I’ve been inactive for too long. Over-a-year too
long. Being overworked and wanting to write regularly again don’t go hand in
hand. My entire schedule was out of whack last year. There was a non-existent
work-life balance that I had succumbed to. Partially self inflicted because I
allowed it. No fun. No fun at all, my friends.
Recently I had a rude awakening. While I was busy at work, I
received a WhatsApp message from my sister informing me that my mum had a fall.
See, I’m from a close-knit family, and we’re a small one. It was a rude shock
because this was the incident one working afternoon:
*Note: Not for the
faint hearted as I'll be revealing some mildly gory details.
- Mumsy was on medication for dry cough that made
her drowsy. She lost her balance and fell face first into a wooden chair. Face first! *^%k#&^%$!!
S She told my aunt about it first instead of me because she didn’t want to disturb me at work. My aunt then informed my sister instead of me because she, too, didn’t want to disturb me at work. My sister (who lives in the USA, by the way) immediately informed me about this. God bless her for this. Thank you, Big Sister!
Bloody hell. No one wanted to inform me of this emergency
because they “didn’t want to disturb me at work”?!? High time for a change, I thought.
I immediately informed my boss, packed up, and left for the
day to be with mumsy. When I arrived to see her, it was a painful sight
because she lay in bed resting with temporary bandages on her face. As I drew
closer, my stomach was in knots because the bandages were no longer white;
instead, they were red from the blood soaking into the material.
Mumsy had a bandage just above her eye and just below her
chin. I could tell that the cut just below her chin was deep because that’s
where the bandage was REALLY bloody.
My aunt and I took her to the clinic. Thankfully, there was
only one patient before her turn and he was very quick. He was very, very
grumpy towards mumsy, but his time with the doctor was brief. Whatever. My
focus was mumsy. Side note: Grumpy
uncle, I hope you’re feeling better now.
When her turn arrived, the nurse motioned for her to lie
down so that she could clean the wounds before the doctor attends to her. This
was my aunt’s cue to exit the room because she literally cannot see deep cuts/wounds and blood. All three of us
walked in together because we’re family, and no one gets left behind.
Mumsy appears very calm as she’s lying in bed, but I can
tell she’s very worried and nervous. The nurse removes the bandages and I see
the cuts very clearly: the cut above her eye is quite deep that she can’t open
her eye properly; the cut just below her chin is disturbingly deep that it looks like the
skin forced itself to split open wide. I even caught sight of a bone. OMG, I felt like screaming and passing out!
I needed to remain calm and composed – I can’t let my emotions rule my
responses in this situation. Gotta be focused. I realise that mumsy has her eyes locked on me. Remain focused. While I was (falsely)
assuring her that the cuts were not deep and that she would be just fine and dandy, she
kept searching for the truth in my facial expression. While she was searching,
I was rambling about my week and our traditional Chinese New Year Eve dinner coming up.
Success! She bought it. First mission accomplished! Crap, this was the easier part.
Now, the doctor comes in to tend to her cuts and tells her
that she’s very lucky she sustained only cuts and not broken bones, or worse
injuries. He needs to do some stitching. Uh oh…. this ain’t gonna be a good
time for mumsy because he needs to inject her with local anesthesia first. I
know this process quite well and I knew it would be a VERY painful one for
her.
Anesthesia injected for the cut above the eye, check. It was bearable
pain for mumsy. As he begins to (as gently as possible) inject the area just
below her chin, I see her hands clamped so tightly to the sides of the bed, it
looked like her veins would explode. And she’s groaning in pain. It was odd and
painful for me because roles are now reversed. She used to be by my side when
the doctor was cleaning my wounds or stitching me up…. and now… now, I need to
keep her calm.
The room is dead silent at this point, you could hear a pin
drop. Heck, you could probably hear
everyone breathing at this point! So I did what came naturally to me: I gently
stroked her legs and started humming to try to distract her from the pain and
silence. Right on cue, the doctor and I are having a conversation about the
song I’m humming. Mumsy is listening intently, and I see her grip on the sides
of the bed slowly easing.
Anesthesia injected for the cut just below her chin, check. Second
mission accomplished!
Mumsy needed several stitches for each cut, and she’s all
stitched up nicely now. The doctor did a fantastic job with her! We take her
back home and she’s relieved she doesn’t need to go to a hospital. We are all
relieved. We kept her company while she ate something – her first meal of the
day – then took her meds and slowly drifted to sleep.
Reality bit hard for me that day. It was very disturbing
that my family members didn’t want to trouble me simply because I was at work
and they didn’t want me taking time off (fearing that it would have an impact
on me or my performance at work). Like I said earlier, high time for a change.
No more overworking to the point where I have no life outside of work and am
too exhausted to do anything but lay like a beach whale in bed. Enough.
More time for family. More time for friends. More time for me.
On a positively grand note, mumsy is recovering well. Thank God.
* * * * * * *
I've missed all of you dearly, fellow readers and friends. Until my next update soon. xoxo
Signing off...
~ Lil' Missy ~
