Let’s Get Moving Into Action

I was reminded of my aim to adopt a healthier lifestyle during my walk on Saturday. Told myself that I don’t have to wait until the New Year to renew my resolution – anytime is a good time to start – and anyway, we’ve only just entered the new Islamic year. Now, I don’t run and don’t plan to but I can walk and I do walk a lot as it is (and even so now that I ride the public transportation more) so it’s just a matter of sticking to what I am currently doing and watching what I eat (admittedly harder because I have a weakness for junk food).

Err, no, I don’t. I just walk

Only in Malaysia do people look down on you if you ride the bus. In Europe, most people in the cities ride public transportation or cycle to work. Here’s Poldi taking the local bus in London

When I last went for a massage, the masseuse asked me if I knew why some women get bigger at the hips as they get older. I wondered if it was because of childbirth and diet and she said yes to that and added also because these women hardly move – they just sit at their workplace or remain immobile. Wow, imagine, gaining unnecessary weight just because you don’t move! So come on, move it, move your body! Don’t be like this:

Do what you like and most comfortable with. Dance, jog, run, walk, swim, skip, cycle, whatever. But do it.

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My sister told me that she has fibroids and adenomyosis and that two gynaecologists had advised her to do a hysterectomy. I was stunned to hear this and did some quick research online. I also consulted my doctor friends (and even a friend whose sister is a doctor) for medical advice. From what little I read – and confirmed by the response I received (thank you darlings!) – both can be treated with medication so I persuaded, cajoled and advised my sister to get yet another opinion. I mean, c’mon, hysterectomy is a major step to take and it has long-term side effects. (I don’t know why God tests us the weaker sex with fibroids and cysts and breast cancer, to name just a few but He knows best.) If the surgery as to go through, it would be this week. I also asked my colleagues for recommendations on gynaes and they provided me with some names which I submitted to my sister. One of them turned out to be her previous gynae when she was pregnant with my niece.

So having made an appointment, she went to see the gynae last Saturday and was told that fibroids in general don’t hurt. As she’s feeling the pain, it could be infection or inflammation and so he said he would give some medication to arrest the pain. As for adenomyosis, he also advised medication. Not once did he mention hysterectomy.

A work colleague had a fall recently and as a result, his kneecaps are pulled out of their natural position (I’m not sure I explain that correctly). The doctor at the private hospital who examined him said he must undergo surgery and had even slotted the time for the surgery. Undeterred, he went to seek another doctor’s opinion (at a sport injury clinic) and this doctor said no surgery was necessary and gave him a glucosamine injection instead.

And this is why I don’t trust some doctors, especially at private hospitals. These are not the two instances that make me distrust them but a few other previous instances too. How ethical or professional is a doctor who proposes unnecessary procedures to his patients for the sake of money? And it doesn’t hurt to get a second, even third, opinion.

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It’s the last week of Movember. I don’t think it’s caught up here but I’m amazed at how sporting the English are. Even footballers, including some of the Gunners - when they are not firing blanks (here’s giving all of you an evil stare) - attempt to grow some kind of facial hair upon their lips with varying results but what’s important is their sporting attitude.