2 weeks in Hanoi

This has been my longest trip back in Hanoi since I moved to Saigon. And it's winter time! The weather was perfect... Not too cold yet. I have always liked living in Hanoi and thought I would prefer Hanoi to Saigon but the truth is I have never truly 'lived' in Hanoi. It has always been about 'work'. Weekends was very often spent at the office. Friends consist of mainly colleagues. Housemates were colleagues. Conversations were always about work and office. Well, I guess now my preference has changed.

I had a good time to myself since the hubby is busy completing his thesis and meeting professors after professors. I spent my time going to yoga & pilates every other day. Did some acupunture sessions with Ms. Thuy at Yakushi Center. Had 2 good massages there as well. Very good business there.. Had 6 hair washes at different salons ranging from 50k-150k.. just trying to experiment their services and to my disappointment the cheapest salon actually gave me the best service! and she looked surprised when I tried to tip her. Well, apparently people do not tip so much in Hanoi as compared to Saigon.  Watched a French movie at Vincom and has countless number of hot lattes... feels so good to have a warm coffee in my hands during winter..

Had a great time on Christmas eve touring Hanoi with some ex-colleagues as if we are tourists... Visited the places I have brought visitors who came to visit me...went to the Temple of Literature and met the 3 Ly Kings (statue of cos), Saint Joseph Cathedral and saw beautiful Christmas story carved on the walls, had a delicious meal at the famous Bun Cha Hang Manh, told the story of the returned sword again at Hoan Kiem lake, had coffee while overlooking the beautiful lake, and typical hotpot at Truc Back lake like a Vietnamese on the floor.

Some changes since two years back:
- Airport taxis charges almost double. Used to pay VND160k, now it's VND315k... wah lau...
- The hairdresser & waxist at my regular salon (Hair Workshop at Hanoi Tower) has left to open their own shops now.. and Hair Workshop looks totally revamped
- My favourite pho stall has turned into a hair salon
- Xe om to Tay Ho now costs double as well...
- Hoan Kiem lake looks cleaner now after a cleanup by the goverment




Best view of Hoan Kiem Lake

   



Thien Quang Lake

 



Walls at St. Joseph's Cathedral (can u see my name??)

  

Postcrossing

There is something magical about receiving mails that comes with stamps...

Vietnam hospitals

I was ranting about my hospital experiences recently. The stories that I hear from my husbands and his doctor friends are true.

There has been many articles about it recently on vietnamnet.vn.

About the 'super-fast one minute medical examinations' given by doctors, causing doctors to rely on machine generated diagnosis which can be inaccurate!
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/en/special-report/16180/super-fast-medical-examination--one-minute-per-patient-.html
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/en/special-report/16272/super-fast-medical-examination--patients-suffer-the-consequences.html

About the mystery 'envelopes' that patients have to give to the doctors and nurses to receive better care (and not necessary proper care):
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/en/special-report/15730/-envelope--and-medical-ethics.html

Vietnam hospitals are EXTREMELY crowded:
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/en/vietnam-in-photos/12236/vietnamese-hospitals-extremely-overloaded.html

Patients wait for hoursss to see the doctor for a minute. They have questions but daren't ask. Those who did ask never got their complete answers. They leave with a list of prescriptions not knowing whey they need them for. Are they being naive? They are never given an opportunity to understand their disease. Whatever the doctor says has to be right. Patients don't get to make any decisions.

Doctors see an aversge of a hundred patients each day. Their monthly salary can be comparable to a maid's salary. They have no motivation to work. Is it ethical for them to receive those 'envelopes' from patients? You tell me. I don't really know anymore. Can you feed your family with a salary of USD150? Yea, u might think poor families do it all the time... Would you ever imagine a doctor as one of those poor families?

This situation in Vietnam can be so complicated that I wonder how the government can clean it up... It saddens me to read about it and am very grateful that I have an option to get better treatment at a private hospital (though not as proper as back home in Malaysia). But yet, it is still lacking at private hospitals.

I pray that one day my other half will fulfil his dream to initiate a proper hospital in this country for his people.

Postcrossing

Despite the disappointment yesterday, I did have a happy moment when I got home.

I received my first Postcrossing stamp from Netherlands!

If you've never heard of Postcrossing, checkout it out! - 'send a postcard and receive a postcard back from a random person somewhere in the world'.

It has been fun sending and receiving postcards from a random person in a random country. I'm a stamp lover. I haven't been actively collecting since highschool. Now postcrossing has reactivated my interest.

Just last October, Post Netherlands launched a real stamp featuring Postcrossing and I am delighted to receive one so soon from someone random in Netherlands! It made my day! :)

I also received a postcard from Russia with these beautiful stamps just a few days ago...



FET cycle cancelled

Sigh... The bleeding did not stop. My lining did not grow from the last ultrasound. Cycle cancelled.

Lining measurements:
Day 6 - 4mm
Day 11 - 7mm
Day 12 - 6mm
Day 15 - 6mm

It was another young new doctor who saw me today at the hospital. I've never seen her before. Dr Linh was just walking around. I assume she was also suppose to 'watch over' the young doctors.

When it was my turn, the young doctor was nice enough to use some ultrasound gel but it did hurt quite a bit.. guess she is not so experienced yet. Dr Linh had a 2 second look and said 'continue taking the pills' and was about to walk away when I stopped her and said I have been bleeding for 2 weeks. She had a surprised look and I repeated myself. Then she said 'Omg' and had a closer look and also started looking at my papers.

Well, so she suggested that I should stop now as the lining isnt growing even though I am taking a high dosage of Progynova already. I could continue and the lining will probably grow with time but it might not be a good lining for pregnancy. Since my lining was really good in my last cycle, she thinks my body could do better next time.

She said I should come back next month and then she had another thought and said their lab and department will be closed for the month of January for Tet holidays (Chinese New Year). Vietnamese has the same new year celebraetion as the Chinese and its their biggest celebration of the year. But closing for the whole month?? Public holiday is only 4 days! This means I have to wait until February...

Two months seems so long to wait...

Location:Home

Bleeding before FET

If you are reading this on the same day I post this, do say a little prayer for me that my bleeding will stop asap.

I have been bleeding for exactly 14 days now. I'm not sure why.

It started with my normal menstrual and I was prescribed with Progynova 2mg (4 pils a day), starting on day 2. The dosage increased to 6 pills a day from day 6 and then to 8 pills a day on day 10.

On my previous FET cycle, my menstrual ended after 4 days as usual. I did not have any spotting nor bleeding after that. So I'm a little worried that I have been having prolonged bleeding this cycle. The blood is too much to be just spotting and my abdomen feels like I'm having my period... cramps and easily tired. Was at church today and was dead tired when I came back home.

The doctor said to continue the Progynova pills and see how my lining goes. If the bleeding continues, they cannot do the ET and may have to stop the bleeding using contraceptive pills.

I'm back for ultrasound again tomorrow morning but am still bleeding today...sigh... will have to see what happens in the next few days. I don't want to cancel my ET...