blessed :)

Hi! My name is Vanessa and I am a dietitian :)

[vantayho]

WDC2013

It's terrible that I haven't been blogging since last year, isn't it? To the extent that my blog somehow disappeared. Hopefully it reappears after this post.

In between getting married and all that, life's been good :)

Anyway, I was inspired to blog a bit after attending a talk at the World Diabetes Conference (WDC) by a lady named Kerri Sparling, who utilises social media to share her story of living with Type 1 Diabetes. Listening to her unfold her life of struggling with the condition helped me see her as a person living with diabetes, not just another patient with a disease. Her sharing was so honest, so interactive, so... normal. Sure it was hard for her, and it must still be at times to have to inject and prick herself constantly, but seeing her carry on with life and inspiring the people around her made me wish all patients were like that. Positive, motivated, unafraid to make mistakes along the way. But I suppose if I was in that position, I might not be able to react the same way. The only thing I can do when I see patients in my next placement is to remember this example that life can and does go on even after a diagnosis, and I can only hope and pray that my interaction with my patients will motivate them to see that.

Kerri Sparling's blog is called Six Until Me and you can find her on twitter at @sixuntilme as well :)

Here are some other things I got up to at the WDC.

Free nuts from Nuts for Life, and free coffee and low GI cane sugar.

The blue circle acts as a universal sign for diabetes awareness.

Polaroid calendar with Kako and Varanya :)

Playing around with the photobooth.

Cycling for our smoothies! Here's a link to their website Bike n' Blend if you're thinking of hiring them for your event. It's really fun!

With my smoothie and nuts, all ready for the last session at #WDC2013. It was my first official volunteer experience in Melbourne and I sure did enjoy it! Met new people, caught up with friends, gained some updated knowledge and got lots of free resources. Time to start refreshing my knowledge before clinical placement next year. Eeeks!

On a side note, Christmas is coming!

Christmas stockings are up.

Hope you have a blessed Christmas!

Toodleloos!

[vantayho]

10.11.12  :)

[vantayho]

I'm a fiancée!

As soon as we changed our relationship status and posted a photo of the ring on Facebook on Saturday morning, the amount of responses that came in were simply overwhelming. Feel so blessed to have people who are genuinely happy for us. 

And of course, besides asking when will the wedding be (tbc), the other most common question was "how did he propose?". Here's the story...

David left work early on Friday to pick up the flowers and groceries. He got help from Aaron (thanks Ahlong!) and left all the stuff at his place so that I wouldn't see anything if I went over to David's place. David texted me saying he'd left work early around 4.15pm, but I had been running some errands, so he said he'd tram back. But then it started raining and I texted him saying I'd pick him up. I can imagine his panic and he quickly replied that he was already tramming home. Hahah. Good save. After having dinner at his place, David sent me home and headed off to Aaron's to pick the stuff up.

Saturday morning, we had planned to go for brunch together and he was supposed to pick me up at 10am. He texted me to say he was running late at about 10.15am. When he arrived at my place, he parked at the lot just outside my window and called me to look outside (he said "like a Romeo and Juliet moment ah?", hahaha).  Then I went downstairs to meet him and he brought me to see the boot of my car filled with rose petals and two beautiful red rose bouquets. He also included a handwritten card held by Mr.Bear (the bear I gave him), tiramisu and a thermal pot holding our brunch. And there it was, a maroon box containing the most beautiful ring. And then he took the box and opened it, but before he could say anything I said, "REALLY?!?", to which he replied, "No ah???", and that conversation went on for sort of 2 or 3 times. Then he got down on one knee and asked, "Will you marry me?" and of course I said "Yes!"

Now I had already suspected he'd propose on the day (will let you know why soon) but I didn't know when or how, and when it really happened, it still took me by surprise. I didn't cry initially due to shock (hahah) but when it sunk in and after I read his card, I teared quite a bit. 

We headed to St. Kilda to have our brunch that he had prepared early that morning, and the weather was just beautiful although the forecast had predicted rain. God has really blessed us on the day. And that is how it happened.

The first few people we told were our families and closest friends, and I was glad we had planned to meet my family that night for my brother's birthday (Happy Birthday, KorKor!!). Ahlong and Nickyboy came down to St. Kilda later that afternoon to celebrate with us :)

What I really appreciate was that the flowers were the same as the first flowers he had ever given to me, red roses. And he knows that I love the letter he wrote for me around the time we had first gotten together, so he made sure there was a handwritten card. And there was also the tiramisu, which is my favourite dessert and it was the same as the one he bought for me when we celebrated my first birthday together as a couple.

Now the reason why I had suspected the day was because the previous Saturday, we were having brunch with some friends to celebrate Welldy's birthday. After brunch, David asked me in the car if I wanted to have brunch the next Saturday, which was unusual because we don't usually suggest to have brunch one week prior. After he said it, he thought to himself, "Shouldn't have said that". Haahaha. 

Nevertheless, it was a beautiful day. And I'm glad he chose the ring that he chose, because it is more stunning than any ring I ever wanted or described to him. 

So now, I have to get used to referring to David as my fiancé. Thank You, God for creating such an amazing partner for me! We are officially planning a wedding! :D

That's all!

Toodleloos!

[vantayho]

Here's a cover of Audrey Assad's Winter Snow.

Got the idea to do this cover when CJ Pakpahan posted a video of it on Facebook, so you get some credit, Paha  ;)

Can see my noob fingers trying to find the right notes :p Enjoy!

Toodleloos!

[vantayho]

I’m on a roll! I seem to have a momentum of recording covers these past few days.

This one is called “True Things” by JJ Heller. Enjoy ;)

Toodleloos!

[vantayho]

Decided to do another cover since I'm so free now ;) Enjoy!

Sunday Afternoon - Alarice.

Toodleloos!

[vantayho]

"Once you’ve cut off a person’s nose, there’s no point giving them a rose to smell"

This week of clinical dietetics lectures have been very interesting. I guess it sheds light on the struggles dietitians face. We’ve been taught to do all these thorough assessments in theory but in the actual clinical setting, sometimes giving them all the nutrition advice with good intentions may not be what they need. If only dietitians were given more time to really dig deeper and see the underlying factors to a person’s viewpoint about food.

The title quote above is an Indian saying that I heard from one of Ravi Zacharias’s podcasts, and I guess it’s sort of related in a sense that the conventional way of collecting someone's diet history and coming up with a meal plan can really be quite useless when a person is not motivated or ready to change. There's so much more to a patient, he/she is not just an individual, he/she is an individual with a family, of a particular lifestyle, with a history, etc... There is so much need for dietitians to see a bigger picture.

Another thing that struck me this week in class was when a dietitian commented that she was relieved to see a packet of chocolates in the middle of our table. Some dietitians get so caught up with eating healthy and munching on vegetable sticks only, etc. But most people aren't like that, and it's fine for a dietitian to not eat salads for lunch all the time. We're humans, too. We have foods that we like that aren't necessarily considered "healthy". The difference is that we should know not to overeat. 

So the next time you think dietitians always eat healthy, think again. We're normal people :)

That's all I've to say.

Toodleloos!

[vantayho]

You guys on my Twitter have been so sweet and encouraging about my first cover and so I've been really hyped to do a second one. This time it's a song by Clara C called 'Offbeat'. It's a cute song. Hehe.

On another note, I'm starting to get really busy with university work, so I might not have the time to record after this, but we'll see :p

Toodleloos!

[vantayho]

Here's the first cover I've ever posted online, and I can say I'm quite a noob when it comes to this, with my rusty guitar playing and minimal video editing capabilities. Was really embarrassed to share this, even with David. hahah. But here goes! :p

[vantayho]

So lazy to blog. That bein said, the new Tumblr app is pretty cool, so thought I should post something.

Meerkats are my favourite animals, apart from dogs.

That’s all. Toodleloos!

[vantayho]

warm company in the cold winter.

Having yum cha with my family in the day and hot pot with my cell and Dim Sumers at night whilst watching an old favourite, White Chicks was a really refreshing break amidst the stress of assignment deadlines and exam preparations. 

Reminds me of how blessed I am and it's really one of those moments where I feel we can rejoice in 'suffering'. The suffering of uni life. haha.

Thank God for the blessing of good company :) Hope everyone remembers to study well and rest when you know your body's telling you to.

Toodleloos!

[vantayho]

Thank God I've for really nice friends from Uni. Makes the whole struggle of getting through the semester that bit more bearable. Exam in 6 days. CHIONG AH!!!

[vantayho]

David: You know, the voice for Eeyore is the same as Optimus Prime?

O_O

[vantayho]

you put a smile, you put a smile on my heart.

:)

[vantayho]

Just in case you were wondering, I am very much still alive, just been drowning in assignments. But having the weekend catching up with old friends at Mervyn and Esther's wedding was refreshing. How I miss them :)

Took a bit of tonight off from work and looked up YouTube videos. This video is so funny. Super excited to see Jayesslee in concert next Saturday! WHOOP WHOOP!! Thanks Schmavid for buying us tickets! <3

Got linked to it while I was watching some Clara C videos. Wonder what took me so long to start listening to Clara C. She's so talented! Got her album on my iTunes. Would love to see her live in concert one day.

That's all. Off to bed and back to work in the morning. Toodleloos!

[vantayho]

2 days at Peter Mac.

The past 2 days spent in lectures at Peter Mac was quite an eye opener and somewhat confronting. It really made me think about whether I would ever dare to work in oncology, just because I get quite emotionally involved when it comes to people, even more so in such a field where the prognosis can be so unpredictable. It's really interesting, but at the same time it can be quite depressing.

About 1 in 3 people in Australia will get diagnosed with some form of cancer by the age of 75, and about half by the age of 85. That's really scary. When the presenter told us to look around the room, and imagine in about the next 20 years or so, the people around you may be affected by the disease.

It's comforting to know that about 60% of people diagnosed with cancer survive more than 5 years after their diagnosis, but at the same time hearing about the severity of treatments is pretty scary. So scary that some people find comfort in other forms of treatment like altering their diets in the most horrific ways. We call them alternative therapies. Some involve starving your body of sugar due to the belief it kills off cancer cells by restraining its supply of energy. Obviously it weakens the other bodily cells as well and what makes me so mad is that patients are getting malnourished by this famous diet while someone else is making big bucks off it by giving people false hope of controlling cancer. A cancer patient should really be eating high energy, high protein foods, so meats, fish, full cream dairy, and really eating all they want!

Another ridiculous alternative treatment is to consume apricot kernels as they contain cyanide that is supposed to kill the cancer cells. My goodness. the cyanide is going to kill all the other cells too, and sadly people die from that rather than the cancer itself. I don't know how people can be so inhuman to come up with these things without proper research. Just hearing a case of someone surviving due to the practice is not enough. And there are so many more, which is quite worrying as more and more people are Googling things and believing in them when there's just so much nonsense out there.

After watching a video of a cancer survivor who had his voice box taken out, I couldn't imagine myself in that situation where I could not sing. I think that alone would make me depressed enough let alone go through weeks of treatment and feeling terrible for a while. I really admire patients who can go through all that with determination and a positive attitude. It really is worthy of respect.

Well, that's all I'll say for now. I'd love to write more but I don't know where to begin. Oncology is so huge. Drop me a comment if you'd like to know more about specific cancers and maybe I'll write more about it based on the lectures I had.

Toodleloos!

[vantayho]

Human nature?

That to me, is just wrong. Science labels us as animals, but we do have a mind that comprehends moral standards and that makes us so different to other animals. Saying it's natural for us to carry on with these thoughts is just an excuse for our selfish desires. Fair enough if you say the thought occurring may be natural, but to keep dwelling on it is your choice. Face it. Don't blame some scientific theory.

I guess the sad thing is that we take it as such a norm now to dwell on offensive thoughts like that. Sure whoever was speaking on the radio said they'd never carry out the action of making out with a friend's wife or girlfriend, but whether they're lying or not, there are plenty out there who would do it. And people wonder why divorce rates are going up? Who are we kidding? It's all these 'harmless' thoughts that escalate into affairs and break relationships.

I know by saying this, some people who support 'freedom' and rights to their own actions/thoughts would call me self-righteous and criticise a person like me who believes in being a bit more conventional when it comes to things like this. But I do believe in taking the responsibility to control our own thoughts rather than giving in and claiming the 'freedom' to think whatever we wanna think. I'm not perfect, but I don't want to be indifferent.

The world doesn't revolve around an individual and their wants/rights/desires/lusts. It's a way bigger picture than that.