random photos monday

may 3rd- margaret river, western australia

we took a weekend trip with some friends to the wine country in western australia, i will have a different post about the trip but i wanted to share these pictures first! i was upset we had to leave early sunday morning but this sunrise was worth every bit of the alarm at 6AM. we are truly blessed by God to see such wonderful moments!

western australian sunrise, the most beautiful i have seen

western australia sunset over smith's beach, with friends is AWESOME!

cambodian sunrise at ankgor wat, the most awaited (we were up at 4:30 AM)

costa rican sunset, the most memorable

Random photo Monday

lane i am stealing this idea from you!

otto and his new bestfriend bailey! bailey watches otto while we go on all our spontaneous trips... we are so blessed to have friends like the garretts! bailey and otto play together, sleep together, and i am sure even eat together while he stays with them. we are going to miss you guys but i think otto might miss you more.

otto (16 mo) & bailey(4 yrs) on easter 2009

DO NOT ENTER

if you do not want to hear about womanly parts!

february 23rd, 2009

so a quick update on myself and my health. i found out on february 19th (dirk's birthday) that i had a huge uterine fibroid which was making me rather sick. i had gained a couple of pounds but chalked it up to not working and the fact that i had been making full meals each night for dirk and i. i knew something was wrong but as all nurses may do at one time or another, i diagnosed myself and did nothing about it for longer than i should have. so after two doctors visits and much discussion on whether i should have the surgery in singapore or the states, we decided to do the myomectomy as soon as possible in singapore.

the surgery went great! dirk actually got to see our pride and joy (febe the fibroid and her friends). i cannot say enough good things about the healthcare system in singapore or about my wonderful doctor (dr. brenda low)! i was left with a bikini line c-section incision and 5 lbs lighter. the fibroid was almost 7 inches long and weighed 2 lbs. i cannot believe how much better i felt after the surgery. i ended up staying only one night in the hospital, which dirk endured with me, and a week and a half in singapore until i boarded a plane back to houston.

fortunately my parents were able to come over for the surgery and we all arrived back in houston together. while in houston, some of you know, i was having some more symptoms and was a bit worried. i did go to my normal ob/gyn while back in the states and he diagnosed me with another fibroid the size of a peach and was planning on taking me back to surgery as soon as possible. this was devastating!

i had so much faith in my doctor in singapore that i was hesitant to believe my doctor in the states. after all, my doctor in singapore did my ultrasound ($80 SGD) and explained everything she did point by point. my doctor in the states had a tech do the ultrasound ($500 USD), not even sure he looked at the picture. i had been seeing him for 4 years and it was apparent that he did not remember me or even bother to look at the chart before he discussed my options... he asked me who i had been seeing that they did not see this fibroid sooner... i replied quickly with, your self doc for 4 years prior to moving to singapore.

so with all that said. i waited to go back to singapore before believing anyone. dr. low did another ultrasound (free) and explained to me that it was not another fibroid but a hole, or what looked like a hole on an ultrasound. the surgical technique she used to repair the large hole that the fibroid left in my uterus looked like a fibroid at first glance but if you printed out the ultrasound picture you could see the different layers and clearly see it was not. i tried to go back to dr. rockman's office and retrieve all records to bring with me to singapore. they don't even print out ultrasound pictures nor do they keep them on file (point being he let a TECH diagnosis me with this fibroid)

i just want to say a couple of things about healthcare.

1) you should always follow up with the doctor who did the surgery, they know what they did and are the best to answer questions about the surgery
2) doctors are sometimes WRONG, always get a second opinion! defiantly when they want to cut you open again!
3) trust your gut feeling and listen to your body! doctors are not God and they are not YOU
4) something about the U.S. healthcare system HAS to change- my surgery in singapore cost $8,000 SGD ($6,000 USD) if i were to have had it in the states it would have been over $30,000 USD.

all in all, the surgery was a very positive experience for dirk and i as a married couple along with our trust and faith in the singapore healthcare system.

i have been seeing dr. low regularly to record my progress in healing. the fibroid made my uterus measure the same as 16 week pregnant uterus, as of today it still measures 10 weeks causing my stomach to look and feel larger than it really is. hopefully as my uterus heals it will go back to normal size and allow me to wear my skinny jeans again!

introducing FeBe the fibroid

big bash

february 19th- happy birthday dirk

so those of you that know dirk... know he would hate a birthday party but he got one anyway. our friend misty helped me throw the party at IndoChine restaurant & bar on orchard road. it was a great turn out with lots of good friends, even our friend phil was able to join us from houston (it is very convient that most of dirk's friends work for fmc as well so they can come see us on their business trips) Here are couple pictures from the night. All in all it was a great time, but we still miss our friends back in good ole tejas.

the whole crew( the garrets, the de jongs, the kirkhams, the dunlaps, sarah thia, adie, desmond, phillippe gay, and aaron klien.

houston boys (aaron, dirk, and phil)

yummy birthday cake

dirk on stage with the band

the ladies (farah, christina, and kim)

dirk's boss, matt and his wife laura

happy birthday dirksen, 28 years young

for dirk's birthday, misty and i were able to purchase a number of plants for our balcony.. which dirk had been wanting for a long time now. pictures to come! he also was presented with a rather large hospital bill and a 5 lb fibroid from his wife... more to come on that issue.

fun times with fun people

february 28th-

a friend of ours from houston (as well as one of dirk's coworkers, john pierson) came into town. so we went out to dinner with him and some other coworkers to chijmes (http://www.chijmes.com.sg/). chijmes is an old church converted into shop, restaurants, and bars. the restaurant we ate at was esmirada's (http://www.esmirada.com/).

chijmes

restaurant seating

chijmes once again

before we ate- all tan from our trip to phuket

the clinic- clarke quay (http://www.theclinic.sg/)

really crazy website- be sure to check it out!

some time in january when kim & kaes came back from the states... kim took me out for my birthday. i wanted to try the clinic bar in the clarke quay area... they serve you drinks in syringes and iv bags, you sit in wheelchairs, the tables are strechers, and the lights are surgery lights. it is rather amusing, so amusing that a german tourist came up and asked to take our picture of us sitting in the wheelchairs.

syringe drink

wheelchairs

lights

february 12th- chesnuts presented by music movement (http://www.musicmovement.com.sg/)

our friend sarah, who we met through misty & frankie, got us tickets to this theater production that makes spoofs on singapore. they made fun of local singapore rules, which i have to admit some are pretty funny, like right now there is a fertility promotion. if you havea child now they will give the father 3 months of paternity leave... their birth rates are decreasing therefore this is their way of increasing their population. you would think a country, which is an island, with 4 million people would be satisfied. here is a picture infront of Raffels... the founder of singapore. we were in the boat quay area having drinks after the show at timber.

dirk & i posing for the camera

febraury 14th- happy valentines day

our friends farah and patrick armstrong entertained some of us on valentines day with a wine tasting and dinner. we had a great time with good friends and delicious wine! the boys even joined in on the wine tasting. dirk and i celebrated v-day on our own with dinner and a movie the night before.

wine tasting

cheese

cheers

all the ladies (claudia, laura, tina, kim, and farah)

february 15th- sunset on sentosa

we ended the weekend with a day at the beach with some good friends and otto. frankie, misty, bailey (their daughter), sarah, and some more friends met us at the beach with cold beverages and snacks in hand. it was a great way to end the amazing weekend. otto loved the water and the outing... he is so used to going everywhere with us and we can't bring him to many places around here.

sunset on sentosa

coming soon-

this week another one of dirk's coworkers and our friend, philippe gay, is here for work/vacation. we have a happy hour at bellini grande, dinner at newton hawker, and dirk's b-day party at indochine on orchard planned for entertainment. now hopefully he can get over his 48 hour travel, his flight made an emergency landing in helsinki, finland (i thinnk) after bad weather in moscow, russia turned it around. so 24 hours later he landed in singapore... i am sure he is pooped! only a week and a half till i will be back in the states... oh how i dread the flight!

Thailand continued...

january 23-26th... a couple more pictures

here are the rest of the thailand pictures... be sure to flip through all the underwater pictures, they are all so good! the flight to phuket is only 1.5 hours... if anyone is interested in visiting us!

the beach was beautiful!

fantasea theme park

muay thai boxing had to be an experience in its own. the stadium reminded me of our old show barn from FFA... except there were these red leather couchs for vip seating circled around the ring and of coarse the cheap seats were bleachers. we sat in the cheap seats, with our smuggled in san miguel light beer, next to the guy with eight fingers and eight toes, and a slew of local bookies. the first fight was 10 year old boys, the second was 13 year old girls... finally the third fight, the boys were olders. here is a clip from the fight...

muay thai boxing

fishes

beaked coral butterflyfish

clownfish

dirk & kaes on the boat

black spotted porcupine fish

moorish idol... i think, i have been trying to categorize all these fish we saw, need a good book

jellyfish

ko doc mai... we did our crazy night dive here

the night dive was another story... i was told most night dives are not like the one we experienced. it was very rough, the current was strong, strong enough to get our dive group seperated from the rest (while we had no clue). it also got a little scary when my underwater light went out and then dirk's did as well... nothing like being underwater, in the dark, with no light, and a current that keeps throwing you up against the rocks... all in all, i actually liked it.

colorful coral... the coral was so colorful everywhere we went!

giant emperor angel fish... this fish was huge, it may not look like it in the picture

three spotted dascyllus... domino

stripped damsel fish

red tailed butterflyfish... i think these were my favorite!

camo colored fish... dirk was thrilled!

the dunlaps & the de jongs...

it was so nice to dive with friends- sara laster was there as well but went home after the second day because australia doesn't observe chinese new year... who knew?

cheers!

the last night consisted of sitting on the beach with these big LIGHT beers and watching the sunset... (got to know we are from texas, light beer & sunsets= perfect ending)

oh and then some awesome muay thai boxing...

here are the rest of the pictures from the trip... just click on the picture:

Phuket, Thailand

Muay Thai Boxing

Patong Beach, Fantasea, Karon Beach

The Year Of The OX!

january 23-28th- chinese new year (not totally done yet but I thought I would pre-post some stuff)

phuket, thailand over chinese new year was a great idea! we were able to stay 5 nights and 6 days in thailand enjoying all the delicious thai food and cheap beer! the first three days were filled with nothing but scuba diving and enjoying the surrounding islands. we dove with a german dive company, sea bees diving (http://www.sea-bees.com/ ), which turned out to have a fabulous boat and excellent dive guides. apparently dirk and christina dunlap sound very german so we were paired with german speaking people each dive... scuba diving has its own language therefore this wasn't a problem at all... well, until they start speaking german to you and expect you to understand... much like my russian experiences (if i haven't mentioned this before... everyone in singapore thinks I am russian, they come up to me speaking russian in the malls). again like bali, indonesia with the russians, cambodia with the japanese, now thailand with the germans... it is funny to see the masses of people from all around the world in such remote holiday locations... being an american is very much a minority and I really like it that way. the kids seem cuter when they are screaming in your ear on the air plane in a different language... and yes, there were plenty of rug rats running around!

so our underwater adventure was AMAZING to say the least... it was our best diving yet! we did three days with a total of 8 dives including one night dive. we were able to see plenty of fish but some that really stood out were: gaint emperor angelfish, cuddlefish, frog fish, tons of lionfish, leopard sharks, stingrays, barracuda, and sea turtles. our dive guide was very thorough and after each dive got out a book and showed us all the different life we saw... i was upset that we didn't get to see a seahorse... that is on my list of things next or maybe the whale shark too.

one night for dinner we went to a cultural theme park, FantaSea ( http://www.phuket-fantasea.com/ ), and saw the show about thailand. they had all types of animals you could hold, pet, and take pictures with. the elephants were my favorite... they are everywhere too, i would say they replace the horse in texas.

ko phi phi island... the movie "the beach" was shot here

view from our hotel: patong beach

trumpet fish

leopard shark

king cruiser ship wreck

crocodile fish... hard to see

triggerfish that attacked dirk... he actually got a picture of it before it attacked him

big-eyed barracuda

squamous giant clam

black spotted pufferfish

excalibur our boat