anything left handed的八卦，PINTEREST、YOUTUBE和Yahoo名人娛樂都在討論

#Repost @qalbyapp
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When you leave something for the sake of Allah, don't ever feel like you're going to lose something, because He will replace what you left with something better and He will never leave you empty handed.
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So don't give up. Keep striving by putting trust in Allah SWT and increase in doing good deeds. May Allah put barakah in all our affairs. Ameen.
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Abu Qatadah reported: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Verily, you will never leave anything for the sake of Allah Almighty but that Allah will replace it with something better.”

Source: Musnad Aḥmad 22565
Grade: Sahih (authentic) according to Al-Albani

#rechargeyouriman #ilm #dawah #qalbyjourney #seekerofknowledge #deen #10DaysOfDhulHijjah

My sister, Michelle-Ann Iking's 3% chance of conceiving naturally was a success! Here's her story:

(My apologies as I've been overwhelmed with personal matters. I've only managed to get to my desk. So finally got around posting this).

This is the story behind my sister's pregnancy struggle and how she shared her journey over her Facebook page.

Because some may have not caught her LIVE session chat with me (https://www.facebook.com/daphneiking/videos/687743128744960/) , or read her lengthy post (as it's a private page);
she's allowed me to copy and paste it over my wall, in case you need to know more about her thought process on how AND why she focused on the 3% success probability. Read on.

-------------------------------------------

Posted 10th May 2020.
FB Credit: Michelle-Ann Iking

A week ago today I celebrated becoming a mother to our second, long awaited child.

Please forgive this mother's LONG (self-indulgent) post, journalling what this significant milestone has meant for her personally, for her own fallible memory's sake as well as maybe to share one day with her son.

If all you were wondering was whether I had delivered and if mum and bub are OK, please be assured the whole KkLM family are thriving tremendously, and continue scrolling right along your Newsfeed 😁.

OUR 3% MIRACLE

All babies are miracles... and none more so than our precious Kiaen Aaryan (pronounced KEY-n AR-yen), whose name derives from Sanskrit origins meaning:

Grace of God
Spiritual
Kind
Benevolent

...words espousing the gratitude Kishore and I feel for Kiaen's arrival as our "3% miracle".

He was conceived, naturally, after 3 years of Kishore and I hoping, praying and 'endeavoring'... and only couples for whom the objective switches from pure recreation to (elusive) procreation will understand how this is less fun than it sounds ...

3 years during which time we had consensus from 3 different doctors that we, particularly I (with my advancing age etc etc) had only a 3% chance of natural conception and that our best hope for a sibling for our firstborn, Lara Anoushka, was via IVF.

Lara herself was an 'intervention baby', being one of the 20% of babies successfully conceived through the less intrusive IUI process, after a year and a half of trying naturally and already being told then my age was a debilitating factor.

We had tried another round of IUI for her sibling in 2017 when Lara was a year old. And that time we fell into the ranks of the 80% of would-be parents for whom it would be an exercise in futility... who would go home, comfort each other as best they could, while individually masking their own personal disappointment... hoping for the best, 'the next time around'...

So the improbability ratio of 97% against natural conception of our second baby, as concurred by the combined opinion of 3 medical professionals, was a very real, very daunting figure for us to have to mentally deal with.

Deep, DEEP, down in my heart however, though I had many a day of doubt... I kept a core kernel of faith that somehow, I would again experience the privilege of pregnancy, and again, have a chance at childbirth.

And so, the optimist in me would tell myself, "Well, there have to be people who fall in the 3% bucket... why shouldn't WE be part of the 3%?"

Those who know me well, understand my belief in the Law of Attraction, the philosophy of focusing your mind only on what you want to attract, not on what you don't want, and so even as Kishore and I prepared to go into significant personal debt to attempt IVF in the 2nd half of 2019, I marshalled a last ditch effort to hone in on that 3% chance of natural conception... through research coming across fertility supplements that I ordered from the US and sent to a friend in Singapore to redirect to me because the supplier would not deliver to Malaysia.

I made us as a couple take the supplements in the 3 month 'priming period' in the lead up to the IVF procedure - preconditioning our bodies for optimum results, if you will.

At the same time, I had invested in a sophisticated fertility monitor, with probes and digital sensors for daily tracking of saliva and other unmentionable fluid samples, designed to pinpoint with chemical accuracy my state of fertility on any given day.

(UPDATE: For those interested - I obtained the supplements and Ovacue Fertility Monitor from https://www.fairhavenhealth.com/. Though I had my supplies delivered to a friend in Singapore, and redirected to me here since the US site does not deliver to Malaysia, there are local distributors for these products, you will just have to research the trustworthiness of the vendors yourself...)

I had set an intention - in the 3 months of pre-IVF priming, I would consume what seemed like a pharmacy's worth of supplements, and track fertility religiously... in hopes that somehow, within the 3 month priming period, we would conceive naturally and potentially save ourselves a down payment on a new property... and this was just a projection on financial costs of IVF, not even considering the physical, emotional and mental toll it involves, with no guarantee of a baby at the end of it all...

It was a continuation of an intention embedded even with my first pregnancy, where all the big ticket baby items were consciously purchased for use by a future sibling, in gender neutral colours, in hopes that sibling would be a brother "for a balanced pair", though of course any healthy child would be a welcome blessing.

It was a very conscious determination to always skew my thoughts in service of what the end objective was. For example, when 3+year old Lara would innocently express impatience at not yet having a sibling, at one point suggesting that since we were "taking too long to give her a baby brother/sister", perhaps we should just "go buy a baby from a shop", instead of getting defensive or berating the baby that she herself was, we enlisted Lara's help to pray for her sibling... so in any place of worship, or sacred ground of any kind that we passed thereon, Lara would stop, close her eyes, bow her small head and place her tiny hands together in prayer, reciting earnestly, "Please God, please give me a baby brother or baby sister."

After months and months of watching Lara do this, in the constancy of her childlike chant, Kishore started feeling the pressure of possibly disappointing Lara if her prayer was not answered. Whereas for me, Lara's recitation of her simple wish became like a strengthening mantra, our collective intention imbued with greater power with each repetition, and the goal of a sibling kept very much in the forefront of our minds (hence our calling Lara our 'project manager' in this endeavour).

And somehow in the 2nd month of that 3 month period, a positive + sign appeared on one of the home pregnancy tests I had grown accustomed to taking - my version of the lottery tickets others keep buying in hopes of hitting the jackpot, with all the cyclical anticipation and more often than not, disappointment, that entails...

This time however I was not disappointed.

With God's Grace, (hence 'Kiaen', a variation of 'Kiaan' which means 'Grace of God'), my focus on our joining the ranks of the 3% had materialised.

It seems poetic then, that Kiaen chose to make his appearance on the 3rd May, ironically the same date that his paternal great-grandfather departed this world for the next... such that in the combined words of Kishore and his father Kai Vello Suppiah,

"The 1st generation Suppiah left on 3rd May and the 4th generation Suppiah arrived on 3rd May after 41yrs...
One leaves, another comes, the legacy lives on..."

***

KIAEN AARYAN SUPPIAH'S BIRTH STORY

On Sunday 3rd May, I was 40 weeks and 5 days pregnant.

The baby was, in my mind, very UN-fashionably late past his due date of 29th April, so as much as I had willed and 'manifested' the privilege of pregnancy, to say I was keen to be done with it all was an understatement.

In the weeks leading to up to my full term, I had experienced increasingly intense Braxton-Hicks 'practice contractions' - annoying for me for the discomfort involved, stressful for Kishore who was on tenterhooks with the false alarms, on constant alert for when we would actually need to leave home for the hospital.

Having become a Hypnobirthing student and advocate from my first pregnancy with Lara, and thus being equipped with
(1) a lack of fear about childbirth in general and
(2) a basic understanding of how all the sensations I would experience fit into the big picture of my body bringing our baby closer to us,
I was less stressed - content to wait for the baby to be "fully cooked" and come out whenever he was ready... though I wouldn't have minded at all if the cooking time ended sooner, rather than later.

With Lara, I had been somewhat 'forced' into an induced labour, even though she was not yet due, and that had resulted in a 5 DAY LABOUR, a Birth Story for another post, so I was not inclined to chemically induce labour, even though I was assured that for second time mothers, it would be 'much faster and easier'...

That morning, I had a hunch *maybe* that day was the day, because in contrast to previous weeks' sensations of tightening, pressure and even spasms that were concentrated in the front of my abdomen and occasionally shot through my sides and legs, I felt period - like cramping in my lower back which I had not felt before throughout the pregnancy.

It was about 8am in the morning then, and my 'surges' were still relatively mild ('surges' being Hypnobirthing - speak for 'contractions', designed to frame them with the more positive connotations needed to counteract common language in which childbirth is presented as something that is unequivocally painful and traumatic, instead of the miraculous, powerful and natural phenomenon it actually is).

I recall (masochistically?) entertaining the thought of opting NOT to have an epidural JUST TO SEE WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE...

I figured this would be the last time I would be pregnant and so it would be my 'last chance' to experience 'drug free labour' which, apart from the health benefits for baby and mother, might be *interesting* in a way that people who are curious about what getting a tattoo and skydiving and bungee jumping are like, might find these *interesting*...even knowing there will be pain and risk involved...

Since I have tried tattoos and skydiving (unfortunately not being able to squeeze in bungee-jumping while my life was purely my own to risk at no dependents' possible detriment) a similar curiousity about a no-epidural labour was on my mind...

In the absence of other signs of the onset of labour (like 'bloody show' or my waters breaking), I wanted to wait until the surges were coming every few minutes before we actually left the house for the hospital, not wanting to be one of those couples who rushed in too early and had interminable waits for the next stage in unfamiliar, clinical surroundings and/or were made to go home in an anti-climatic manner.

I was even calm enough through my surges to have the presence of mind to wash and blowdry my hair, knowing if I did deliver soon I would not be allowed this luxury for a while.

Around 9am I asked Kishore to prep for Lara and himself to be dressed and breakfasted so we could head to hospital soon, while I sent messages to family members on both sides informing them 'today might be the day.'

My mother, who had briefly served as a midwife before going back into general nursing and then becoming a nursing tutor, prophetically stated that if what I was experiencing was true labour, "the baby would be out by noon".

The pace in which my surges grew closer together was surprisingly quicker than I expected; and while I asked Lara to "Hurry up with breakfast" with only a tad more urgency than we normally tell her to do, little Missy being prone to dilly-dallying at meals, I probably freaked Kishore out when about 930am onwards, I had to instinctively get on my hands and knees a couple of times, eyes closed, trying to practice the Hypnobirthing breathing techniques I had revised to help along the process of my body birthing our child into the world.

I recall him saying a bit frantically as I knelt at our front door, doubled over as he waited for Lara to complete something or other, "Lara hurry up! Can't you see Mama is in so much pain and you are taking your own sweet time??!!"

SIDETRACK: Just the night before, Lara and I had watched a TV show in which a woman gave birth with the usual histrionics accompanying pop culture depictions of labour.

Lara watched the scene, transfixed.

I told her, simply and matter-of-factly, "That's what Mama has to do to get baby brother out Lara, and that's what I had to do for you also."

In most of interactions with my daughter, I have sought to equip her to face life's situations with calmness, truthful common sense, and ideally a minimum of drama.

Those who know the dramatic diva that Lara can be will know that this is a work-in-progress, but her response to me that night showed me some of my 'teachings' were sinking in:

She looked at me unfazed, "But Mama," she said. "You won't cry and scream like that lady, right? You will be BRAVE and stay calm, right?"
#nopressure.

So as we prepped to leave for the hospital I did indeed attempt to be that role model of calm for her, asking her only for her help in keeping very quiet,
"Because Mama needs to focus on bringing baby brother out and she needs quiet to concentrate...".

As we left the house at 10.11am, I texted Kishore's sister Geetha to please prep to pick up Lara from the hospital, and was grateful Kishore had the foresight to ask our gynae to prepare a letter for Geetha to show any police roadblocks between my in-laws' home in Subang Jaya and the hospital in Bangsar, this all happening under the Movement Control Order (MCO).

To Lara's credit, in the journey over to the hospital, she - probably sensing the gravity of the situation, sat very quietly in her seat at the back, and the silence was punctuated only by my occasional deep intakes of breath and some variation of my Ohmmm-like moans when the sensations were at their height.

By the time we got to Pantai Hospital at around 10.30am, my surges were strong enough I requested a wheelchair to assist me in getting to the labour ward, as I did not trust my own legs to support me... and Kishore would have to wait until Geetha had arrived to take Lara back to my in-laws' house before he himself could go up.

I slumped in the wheelchair and was wheeled up to the labour room with my eyes closed the whole time, trying to handle my surges.

I didn't even look up to see the attendant who pushed me... but did make the effort to thank him sincerely when he handed me over, with what seemed like a palpable sense of relief on his part, to the labour ward nurses.

The nurse attending me at Pantai was calm, steady and efficient. I answered some questions and changed into my labour gown while waiting for Kishore to come up, all the while managing the increasingly intense surges with my rusty Hypnobirthing breathing techniques.

By the time Kishore joined me at around 11am (I know these timings based on the timestamps of the 'WhatsApp live feed' of messages Kishore sent to his family), I was asking the nurse on duty, "How soon can I get an epidural??" thinking what crazy woman thought she could do this without drugs???!!!

The nurse checked my cervix dilation, I saw her bloodied glove indicating my mucous plug had dislodged, and she told me, "Well you are already at 7cm (which, for the uninitiated, is 70% of the way to the 10cm dilation needed for birthing), you are really doing well, if you made it this far without any drugs, if can you try and manage without it... I suspect within 2 hours or less you will deliver your baby and since it will take about that time for the anaesthesiologist to be called, epidural to be administered and kick in... it might all be for nothing... but of course the decision is completely up to you... "

So there I was, super torn, should I risk the sensations becoming worse... or risk the epidural becoming a waste?? And of course I was trying to decide this as my labour surges were coming at me stronger and stronger...

I was in such a dilemma...because as a 'recovering approval junkie' there was also a silly element of approval-seeking involved, ("The nurse thinks I can do this without drugs... maybe I CAN do this without drugs... Yay me!") mixed with that element of curiosity I mentioned earlier ("What if I actually CAN do this without drugs... plenty of other women have done it all over the world since time immemorial.. no big deal, how bad can it be...??") so then I thought I would use the financial aspect to be the 'tiebreaker' in my decision making...

I asked the nurse how much an epidural would cost and when she replied "Around MYR1.5k", I still remember Kishore's incredulous face as I asked the question, i.e."Seriously babe, you are gonna think about money right now? If you need the epidural TAKE IT, don't worry about the money!!!"... and while we are not rich by any stretch of the imagination, thankfully RM1.5k is not a quantum that made me swing towards a decision to "better save the money"...

So in the end, I guess my curiosity won out, and I turned down the epidural "just to see what it would be like and if I had it in me" (in addition of course to avoiding the side effects of any drugs introduced into my and the baby's body).

My labour occuring in the time of coronavirus, it was protocol for me to have a COVID19 test done, so the medical staff could apply the necessary precautions. I had heard from a friend Sharon Ruba that the test procedure was uncomfortable, so when the nurse came with the test kit as I was starting another surge, I asked, "Please can I just finish this surge before I do the test?" as I really didn't think I could multitask tackling multiple uncomfortable sensations in one go.

The COVID19 test involved what felt like a looong, skinny cotton bud being inserted into one nostril... I definitely felt more than a tickle as it went in and up, being told to take deep breaths by the nurse. Then she asked me to "Try to swallow" and I felt it go into my nasal cavities where I didn't think anything could go any further, but was proven wrong when she asked me to swallow again and the swab was probed even deeper. Then she warned me there would be some slight discomfort as she prepared to collect a sample... but at that point all I could think about was:

(i) I really don't have much of a choice
(ii) please let this be over before my next surge kicks in
(iii) if all the people breaking the MCO rules knew what it feels like to do this test maybe they won't put themselves at risk of the need to perform one...

In full disclosure as I was transferred into the actual delivery room at some point after 11am, another nurse offered me 'laughing gas' to ostensibly take some of the edge off... I took the self-operated breathing nozzle passed to me but don't recall it making any difference to my sensations..so didn't use it much as it seemed pretty pointless.

I recall some measure of relief when I heard my gynae Dr. Paul entering the room, greeting Kishore and me, and telling us it was going well and it wouldn't be long now and he would see us again shortly.

From my previous labour with Lara I knew the midwives pretty much take you 90% of the way through the labour and when the Dr is called in you are really at the home stretch, so was very relieved to hear his voice though knowing he would leave and come back later meant it wasn't quite over yet.

I do remember realising when I had crossed the Thinning and Opening Phase of labour to the Birthing Phase, by the change in sensations... it is still amazing to me that as the Hypnobirthing book mentioned, having this knowledge I was instinctively able to switch breathing techniques for the next stage of labour .

Was my opting against epidural the right choice for me?

Overall? Yes.

Don't get me wrong.

I *almost* regretted the decision several times during active labour... especially when I felt my body being taken over by an overwhelming compulsion to push that did not seem conscious and was accompanied by involuntary gutteral moans where I literally just thought to myself, "I surrender, God do with me what you will..." (super dramatic I know but VERY real at the time...).

I think I experienced 3-4 such natural explusive reflexes (?), rhythmically pushing the baby down the birth path, one of which was accompanied by what felt like a swoosh of water coming out of a hose with a diameter the size of a golf ball... this was when I realised my water had finally broken...

The nurses kept instructing me to do different things, to keep breathing, to move to my side, then to move to the middle, to raise my feet... and when I didn't comply, Kishore (who was with me throughout both my labours) tried to help them by repeating the instructions prefaced with "Sayang..." but I basically ignored all the intructions because I felt I had no capacity to direct any part of my body to do anything and someone else would have to physically manoeuvre that body part themselves.

When I heard Dr. Paul's voice again and the flurry of commotion surrounding his presence, I knew the time was close... and when I heard the nurse say to Kishore, "Sir, these are your gloves, for when you cut the baby's cord", it was music to my ears...

I'm very, VERY grateful Kiaen slid out after maybe the 4th of those involuntary pushes... the wave of RELIEF when he came out so quickly... it still boggles my mind that my mother was essentially right and as his birth time was 12.02pm, it was *only* about 1.5 hours between our arrival at the hospital and his arrival into the world.

Kiaen was placed on my chest for skin to skin bonding and remained there for a considerable time.

For our short stay in the hospital he would be with us in my maternity ward number C327... another trivially serendipitous sign for me because he was born on the 3rd (May) and our wedding anniversary is 27th (July).

I was discharged the following day 4th May at about 5.30pm, after I got an all clear on COVID19 and a paediatric surgeon did a small procedure on Kiaen to address a tongue-tie that would affect his breastfeeding latch... making the entire duration of our stay about 31 hours.

I have taken the time and effort to record all this down so that whenever life's challenges threaten to get me down I can remind myself, "Ignore the 97% failure probability, focus on the 3% success probability".

Also that the human condition is miraculous and it is such a privilege to experience it.

To our son Kiaen Aaryan, thank you for coming into our lives and choosing us as your parents.

Even though Papa and I are both zombies trying to settle into a night time feeding routine with you, I look forward to spending not only all future Mother's Days, but every day, with you and your Akka...

And last but not least, to my husband Kishore...without whom none of this would be possible - we did it sayang, I love you ❤️

Photo credit: Stayhome session with Samantha Yong Photography (http://samanthayong.com/)

this is terrible. please be careful if you are thinking of flying your pets. i moved coconut from Singapore to Beijing earlier this year and she was so stressed! upon arriving, i found blood on her two front paws. she must have been pawing her life out till it bleeds! it's really very stressful for the pets and the least the airline and airport could do is to make sure they are safe and comfortable.

PET DEATH IN CHANGI AT THE HANDS OF SINGAPORE AIRLINES

JUSTICE for CHARLIE and all other pets at the mercy of NEGLIGENT AIRLINES

Please be wary of transporting your pet by SINGAPORE AIRLINES
Their negligence killed our pet Charlie.
We had planned to take our pet by Singapore Airlines to Ho Chi Minh. On Sep 2nd our scheduled travel date we arrived early as at the PPS Counter to check in our luggage and Charlie.
Since pets are taken on as excess baggage we had bought close to 220 kgs of excess baggage in addition to our allowance including Charlie and his crate which weighed around 22 kgs in total. Charlie has been with us since he was 30 days old and had completed 4 hours and 7 months. We were anxious about the move but with respect to Charlie we were very confident that he was in safe hands with Singapore Airlines. That is where we made a terrible mistake.

Our flight to Vietnam was at 1:30 pm. Though we had bought excess baggage for Charlie earlier at the airport we were told that the policy had changed and we had to make a fresh payment towards pet handling charges for Charlie. After the payment was made all our bags were weighed and checked in .
Charlie's crate was secured with plastic tags. The pet handling staff were not willing to even put the tags. Charlie was barking and they were scared. All pets do get anxious when the owners leave them even for some time. I asked them if they wanted to keep the leash lest they needed to
open the crate in case of any issues.They said it was not required . I presumed that if there was any emergency they would have a leash on hand if they had to open the crate.We were so wrong about the blind faith that we placed in Singapore Airlines.

Charlie was wheeled away with his crate in a trolley around 11 am. We proceeded to have breakfast and then around 12:30 pm we went to the boarding gate. We told them at the boarding gate that we had a pet.They told us he was a bit anxious and had some mucus and if we wanted to see him.Please note this. Mucus or saliva is a very normal thing for a dog and we felt we should not make him more anxious just before boarding.We boarded the aircraft and while on board the Captain made an announcement that we had a pet on
board the aircraft. We knew Charlie had boarded from the announcement.In just an hour and a half we would land and then
maybe in another half an hour or so we would be able to take him after completing the airport formalities.Our agent in Vietnam would be there to handle that for us.We landed in HCMC . We were received and taken to a separate counter to complete the immigration formalities faster. We thought this was because we had a pet . We completed the immigration only to taken aside and told by the Singapore Airlines staff that Charlie had passed away. We broke down in complete shock. We wanted to see him. We were in for a bigger shock. Charlie died not on the flight but he was not on the plane as he died in Singapore. We were terribly shocked. We demanded to understand how it happened , why we were not called and informed that Charlie had an issue or if he was distressed and why we were allowed to board and no announcement made to let us know before the aircraft took off. We were told that the gates had closed and they did not want to delay the flight and that is why they felt they should not inform us . The staff in Vietnam said they had no details except that they received a telex about the death of Charlie and what we wanted to be done with his body. They kept saying we are stating the information they received. We demanded to speak to the Singapore staff but the Vietnam staff could not put anyone on the phone for us and no one from Singapore attempted to reach us. They got somebody on the line after I kept saying I need to know. We had informed that you that the dog had mucus and if you wanted to see him. They never told us that our dog was severely distressed .As per airline policies pets who are severely distressed are never allowed to fly and the owners are informed that they are not fit to fly. The captain of the flight on some airlines in our experience with Air India took a look at Charlie and only after he gave a go ahead Charlie was boarded in. We were allowed to be with Charlie until boarding after which the captain saw him and then we proceeded.

Charlie's death took us by complete shock. We questioned how the captain made the announcement about the pet on the aircraft when Charlie had not boarded. They said there was no time to inform him. He was dead when they brought him
to the plane and since they could put a dead dog on the plane they did not want the flight to be delayed because of this incident . They chose to inform us on arrival.

Singapore Airlines is responsible for our pet's death. He was a perfectly healthy dog. They were clearly trying to cover up negligence on their part. They were playing it safe. We checked when the next flight back to Singapore was and said we want to take that. The staff asked us to get back before 6pm for the 7:30 pm flight. We dropped off my daughter with a relative at the serviced apartment and reached the airport before 6 pm. We were met by the same staff who informed us about Charlie. They asked us where our tickets were. We said we had no tickets as it was only an onward journey to HCMC from Singapore. We had assumed that the airline would have the tickets ready as we were informed of his death in Singapore only on arrival in HCMC. They are an insensitive airline. They told us that they could not do the booking over the counter and there was no override option.My husband tried to login in using the roaming service . The connectivity was very slow and after a half an hour struggle we did the bookings.

Singapore Airlines is a dishonest airline and a completely insensitive airline. Their perceived image is not what they are. The staff at Vietnam did not do anything to help us in our situation. Charlie died at the hands of the airline but they clearly were not feeling responsible for what happened or even regretted what had happened. Charlie was a dog after all. I had questioned them if they would have proceeded to take off if someone had gone into labor or someone was having a heart attack . The flight would not take off if a human life was at stake. Human life is precious . A pet's life is worthless . Only people who have dogs understand that they are integral part of the family. In our case I did not see any difference between my 12 year daughter and 4.7 year old Charlie, an American cocker spaniel. I have had him since he was 30 days old.

My husband and myself could not control our tears on the flight. We could not stop crying from the time we heard Charlie had passed away. We landed around 10 pm
In Singapore. Three airline staff held a placard with my husband's name and took us to the lost and found area where Charlie's crate was placed on a trolley with a plastic sheet over the crate.Before we landed in Singapore from
Ho Chi Minh we had reached out to my husband's Cousin to check on what happened. He was told that Charlie had been taken away by AVA, the Agri and Animal government authority of Singapore.We were anxious on the flight whether we would be able to see him immediately on arriving.
Charlie lay motionless , his body was cold, he was stiff , his face was down. There was evidence of a big struggle due to distress. He had chewed up the entire wee pad made of cotton. I was always so gentle with him and here he was in this state due to negligent handling .

What were they doing when he was distressed and was trying to get out of the crate was chewing on the wee pad?
Why did the pet handling staff not break open the crate and release him
and offer some water and try to relieve him and alert us ? This was an SOS situation. What stopped them?

We were told that the pet handling staff are not actually trained people who can handle pets. They treat pets like baggage. Their job is to move them to the pet hold area.

How could he have become motionless suddenly? What happened prior to that.? Who was there with him? Why did that person not alert the staff to reach us? Was there anyone with him in the first place? The presence of another human being even not known to him would have given him hope and could have saved his life.

The passenger services station
manager ,a man in his late twenties told us he was the in charge on the current shift and he wasn't aware of exactly happened in the earlier shift.We could not take it any more.

What led to Charlie's death? He was insensitive to our questions. He was hoping we would take Charlie's body and walk out of the airport without asking any questions.

We knew we were not going to get any answers from SIA. One of the senior staff who works at the Changi Airport spoke to us. We asked her who was responsible for managing the pet while in the pet holding area.

Were the airport authorities accountable in any way or the airline staff solely responsible. She could understand us as she had a pet herself and she seemed to understand our agony.Since Singapore Airlines seemed to show no remorse or were not serious nor honest in the way they were handling the whole situation we checked if we could file a report with the police at the airport. We went to the Singapore Airport police force and explained our situation. The officer took down the details and registered our complaint. He asked us if we suspected any foul play on the part of the airlines.We told the officer that Charlie has had a big struggle which is evident . Either the pet handlers chose to ignore it or they were not around for the entire period of time he was in the pet hold area. He was a perfectly healthy dog. He was examined by a vet and the vet certificate endorsed by AVA prior to travel .The officer took pictures of how he was lying face down in the crate with just very little left of the wee pad left in the crate. All along the SIA officer was tight lipped divulging no information but constantly engaged on his phone we are sure he was providing updates on what was happening. We requested for the protocol observed while keeping the pet in holding area. SIA is all the time talking about protocol but they had nothing to share here. They wanted to play safe to ensure the truth does not come out.They did not want their image to be tarnished and were trying to shield their staff .They did not care that our pet died and they should own up for the lapse at their end.
We did not want to go for an autopsy as that would establish that the dog suffered a panic attack maybe but what ensued in the two hours after he was taken away and what the staff did about it would not come out from the autopsy.Because it was only a pet they were least bothered.

Singapore Airlines should be banned from transporting pets since they clearly have no pet safety protocols in place and by their own admission do not have staff who can handle pets and pets are treated only as baggage and the crate never opened unless there is an emergency. Emergency for them means ''until the dog is completely unresponsive ''...

I cannot forgive myself for entrusting my baby in the hands of this ruthless airline. Please do not trust this airline with your pet .They simply don't care.
This is the real ugly face of the airline and not what is projected by them.The passenger services station manager did not share his contact number and refused to give any commitment in terms when they would write to us or send us the details of any investigation which they would carry out internally.

Pets dying while on board is heard off.Never in the holding area. The owners are intimated if the pet is distressed. If they treat them as excess baggage then they should let us know that they will not be monitoring our pet. Pet owners treat their pets like children and will not risk their pets with such an airline. A pet is not a wild animal that someone could not have opened the crate and freed him and offered some water and called us to calm him down . We would have decided not to fly or fly another day maybe after sedating him or would have even chosen another airline where he would have been more comfortable.

After registering the complaint we called the dog undertakers who came to collect Charlie around 4:30 pm. It is only when they removed Charlie from the crate we were horrified to see that he had chewed off his paw partially there was blood on his paw and on the mouth . He has used his paws to break open the crate and in desperation had chewed up the wee pad. He appears to have suffered a heart attack from the stress . The passenger services station manager gave us the CEO 's email when we asked for his bosses email Id. We are not uneducated and he thought we were fools to believe him.This shows how they deal with such issues. We went to spend the night at our cousin's place with a heavy heart. We have not stopped crying since this happened. We are in shock and we are unable to believe this happened at the hands of a pro pet airline such as Singapore Airlines in a very pet friendly nation in their home base of Singapore.
The ashes were delivered to us around 2pm by the undertakers and we boarded the 5:30 pm flight back to Ho Chi Minh city.

Charley deserves justice. Another pet should not meet the same fate. SIA has no right to be flying pets given the negligence they showed in Charlie's case unless they come out with revisions in their pet handling policies.
As expected we never got email from SIA even on Sunday . This shows their indifference to what happened.
We boarded the return flight to HCMC at 5:30 pm after collecting Charlie's ashes.

One of the senior air hostesses noticed us crying and ask us if she could help us. When we told her what had happened she was shocked and wanted to help us since we had not received any sort of communication in writing from Singapore Airlines. She in turn appraised the flight manager on board who assured us that he would report this to the concerned people.
We got an email on 4th morning that they were looking into the incident clearly only after the staff on the return flight reported what had happened to us.

I looked out for Charlie all the time and had made so many adjustments and arrangements at home to ensure the environment was safe for Charlie.Charlie was the baby of our house and all of us loved him and cared for him deeply.Charlie was my daughter's sibling and our son.It is hard to replace him. It is very difficult to cope with his loss. In a new city without him life seems empty. Time can heal is what they say. Time can heal certain wounds but the loss of a loved one hurts a lot and takes many years to heal. It does not matter if the loved one is a pet or a human.

Pet lovers and owners will understand this.
PLEASE INFORM AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU KNOW WHO HAVE PETS.SINGAPORE AIRLINES IS A NOT A SAFE AIRLINE FOR FLYING YOUR PET. THEY ARE NOT TREATED AS A LIVING BEING BUT AS JUST ANOTHER PIECE OF LUGGAGE.
WE TRUSTED CHARLIE WITH AN AIRLINE THAT IS DISHONEST AND NEGLIGENT AND PAID A VERY HEAVY PRICE.
Whichever Airline you choose please insist on being there in the pet holding area till the time they are transported to the aircraft or check on who is going to be with them in the pet holding area and how your pets are going to be handed if they become distressed. In the name of protocol they may not permit you to be around. Believe us they have no safety protocols that they observe and no one will be around watching with your pet. Please question and understand how your pets are going to be handled before choosing the airline. You must insist that they inform you if you pet is distressed.

Please do not use Singapore Airlines till the time they bring about changes in the policies with respect to pet handling. They intended to brush the whole incident under the carpet and did not accept responsibility.Please do not go by their perceived image and also by the fact that Singapore is a pet friendly nation.
ONE MORE INNOCENT LIFE MUST NOT BE LOST DUE TO NEGLIGENCE.PLEASE HELP GET JUSTICE FOR CHARLIE.
PLEASE SHARE THIS POST WITH ALL PET LOVERS.
I am sharing pictures of how I found Charlie. As much as it hurts and I don't want to remember Charlie like this I want the world to know what can happen to your pets if you choose to fly with such an airline.

Michael Jordan got the start and provided one more lasting moment. But it was all Kevin Garnett at the finish.

The 52nd NBA All-Star Game was Jordan's last and filled with firsts as the Western Conference exhausted the Eastern Conference 155-145 in a double-overtime thriller.

Given a surprise start as Toronto's Vince Carter stepped aside, Jordan appeared to make yet another of his seemingly endless series of game-winning shots. The superstar swingman of the Washington Wizards threw in a high-arcing jumper from the right baseline over Phoenix's Shawn Marion that gave the East a 138-136 lead with 4.8 seconds left in the first overtime, bringing a roar from the Philips Arena crowd.

"I didn't think it was going to go in, but it went in," said Marion, who was victimized for a game-winning shot by Jordan in Phoenix last season.

"I thought it was the game-winner, but anything can happen in an NBA game," Jordan said.

Anything did. A foul call on a three-point attempt put Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant at the line for three free throws with one second to go. Bryant made just two free throws to tie the game.

"The first thing when Kobe got up, he said, 'I can't believe he called that,'" said Indiana forward Jermaine O'Neal, who committed the foul.

Bryant's free throws forced an unprecedented second extra session, which belonged entirely to Garnett.

The 7-footer of the Minnesota Timberwolves -- who played shooting guard earlier in the game -- took the smaller Carter into the low post for three straight jumpers. He added a foul shot for a 145-138 lead with 3:38 remaining, and the West never trailed again.

"It looked like old 23 crept back in the building and was trying to take the game, but for the most part, we hung together and won," Garnett said.

Garnett collected his first All-Star Game MVP award as he scored 37 points on 17-of-24 shooting and added nine rebounds and five steals. His points were the most in an All-Star Game since Jordan scored 40 in 1988.

"The All-Star Game is not about individual," said Garnett, an unselfish superstar. "It's totally a group effort. It's a time for you to share stories, good times, emotional times with your teammates."

Jordan, who turns 40 in eight days, gave Garnett some stories to share. He started very slowly and even missed a dunk in the first quarter. But he became the all-time leading scorer in the All-Star Game late in the third quarter and finished with 20 points on 9-of-27 shooting.

"I think I got a chance to enjoy some good young company tonight," Jordan said.

Some of that company joined Jordan on the Eastern Conference. Guards Allen Iverson of Philadelphia and Tracy McGrady of Orlando -- both of whom offered their starting spot to Jordan -- scored 35 and 29 points, respectively. But it wasn't enough to prevent the East from dropping to 32-20 in the all-time series.

"I was going to try to forget my jersey in the locker room," McGrady said. "That way (Jordan) had to start and go out there."

Bryant scored 22 points and Steve Francis of Houston added 20 for the West, which erased an eight-point deficit in the last two minutes of regulation and blew a seven-point lead in the last two-plus minutes of the first overtime.

San Antonio's Tim Duncan had 19 points and 15 rebounds and the Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal had 19 and 13. It was the sixth overtime All-Star Game and the first since 1993 in Utah.

Although the first quarter was the lowest-scoring opening period in 50 years and the first half the lowest since 1976, the game fell three points shy of the highest-scoring contest, another overtime affair in 1987.

The pace seemed to quicken a bit after a halftime ceremony in which Jordan was serenaded by Mariah Carey, who wore No. 23 jerseys of Chicago and Washington while performing three songs, including "Hero."

"I thank you for your support," a visibly humbled Jordan said to the crowd. "I leave the game in good hands."

"The halftime ceremony was something I'll remember for a long time," said Francis, who was playing in his second All-Star Game. "I felt like he was talking to me when he said the NBA was going to be in good hands."

McGrady took the third quarter into his hands, scoring 17 points to give the East a 93-86 lead. With 2:04 to go in the period, Jordan sank two free throws to move past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (251 points) as the all-time leading scorer.

The West overtook the East at 102-100 on a dunk by Shaquille O'Neal with 8:14 to go, but McGrady responded with a three-pointer. Three jumpers by Jordan and a drive by Iverson pushed the lead to 116-106 left and tightened the MVP race.

It appeared to be Jordan's when he flipped in a left-handed shot on 7-footer Dirk Nowitzki of Dallas for a 120-112 lead with 1:58 to play. But he missed shots on three consecutive possessions, allowing the West back in it.

"I wanted it to be a competitive game," Jordan said. "It was a fun ending anyway you look at it."

Bryant had a chance to win it when he was fouled with 17 seconds left but split the pair, and Marion partially blocked Jordan's jumper at the other end.

Despite eight overtime points from Iverson, the East looked dead when Francis hammered home a lob for a 135-128 bulge with 2:09 remaining. But McGrady and New Jersey's Jason Kidd scored four points each as the East surged to a 136-135 edge with 33 seconds left. A free throw by Shaquille O'Neal tied it.

"It's easy to come in with the attitude that you are just going to run down the court and jump around and not play hard, but that's not what it is about," Iverson said. "I think the fans deserve more than that."

The fans got a huge treat when Carter -- who had been criticized for keeping his starting spot -- stepped aside for Jordan in a classy move.

"This is a storybook ending for Michael," Carter said. "I'm sure I'll have another opportunity to be in the All-Star Game, and this is how it's supposed to be."

"I felt like he had taken a beating and he shouldn't have," Jordan said. "I think he was being very respectful."

But Jordan missed eight of his first 10 shots, and the poor shooting was contagious. The East held a pedestrian 23-18 lead after one period and the West held a 55-52 halftime edge.

Not a good day or night for Phil Jackson thanks to the NBA and Linas Kleiza.

Jackson got fined $50,000 for accusing the league of having a vendetta against Kobe Bryant, then lost a seventh straight game for the first time in his 16-year coaching career Thursday night when the Los Angeles Lakers fell to the Denver Nuggets 113-86.

Kleiza scored a career-high 29 points and Carmelo Anthony had 26 as the Nuggets handed the Lakers their 13th loss in 16 games.

"That's great when you've got a guy coming off the bench contributing the way he has," Allen Iverson said of Kleiza, who scored 24 against Sacramento on Sunday. "He never cares about starting or anything like that. When his opportunity comes, he's just always ready."

Kleiza shrugged off his career night:

"It was just one of those games where the shots were going down. Melo and Iverson were doing a great job sharing the ball," he said.

Kleiza was doing a great job putting it through the hoops, hitting 10-of-13 shots, including 5-of-6 from the arc.

Iverson couldn't have picked Kleiza out of a crowd when he came over from Philadelphia three months ago but said the second-year forward was the catalyst for the Nuggets' biggest win since the trade.

"I didn't know who he was when I got here, but a nationally televised game, I think a lot of people around the world know who he is now," Iverson said.

Iverson added 14 points and 13 assists and Marcus Camby had 11 points and 14 boards for the Nuggets, who moved into a tie with the Lakers for the sixth spot in the Western Conference playoff race.

Bryant's 25 points led the free-falling Lakers, who couldn't capitalize on the return of Luke Walton and Lamar Odom despite building a double-digit lead in a mostly stellar first half.

Anthony scored 10 points in a 24-10 run that Denver used to close the third quarter and take an 87-72 lead and turn the game into a blowout. Even the Nuggets, who have lost 10 games in which they led after three quarters, couldn't blow that big of a lead.

Camby's alley-oop dunk made it 92-72 and the Nuggets enjoyed a rare blowout at the Pepsi Center, where they are just 18-17.

Earlier in the day, Jackson and the Lakers were fined $50,000 apiece by the NBA after the coach said the league was conducting a "witch hunt" against Bryant.

"I thought you only get fined for criticizing the officiating," Jackson said before tip-off. "They're the sacred cows. But I find out somebody else has a sacred cow somewhere else."

Bryant recently received two one-game suspensions this season for striking players in the face after taking a shot. The league retroactively assessed Bryant with a flagrant foul for an elbow to Philadelphia's Kyle Korver last week, a play that didn't even draw a foul.

Bryant picked up three fouls in a 90-second span in the third quarter Thursday night while the Nuggets, who closed the first half on a 13-2 run, were pulling away.

"The third quarter it just caved in on us," Bryant said.

With Brian Cook (ankle) not making the trip, both Walton and Odom returned to the Lakers' lineup. Odom hadn't played since tearing the labrum in his left shoulder March 2 and Walton had been sidelined since spraining his right ankle Jan. 26.

They started along with Kwame Brown, who missed 27 games with a sprained ankle before returning March 2. He replaced 19-year-old Andrew Bynum at center. Walton had 13 points and Odom scored nine.

"Luke Walton ran out of gas and Lamar Odom is just not ready to play," Jackson said.

A winded Odom went scoreless after halftime.

"He didn't have a good second half," Jackson said. "He did a good job on Carmelo. He hit a couple of shots then and Kobe wanted to switch onto him."

Said Odom: "I didn't have much tonight. The game took a lot out of me. I had some problems with Carmelo. It made sense to make the switch."

Despite it all, Bryant saw glimpses of a looming recovery.

"With Lamar back, we saw flashes of what we're capable of in the first half," he said. "We just have to build on that and understand that that's the team we want to make noise with in the playoffs. We have to build with what we have here and Luke and Lamar need to get in basketball shape.

"When that happens we'll feel pretty good."

Jackson will feel a lot better, too.

The Detroit Pistons are starting to show their potential with Allen Iverson, beating two of the NBAs best teams in less than a week.

Iverson scored 23 points, and Rasheed Wallace had 10 of his 21 points during a fourth-quarter surge that gave Detroit a 96-89 victory over Cleveland on Wednesday night that ended the Cavaliers eight-game winning streak.

Detroit handed the Los Angeles Lakers their only defeat, beating them by double digits Friday night on the road.

Its early, but its exciting, Iverson said.

Wallace wouldnt go that far.

Its not like we set out and said, `Oh, these are the NBAs hottest teams. Were just trying to make ourselves better, said Wallace, who had a season-high 15 rebounds. We really dont care about what the other teams are doing at that moment.

We just want to make ourselves better for June.

If the Pistons can keep playing tough defense against stars, as they did against LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, theyll improve their chances in the playoffs.

James was 8-of-21 and missed all four of his 3-point attempts, but made enough free throws to finish with 25 points to fall just five below his league-leading average.

That happens in this league, he said. You have good games and bad games.

Bryant missed 18 of 30 shots last week against the Pistons.

The Cavs are a half-game ahead of the Pistons in the Central Division.

Detroit lost its first two games after acquiring Iverson from Denver on Nov. 3, but has won four of its last five.

Its way too early to know anything about them, James said.

It looked as if the Cavs were going to beat Detroit the first time they saw them with Iverson, going on a 21-6 run to take the lead in the first quarter and taking 13-point leads in both the second and third.

But Wallace gave the Pistons the lead for good midway through the fourth with a pair of 3-pointers in a 36-second span and made another long jumper to give them a 95-82 lead with 2 1/2 minutes left.

Sheed hit those long 3s and AI did a great job of getting to the hole, James said. They really turned it up in the second half, and it caught us off guard.

His coach agreed.

They played a great second half and we didnt respond, Cavs coach Mike Brown said. It was like a bunch of their players got together at halftime and said Lets bear down and take this game away from the Cavaliers, and thats just what they did. They brought us to a complete standstill.

Thats the first time Ive seen us that discombobulated all year.

Detroits Richard Hamilton scored 15 points, reserve Rodney Stuckey and Tayshaun Prince each added nine points. Clevelands Mo Williams scored 25 points, Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 13 points and Delonte West added 11.

Notes

The Cavs put Wally Szczerbiak on the inactive list, excusing him to address a personal matter, and activated Darnell Jackson. Brown said he didnt know when Szczerbiak will return. The Central Division rivals dont meet again until Feb. 1 at The Palace. Ilgauskas made the seventh 3-pointer of his career and attempted two from beyond the arc in one game for the first time in his 11-season career. Ive hit two already this season, so I went for another one, he said. Ill probably never take two in the same game again. Kid Rock sat in the front row at The Palace, which had numerous patches of empty seats in the upper level in another sign of the Motor Citys economic woes. Former Piston Ben Wallace said he was surprised Chauncey Billups was dealt to Denver. I guess thats the end of the era now, he said. It isnt the same team now.