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The journey to recovery

Tahlia was introduced to Claire today and this is their first physiotherapy session together.  This is also Tahlia’s first physiotherapy session after receiving her back brace.  Claire is a physiotherapist who also suffers from scoliosis.  She wasn’t comfortable revealing the extent of her own condition but we can tell that her jaw was visually off centred.  She also previously received the same orthodontic and KKT treatment that Tahlia received. Claire didn’t discover her scoliosis until she became an adult.  She told us that her scoliosis caused her severe and debilitating headaches but that she has cured herself through exercise.

Claire treated Tahlia using the cranial sacral technique.  She basically touched Tahlia gently on all her problem areas to release neural tension.

She also went over all the exercises that Tahlia previous learned at the KKT centre to make sure that Tahlia’s alignment was correct during exercise and also to make sure that she understood the significance of each exercise.

Claire spent a lot of time examining Tahlia today.  She made sure that Tahlia’s legs were the same length to make sure that they were not causing unevenness in her hips.  She concluded that the difference between Tahlia’s legs was less than 1 cm so we did not need to use any heel support.

She also warned us that the brace would restrict gastric movement and could potentially cause a lot of gas build up in Tahlia’s colons.  Her colleague, Mr Tong, also noticed this when he examined her x-rays.  He noticed a severe twist in the 1 and 2 sections of the lumbar spine and asked if Tahlia suffered from any stomach pain or indigestion.  Tahlia told him that she didn’t sense any pain in that area.   We did notice that Tahlia tends to hiccup a lot and the lumbar twist was noted as a possible reason.

The negative aspects of using the brace are that the body will become dependent on the brace for support and lose muscle tension, therefore, it is imperative to spend at least 10 mins exercising every day before bedtime.   We reminded her before she went to bed but found her fast asleep before she managed to get any exercise done.  I’ll have to physically watch her tomorrow.

Meeting the Guru in India

Just returned from an awesome trip to India.

Received Gurudev’s blessing at the Darshan line and handed him the gift that Keely made for him. I also showed him a photo of our entire family and asked him to bless all of us. He was radiating love and it was so wonderful to be in his presence.

Keely dusting off her violin

It has been over a year since Keely last played. During this time Keely has been focused on her dance. We took her to watch Tahlia preform with her orchestra team and that changed everything. Tahlia’s orchestra group was amazing and I think it planted a seed in Keely’s mind. Keely came home and took out her violin on her own and looked up songs that she liked on YouTube and searched for instructional videos. It seems that she still remembers how to play. She played the songs: “A Thousand Years” and “Despasito” .. my favorites.

Hydrangeas at Yang Ming Shan

Morris, Kasia and I took the trip this morning to Yang Ming Shan to check out the hydrangeas blossoms. Hydrangeas are one of my favorite flowers and I especially love the blue and purple varieties. It was unbelievably hot today. We thought we were smart to start early in the day and thought that it wouldn’t be so crowded on a weekday (Thursday). We were proven wrong. There were so many people already at the mountain appreciating the flowers. We wandered around briefly then made a mental note to try to arrive even earlier next time. We might have to get up at 5am next time. All in all the flowers were beautiful and I always have a good time when I am with M. 🙂

Vet visit

We took Kasia to her first vet visit today. Kasia has an upset stomach, and wasn’t feeling well all day. She supposed to have her last immunization shot today, but the Vet recommended us to come back next week instead.

We got some medication for her upset stomach from the vet. Janly administrated the medication to Kasia, and she took it very obediently. Poor baby.

sous vide steak

Made sous vide steak tonight

130 degrees 45 mins

sous vide steak

Roasted potatoes

salad with mango, hazelnuts and strawberry peach vinaigrette dressing.

🌨🌨🌨

Morris and I went for a hike at Chingtingong today despite the rainy Typhoon weather.  We were drenched but we enjoyed having the entire area to ourselves.  I love spending time with him.

Visiting Zushi Temple – 三峽祖師廟

Today is the second day of Chinese New Year. We went to Zushi Temple to receive the blessings from the Temple’s deities. Zushi Temple is famous for its elaborate wood carvings.  We acquired the ceremonial blessing from 文昌, a deity that offers good fortune to students in preparation for exams.

 

Kids private studio

Today is the last day of the long weekend. Both Janly and I were busy with our own works, and we left kids to their own demise. Tahlia set up her own watercolor studio in the study and was diligently working on her sketches all afternoon.  Keely was busy working on multiple projects and she had pieces of balsa wood, scraps of paper, clay and cut- up popsicle sticks all over and under her desk. Tahlia has great intuition with colors, and she paints beautifully.  Keely, on the other hand, is a fearless maker.  Nothing is ever too hard to make.  She is constantly searching on Youtube for new projects.

I am only 8!

I shared with Keely that we are preparing a birthday surprise project for Tahlia. I told her that mom had invited many family members and friends to work on this project together. Each person will write a letter to Tahlia, and share their love and words of wisdom. I told her that would be amazing if she could contribute by writing a little poem for her sister.  I also mentioned to her that each person will attach with the letter a photo of themselves at age 13.  Keely looked very perplexed and said to me: “Dad, you want me to take a photo of me from the future? I am only 8 years old! “

Keith haring exhibition 

Keith Haring.  |   Radiant baby

“Representing youthful innocent, purity, goodness, and potential.”

Neon light installation of Radian Baby

We visited the Keith Haring Exhibit during the Chinese New Year.  It was a small exhibition held in the National Museum of History.

SWIM30 challenge

DAY ONE: 500m

Tahlia and I will be working on our 30 swimming sessions in 10 weeks challenge. Last week, we took Tahlia to Hospital, and she was diagnosed with Scoliosis (under 20 degrees)  and she also has Pectus Excavatum – the funnel chest condition. We were surprised by these medical conditions but we knew these are messages that telling us to make a lifestyle change.

We felt the urgency of counter these conditions by working out right away to strengthen Tahlia’s back and chest muscle. We hope that by swimming consistently for 10 weeks, we will be able to improve her funnel chest condition and also help her to have a better spinal alignment.

We went to Daan sports center at 10 am today, and we accomplished our first 500M in 30 minutes.  We are going to correct our body condition by a consistent exercise routine. We are going to beat scoliosis and Pectus E. without having to use any brace or to undergo the surgical procedure. Our goal is to swim 15000M by end of April!

Good job, Tahlia.

Getting a haircut

We took TK to get a much-needed haircut on Sunday.  They will be attending boarding camp next week for 9 days and we need to help them simplify their life as much as we can.

Today Tahlia has orchestra practice and her math tutor was going to study with her from 7:30-9:30 pm and since Tahlia has been battling a cold I told her to skip school and stay home and get some rest.  Exams were over and the teacher was not going to teach anything new anyways.

Keely went to school and she told me that her teacher taught the class how to ride a bike.

She said: ‘There were 3 people in our class who cut their hair today. : my teacher,  Benson and me.’