The longest day ever.
Hello my dear readers (if there are any).
My blog is going towards a different direction from today onwards. My dad suffered a stroke today. So basically, from this day onwards, this will be a journal of sorts for me to hold on to my sanity.
He was in Batam with his indonesian wife when he had the stroke. It was at 4am in the morning. And i only got the call from my uncle at 11am when i was at work (rushing an important project!). So i rushed home to grab my passport, a change of clothes and my handphone charger.. just in case i needed to spend a few days there. We then made our way to Batam by taking a ferry from Harbourfront. During the journey, i was thinking how ironic it was. I had been daydreaming so much about going overseas and here i was going to Batam.. but to rescue my dad!
I spoke to my dad briefly on the phone (he sounded slurrish) and he said that he wanted us to meet him at harbourfront so that we can take him home. I then spoke to his wife on the phone and when she described to me what was his condition, i immediately knew it was a stroke. Difficulty in speaking.. paralysis on the left side of his body. I told her to rush him to the hospital there immediately and that we will look for them there. This was at about 11.30am. His wife's brother and driver met us at the ferry terminal (at about 3.30pm) and to my horror, we were brought to his home! NOT the hospital! When i asked (in my halting malay) 'He's not at the hospital?!', the brother-in-law replied 'He didn't want to go!'. Can you believe that?! They know there's definitely something wrong with my dad and yet, they still listened to his request not to go despite my instruction. The freaking idiots!
When i saw my dad, i almost had a stroke myself. He was so stiff and lying on the bed. And he wanted to take a ferry to Singapore in that condition!! My uncle and i, with the help of those idiots, brought him to the hospital in the driver's car. And by the time he received medical attention, it was like 4pm. Can you believe that?! 12 freaking hours AFTER the stroke!
Anyway, to make a long story short, the scan showed that it was a non-hemorrhaging stroke.. which was good news.. the bad news was that there was a large area of the right brain that had swelled. Thankfully, the doctor gave us the green light to move him to Singapore. The hospital then arranged for him to be transported to the ferry terminal and on to Singapore with an accompanying nurse. An ambulance was also waiting for us at Harbourfront with a medical team and they brought us to Tan Tock Seng. And after MORE waiting, my dad was finally warded at 12.ooam, Saturday.
In my immediate family, there is only 3 of us.. my dad, my twin brother and me. Unfortunately, my brother was on a flight to Hawaii to visit our mother (my parents are divorced) for 2 weeks when the stroke occurred, which leaves me to hold the fort for a while. I informed my brother when he landed in Hawaii. Of course, he was naturally worried and wanted to return on an earlier flight but i said no. It may be a VERY long time before he may get a break like this again.. so i reassured him that everything was under control here. There was nothing he could do if he were to return anyway and both he and our mom was looking forward to their time together for some time.
That being said and done, this was certainly the longest day ever..
My blog is going towards a different direction from today onwards. My dad suffered a stroke today. So basically, from this day onwards, this will be a journal of sorts for me to hold on to my sanity.
He was in Batam with his indonesian wife when he had the stroke. It was at 4am in the morning. And i only got the call from my uncle at 11am when i was at work (rushing an important project!). So i rushed home to grab my passport, a change of clothes and my handphone charger.. just in case i needed to spend a few days there. We then made our way to Batam by taking a ferry from Harbourfront. During the journey, i was thinking how ironic it was. I had been daydreaming so much about going overseas and here i was going to Batam.. but to rescue my dad!
I spoke to my dad briefly on the phone (he sounded slurrish) and he said that he wanted us to meet him at harbourfront so that we can take him home. I then spoke to his wife on the phone and when she described to me what was his condition, i immediately knew it was a stroke. Difficulty in speaking.. paralysis on the left side of his body. I told her to rush him to the hospital there immediately and that we will look for them there. This was at about 11.30am. His wife's brother and driver met us at the ferry terminal (at about 3.30pm) and to my horror, we were brought to his home! NOT the hospital! When i asked (in my halting malay) 'He's not at the hospital?!', the brother-in-law replied 'He didn't want to go!'. Can you believe that?! They know there's definitely something wrong with my dad and yet, they still listened to his request not to go despite my instruction. The freaking idiots!
When i saw my dad, i almost had a stroke myself. He was so stiff and lying on the bed. And he wanted to take a ferry to Singapore in that condition!! My uncle and i, with the help of those idiots, brought him to the hospital in the driver's car. And by the time he received medical attention, it was like 4pm. Can you believe that?! 12 freaking hours AFTER the stroke!
Anyway, to make a long story short, the scan showed that it was a non-hemorrhaging stroke.. which was good news.. the bad news was that there was a large area of the right brain that had swelled. Thankfully, the doctor gave us the green light to move him to Singapore. The hospital then arranged for him to be transported to the ferry terminal and on to Singapore with an accompanying nurse. An ambulance was also waiting for us at Harbourfront with a medical team and they brought us to Tan Tock Seng. And after MORE waiting, my dad was finally warded at 12.ooam, Saturday.
In my immediate family, there is only 3 of us.. my dad, my twin brother and me. Unfortunately, my brother was on a flight to Hawaii to visit our mother (my parents are divorced) for 2 weeks when the stroke occurred, which leaves me to hold the fort for a while. I informed my brother when he landed in Hawaii. Of course, he was naturally worried and wanted to return on an earlier flight but i said no. It may be a VERY long time before he may get a break like this again.. so i reassured him that everything was under control here. There was nothing he could do if he were to return anyway and both he and our mom was looking forward to their time together for some time.
That being said and done, this was certainly the longest day ever..
posted by norman.. at 12:05 AM
1 Comments:
Hope your Dad will be alright! :)
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