Bombay asks...

"Am I cute?"

"Am I cuter now?"

~Bombay

Photos courtesy of Melvin & Stephanie

Bombay insists...

"I am not lazy. I just get sleepy SOMETIMES."

Here are Bombay's 5 easy steps to a satifsying snooze:

Step 1: Find a quiet spot with lots of sun

Step 2: Streeeetch out and relax

Step 3: Help your brain shut down by thinking of repetitive, mindless things like counting your brofur's fur

Step 4: Slow, deep breathing is calming

Step 5: Ignore efurrything else and just... ZzzzZZZzzz...

~Bombay

Photos courtesy of Melvin & Stephanie

Heroes (kitty version)

Bombay: Bangles and I haf been on guard duty efurry day and efurry night to keep that bad "fever" away furrom our Foster Mommy. We don't know what that "fever" looks like, but nofing will get past us!

Bombay: Too-tee-too... All is peaceful...

Then... SUDDENLY!

Bombay: I got him! I got him! Rwoooaaawwrr!

Bombay: You'll nefer get away furrom me, you thoopid "fever"!

Bombay: Bangles! I need back-up!

Bangles: Take that! And that! And stay away furrom our Mommy!!!

~Bombay & Bangles

Photos courtesy of Melvin & Stephanie

What is the moral of this story?

This Kiwi brought many tears to my Foster Mommy's eyes.

~Bombay

I'm back! I'm back!

Dear Readers,

I'm sorry I've been away for so long. So many things have happened since I last blogged at the end of October last year.

My darling grandfather passed away unexpectedly at the start of November. I had to take some time away to grieve and help keep the rest of the family strong. I was especially worried for my grandmother. She had to be alone at home for the very first time and we all tried to help her adjust to it. We made sure she didn't have much time alone in the first few weeks. We introduced new activities to her so she would have something to do be distracted by. I'm very happy to say that she's doing alright today.

We gave my granddad the sea burial he had always wanted

Then after the shock and sorrow of my granddad's passing, a pyschotic boyfriend came into the picture. Thankfully, it all ended very quickly.

That brought me to the end of January where I I fell very ill. For a whole month, I was down with very high fever every day. It would be 39.2°C one night, 38.5°C the next morning and 40 °C that night. I was in a really terrible state. I couldn't eat at all, could barely drink any fluids. I was so weak I could not even sit up.

In the beginning, I was still able to make my way to the clinic near my house with the help of my parents. But as the days wore on, I had grown so weak that the doctor had to come to my house to treat me. Then one night he told my parents that I really should be in a hospital because he couldn't do any more for me.

Spent 9 feverish days here

So I got admitted into Alexandra Hospital. I stayed there for 9 days. The fever was still raging, but strangely it began occuring only at night. The Panadol pills they gave me were useless against the fever. The doctors ordered that blood be drawn from me multiple times a day for every conceivable test. They tested for Malaria, TB, Typhoid, even HIV. Everything came up negative.

My poor arms!

But something showed up in my blood that was exceedingly high. It was the ESR level. This is a non-specific test showing that there was a bad infection going on in my body. But what infection? The doctors didn't know.

Plastic sheet = test for TB, Plaster = wound from the many blood tests

Meanwhile, I was shivering terribly whenever the fever hit and I was getting thinner. The doctors decided that I had to go on the IV drip. They inserted the thick needle into a vein in my hand... which was fine. What was not fine was that the needle ended up going past my wrist and well into my forearm because my hand is so very small. This made it really painful to use my right hand at all. What was really really not fine was when a trainee doctor, who was trying to feel for my pulse, pressed really hard right where the tip of the needle was and promptly burst the IV needle through my vein.

Bruised and sore from the daily needles

Pain. Swelling. Drama. Now I'm left with a tender lump above that vein.

Every day I saw more needles, suffered more fever. The doctors then decided to put me on a very potent antibiotic. It's called Doxycycline. Apparently, this is such a powerful antibiotic, it is used to fight Anthrax and prolonged consumption of it could cause liver damage. Of course, the doctors didn't tell me all that. So I happily popped this magical pill which finally killed the fever in 2 days.

Poor 'needlework'

But even though the fever had gone away, the doctors still had no answers for me. They didn't know the source of the fever. They explained that most of the results from their tests turned up negative or contradictory. For example, they said that Doxycycline is used for fevers caused by bites from ticks, fleas and mites. But if those parasites were the cause of my fever, it wouldn't explain my infected lymphnodes. So they're stumped.

The doctors were reluctant to discharge me because they didn't like having a mystery fever. But finally they did and my case has been classified as FUO -- Fever of Unknown Origin.

Hand too small so IV needle relocated to forearm

Yesterday, I went back to the hospital for a check-up. Surprise, surprise! Another blood test was in order. The doctor said that everything showed up negative again, except for one new thing. It's called ANA -- Anti-Nuclear Antibodies. The normal level for it is less than 90. At the highest, it should be 110. Mine is at 265. So the doctors are concerned and said that they would need to keep monitoring me. Again, they don't know what or where this result points to. I hope it's nothing serious.

But no point speculating and worrying myself over things I can only guess at. I'm just glad to be out of the hospital and I'm recovering slowly. That awful month of fever has taken quite a toll on me so I'm still not back at full strength and tire very easily. So at the moment, I'm taking it a bit easy at work, trying to eat well and getting enough sleep every night.

I want to say Thank You to all of you who wrote in asking about me and sending in your best wishes.

To Dawn and Dell who sent a beautiful basket of the prettiest flowers to my home... Thank you!

A big Thank You to the tireless nurses at Alexandra Hospital who took such good care of me, especially Tina Ong. She knew that the nurses in the morning shift would be too busy to pay me much attention so she stayed back after her shift to cool my body down by wiping me all over with a cold compress.

To Ravi and Sandra for all the advice, trying to get me the best care and keeping a sharp eye on things in spite of your work and travel schedules... Thank you, thank you, thank you.

The biggest Thank You to my loving family and friends who came to visit me at the hospital, bringing with them generous gifts of fruits, flowers and magazines... even calling from overseas to make sure I was alright.

And a supreme, paramount, immeasurable Thank You to my Mum and Dad for being by my side every day and bringing me my favourite food... to my darling Uncle for his very generous packets of Ribena and print-outs of medical findings on my condition... to my two favourite Aunts for taking such tender care of me whenever the fever spiked, icing my forehead with a cold towel and feeding me when I was at my weakest... to my beloved grandma for the quiet tears she shed at night over me, for the prayers she chanted tireless and the homecooked food and tonic she prepared lovingly.

THANK YOU!!!

~5-Cat Style

From Project JK blog: Ginger Kitten for Adoption

As grabbed from Project JK blog tonight, dated Tuesday 20th March 2007:

On behalf of a friend, we post this appeal. There is a ginger kitten up for adoption (among, sigh, our very many on the list of all welfare groups).

Just to pass the message along, pls see below:

********************************************
Dear Friends,

I am posting this on behalf of my friend, Jules. She has a little cat in her care now. It is a two-month old ginger kitten. She's very very playful, manja and ok with dogs.

Because Jules already has a dog, she is unable to take care of the kitten for long term. The kitten was from given to her by a relative who can't handle it.

Please call me at 9048-1525 or reply to this email, if there are potential adopters for this beautiful kitten. She's a keeper when you see her.

Thank you. I hope to hear from you soon.


Warm regards,
Wei Ling

~ The Flyer

Australia Zoo

I went to Australia Zoo last week. Its something that I've always wanted to do since I first watched Steve Irwin on tele and its about the best thing I've done this year! [The previous topper would have been swimming with wild dolphins at Mornington Peninsula with 5-Cats in 2005.]

Started by the Irwin family in 1970, Australia Zoo has attained legendary status thanks to the great vision and effort of Steve & Terri Irwin and their Croc team. With Steve's sudden and tragic death last year, more than a million hearts were shattered... but so many more have been steeled to join the unceasing, selfless battle of environmental conservation.

Steve has certainly succeeded in cultivating a culture, a way of life, of mutual respect and immense love between Animal and Man in the zoo. You can feel it and see it everywhere in the zoo: the people loving the animals, and the animals loving the people. I wish this would be a more common occurrence in such artificial environments throughout the world... at least until such when when there will be no more need for zoos.

The famous Crocoseum

Sabu the Asian Elephant: One of Steve Irwin's favourite ladies. She looks like she's smiling!

Crikey!

Nothing could stop curb this man's excitement at the croc show!

Macaw: Our South American Inflight Attendent

Agro the Saltwater Croc's hideout: As famous as Stevo himself, but nowhere to be seen. Shucks!

American Freshie: What a beauty!

Showdown!

Some of the animals you could interact with at the Zoo.

Blue-Tongued Skink

Elephantasia: Home of Sabu, Siam & Bimbo





The beautiful South American Iguana

The most hygienic looking Komodo Dragon I've ever seen!

An elegant Water Monitor.

A Sexy Sunbathing Monitor

Wombats Grazing

Wombats Sleeping

Bengal Tiger: A sad 5,000 are left in the wild.

Raja & Khan: The Zoo's prized kitties

Raja (or Khan) about to play "Bamboo Flossing" with his keeper




Glad to be alive!

Tasmanian Devil: We thought he was going to jump out of his enclosure!

Until we realised that he was just eagerly waiting for his keeper so that he could snuggle into her lap!

If only more pigeons looked like that!

Rehabilitating Kooks: Rescued by the public, recuperating at the Zoo, awaiting return to the wild.

Albino Red Kangaroo @ Kangaroo Country: He actually propped himself up to be petted!

Cassowary: This femme fatale could split a man's chest in two with her manicurist's nightmare!

This handsome Dingo looked so lonely but he soon trotted off to join his family for a siesta in his cool den.

Some of the beautiful foliage around the Zoo.

Even the berries looked good! Oh, the forces that had to stop me from shoving them into my mouth!

One of the rarer birds roaming free in the Zoo.

Some of the babies at the Children's Zoo

This Kid Rocks!

Who could eat bacon after this?!!

2 American Otter sisters

These 2 girls were inseparable, synchronous sheilas! They moved, mewed and swam in such impeccably timed unison that you'd have thought you were looking at 1 otter and not 2. Talk about freaky twins!



A surprise in the trees...

A surprise in the food court...

Opera the Koala: The Supermodel of Australia Zoo

Kookaburras sitting on an Old Gum Log

Harriet's disgruntled stand-in couldn't accept that they didn't even put up his name on the sign of his enclosure [Harriet the Galapogos Tortoise was brought to England by Charles Darwin in 1831. She passed away peacefully from old age on 3rd June 2006 at the ripe old age of 176 years old.]

The beautiful Japanese Crane

~The Flyer