Hey boo…
The past few days have been a living hell for me… literally.
I have had to see people I love fall terribly ill, I have worn women’s batik sarung in public, and I haven’t had more than 3 hours of sleep every night.
Let me start from the beginning.
So on Friday I was working… although it seems like the only occupants in my block were Dr. Badrul and myself… and he left early I think… ah well… Junaidy was awful nice to keep me company though… Apparently his laboratory was dark because he was the only one working… so he decided to hang with me
The main thing is, my niece Puteri was developing a fever… Anna and Zul took her to see Baby (a doctor we are familiar with who works at a private clinic) and they came back with some cough syrup, flu medicine and some sort of pill you insert rectally if the baby gets too hot. Her temperature got very high, around midnight it was 40.4 degrees… I was worried but figured that if I panic things could only get worse… we called Anna and Zul back to Cheras to help take care of the baby… and to be with her just in case something happens and all…
Her temperature fluctuated up and down throughout the night… in the morning she was walking and playing… she appeared a little weak but she was still fooling around and all… her temperature had reduced so we didn’t expect what came next…
A little after 9 am she started to get a fit… I find out later that this is called febrile convulsion (fit)… I had read about it on the net the night before and told everyone that it’s the worse that could happen… no one was paying attention I think… anyways, Anna started to get panic and cry when her baby was having the fit… Mama was in the bathroom and she came out to start join the panic team… Zul had left early that morning to meet his friend about something… Tanti started to get panic after Zul shouting “…come back now!!! The baby is getting a seizure…!!!” Abah was still calm but worried I could tell… I was yelling at everyone to calm down of course… I told Abah to start the car and Tanti to get some of the baby’s stuff so we could take her to the hospital… All this happened in about 30 seconds…although it all seemed like an eternity… Puteri’s fit lasted about one minute… the fit stopped when I was carrying her in the elevator going to the car park… she became very limp and irritable… so Abah, Anna and myself were the ones to drive to the clinic which was about five minutes from the condo. We left Tanti with Mama because it would be good to have her tagging along with her heart condition and all…
So we arrived at the clinic and the Dr. was eating something when we entered but he saw us immediately… he told us to take the baby to the nearest hospital (HUKM) and get her to the ER immediately… he wrote something on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope for the MO at the Casualty Department of the Hospital… so we rushed out to get there… before we managed to get anywhere, Tanti called… she said Mama was having a heart attack … I told her not to panic and stay with Mama… it was hell… i was starting to panic too but I managed to stay calm… I told Abah to drive back and go check things up with Mama and called Tan… Tan is a close family friend and my business partner… Abah dropped me and Anna along with Puteri at the Lobby of Tan’s block and drove off… Tan was down in less than five minutes… and we drove like mad to HUKM…
All this time the “casualty” word was in my mind… that doesn’t look good at all… I thought to myself… but I kept quiet… my sister was quiet… I think she was in some sort of shock or something… we couldn’t wait for Zul and he didn’t know the way to HUKM so I told him to go back to the condo when called me… we’ll get him soon…
Later we found out he lost his way somewhere in Bangsar because he couldn’t think straight and didn’t know where he was driving… Tanti could’ve been more subtle… oh well; there are other more important things…
So I was doing all the registration nonsense at the ER HUKM and Anna went in with Puteri while Tan parked the car… I still hadn’t heard about Mama… by this time I was already screaming in my head… but I managed to keep my cool…
After about five minutes or so I heard the announcement over the PA “waris Puteri Teh sila masuk…” (will the family of Puteri Teh please enter…)
“Oh my God…” I was saying in my head… I didn’t know what to think and I walked in followed by Tan… Anna called me, and I was so relieved to her and Puteri in one section of the busy ER… Puteri was still okay…
The Dr. came a few seconds later with a small bucket of water and some gauze… she told us to sponge Puteri down to bring her temperature down… we did that… we were moved to the pediatrics ward a few minutes later… I think Puteri was stabilizing… Then Tanti called, she said Mama was asking about Puteri… Oh, I forgot about the part where I lied and told Abah to lie to Mama… saying we were still at the clinic and the doctor is just checking on Puteri and everything was fine… I followed my story… Tanti was still in the dark too… the last thing I needed then was Mama getting worse thinking about things that could happen to her first granddaughter… Mama was a little stable I found out but she couldn’t move her legs… this usually happens after one of her episodes and could stay that way for up to 2 weeks before she could walk again… so I followed my story; smoothly lying… for the better good…
Puteri slept most of time after that… and we sponged her… a little after 12 me and Tan left Anna with Puteri at HUKM to get Zul who was already at the condo waiting… on the way back Mama called, herself, asking about Puteri and I slowly explained what really happened… and that she has stabilized and the hospital will keep her for one day or two for observation… she wasn’t to convinced though… and she seemed to be okay with the truth…
I told Tan to come up and explain to Mama and convince her… since it was the truth and all… he did… and she was a little assured I think… but not fully convinced… there’s a story behind this actually…
When my Uncle, my mom’s older brother passed on a few years ago, my mother had a massive heart episode and she lost her memory temporarily… we didn’t want to worsen her condition and pretended everything was okay and nothing happened when she came about later… we told her she was afraid of a worm in the vegetable and she got an attack when she asked why she was sick… we couldn’t possibly tell her the bad news again… it was almost 2 weeks before she finally remembered and ask me about my Uncle… she remembered he had passed on… there wasn’t much that I could tell her because we never attended the funeral, the prayer sessions, or even mourned for his passing so Mama wouldn’t suspect… it was painful because he was very close with all of us… her recovery was slow but she recovered fully…
We went back to the hospital (me and Zul) together with an overnight bag for Anna and some of Puteri’s stuff…. Puteri seemed better…
Anna was crying everytime the baby coughed or cried… which was why I told her to go home later and let me stay with the baby at the hospital… with her condition, I don’t think she’d be able to be much help… and she did just recover from a fever herself…
So she left with Zul leaving me with the baby… I was in my cargo shorts and long-sleeve t-shirt. Close to midnight, when the ward was a little quiet I changed into the batik sarung because my shorts was starting to feel uncomfortable… Puteri was a little jumpy and she woke up a little after midnight I think… she was fussing in her cot so I carried her… she seemed weak but okay… she was also a little warm… I walked to a nurse sorting out some medicine and asked if Puteri seemed hot to her… she said yes… a few seconds later it came… in two huge gushes… Puteri threw up on me… I didn’t mind the throwing up, but I had checked the overnight bag earlier… there were only a t-shirt which Anna wore just now… an batik sarung which I am wearing now and managed to miss the main gush of puke… and a big jeans skirt… so there goes my shirt…
The nurse came to help of course… I gave her the baby and went to clean up… the shirt took too much puke and there was no way I would be able to wear it… I called Anna and decided not to ask her to send me a change of clothing afraid that Mama might be alarmed… I asked the nurse who handed me a purple hospital blouse… so I had to wear the batik sarung and a purple hospital blouse for the night… Didn’t sleep much that night…
The next morning Anna and Zul arrived late because the visiting hours weren’t until 12:30 and they could get into the hospital… and Zul was having diarrhea for some reason… so I decided to wear my cargo shorts with the purple blouse when everyone got up and the ward was alive with mothers, fathers, patients and interns… I looked stupid and some of the interns did give me the “What the hell is this patient doing in paeds?!”-look… but I had to keep a straight face… Puteri got up at 7:30 am and she pooped her diapers at about 8… so I decided to give her a bath… also to cool her down…
Without my noticing, cause I was too busy working the buckets of water, Puteri managed to smear my shorts with her poop… there goes my shorts… I finished bathing her and dressed her up… then I was back in my sarung… everyone looked and smiled… I guess I was quite a sight standing almost six feet tall with bright colored batik sarung and a purple patients blouse which was quite fitted… all this until after noon…
Finally Anna came and I left with Zul to get some sleep at home because the doctor told us they wanted Puteri to stay another day… so I was to stay with her again that night…
Had lunch… arrived home at 2… slept… Zul came to pick me up at 5:30… back at the hospital… sponged her until 4:30am because her fever came back around 7ish… my feet were killing me… slept until about 6 am… got up and cleaned Puteri, gave her medicine and made her milk… oh this time I was just tired but I was properly attired… so it wasn’t too bad… but my feet were killing me… Anna came early that day because I had to be at work… I arrived at the office around noon…
I wasn’t really stable… I was emotional and I was very very very tired…
Stayed until about 7 and went home… Puteri was discharged around 7ish as well…
I took care of her until about 2 am… then I couldn’t take it anymore and Abah and Mama (not yet very well, but she could walk…) had to take over… she had a fever last night too… so they sponged her all night…
I am still very tired… but I need to get some work done…
I will edit this later… but I have to stop now… need to get some work done… and prepare for my class tomorrow… I hate having to teach at 8 am… but it’s the only time the students agreed to… Professor Ali is not complaining so who am I to say anything….
Bless all of you then…
And Thank you FARAH for your support yesterday… you helped… a lot…
~ShaZ
3 comments:
ahhhh finally i got to the end of this very-the-lengthy entry!
yea.. it's more or less what you told me during our chat BUT you did leave out the attire part ;p
but then again, come to think of it, you werent in any position or mental state for that matter to tell something like that i guess...
and, you're most welcome! :D and remember, anytime mate! anytime.
wow.... that must be one heck of an experience..... and you, staying all calm throughout the whole episode shows what a toughy u are... good for u man.... hope your niece is feeling much better now... she's really lucky to have a caring uncle like u.... take care.
thanx... yeah... it was HeLL
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