26. A pet shop operator's capsule

"My children are grown up and so I don't have any responsibilities now. I have a capsule," the pet shop operator said when I asked him how he would cope if he were to suffer another stroke. He was paralysed some 4 years ago and now he is normal. He could talk to me like any normal person and so he has recovered fully. His various tablets enabled him to live a normal life but his weight has not decreased.

We had known each other for over 30 years. His son had grown up to take over his thriving business. His wife is an excellent dog groomer.

I visited his pet shop this sunny weekday evening as he had invited me a few times when he brought puppies for me to vaccinate. He had shifted to another location as the old one was put up for en bloc sale. I was impressed with his big pet shop with a large inventory of various brands of dog food. I can judge how successful a pet shop business is by the inventory of dog food. Nowadays, dog food sales are not on credit terms as many pet shops close every year. So his large inventory means he must have a big clientele of dog owners in this relatively affluent area of Singapore.

I could see a Caucasian woman in her late 30s taking back a well-grown red miniature poodle from the shop and admiring it outside where her silver sports Mercedes was parked. Besides other clients, a woman in her 30s came in to buy her big bag of dog food and recognised me first.

"My Husky does not bite his tail anymore," she said. "However the patch over the tail gland is hairless," she promised to e-mail to me a picture. What a coincidence as I had not been to this pet shop for at least 2 years as it was quite far from Toa Payoh.

I seldom visit pet shops nowadays as I have so many things I want to do. "How much it costs to feed your Husky?" I ask this young lady with 2 Huskies and a small car. I always wonder how she could pack in 2 Huskies in such a small car to the dog park.

The pet shop operator has her loyalty as he gives loyalty cards which entitle buyers to discounts and some privileges. As for me, I wonder if the loyalty card system to retain clients applies to the vets. In theory it should. In reply to my query on feeding costs, the lady said, "Excluding canned food which I feed in the evening and two meals of dry food (Pinnacle brand) a day, it will be S$36.00 a month. So, it is S$1.20 a day.

Returning to my mission to get the pet shop operator to change his lifestyle, I said to him, "I read a book written by a doctor specialising in heart attack cases. It mentioned that heart attack patients would revert back to the old life-styles after a while," I sipped the Chinese tea he poured into a small tea cup for me.

"Yes, I was very afraid of death for the first few months after my stroke," the operator told me. "Now, my doctor said that I have so many tablets to take. I ought to be OK eating all my favourite seafood, pork-belly meat and laksa (fat-filled noodles with prawns). After all, my children are grown up and I have no more responsibility." His wife could take care of herself.

His wife and son had voiced their worries about his life-style to me when they brought the puppies for vaccination and I enquired about the head of the household.
I said I would talk to him sometime. Many months had passed. Here I was now visiting his pet shop. He had become an invincible man as he did not reduce his weight, did not exercise much nor become a vegetarian. After all, his doctor had prescribed him all the medication to prevent another stroke. If all fails, he certainly had a plan - a capsule to end his life if he were to suffer another stroke.

"If you have stroke, you will be paralysed. How will you be capable of taking this capsule? In any case, the ones who suffers most will be your wife and son, rather than you if you die. They have to take care of you 24 hours a day while you remain paralysed. Have you thought of this?"

He did not reply. I did not probe further what type of capsule he had but I am sure he had some medical knowledge to do what he wanted if he suffered another stroke.

"A friend recommends me to take the tablets from India to slim down," he told me. "My friend says it works for him."

I was surprised that he did not learn from a well known medical case where an actress who took slimming tablets made in China had to accept a liver transplant from her boyfriend. Another woman taking the same pills had actually died. I reminded him of the case. "It is best to stop taking such pills, cut down drastically on your fatty food. Do more walking. Weigh yourself daily. I can say you avoid the weighing machine so as not to know you have put on weight, am I right?"

"No, I don't weigh myself any day," the operator laughed. "It is hard to stop eating all the fatty food. After all, my doctor tells me he has prescribed medication to lower the high blood pressure and the cholesterol level in the blood. So I should have no problems."

Just take the medication and all strokes will be prevented. It is not so simple as that. One's liver will be tolerant to the medication and that means the medication dosage needs to be increased or the type changed.

Some people just need to eat at different hawker stalls and restaurants, sampling different types of cooking. What is living if one does not live to eat? Eat to live, more vegetables and fish and monitoring the weight weekly is far from the mind of most recovered heart attack or stroke person. What can be done to help loved ones to change their lifestyle?

Sometimes, changing one's unhealthy lifestyle or becoming vegetarian will do and the medication may be dispensed with in some cases, with the doctor's regular check up. It is hard to be alive and eat the bland vegetable, fish diet and fruits most of the time for many years. I believe that such a regime works. So far, I am nearing 60 years of age and have not needed any medication for diabetes, heart attacks or strokes. So far, so good. As for the operator, I hope he stops taking the slimming pill made in India if he does not know what it contains. Otherwise, he may suffer liver failure rather than a stroke! I will follow up on him.