestures can mean so much to others.

Weddings do feel more special as you get older. So here I am heading to Bali with negative annual leave. Lots of highlights here, the pre-wedding Stag party on the Saturday. I didn't really know many people in attendance, bar a handful of old friends. It was nice catching up with old friends, meeting all the guests, the upside to a smaller wedding, a lot more intimate (duh) but fuller conversations and maybe some new friends. Plenty of relaxation which was also nice.











 





Friday 14 July 2023

The Public system

Tightness in the chest, tingles in the left arm, weird feeling in the throat. Not sure if it's the fact that I'm currently reading "Outlive" and am super paranoid, but I eventually decide to go to the doctor to make sure something funny isn't going on. It's a weird thing when you're searching Googlemaps to try to find "the best" public hospital. In the end, I settle for the hospital closest to where I live. 

It's 8 pm on a Wednesday and the only available doctors are those in the A&E. There's a western couple also registering, the sign at the counter says the wait will be approximately 3 hours, I register and pay 180 HKD to see the first available doctor. I'm happy that I've brought my backpack, with my meds and my kindle. After 20 minutes, I see the triage station. I tell them my symptoms, they ask if I want a wheelchair. I decline. The A&E, is busy. Everybody is wearing a mask, some 5 odd patients lie in hospital beds, another 3 or 4 patients are in wheel chairs, the other 20 patients sit in the waiting area. It takes me around an hour to see the doctor, my blood pressure looks normal, but my heart rate is flagged. They take a chest x-ray and draw blood and touch and listen to my internals. I explain that I'm currently experiencing a bout of Shingles.

It's almost 10 pm by the time the x-ray and blood results have returned. I'm told there's no risk of cardiac episode or a stroke, that's a relief. But there's something odd with my blood test, something about my renal function. As such, they want to admit to the hospital to make sure everything is ok. That's both a relief and a new twist. The room is shared and the average age is probably 70 years old. TVB is blasting in the background, some patients are trying to sleep, some cough, most are on their phones. I change into my robes and they hook me up at a ECG. I'm given a chamber pot and some water. I wish I had brought a phone charger and a toothbrush. I email my new boss and let him know the latest with the situation, first week, already taking sick leave.

I ask about when I'm taking a urine test as I want to take my Shingles antiviral. There's a little bit of confusion around the issuance of medication and the fact that the medication does not have a used by date. After some convincing I am permitted to continue my course of antivirals.

I barely sleep that night, it's noisy and the nurses wake me throughout the night to check my temperature and blood pressure. It's a hard night, and i'm up again at 6 am. Breakfast is served at 7 am, medication is issued at 8 am and the doctor does rounds at 9 am. I'm told that the two concerns are my heart, which they plan to give me beta blockers to try and calm the ectopics and that my kidney readings are still high which the advice is to drink more water today and they will consider an IV if the readings don't come back in line. I ask about possible discharge dates, the doctor says that if things look good tomorrow, perhaps a Friday discharge.

I spend the day browsing the internet, reading, waiting for meals and chatting with my neighbour, he fainted at work and the ambulance brought him to the closest hospital. My kindle has 20% battery left and my phone as 30%, I ration both. They take more blood samples, and take a urine sample. I've gotten used to expelling waste in my bed. I'm starting to get a little restless in this ward. To the right of me, the man checks out he bids farewell to the room. There's some smiles, and some envy from the other patrons. I fear some people in this ward won't ever leave. 

From 6 pm-8pm is visiting hours.  It's nice to see people visit patients. Gifts are brought, fruit, noodles, books, teas. It's a nice moment. I read a little more and finish my book. I sleep with a t-shirt covering my eyes and much better that evening. Thankfully Albert, my neighbour has lent me his phone charger.

The following morning is the same routine, morning medication, breakfast, blood test. The doctor comes by and says as long as my blood work looks ok, I should be discharged by this afternoon. This is a relief. The morning passes slowly, I become fascinated with my heart rate on beta blockers, it's low, and I can see that every regular beat is followed by an ectopic. The nurse comes by after lunch and tells me I'm ok to be discharged, I'll just need to wait until 2 pm. 

At 2 pm I change and pack my things up. I'm grateful for the care that has been provided during this time. The nurses and doctors albeit overworked were completely professional and tireless. After 2 whole evenings, multiple blood and urine tests and medication my final bill came to 240 HKD. Wow.