At the end of my six months’
overseas travel, I returned to Sydney in March to be faced with a series of
incidents, which happened one after another.
It had not been easy, and I would like to relate how I went thru
the processes, and what do I gain from them.
Pantry Moths
On my return home, I found that our WHOLE house was
invaded and inhabited by pantry moths.
All foods, containers, corners, and shelves in the pantry were FULL of
moths, larvae, webs, cocoons and eggs!!!!
It took me a whole week to empty and clean and disinfect the pantry; then
thinking that it’ s all over; I found
more moths and larvae on the ceilings, corners of the walls, door jambs; in
fact, they were EVERYWHERE - in the Living
Room, Dining Room, and even in the master bedroom upstairs! What gave me a real
horror was that they were also breeding inside my CD and DVD cases. I actually had to open every case to wipe
them away. (Pls see photos)
Every night I would use a torch to inspect
the ceilings and, despite my constant effort for several weeks, there were
still more moths and larvae. During
those days, I was sooooooo nervous that I could not sleep. Whenever I saw
something flying I was uptight and paranoid.
It’s like a never ending battle.
Fighting so hard drained away every ounce of my my energy and I fell
sick for several weeks. With my continual efforts I am happy to say that our
house is now ‘MOTHS FREE’.
Lesson
The lesson I have learned is ‘DON’T over buy or
over stock on foods’ (which I had a habit of doing), and ‘DON’T keep anything
that I have not used for a couple of years’, as they will definitely are
sources of troubles.
Blessing
As I was becoming sick and
desperate, my god (Buddha) son, William, came to help me almost every day,
giving me moth lures, helping me check and clean. Because of all the efforts, I am now enjoying
a clean, tidy and sparkling home!
Blocked toilet
The day before my sister came to visit me in April,
the guest toilet was blocked. I
hurriedly found a nearby plumber from the yellow pages who spent over an hour (in
pouring rain) looking for the main drain outlet outside our house, charged me
$150 but with no success. I began to
chant for someone good and found another plumber on the internet. He came on the same day, took less than 30
minutes, found the outside outlet in heavy rain, cleared the blockage and charged
me only $80.
Water Leak
Not long after the toilet was fixed , one day we found my sister’s guestroom carpet
and walls saturated with water. I had to
use all my towels to soak up water, and used an iron (which was damaged after)
to iron dry the carpet. Upon inspection,
I found that the main source of leakage was rain water coming from a window
which could not be closed properly. I
used tapes to secure the windows that night and very quickly found a good
window repairer who came in and did an overhaul of all my windows, at a very
reasonable price. Later I had to hire a
carpet cleaner to clean the carpet.
Broken roof and gutter
Because of water leak, I found a roof repairer to
check on my roof. He came and told me
that my whole roof is disintegrating and needs major overhaul. Also a few of our gutters are broken and have
holes on them which need replacing. So
….. more problems ………..
Blessing
Despite all of the above, and in
addition to having to replace a broken range hood, broken door bell (both
needed very skilled tradesmen), I was soooo lucky to be able to come across
good people with very good prices. Also last
year I was planning on repainting the whole house inside out this April, but
because of the moths, I decided to postpone.
This was the best decision because if I had done with the painting and then found out problems with the roof,
gutters, etc and have to paint them again, it will be a waste of money and
effort. Therefore these problems came in
time and became blessings.
Fever
Originally my sister Yvonne was planning to visit
me in March, but due to work she changed her schedule to April. Again this was the best arrangement cause if
she came in March, she would be battling
with the moths also and I would not have time nor energy to care for her. We had booked a 9 day trip to Adelaide
starting on May 15, with two nights on a River Murray cruise.
The morning of May 13, I woke up and
found my neck swollen with a big lump, and its very painful. The pain also went up to my ears. Initially I thought it was flu and normally I
would use herbal medicine to cure.
However due to our imminent departure on the 15th, I wanted to make sure that it was nothing serious,
so I immediately went to see a family doctor.
He checked and found I had very
high fever. He suggested I start on
antibiotics and should cancel my trip on 15th. Also he gave me a script for an ultrasound of
my thyroid when my fever subsides.
My sister and my son also suggested
that we cancel the trip, but somehow inside myself I was hoping that the
antibiotics would work, and in which case, I should be OK in a couple of days.
I chanted for a quick recovery.
On the second day, I started to feel much better,
and on the third day, the pain and fever was gone and we flew to Adelaide as
scheduled. That same night we even went
to Hogs Breath for a good yummy piece of steak.
Lesson
I think a
lot of my sickness is due to stress (caused the moths), I have to learn to take
things easy and do things step by step.
Also it is important for us to know WHEN TO DO THE RIGHT THING AT THE
RIGHT TIME, i.e. seeing the family doctor in time to be cured of the sickness.
Blessing
Despite the initial symptoms and discomfort, the pain and
fever were gone in two days and I could enjoy our trip to Adelaide. What a
great blessing indeed!
Tooth
I had a broken tooth In March . Since my husband has retired and he was in
Hong Kong, I decided to ask his good friend and a top dental surgeon,
Terry, in Adelaide to help me. On the second day of our arrival in Adelaide,
April 16th, I drove to his surgery.
After examination, he suggested I have an extraction because this tooth
had a failed root canal.
Terry had done all implants in my mouth and I fully trusted
him. After several injections, the tooth
was extracted, he also gave me two fillings and I came off with a numb face and
lips.
Foot and lips
After
my dental treatment I drove to a nearby store to buy a pair of thick track
pants for the cruise because the weather could be cold. After parking my car alongside the road
opposite the store, as I was half way getting out of the car my left foot was trapped
by the GPS wire! When tried to force my
left leg out I almost fell onto the road, trying to avoid falling out into the
streets with the cars coming towards me, I fell sideways.
When
I tried to stand up, there was a horrible sharp pain on my left foot and I
could not walk! It was with great
difficulty that I went back to the hotel room and lied in bed. At that time I was also very hungry so I
tried to eat (slowly) a pc of sandwich which my sister gave me, because my face
and mouth was still very numb, I didn’t realize that I was actually chewing on
my lips .
There you go, I had a swollen face, swollen and bruised lips
and a very painful foot! My sister and
my family felt very bad seeing my condition and wondered if we should go back
to Sydney for treatment. For some
reason, I had the confidence that I would be OK, (last year when I was
travelling alone in Poland in a remote village, I hurt my back and could not
walk, sit nor stand. I lied on the sofa
and kept chanting and the next day I was 80% ok and could go back to Krakow on
a bus) so I put chinese medicated oil and pads on my painful foot, and wrap it
up with the special bandage which my sister bought me.
The next day I rested in the hotel until 5 pm and then drove 2
hrs to the port to board the cruise.
Upon arrival, it was still a bit painful to walk so I just
hopped. Despite of all these happenings,
my spirit was not affected and I enjoyed the cruise very much: the food, the
scenery, the serenity…….. (See photos)
Having a good rest on the cruise, my foot was feeling miles
better!
On return to Sydney I went to have an Xray of the foot and was
shocked to see a huge fracture on the bone!!! (See photo). I consulted a good
friend who is a Orthopaedic
Surgeon
and he said that it will heal and I don’t have to worry. I continued to rest at home, using the
medicated ointment, and chanting everyday to recover quickly. I am happy to say that I am now 90% recovered
.
Lesson
The lessons I learned here are: first I used to brush my teeth
only twice a day, now I have to start brushing my teeth after every meal,
because my husband is retired, and after Terry also retires, I don’t know yet
of any good dentist who can help me.
Second, I am a very impatient and careless person, i.e. the
GPS wire was dangling and I was trapped without realizing, ending in the
mishap. Now I take extreme care getting
in and out of cars, and try to do things slowly.
The blessing
Although I suffered because the above, I was very thankful.
1.
I thank the
gohonzon that my broken tooth came in time so I could fix up all problems before
Terry retires (by the way Terry said I had to redo a crown and a bridge)
2.
I thank the gohonzon that despite the serious
fracture of my bone, I was still able to drive, to travel and enjoy my trip,
and I am healing very fast.
Thyroid
Last week I had an ultrasound of my thyroid glands, as earlier
suggested by the doctor. The xrays show
that I have six nodules on my thyroid.
The doctor said I need to have a biopsy since one of the nodules was
more than 2 cm in size. The biopsy involves putting a needle into my neck and
taking tissues out from my thyroid glands for pathology tests.
I was brave enough to go for the biopsy alone, although I was
a bit nervous. The procedure was not too
bad. However when waiting for the
results, which took about two days, I began to be a bit restless. I chanted and chanted to the gohonzon and
said: I have gone through enough
hardships in life, now I want to enjoy life and contribute to kosen rufu
without wasting time on fighting illness.
I also chanted for the nodules to disappear. Two days seemed a long time to pass. When I went to the doctor again, he put on a
straight face and said : ‘well do you want the good news or the bad news?’
I stared at him, not knowing how to respond. Then I said:’ no news is good news,’ but he
asked again: ‘do you want the good news or the bad news???’
I was forced to say: ‘the good news!’ He said: ‘the good news is that the test
results are normal, it is a degenerating (dying) cyst, and… there is no bad
news!’
What a relief! He then went on to tell me that initially when
he saw the xray, he was quite concerned because of the size and the irregular shape
of the nodule, that’s why he asked for a biopsy. Now he said he is very happy to see the good
results, but suggested that I will have another ultrasound in one year’s time.
The interesting thing was: before I left, he said: ‘go and
enjoy life!’ This was exactly what I said and chanted to the
Gohonzon. I chanted for the nodule to disappear and it is degenerating,
I chanted to enjoy life and the doctor said I should go and enjoy life. How mystic!
Inspiration
The
reason why I related all incidents to you is to let you know that, as human, we
have to face moments which would create some kind of hardships to us. However with our chanting of Nam Myo Ho Renge
Kyo, efforts in kosen rufu and our trust in the Gohonzon, we will be able to go
through them, with help from all around us, and gain a lot of benefits as a
result. I remember long time ago, a
senior SGI member said: ‘I
am always happy, because I trust the Gohonzon.
I believe that everything that comes to me will turn out to be a
benefit.’ And it is true!
Nam Myo Ho Renge Kyo!
