Monday, August 3, 2009

Shingles





I have.....Shingles! OMG....

It started out as one mosquito bite looking thing, then the number of those things increased till it looked like this..

According to National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke :

What is Shingles?

Shingles (herpes zoster) is an outbreak of rash or blisters on the skin that is caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox — the varicella-zoster virus. The first sign of shingles is often burning or tingling pain, or sometimes numbness or itch, in one particular location on only one side of the body. After several days or a week, a rash of fluid-filled blisters, similar to chickenpox, appears in one area on one side of the body. Shingles pain can be mild or intense. Some people have mostly itching; some feel pain from the gentlest touch or breeze. The most common location for shingles is a band, called a dermatome, spanning one side of the trunk around the waistline. Anyone who has had chickenpox is at risk for shingles. Scientists think that in the original battle with the varicella-zoster virus, some of the virus particles leave the skin blisters and move into the nervous system. When the varicella-zoster virus reactivates, the virus moves back down the long nerve fibers that extend from the sensory cell bodies to the skin. The viruses multiply, the tell-tale rash erupts, and the person now has shingles.

Is there any treatment?

The severity and duration of an attack of shingles can be significantly reduced by immediate treatment with antiviral drugs, which include acyclovir, valcyclovir, or famcyclovir. Antiviral drugs may also help stave off the painful after-effects of shingles known as postherpetic neuralgia. Other treatments for postherpetic neuralgia include steroids, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, and topical agents.

In 2006, the Food and Drug Administration approved a VZV vaccine (Zostavax) for use in people 60 and older who have had chickenpox. When the vaccine becomes more widely available, many older adults will for the first time have a means of preventing shingles. Researchers found that giving older adults the vaccine reduced the expected number of later cases of shingles by half. And in people who still got the disease despite immunization, the severity and complications of shingles were dramatically reduced. The shingles vaccine is only a preventive therapy and is not a treatment for those who already have shingles or postherpetic neuralgia.

What is the prognosis?

For most healthy people who receive treatment soon after the outbreak of blisters, the lesions heal, the pain subsides within 3 to 5 weeks, and the blisters often leave no scars. However, shingles is a serious threat in immunosuppressed individuals — for example, those with HIV infection or who are receiving cancer treatments that can weaken their immune systems. People who receive organ transplants are also vulnerable to shingles because they are given drugs that suppress the immune system.

A person with a shingles rash can pass the virus to someone, usually a child, who has never had chickenpox, but the child will develop chickenpox, not shingles. A person with chickenpox cannot communicate shingles to someone else. Shingles comes from the virus hiding inside the person's body, not from an outside source.

What research is being done?

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and other institutes of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) conduct shingles research in laboratories at the NIH and also support additional research through grants to major medical institutions across the country. Current research is aimed at finding new methods for treating shingles and its complications.

So be on the watchout and don't be fooled man.... it's supposed to be treated within the first 48 hours, else it'll get bad.. like mine.. it hurts!


Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Congratulations!!

Heartiest Congratulations goes out to Flora and Desmond Chong on the birth of their BEAUTIFUL baby boy Joshua Chong. May the Lord love and protect him, be his guide, his comfort and strength, and bless him with wisdom courage and strength.

You'll make wonderful parents! :)

Amen!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

:)

:D

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Monash Music Festival follow up

Guys, If you missed this, you should find a wall, and bang your head on it repeatedly. IT WAS ABSOLUTELY AWESOMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There were awesome goodie bags, the FOOD was great, GAMES were entertaining, the FLEA MARKET was superb, and the PERFORMANCES were MIND BLOWING!!!!!!

Despite the blazing heat of the sun, people still flooded in. Laughter and happy chatter were heard from beggining to end. 

The cheering and enthusiastic jumping and dancing just drew more and more people into the crowed during the battle of the bands and performances. These talents held nothing back, feeding their audience with nothing but the best.

For those who decided they'd rather be somewhere else or do something else instead of attending the festival, my sympathy goes out to you. You missed what could be the best festival EVER!

Monday, April 27, 2009

boyfriends...

It's so nice having a boyfriend... He makes you honey lemon when you're sick and holds you close to him till you fall asleep... I FRIGGIN LOVE YOU SHANEIL RAMON DEVASER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Awkward....

Yup....it's was painfully scarily awkward.......

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Monash Music Festival

Photobucket

How can you miss an event as exciting as this?! Come guys! Crossing Boundaries will be playing! There will be games, performances, food and FUN FUN FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Date : 25th April 2009
Venue: Monash University, Sunway Carpark
Time : 12pm-12am

Jump, scream and dance along to your very own mini Sunburst for Only RM 15! (To purchase tickets, click here)

Bands for the day will be :
.Love Me Butch
.Seven Collar T-Shirt
.Ben's B*tches
.Diplomats of Drum
.Prema Yin
.Seven
.Indka
.Bus Company
.Beat the System
.Bedroom Sanctuary
.Jin Hackman

-Monash Bands-
. CROSSING BOUNDARIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
. Anti-Thesis
. Freeloaders

If you're still not convinced, take a look at THIS
Also, do keep yourself updated HERE


SEE YOU THERE! :)

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Allergies..

Here's the deal. My lips are very sensitive. Any slight switch of lip balms or lip products sets off a big allergy. My lips get dry and itchy, then start peeling and since it's peeling and I start to peel it, thus causing it to be raw and VERY painful. 

Strangely, only the lip balms from Body Shop work. Unfortunately, the balms come in a little tub like container, and thus I have to use my finger to apply it on my lips, and it's quite inconvenient when you don't have clean fingers to apply it with. 

Thus, I set out to look for a chap stick instead. For convenience sake that is. First, I tried this...

It was cheap and so I bought it. BIG MISTAKE. It made allergies worse. So I went to Body Shop in Mid Valley to try to look for a chap stick version of the lip balm. 

I saw this one, but it cost RM38.90, which was kinda beyond my budget. However, it was for a good cause. It's to ais in the 'Stop Violence at Home' Campaign. The idea is that you will give it to your friend or share it with a friend and by doing that, you kill two birds with one stone. Awareness is created and you get to use the product.

I also saw this. RM 19. But I was scared that the butter in the thing might cause further damage. So I decided not to. 

Next, I looked at the Skin Foods one. RM 23.90. Yup. I just walked outta there withought a second thought.


As Shaneil and I waked into The Face Shop, he got a call, and so he left me to look. By this time, my lips were burning and I was in a lot of pain. So as the salesgirl showed me the stick, I bought it. RM 19.90. But as soon as I opened it, it was pink! Oh No! But I had to put it on anyway. 

Shaneil took one look at me and laughed his arse off. To my horror, he told me it was neon pink! Dammit! Neon pink?! 

So today Shaneil and I set off to Pyramid after church, we headed straight to Body Shop, and there was so much more choice! There was this, which contained no butter,


And this Aloe Vera one which was lip repairing, and targeted to people with very sensitive skin. The vitamin E one was RM 19.90, while the Aloe Vera was RM 32. 

I decided to go with the repair. AND IT WORKS!

So now Shaneil and I have this theory. I am allergic to vaseline/ petroleum jelly. I asked the girl what differentiates their products from others, and she told me that they don't use that in their products. 

:D







Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Ah, he must be joking!

It's never easy to take anyone seriously on April's Fool Day, which is why nobody believed it when we were told our only 8-10 class for the day was cancelled. 

We thought the lecturer was pulling a fast one on us. But after at least half an hour, we realised this was no joke. Slowly, fierce cursing could be heard from all corners of the room. 

What an April's fool I am... Oh well....

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Wanna run a marathon?

Come run it with me!

Haha! Yesterday was technically my first day back to school since there was no class on monday. My first class was at 8am. All excited the night before, I set my alarm for 6.30 am thinking, I definately wont snooze since I'll be up and about with excitement. Yeah right.

The next morning, the alarm rang at 6.30am, but my hand automatically reached out and snoozed it till at 7.10 I jumped up in panic, and quickly ran around the room getting ready. My mind was rushing me, but my body decided that it would work extra slow that day. So by the time I was ready it was 7.45am. Oh no! From PJ to Sunway, there would be a massive jam on the federal! Even taking the NPE was out of the question since it would be jammed closer to school.

So what to do? We drove down to PJ Old Town, where the Kg Dato Harun Station was. &.56am! But to get to the station, you need to walk in using a 5 minute short cut. So I fast walked in, and crossed the bridge just in time as the train arrived, hopped in, and realized, oh no! I don't know which stop to stop at. 

I tried calling Lydia, but connection was very bad. So I just looked out the window to see what looked familiar. AHA! there it is! 2 stops from Dato Harun. I got off, and ran all the way from the station at the back of my school to the front where my class was. 

I reached class at 8.07am. Whew! Only to find that the lecturer wasn't there... he came in at 8.20.... I was super exasperated! But in the end the day was quite enjoyable I'd have to say. :)

At night, I watched 7 pounds. It's a very good movie actually.  :)

Tonight I'm going to Jason Miraz's concert!!!!!!!!! And so is someone I'm not exactly too fond of bumping into.... Yikes.. but I'm still going to a concert!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

I miss Audrey...We all had our random moments of turning to each other and asking "Where's....oh...."(Where's Audrey? but we realised she's in Aussie). Sigh.

I'M GOING TO JASON MRAZ'S CONCERT!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! :D

Friday, February 20, 2009

JOB OFFER!!!

Anyone and everyone!!!!

The company I work for, Malaysian Mosaics Berhad are in dire need of a :-

web designer who knows Photoshop and Illustrator

or

graphic designer who knows Flash and Dreamweaver

They are DESPERATE. please please, if you know anyone who needs a job, wants a job, or if you want the job, please do get in contact with me.

email me at : denisechhoa@hotmail.com

Thank you. :)

Monday, February 16, 2009

To one of my best friends.....

This is from my friend Gary's blog. This is dedicated to someone I love who's going through a rough time....


To My Friends Who Are............HEARTBROKEN
給我心碎的朋友們
Heartbreaks last as long as you want and cut as deep as you allow them to
心碎的時間和傷害的深度,完全取決於你自已。
go. The challenge is not how to survive heartbreaks but to learn from them.
難的是,如何從中學習,而不是從傷痛中爬起。

I love you my sweetheart... please be strong.

Valentines 09








My Valentines was sweet.. :) It started off boring cos I was working, but since my bosses were off, I had absoulutely nothing to do from 9-12.3opm. I can't access Facebook at work you see....
Then Shaneil picked me up, and we headed to Jaya 33 for a nice Subway lunch, and to do valentines dinner shopping.

After rushing back to his place to put the meat in the fridge, we continued the mad rush to church for worship practise.

We got back to his place, where he presented me with a beautiful red rose! I was so touched, and felt so appreciated. I thanked him, went to the room to change, and as I came out, he surprised me with another pink rose! Hahaha!

But that wasn't it! on the dining table, was a silver box. I opened it, and found 2 beautiful freshly baked cupcakes which we ate for dessert(I forgot to take a picture of that), and the most beautiful bracelet ever!

Then at night, we cooked our V'day dinner. Mashed potatoes, mushroom soup, cabbage, basil fish(which turned out to be quite an edible disaster) But Shaneil saved the day! He defrosted and cooked the other fish in 20 mins!! And it tasted wonderful! He's really quite a cook!
We ended the day with 3 episodes of 'House' and some wonderful white wine, Paul Masson, Chablis, Californian white wine.

This has got to be the best Valentines ever! Makes me appreciate the fact that I have such a wonderful person in my life. I love you Shaneil Devaser and I always will. Thank you for everything. :*

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Jumping off a building....

I am so friggin bored~~~~~~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WTH!!!!!!!!!!! Why do ppl even set working Saturdays if there is no friggin work?!!!! ARRRRRRRRGHHHHH!!! I'm so bored I feel like jumping off a building!


P.S. Happy Valentines! I love being kissed awake... :D Thank you for remembering Bum Bum!!! :*

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

:(

My Audrey's gone.... :( I miss her already....*sniff sniff* 

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

I was BITTEN!!!!!!!!!!

.............By an unidentifiable insect.... this was because it was, "ouch!" *pulled it off, steped on it and smashed it till i knew it must certainly be dead* Thus, unidentifiable. But the pain was terrible! I could hardly walk to the car. at first, it was just the middle to that was swollen.


It bit the top of my middle toe you see.....Then it started swelling..... and swelling incredibly fast! Shaneil's dad asked me to quickly pop in an anti-histermine, and put my foot in ice.

So i did, then took a rest. When I woke, it had spread further down my foot.
By night, it was up to my leg, swelling my calf and so I had to go see a doctor. Thank God for relatives, Shaneil's uncle lived just downstairs, so he examined my foot, and gave me some gream and asked me to carry on taking Zyrtec.




The next day wasn't any better.... so he gave me stronger meds, and asked me to rest it.


Finally today, even though it's slightly swollen, at least I don't have to walk around retardedly! Wuahahahha!

For those who took care of me (Shaneil), for those who were my medical advisories (Dr. Krishen and Dr. Daljit), for those who prayed for me (Mom, Dad, Candice, Victor and anyone else), for those who were concerned (A. Christianne, Regina, Rachel, Joyce, etc,)

THANK YOU!!!!

Then Came Saturday...

Saturday was the company's CNY open house. For those of you who don't know, I am interning in Malaysian Mosaics til the end of February.


Dad came up of course, and oh yeah... dad's the director of this company. He watches my every move.... wahahahahh! Na lah.. sort of only...


Straight after CNY open house, Shaneil and I headed to band practise in St Mary's Cathedral.

After practise, I spotted a saga seed tree, and I decided to pick a few for some art work.

And i think, that may have been a bad idea...

To Be Continued....

Thank God it's Friday!

Cos fridays are Faith Station days! This week, there was pizza! And sharing of course :D



Remember remember, the 5th of november!

Friday, February 6, 2009

It's easier to....

Why is it easier to
.....hate than to love?
.....cry than to laugh?
.....be mean than be nice?
......hurt others than encourage?
......laugh at people's failures than to help them pick them up?
......be jealous and envious than thankful?
......flare up than understand?
......be bitter than joyful?
......hit someone than hug them?
......frown than smile?
......hold a grudge than say sorry?

Why is it so hard for people to just do the right thing? Why?
*sigh* It's so sad....

Thursday, January 29, 2009

I miss home!!!

AAh! Why did I come back up so early?
Why did I agree to work?
I miss my family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Today

1. Today I am anticipating the arrival of my dad....

2. Today, I am wishing Audrey didn't have to go... Things'll be so different.. there'll be a missing piece where the puzzle pieces are supposed meet....

3. Today, I am so excited and happy for Desmond and Flora cos they're having a boy!

4. Today, I am restless

5. Today, I am feeling hungry and bloated..

6. Today, I miss my family...

7. Today, I miss school life. I have decided that I prefer school life compared to the working life...the schedule is free-er...

8. Today, I realised the many hardships my dad and mom go through raising me...

9. Today, I am greatful for anyone and everyone who loves me...

10. Today, I pressed White coffee instead of milo on the machine... bluek....

11. Today, I mourn for those who have lost loved ones and hope with those who are praying for their loved ones to stay alive...

12. Today, I my thoughts are random...

13. Today, I am wondering why humans are so selfish...

14. Today, I wish it was friday night already...

15. Today, I wish I was old enough to get married and be pregnant with my first baby....

16. Today, I want to watch Heroes..

17. Today, just as everyday, I think Shaneil Devaser is the most handsome person in the world. Beautiful inside out. ;P

18. Today, I think it's time to step out of my comfort zone.... slowly... It's time I was more confident of myself, and my actions. Of course, this means actions should be within a responsible circle.

19. Today, I think I should use my God-given talents....

20. Today is Wednesday. :)

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Overdressed

Today is the day Denise Chhoa Teng Nee overdressed. Hehe...oh well.. :)

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

How to enjoy the worst meal possible...











WARNING: Never go to the steamboat place(Flaming Steamboat) next to Jaafars in Sunway(Next to Sunway Pyramid)
Fly eggs were swimming with the tau fu and glass noodles, veges and cutlery not washed properly.. other people's food poisoning dinner still stuck hard on them, food totally not fresh, EXTREMELY unworthily EXPENSIVE.. it says RM19.90 per adult, they charged us RM20.90, fon due and some weird dip as well as marshmellows and ice kacang stuff stale, soups tasted yucky and mixed into each other, and the stupid thing was that the "buffet" was the smallest one I've seen yet. Even their cooked food was disgustingly cold and soggy.

Last night I learnt that with wonderful company, anything is edible.
Of course there are consequences la...(cirit birit)
Now why did we still eat there? Beats me.. maybe cos it was the only steamboat place we could go to in that area and we'd been waiting ages for Jerry to finally be able to eat steamboat with us... and last night was the night...

P.S. Of course, it's wiser to take the company somewhere where you cant get food poisoning...hehe...even if steamboat is what you want to eat....

Living on the edge has it's consequences.... :P

Monday, January 12, 2009

Attitude

Here's a lil something I read from my orientation material today.

Unsuccessful people are generally unhappy and pessimistic, they are usually skeptical and negative towards sucess and anything they do.

"There is little difference in people, but that difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative."
(W. Clement Stone)

Cheers to the start of a New Year!

P.S. "A winner is someone who recgonizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses the skills to accomplish goals."
(Larry Bird)

Thursday, January 1, 2009

2009 is here!

Hello people!
Updates will come soon.
Blessed new Year to one and all!