Archives for March 2021

Summer Lotus 28th March 2021 2 min read

A domestic story

There you laid, my beautiful girl,

an elegant black, contrasting well with the red flowers,

drawing the fine memories out of me

how elusive you have been for years

no one could find you in the day, even in the evenings

then suddenly in the late nights of the last months

you fussed at my door every evening

and tailed me to the food that I never refused you

though it was totally out of your character

but one day, a few weeks ago

you suddenly fell into a weak posture

your body bent and twisted, and one eye was glassy

and it led to subsequent nights of pain and wailing

which pained me as we figured how to best make you comfortable

and we found out that all you need were gentle strokes and you were quiet

prepared to join your brother, Yoda who passed on one week ago

finally laid to rest next to him in the garden

keeping us company and always with us in spirit.

A common insidious problem with huge impact

Summer Lotus 27th March 2021 3 min read

Gum recession is the movement of gum away from its natural level which is at the junction between the root and crown called cemento-enamel junction.

Problems associated with gum recession

1 Esthetic concern – the patient may have longer-looking teeth. If the lip is short or if there is a gummy smile, a tooth that is receded in the gums will present as a sore sight.

2 Sensitivity of teeth may result as roots are innervated (have nerve endings). The patient may feel a sharp stimulus when drinking hot or cold.

3 Food impaction – As gum shrinks, gaps that are unsightly are also food trap areas which may lead to tooth decay if not removed.

4 Speech affected – In severe gum recession, air may escape through the spaces resulting in embarrassment due to splatter of saliva and sounds escaping.

5 Teeth affected in other ways – As recession is accompanied by bone loss, the teeth would become mobile with time resulting in drifting, tilting, and overeruption.

_________

Generally, gums would recede exposing the roots with time. This comes with age as the bone resorbs slowly.

Factors accelerating gum recession

1 Wrong tooth brushing technique – scrubbing the teeth and gums hard and in a horizontal direction may cause the gums to shrink.

Gums should be brushed in a rotary manner with soft-bristled brushes. Biting surfaces of teeth may be scrubbed harder.

Patients with thin tissues are more susceptible to gum recession than those with thick gums.

Management – correct brushing technique ( can be seen on YouTube)

2 Teeth grinding – Also known as bruxism, the gnashing of teeth during sleep can be destructive to the teeth substance as well as the gums causing the latter to recede.

In addition, teeth ‘flex’ causing cut surfaces known as abfraction cavities which are wedged shapes.

Management – restore all root cavities and wear a night guard

3 Trauma – Any injury to the gums can cause them to shrink. The presence of unfavorable bite such as a Class 2 deep bite in which the lower teeth are biting on the inner gums of the upper teeth would cause gums to move away from repeated trauma.

Management — Remove the source of trauma. In the case of a poor bite, Orthodontic treatment will be required. The presence of a tongue piercing or lip stud may also cause injury to the soft tissues and may be best removed if they pose problems.

4 Presence of inflammation – Chronic plaque accumulation, tartar build-up also contribute to a lower level of gums.

Management — Regular scaling and polishing of teeth may prevent this. Anything that increases plaque retention such as the poor fit of crowns, rough restorative surfaces, ineffective cleaning, etc must be rectified. Regular visits to the dentist for check-ups and prophylaxis are advisable.

Surgical intervention may be required to improve the appearance of some teeth with receded gums. Procedures such as gum grafting may be indicated and are best treated by a periodontist.

Conclusion

Prevention is better than cure.

The knowledge that gums are delicate tissues and need proper care cannot be over-emphasized.

Oral health care involves regular and careful attention to teeth, bone, and gums. They in turn serve your general health and well-being.Summer Lotus

Interested in life, curious about everything. Challenge seeker, die-hard enthusiast. Just trying to get better each day.

An Ode to a furry friend

Summer Lotus 4 days ago 2 min read

We took the cue from Starwars when we saw the ears of Yoda. The likeness, the composure, the posture. 16 human years it’s been, a life well-lived. Along with your siblings, you were adopted while a few days old. Ate with gusto and you all grew.

You enjoyed the sun, the wind, and the flowers each day. You left home once, curious, and came back days later, hungry, drenched, and shaken, having tasted the outside world.

Home is still the best place. You are a great companion, no whining, no demands, no destruction. Utter peace within.

You eat when the time comes, disappear when Aries, the noisy Kookatoo disrupts the peace in the house. You came and sat with us again if the TV program is not provoking in sound. You love peace.

Once, you danced around the garden snake and snookered the overturned cockroach with your two siblings. Even growled against an intruding cat in the night. Those were your youth.

There is almost no meowing as there was never a role model from the start. Neighbors did not know we have three furry kittens. So, when the years rolled on, you continued to stay silent and growled only when threatened.

No hospital for you as you do not ache. We know you do not like strangers. No needles, force-feed and fuss over you. No stress and tension. You still ate food with relish though your body is no longer active, the food is still a pleasure.

To pass the days, bathe in the adequate sunshine, smelling the herbs from the garden, and given some gentle massages by those around you, it’s life ultimate blessings.

One day, you decide it’s time. With a twist and a stretch, you drew your last breath, living your loved ones, some teary, some relieved that you had a peaceful exit.

You will remain with us, body and soul, in the best part of the garden. Flowers bloomed above you. May you continue to enjoy eternal peace.

Learn the art of letting go and changing your focus

Summer Lotus Mar 21 4 min read

Some time ago, I wrote about a mid-life crisis. Today, I have passed sixty and can’t call it a mid-life crisis anymore. It is a senior life stage and I would not call it a crisis.

This is a period of calm and consolidation. I looked back at all the days when I l lived in angst. When younger, we used to worry about how people think about us. We worried about school and friends and gossips. Looking back, none of those have mattered. Those were the days when just acne alone would ruin the day.

Your friends called and you would feign some illness to tie over this healing period. Young people fret when they have not the right clothes to wear. “ What am I going to do?!” A young person would pine.

Granted, being younger means having more vigor and appearing simply photogenic from every angle of your digital camera. It is just the blessings of youth. However, in hindsight, I would not trade autonomy, wisdom, self-confidence, achievements, authority acquired as one grows older for youth though a precocious one may have both.

I doubt many will reverse the hands of time and go back to our young and reckless ways. I recall myself taking unnecessary risks due to my own folly but thanks to Providence, I am still alive. Then, it was poor foresight.

Honestly, who would want to be a teenager again? A period where you search for identity, was impulsive and irrational in nature? Of course, there are exceptions but few. Any foolish stuff is just part of growing up and provides fodder for laughter in later life.

Mid-life is a relief from the inevitable trials and errors of being young. It is a time of great insight acquired with time and experience. Hopefully, one mellows with age and realized that anger, a characteristic feature of younger people is self-defeating. Those who still have wrath in them will realize much later that it is a futile response.

Getting older is a time of liberation!. The empty syndrome is a myth. When your children have flown from the coop, you realized that you have succeeded in strengthening the wings of your kids and they have not remained as dependents.

That would be a failure of parenting. A hindrance to their unlimited progress sheltered by parents. You will still be the wind beneath their wings when an adverse situation arises. And a great lesson can be had.

With the children gone, the house became quiet and the empty space became breathing space. You have precious time on your hands — for reflection, for learning a new skill, and for self-renewal.

During my parents’ time, they lived solely for us, the children, and had no ventures of their own. Our vicissitudes in life became theirs. We were a huge bother. They have never really lived theirs as they were too concerned about ours. I did not want my senior years to end up this way though I am very grateful for what they have done.

When we decided that the children live on their own at the ripe old age of 30, it was difficult at first. Maternal instincts were still there. Friends asked if I was not worried about their coping — their food, laundry, bills, etc.

A preposterous worry — they coped better than we feared.

On the plus side, I developed an interest in writing and discovered the joys of reading and gaining more knowledge. You may even launch a second career to challenge yourself. That is because the focus was now on me.

As a senior, time becomes a precious commodity that money cannot buy. You do things that count and are meaningful. Life becomes purposeful for yourself.

I have learned and acquired more skills since my kids set up their own homes. That was growth for them as they managed their careers, living costs, and human relationships. No interferences from their parents to tell them what to do when they run into problems. They matured fast.

Meanwhile, as a senior with time on my hands, my possibilities are limitless. I continue to venture into life’s ever-changing scenarios and meet the demands of each day on my own terms and effort.

I have picked up courses related to technology — website creation, set-up of an e-commerce site, writing, reading, socializing (which was left on the back-burner for years), yoga, creative interests like photo-shopping and photography, etc.

Growing old need not be a bore. We need to let go and turn the focus on ourselves. The young would deal with their problems in their own intelligent ways.

Life as I see it now is a wonderful period of calm, creativity, and cheer.Summer Lotus

Interested in life, curious about everything. Challenge seeker, die-hard enthusiast. Just trying to get better each day.

A true personal story

Summer Lotus Mar 14 7 min read

The pot of plant will follow us wherever we go. It sits on the ground with the rest of the potted plants in the garden of our rented house. The story of Chirpy’s sojourn with us was filled with many memorable events.

The flowers are so aptly called the ‘Heart of Jesus’. Beneath the soil lies the remains of a bird, our remarkable pet Chirpy who was exhumed from our home garden that is currently being rebuilt.

Chirpy was a bulbul, of the Passerine category. also commonly known as the Nightingale of the East. Its passing was since June 2004 but never forgotten all these years.

The memories of Chirpy are indelible. In June 2013, my son, Joe had brought back a brown paper bag with a baby bird in it. He said that a lady had handed it to him at the subway station and told him to take good care of it.

My husband, Han is an animal lover, so naturally, the bird which I gave the name Chirpy went under his utmost care.

Chirpy looked wretched and drenched as if it had fallen off a tree. Over the weeks, Han fed it water, honey, and oats to rejuvenate its energy and made it strong. Before long, Chirpy was up and about, flying in the cage and viewing us curiously.

As Han did not like to see animals caged, we would release it in the house occasionally and it was free to fly around. It often perched itself on top of photo frames for a good vantage. It would curiously hop around the laptop or peer into the back mirror of the bicycle parked in the living room. The remarkable thing was that Chirpy always poohed at one spot of the windowsill so toileting was not an issue.

Soon, we decided to refer to it as ‘he’ as Han started to view him as a son.

We began to notice that every morning, other species of birds including a hummingbird would fly around his cage. The garden became livelier with little tweets and other sounds.

One morning, Han opened the cage and told Chirpy, “if you like to come back, you may. The cage is left open for you.” Chirpy took flight with the birds, soaring above the trees.

For a moment, we thought that he was gone. Suddenly, he appeared and landed on Han’s left shoulder and nestled there. Thereon, he was released every morning for his ritual playtime. He always flew back.

Han spent most of the morning hours with the liberated bird. Soon, Chirpy was sipping some coffee from his cup and was treated to some fruits and even our regular breakfast. Its favorite fruit was passion fruit which has such a refreshing taste.

Han had introduced Chirpy to his bath in the sink and we had the pleasure of watching him dip and douse himself in the water repeatedly, each time rolling and flicking and vibrating his wings to wet its plumage. He obviously found bathing enjoyable.

After the bath, he would throw off the water by vibrating his wings, tail, and then ruffled his feathers. When he became accustomed to me, he would sit on my finger while bending over to one side to sun himself, then reversed his position.

We were awestruck by his decision to stay with us instead of flying away. Maybe, it’s the food that he had sampled, a variety of dishes from fried chicken to noodles to coffee and fruits.

I never knew much about birds until we had Chirpy. For instance, a bird would sleep with his head buried. I discovered that one evening when I peeked into the washroom where Chirpy was perched on the window frame, sleeping. He slept that way too while resting on our abdomens.

One morning, we found Chirpy in a desperate condition. When we uncovered the cage which we shield Chirpy every evening, we found him much distressed, and we noticed that his tail and wings were torn off. Some nocturnal animal might have tried to grab him through the cage and managed to claw off his tail and wings.

Han immediately brought him into the house, cleaned him at the basin, and dried him. Chirpy was frantic and we saw how he tried to fly by his posturing himself but instinctively knew he could not.

Thereon, we made him a resident inside our master room during the nighttime. Han would tuck him under a towel in a basket every night after giving him a kiss on the head. In the daytime, we put him back in the cage but he would just flop to the bottom of the cage. His friends still appeared and flew around the cage, chirping.

Han fed him well into recovery. Very soon, he was fit again to fly and he had the full-fledged freedom to come and go from his cage hanging in his garden. He loved hovering outside his cage or even sheltering under the shady palm tree. He provided many lovely picture moments.

He was a joy to have around. We took videos of him hopping around the laptop and the newspapers, perched on top of the cupboard at times. Once, he performed a dance up Han’s arm to give a peck on his cheek before sashaying back to his hand, making small sounds along the way. We were thrilled.

Han was so enamored of Chirpy that when he was overseas, he would call back and asked the phone to be placed next to Chirpy so that he could talk and whistle to him. Our fair feathered son simply cocked his head to one side as if listening.

I told Han that when he was away, Chirpy refused to come out of the cage and at one point even pulled out the tissue paper that I kept stuck to keep the gate open. The gate would fall shut! He slept in a very insecure manner, all curled up over his water holder.

Once, Chirpy did not come back. Han cycled around the residential estate calling his name. He might have looked a bit crazy but a neighbor, five doors away came out to ask what he was looking for. Our neighbor revealed that a bird that seemed so tame had flown into his house and he had kept him in his spare cage. If the bird responded to Han, he may bring back and he did. We were delighted and relieved.

All good things, however, came to an end. One fateful late afternoon, my son Joe decided to let Chirpy play in his bathtub placed in the sink of the washroom. Unfortunately, Joe did not know that Chirpy had the habit of flying to one’s shoulder and then fly back to his bathtub as if it was a gesture of thanks.

My son was closing the door behind him when Chirpy flew through and was hit by the edge of the door as it was closing. We received a frantic call from Joe and rushed to the vet where Chirpy was attended to.

There, sitting inside an incubator-like box, he was heaving heavily. The vet diagnosed his injury as a concussion and the prognosis was bad due to internal hemorrhage. Never once did he lay his eyes off Han as he hurried in to bring the bird onto his hands to bring him home.

All of us were distraught but we had to keep calm. Chirpy looked at his master intensely. Suddenly, he convulsed and I thought he was revived. Instead, after the convulsion, he stretched out his body straight as a rod and laid motionless. It hit us that our dear furry friend had passed on.

The silence in the house was deafening. Everything came to a stop. We rallied around Chirpy’s body while Han contemplated what to do. He placed Chirpy in a small whiskey box, stroked his body that was gradually turning cold. We placed him in the refrigerator as we could not bear to bury him immediately. We all cried profusely.

Each time, Han would take him out to look at him resting peacefully and stroked him again. Surprisingly, one time, Chirpy yielded two feathers while being stroked as if it’s a gift to us. We kept it in a special box.

Finally, after 5 days, we decided to perform a short farewell by putting a candle next to his box, and his cherished bathtub. I gave a short eulogy and we started crying buckets.

Eventually, Han dug a hole in the garden and buried Chirpy after putting some basil leaves in it. Basil leaves were his favorite food too. Months later, a basil plant sprouted in his resting place. It was almost a year since he came into our lives and brought many moments of happiness and cheer.

Our fair feathered friend may have gone but we learned some precious lessons. Chirpy, a bird can make decisions too. He is a true joy to us. We should pay more attention to our surroundings and watch how animals interact with us and their own species and not be caught up in our money-making world.

Above all, Chirpy taught us about the concept of freedom. By not holding on to someone we hold dear because of our own selfish reasons brought surprising results. As we did not curb his freedom, Chirpy chose to come back to us every day though he could fly away. Had we confined him to the cage, any chance he had, he would have escaped. The principle of letting go applies to human beings too. There should be no coercion on anybody. Everyone makes a choice with his or her own life.

The answer is with you

Summer Lotus Mar 13 3 min read

They say that poverty sucks; when there is no money for travels, children’s education, car mortgages, and house payments as well as good relationships with others. It is further aggravated when one has no one who is wealthy and powerful to look to for help.

Yet, there are people who have everything and yet feels that every day sucks.

A story goes like this;

There was a businessman who came into the city to look for a wise old man who was renowned for his wisdom. He asked the old man, “ Sir, I need your counsel. Though I am wealthy I don’t seem to receive good treatment wherever I go. Life is quite a series of battles. When will my days become good days?”

The wise old man replied, “You have to stop your battles then your good days will come! To this advice, the businessman was puzzled and was none the wiser. He left in disappointment.

A few months later, his mood became worse. He quarreled with everyone and hurled abuses at them.

Having made many enemies, he became drained of his energy after a year and stopped having disputes with others.

The businessman looked up the wise old man again. He said, “ Sir, I have stopped fighting others but I still feel a heavy load on my shoulders. When will the good day come?”

“Offload your burden then and your good days will come,” came the reply.

The businessman left in a fit of anger.

In the days ahead, he encountered business setbacks and lost his wealth. His family disintegrated and he became dirt poor.

Once again, he went to the old man and pleaded, “Sir, I am in abject poverty now and my life is filled with misery.” He awaited the response from the old man.

“Just don’t be miserable and your good days will come!” came the reply.

The businessman knew his answer even before the old man uttered his words. Dejected, he walked away, wallowing in great sorrow for many months.

One day, when the businessman ran out of tears, he looked up and saw the illumination of the glorious sun.

Finally, he went back to the wise old man and asked, “Sir, what is life about? When will the good days come?”

The old man smiled and replied, “ Don’t you see the magnificent sun and the brand new day when you wake up each day? That is a good day!”

To have a good day is extremely simple. Good days are related not only to material possessions but to the calm mind and spirit.

Where does this spirit come from? It comes from reading, from wisdom, from silence, from love, from relaxation.

It also comes from no agitation, no vanity, and no greed.

In addition, peace of mind comes from cherishing your time, respecting others, and protecting your health.

Only when your spirit or mind is fulfilled, you will have a good day.