Pre-Make A Wish Foundation Party

Mikaail is all excited about this party and also told us he wanted to wear a blue shirt.  Yesterday, aunty Yaya went to buy him his shirt - a little big though as the shop didnt have the shirt in his size.

A couple of days ago, he asked who are coming to his party then he also asked if a couple of his cousins are coming.  I told him the who's who on his guest list excluding him - just to tease him.  Then he said he is sad - put his head down and show his sad face.  He is quite a "drama" fella then I told him I was only teasing him and instantly he is happy again!

Braille Lettering

A friend, Cheng Choo, from the Gospel Mission to the Blind Ltd came to my home a couple of weeks ago to show my sister how to create the braille letterings for my son, Mikaail.  She has very kindly loaned us this metal template and also taught us how to create the braille letterings on sticker paper. 

So far I've done a couple of braille alphabets in the hope that Mikaail will be able to relearn his alphabets.  I must say it is rather difficult to figure the alphabets based on the dots!  Anyhow I will continue to teach him how to recognise the alphabets.

Did Stroke Rob Mikaail of his Vision?

I used to think that Mikaail lost his vision due to stroke. Now, 5 years on and on hindsight, I don’t think it was stroke. Stroke did contribute to the loss but I felt it was the mismanagement by the professional medical team who attended to him during his hemorrhage surgery that led to the loss! 

During Mikaail’s hemorrhage surgery and his stay both in the ICU and general ward, the brain-eye doctor could have examined him but nothing was arranged until months after his discharged.

About 2 weeks after Mikaail was discharged from the hospital, my husband was shocked to see that Mikaail’s iris was “transparent”. We rushed him to NUH A&E. He was eventually diagnosed as having retinal detachment. Under normal circumstances, patients with retinal detachment were supposed to be operated on immediately. Unfortunately, the doctors did not think it was necessary until several weeks later. Thereafter there were several tests and surgeries done to his eyes to supposedly try and save his vision but nothing positive came out of all the surgeries. If only they had considered the emergency operations earlier, then perhaps there may be a chance that he would not have lost his vision.

Then there were calcium deposits appearing in both his eyes and the doctor told us this came about because the eyes are weak! Our hopes of him ever regaining his vision were completely dashed.

So did stroke cause his blindness? I wonder.