Monday, March 12, 2007

I'm graduating! Yahoo!!

The letter has finally arrived!!!...actually not even a letter, its a convocation booklet, ceh...why couldn't they just give a formal letter...nie mesti nak jimat duit punyer pasal..oh well, I can't be bothered about that cause it tells me that I'll be having my masters graduation soon! Alhamdulillah sangat2x...yippee! and at that point when I was reading the booklet, I kept telling myself...my dear, you actually have a masters degree and you completed it! You actually completed it! After all the hardship you had to go through, the whole family actually had to endure it...you actually proved yourself that you could do it...ya Allah, bersyukur sangat2x...so here I'd like to mention some names that have always been there throughout my studies this 2 years, where they have been my sole support in time of my darkest studies hours and also an inspiration....and so here it goes, first, to my father, your determination and confidence in me have been a source of inspiration, if it wasn't your faith towards me, I would have quited my masters long time ago, and now I truly see why you are such a great man and most importantly, a great scientist, I may not say this much to you but I love and respect you so much!...next to my wonderful mother, your patience and love was something Ridhwan and I have been showered so many times and till today it has not once diminish, and I love you for that, I love you mama! you know i do, hehee...and the next very important person in my life.. my husband, my love, my hope, my support and most of all my strength.. your faith and confidence in me at times when I kept giving up during my studies has made me stand up every time I fall down, your constant encouragement and support, like printing, arranging papers and even handing over the assignments, is something that I can never repay abang... and for that my darling, you are the greatest men and husband a wife can ever have, I love you my love!!...next, to my brother and sis-in law for their concerns and encouragement, thank you so much for being there for me, oh, not forgetting the twins, hehee..and also very important people in my life, my grandparents and my aunts and uncle, who've been very concern and updating themseleves in my studies progress, I love you all and your prayers is very much appreciated...and finally my wonderful friends, first Ainil, every chatting session with you have been really wonderful and your understanding in my situation helped me a lot, thanks ainil, love ya....and not forgetting one very good friend whom I've known ever since I entered UIA and have been a real inspiration to me, my dear friend, Izan...your advice and constant encouragement to me was one of the reason I never gave up...thanks Chiya, love ya too! I doa that you will achieve the best in your current Phd. which is finishing soon...ganbatte chiya!

To all who have been there to give me words of wisdom and encouragement on and off, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart...thank you and may Allah bless you....

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Blogging again and Glenn on my mind...

Gosh, its been such a long time I've not written in this blog of mine....been so busy attending to ridhwan that I totally forgot that this blog existed..hehe..also, when i tried to post something here, they told me that my blog was spam! spam??? what do you mean spam??!! anyway, thanks blogger for un-spamming my blog very fast...thank god my blog wasn't ban or something....

Anyway, I've been doing more reading lately and also watching TV too...hehe..i'm now a TV addict...No! No! However, I can say that I'm watching less TV and more reading now, yes only now, recently..insya-Allah, hehee..can't help having ASTRO kan...maybe should ban it when we move out later...hahaha....but reading is good as I need to read a lot to help ridhwan and his condition and I've been reading glenn doman's book AND I soooo recommend to every parent out there looking for a good book to help your child be it normal or brain-injured ones, as called by Glenn Doman. His books are just wonderful! So, you book junkies out there or thinking of starting to read a book especially on parenting I would highly recommend Glenn Doman's book. The whole set of them! I've acquired 3 so far but reading one book first as it will help a lot to stimulate ridhwan and achieve his potential...yup, potential, in Glenn Doman's book, he mentions that every child has a potential to be great and achieve wonderful things, and that applies to normal children and also brain-injured ones too. He also gave me hope, something, that doctors have not been giving me at all ever since Ridhwan was diagnosed as microcephaly and cerebal palsy...

You see, when your child has cerebral palsy or down syndrome or hydrocephalic and so forth, most doctors would be your worst enemy by saying or giving you no hope at all that your child will ever be a normal kid or as normal as he should..though alhamdulillah my paed and especially our rehab doctor have given us lots of hope but not enough..hmm..sound like a kiasu mother lah pulak yea....but u can't help it actually...i mean, as a person who has learn science, heck was in science stream pun and did science work..sort of, hehee...well, you can't help wondering when you read so many articles or journals and they keep mentioning about the other percentage usage of the brain..the percentage that is not being used by us, so called-normal people...if they keep claiming that there are parts of the brain that have not been uncovered till now, then, couldn't there be the possibility of that part of the brain being able to be tapped for those who are called brain-injured ...as an example my own son

With that in mind, I kept praying and hoping..yes, for a mother to a special need child, hope is very important and most of all doa...yes, hoping that maybe, that by any chance that ridhwan may lead a very normal life and be able to walk, talk, run and have a family of his own...and i mean not with another brain-injured person but maybe, yes maybe, a normal girl like me or any other girl out there...good ones, that is, hehee, kecik lagik and mama dia dah very protective ...so, you just can't help wanting and wishing that, and also you tend to seek anything out there that may give that hope and chance...and I actually did..

I first came to know about Glenn Doman and his great work when my dad was surfing away on the internet about ridhwan and things we could do to help him..and this was way before ridhwan was even one years old...and there by chance, my dad came upon a very interesting website called the Institute of Achievement of Human Potential in Philadelhpia, USA. And so I read about the website and was amazed at what some of the brain injured children has achieved with themselves through the insititute, and I read more and more in the website and suddenly notice that one picture was showing a child holding onto a monkey bar or actually called a brachiation ladder..and was just enjoying herself, smilling away and hanging away(like a monkey, sorry to say)..and I thought, wow, imagine that, this 'baby' and I mean a "baby" could do that?? and I just starred in awe...then I looked again..and I started thinking, with my not-much knowledge on brain injured children at that time, and told myself..if i wouldn't know better, the child or baby looked very much like a down syndrome child...and I looked again..and I could have sworn it WAS a down child...and thought, if it was a down child, my god, that's amazing!! I mean, I knew that most down children would have some physical problems just like cerebral palsy(CP) child have and if I was right..she could hang onto the ladder without any help??!!! Seriously??? And that started the search for the institute...

However, I was sort of dissapointed that the institute only had their branches everywhere else but malaysia...and so that made me thought, hmm, that's the end of my so called search for hope in malaysia...I even thought of migrating to the US and heck, why not even continue my Phd. there! Ya right, well not exactly ya right cause I had to think about lots of other circumstances of making that decision of migrating to the US and also money was something we don't have much at that time...but of course, when it comes to your child, you'd try very hard and think up of every way to give the best to you child. And so, I decided, finish up my masters first lah, complete it once and for all to show to Ridhwan that what you've started you should end it and end it in the best way possible, alhamdulillah, 'that', I've completed and proved to Ridhwan that no matter how hard it was for me and probably for himself too, that I prevailed...alhamdulillah...

As have been told and taught so many times to me, doa is the most powerful thing to a muslim and so I prayed very hard that one day, insya-Allah some way or somehow I will find a place or hope to help Ridhwan to be as normal as can be...and as they say, doa mak tu dimakbulkan, my auntie introduced me to this place called Nury Institute. The institute was doing some of Glenn Doman's program or work and as my knowledge of Glenn's program or method was very minimal and also trying to juggle masters at the same time, I decided to forgo the program first. Also, they had these parenting course which was on weekends every month and so happened that all my classes was on weekends...darn...though, as they say, semuanya ada hikmahnya...after completing my masters, I finally, yes finally had the opportunity to participate in the parenting course...and as much as I regret for enrolling so late as Ridhwan is already a year plus, I am so thankful that I've found Nury....The parenting course was just great!!...and here again, I'd recommend to all parents to enrol in them in what I must say quite affordable and comprehensive parenting course I've ever been..so okay, maybe I haven't attended much parenting course but compared to the japanese method that I've been attending, I must say, Nury's parenting course is a real eye-opener and also it does not only caters normal children but most importantly, it reaches out to parents to special needs children or as Glenn would say it, brain-injured children...

As I took part in the course which was held two days from morning to evening, I found out that, Nury has been applying every program and method of Glenn's and the head of Nury herself is very close to him! Ya Allah, my prayers have been answered!! I've finally found something and some place that I could do something about Ridhwan's condition and Insya-Allah, Ridhwan may just be able to do what all the normal children are able to do....and for that my search had actually ended...but the journey has just begun...but with the journey...i found hope...hope that at one point was lost...hope is something we special needs children parents cling to and craved for...and I so understand that....if we don't have hope, we can't appreciate everything in our life today and live our life as if there is no tomorrow...and I HOPE that with this new journey which may be difficult or easier that I will be strong and have lots of patience...wallahualam...