Terjah Hong Kong! Edisi 1

Bersama aku kali ni dalam entry Terjah Hong Kong! Edisi 1. Bukan saja-saja pergi membakar duit nih, tapi kerana tanggungjawab dan untuk memenuhi impian akademik aku. (Dah la.. aku ngaku jela aku nak cuci2 mata gak kan..)

Memandangkan aku dah bayar pun yuran pembentangan conference tu, aku pikir rugila tak pergi kan? Sambil2 menyelam minum air. Sambil2 networking cuti2 luar mesia sekali la. Dah la memang ada passport merah, lagi la mencanak2 keinginan nak tengok cop imigresen HK tu kat halaman dalam passport aku.. So off we go..

Kitorang naik dari Senai. JB-KL pastu baru KL-HK. Kebetulan tambang JB-KL, KL-JB tengah murah.. Memang senang la, takde la penat2 drive.. sampai2 LCCT lepak2 makan tgh hari dulu.. Flight lagi 3 jam, bagasi lagi 2 jam nak depart dah leh check-in. Memang takde la nak jalan jauh2.. Dalam LCCT tu je la cuci mata.. Kemudian kami check-in bagasi.. cukup masa, boarding la..

Dalam menunggu nak berlepas tu, Napi sempat pesan,"Yang, jangan lupa baca doa naik kenderaan.." katanya.. Dalam berdoa hati tengah berdebar2 ni.. Mudah2an selamat pergi selamat sampai.. Amin..

Ni aku nak habaq ni, kalau nak naik Air Asia untuk perjalanan jauh, elok sangat la invest skit amik hot seat. Nak lagi selesa amik yang dekat emergency exit, memang luas sikit berbanding hot seat lain dan standard seat. 4 jam nak melayan seat Air Asia ni.. aku yang kecik ni pun lenguh2 badan jadinya, inikan orang tinggi lampai cam Napi.. huhu.. tapi apekan daya.. ni je termampu.. Seat kitorang ni kat tengah2, betul2 sebelah sayap airbus ni..

Kitorang amik gak pre-book meal. Mahal ek? Tapi memang berbaloi. Korang bayangkan 4 jam tak makan. Memang la sebelum naik flight dah makan.. Tapi kalau dah masa makan tu satu flight bau harum semerbak.. perut sape yg tahan.. Alamatnya masa tu memang ramai la yang terpaksa bayar extra bila beli on the spot. Tapi biasanya kalau tak pre-book memang stok tak banyak, jadi ada gak yang aku tengok sampai sanggup beli Maggi cup sebab meal lain dah habis.. Sedap memang sedap.. Tapi biasa la, portion orang kita.. tecit!

Masa touchdown tu rasa lega sangat.. sebab keadaan sebelum tu berkabus.. dah la awan banyak.. memang visibility rendah.. dah la pertama kali naik flight 4 jam.. memang sangat mendebarkan..

Turun2 dah ada anjing tunggu.. Boleh lak pegawai tu tahan aku soh anjing dia "bagi salam perkenalan" kat aku.. hampeh amoi nih.. orang nak cepat nak check-in hotel lagi la ditahan2.. Kat imigresen lak ramai.. tapi laju gak la.. pas je imigresen terus capai pamplet2 kat information counter. Telefon hotel bagitau baru sampai.. Pastu gi beli octopus card kat kaunter sebelah airport express..

Tak naik pun airport express tu walaupun kitorang ni dah agak lewat.. agak2 sebab tengah feeling adventurous kekdahnye.. pi la cari terminal bas A21. Buat2 cam dah bese naik bas.. sambil2 terserlah gaya pelancong dengan menangkap gambar dalam bas hu.. Tapi memang senang naik bas.. ada wifi free, jadi dalam bas pun sempat cek stesen mana nak turun..  tak susah pun, buka Google Map je, siap ada 360 degree view, maknamya kita tengok camner rupa sebenar tempat kita nak pergi tu.  majunye hk..  tambahan lagi, dalam bas tu pun ada bagitau next station.. jadi tak baper ralat la.. ramai je bawak beg bagasi tu naik bas, jadi tak la rasa segan sangat.. ada ruang khas untuk letak beg lagipun..

Sesampai bus stop Chatham Rd South, turun la dengan beg beso tu.. Dari bus stop tu dah tak jauh dah hotel.. tak sampai pun 100 meter.. jalan sikit pastu belok kiri masuk Prat Avenue.. tu yang best tu hehe.. rasa lega sangat2 bila dah check-in.. Dan oleh kerana check-in agak lewat, bilik asal dah penuh.. isk3.. diorang bagi bilik lain.. twin bed.. tak best la kena tido asing2.. tapi yang best nya free upgrade.. dari superior kitorang dapat executive lak..

dan yang paling best.. kedai makan halal depan mata je.. Ebeneezer's!

Memang lokasi best la, Ebeneezer's depan mata.. kedai ni memang dapat persijilan halal dari badan khas, Incorporated Trustees of the Islamic Community Fund of Hong Kong. Selain tu, ada dua 7-eleven berdekatan.. dan yang memeranjatkan.. ada underground convenient store! susah nak perasan kedai ni sebab dia satu-satunya tangga turun ke bawah.. kedai lain semuanye ground level.. bukan terkejut sebab dia underground! tapi sebab dia banyak jual produk Made in Malaysia! takyah susah2 den.. tapi rege standard la ikut currency sana nye.. takleh la nak dok banding ngan rege kat Giant kat sini huhu..

Pastu makan kat Ebeneezer's tu portion beso.. jadi terkejut gak.. sampai terpaksa tebalkan muka minta tapau hehe.. nasib bek staf tu cam understanding gak.. Jadi pas kenyang perut tido la kitorang.. sok pagi nak conference.. Tapi nasib bek bukan hari presentation.. Nanti sambung citer kat Terjah Hong Kong! Edisi 2 lak..

Pernah kena Mummy Thumb?

Korang bertabah lah untuk baca artikel ni ye.. Memang panjang ya amat..

Tapi aku rasa aku pernah kena Mummy Thumb ni masa lepas lahirkan Hanif..

Hampir berbulan-bulan gak kena, cume tak sedar bila hilangnye..

Rupa2nya memang ada simptom ni.. teringat lagi dulu minta Napi urut2kan sebab tak tahan sgt sakitnya..

The Baby May Be Giving You the Mummy Thumb

by Dawn Fallik
Wednesday, December 8, 2010

provided by

Contributing to the Rise in Cases: Heavier Children, Lower Cribs, Older New Mothers, and Frequent Smartphone Scrolling.

Tara Heglar was picking up her son from his crib when the pain started, a searing sharpness on the side of her right hand.

It began when Charlie was about a month old and continued to worsen over the next half year. The snap of pain would return when she used her iPhone, lifted her son or even cradled his head while he nursed. "It felt like I had bruised my bone," says the 38-year-old Ms. Heglar, a business analyst in Concord, N.C.

Orthopedic surgeons estimate that between one-quarter and one-half of new mothers experience symptoms of De Quervain's. When common pain relievers don't ease the inflammation, patients are getting steroid injections, splints and even surgery. Ms. Heglar says she wore a splint after getting a cortisone shot and hasn't had problems since.An orthopedic surgeon diagnosed Ms. Heglar with mommy thumb, formally known as De Quervain's tendinitis, an inflammation of the tendons below the thumb down to the wrist. Although the condition has been around as long as parents have hoisted their children, doctors say a combination of heavier children, older new mothers, cribs that are lower to the floor and frequent scrolling and typing on smartphones has sent the number of cases skyward.

People with De Quervain's typically experience pain on the thumb side of the wrist that radiates up the forearm. Sometimes the symptoms start during pregnancy. Doctors aren't sure why, but they believe that swelling adds pressure to already stressed tendons, exacerbating the irritation. For many women (and some men), it gets worse when they are constantly lifting a child, bending down into the crib, putting their hands in an "L" shape under the child's armpits and lifting so that much of the weight is on the thumbs.

In a study published last year that looked at more than 11,000 cases of De Quervain's culled from a large data base of military personnel, researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine found that the condition occurred more than four times as frequently in women as in men. The study also found that people over 40 years old were more than three times as likely to get De Quervain's as younger people.

Rachel Rohde, an orthopedic surgeon in Royal Oak, Mich., says most of her patients with De Quervain's are mothers, but she also sees some fathers, grandparents and nannies with the condition. As the mother of a newborn herself, Dr. Rohde said she's careful to put a pillow under the baby's head while nursing so the weight of the baby is not resting solely on her hand and straining her thumb. She also says she tries to use a "scooping" technique to lift the baby out of the crib. By placing the weight in the palms or on the forearms, it avoids putting the thumb out of alignment to the rest of the hand and stressing the tendons, she says.

Still, Dr. Rohde says, the automatic motion for picking up a baby is usually to lift from under the baby's arms, which places the strain on the thumb. "Sometimes you can't avoid it," she says.

Children are getting heavier, on average. In 2004, 10.1% of children aged 6 months to 2 years were overweight, compared with 5.7% in 1980, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Katy Lawson, 29, of Lantana, Texas, says she never had problems with her hands until her son was about a month old. She began noticing sharp pains down her hand when she tried to lift him or grip something, and a bump was forming on her wrist. Although Ms. Lawson's son is not particularly heavy, she says he often sleeps in a portable playpen that is low to the ground. Many cribs also are now lower to the floor for safety reasons, and doctors say that creates more stress on the hand when lifting a baby.

Two months later, Ms. Lawson says she went to see a hand surgeon. When he asked if there was a new baby in the house, she said, "It's funny that you mention that." She says she has received two cortisone shots on the wrist, beneath her thumb. She was also given a splint to wear for a few weeks.

The treatment hasn't helped, and Ms. Lawson says she is scheduled for surgery this month. She says her thumb doesn't hurt as much when she picks up her son, because she is careful about she lifts him. "It just hurts randomly. Sometimes when I'm just lying in bed it catches," she says.

Mommy thumb mainly affects two tendons—the abductor pollicis longus, or long thumb abductor, and the extensor pollicis brevis, or short thumb extensor. The tendons come into play when the thumb is moved in a different plane from the hand, as when placing hands flat on a table and lifting the thumb toward the ceiling.

If ice and anti-inflammatory drugs don't help, most patients are fitted with a splint that prevents them from moving the thumb and given a steroid injection, which decreases the inflammation, says Stephen Troum, a hand surgeon in Bedford, Texas, and a spokesman for the American Society for Surgery of the Hand, a doctors' association.

Dr. Troum, who treated Ms. Lawson, himself had hand surgery for De Quervain's when he was a resident after aggravating his wrist doing a lot of surgery. He says that if patients don't feel relief after one or two steroid shots, he usually recommends surgery. Too many injections can weaken the tendons to the point of rupture, he says.

Michelle G. Carlson, a hand surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, developed De Quervain's herself after giving birth. "I thought I was really cautious, but when I had my first child, I started feeling sore and I made myself a splint right away," she says.

She says mommy thumb is the main reason she sees De Quervain's patients, although others can develop it from tasks that repeatedly stress the tendons around the thumb. "A lot of people will say, 'Oh my child is so heavy,' " Dr. Carlson says. Heavier children tend to start walking later so mothers are doing a lot more lifting for a longer time. "You don't see this develop when the child is 3 and they're walking on their own," she says.