If you’re a nurse, or in the health industry, or if you’re into health topics in general, there’s a new pretty cool online magazine website just for you. Scrubs is unlike other nursing sites as it has a lot of information on good living – from mind, beauty, health, work, love, money to news & entertainment. This site is very inspiring, uplifting, and timely yet original.

The site can be pretty fun, too. There’s a nursing poll in which you can vote for your favourite fictional portrayal of a nurse. I voted for Greg Focker (the character that was portrayed by Ben Stiller in the movie Meet the Parents). I voted for him because I love Ben Stiller and he was so hilarious playing the part of a male nurse. However, he’s currently 3rd on the list 

The tip jar section is also something I enjoyed reading. It’s a place where you can find great tips that seasoned nurses give to the new ones on the floor. Though most of us are not nurses, we all have at one point or another have been through a heartbreaking or sometimes comical situationsand it is in this tip jar section that you will find the answers to challenging situations.

For instance, how do you deal with an angry patient? Well, no one likes to be yelled at, so our natural response would be to yell back at the person. If you want to know how to deal with such situations, the tip jar is the section to read. Anyway, I’ve enjoyed reading the articles on the site, so do spare some time to visit their site.

The fever came, and brought along the cough with it. Then the fever left, leaving behind the lingering effects of running nose otherwise known as the flu. The cough, which stayed behind, has some nasty mood swings, too. There would be days where it's dry but most times it comes with chunks of gooey liquid.

I have been sick for over a month now. But it is the cough that gets to me the most. My cough now resembles the clucking of a goose. So 2 days ago, I sought medical help. That was my third trip to the doctor, and coincidentally that makes it the third time I'm being put on antibiotics.

I've been given until this Saturday to get well. Failing to do so will result in me having to go for chest x-ray. I'm sure it's just as a precaution, but the doctor seems more concerned that the 2 previous rounds of antibiotics did nothing to cure me.

Trust me, nothing's more scary than getting the "concerned" look on your doctor's face.

I'm now on medication with no signs of improvement (so much for trying to get well by Saturday, huh?). So naturally, I'm a bit freaked out.

I had to give up on certain indulgences as part of my recovery process - no ice cream, no fried food, no chocolates, no cold drinks. Try doing this for a month and you get the idea of how depressing it can be. This is tough for someone who loves to indulge.

But mostly I'm no fun to hang out with right now. It's hard to be part of the conversation when I keep coughing. Even the simple joys of laughing can be taxing on me as that causes me to cough non-stop. Me being a people person, not being able to socialize is very hard on me.

A new year, a new body(?). Okay, let me rephrase that: A new year, a renewed body. My former boss first brought up the idea of colon cleansing or Body Detox a couple years back. She had taken a few days off work for some “personal” time, but when she came back to work, she was looking more radiant and slim.

So we asked her what her secret was, and she told us that she underwent a detox programme (something she does twice a year, apparently). Although our bodies are design to eliminate toxins, however, over the years it becomes clogged up and that reduces the body’s ability to function at its best. So by undergoing the detox programme, we are helping our own bodies to heal itself and release unwanted toxins in a safe way.

She did catch my attention when she mentioned benefits like more radiant skin and hair, and feeling more energized. No, I'm not being vain, but who wouldn’t want to look better? To feel healthier?

Of course she also mentioned things like going to the toilet more frequently when you go through the Body Detox programme, but that’s to be expected as the body is getting rid of all those toxic build-up. So the next time you have a few days off away from work, consider giving yourself a Body Detox. As much as we care about looking after our body on the outside, it is equally important to care for our body from the inside.

Ever get tired of having to buy your monthly contact lenses, or getting replacements for your glasses (which, btw, is the 3rd time you’re doing it this year)? If you’re feeling bothered with the daily inconveniences of glasses and contact lenses, perhaps it’s time to consider an alternative: iLASIK procedure.

I can already hear the “Eews” and the “Oh no, no laser is going to be poked into my eyes!” Hehehehe… Of course I’m not going to randomly mention something without me conducting my research on the matter first. So here are some of the LASIK information I’ve gathered.

Modern LASIK, otherwise known as the iLASIK Procedure, is one of the most precise medical procedures performed today. Just like getting a tailor-made fine suit, the iLASIK procedure is tailor-made for you, your vision and the unique characteristics of your two eyes. 3D mapping, precise measurement and the use of 2 of the most advanced lasers differentiate the iLASIK procedure from all others.

After mapping the unique characteristics of the individual’s eyes using wave-front technology, the iLASIK procedure then uses 2 computer-guided lasers (instead of 1 as in earlier generations of LASIK). The first, ultra-fast laser creates a thin corneal flap which is then folded back to allow the second laser to correct your vision based on the exact measurement of your eye. So as you can see, the handheld microkeratome blade (which was used in older forms of LASIK) has been replaced by laser, which gives you outstanding safety as a result of reduced flap complications.

It is this very same LASIK technology advances used in the iLASIK procedure that convinced the U.S. military and NASA to encourage their mission-critical personnel to undergo iLASIK procedure, where 95% in 100 U.S. military personnel achieved 20/20 uncorrected vision or better. “The Department of Defense (DOD) and NASA have validated the fact that today’s LASIK exceeds all established standards of safety and effectiveness,” said Steven Schallhorn, M.D., a retired U.S. Navy captain and leader of clinical research and studies done for the DOD regarding the use of LASIK.

So if the guys flying F-16s or getting blasted out into space on shuttle rockets are convinced by this technology and benefiting from it, then we regular people (who btw considers driving at 90km/h daily as our most extreme lifestyle) might wanna look into this procedure too.

20 minutes of virtually painless and affordable procedure compared to a lifetime of buying, cleaning and caring for your contact lenses… hmm… which would you choose?

Child birth is a very special moment in any parents’ lives. Everything about it is just a miracle part of life. And with the help of medical science, we have found out that babies are born with a precious gift – the Cord Blood.

The Cord Blood, which is the blood that remains in your baby’s umbilical cord after it has been cut, is rich in stem cells. Genetically unique to your baby and family, these valuable cells can only be collected in the minutes after your baby’s birth.

This blood has been typically discarded following delivery. However, medical science has demonstrated to us The Value of Cord Blood.

Compared to other sources of stem cells, such as bone marrow, cord blood stem cells:

• are easily extracted, resulting in no risk or pain for the mother or baby,


• have a high rate of engraftment,


• is more tolerant of tissue mismatches,


• results in a lower rate of severe graft-vs-host disease (a major complication in stem cell transplants), and


• is rarely contaminated with latent viruses (which basically means that the body often accepts cord blood stem cells better than those from bone marrow).

Cord blood are being used in Treating Diseases with Stem Cells, including numerous types of malignancies, anemia's, inherited metabolic disorders and deficiencies of the immune system. Examples of these diseases include Acute Leukemia, Chronic Leukemia, Myelodysplastic Syndromes, Hematopoetic Cell Disorders, Inherited Immune System Disorders and many more. To date, majority of cord blood transplants have been performed in patients less than 18 years old and have been sibling or allogeneic (unrelated third party) transplants.

Just think about this: In the United States alone, about 30,000 people a year are diagnosed with a disease that can be treated with cord blood stem cells. By the year 2015, there will be 10,000 cord blood transplants world-wide per year using publicly banked cord blood.

Now, there’s a better way to save, process and preserve the cord blood. Cryo-Cell is one of the world’s largest and most established family cord blood banks with over 150,000 clients worldwide. One of the many benefits of using cord blood banks is that the cord blood is readily accessible, therefore allowing treatment to begin earlier if required. Think of all the time you can save when you don’t need to search and go through the matching process required for publicly banked stem cells.

And also, banking with Cryo-Cell means you don’t need to fork out money to retrieve your baby’s stored stem cells should they be needed for transplant. This is an option that's really worth exploring especially for soon-to-be parents.