The Ordeal

WARNING : THIS POSTING IS UNUSUALLY LONGER THAN PREVIOUS ONES. SO IF YOU WANT TO GO ON READING, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE PLENTY OF TIME AND PATIENCE IS QUITE IMPORTANT. (He..he..he..)




Dah sebulan berlalu masa Abang dimasukkan ke hospital sebab kecederaan di kaki dia.



Nak dijadikan cerita, Pak Lijah pulak masuk sepital baru-baru ni. Kat Penang plak tu... Such a dramatic incident...



Tahun ni holiday di Penang hanya tertumpu kepada city centre sebab ultimate objective ialah untuk pekena the food. To begin with, Mak Lijah tak makan suppressant for the entire week so that I could savor the scrumptious Penang gastronomy.

We reached Penang island at about 1230 pm after a very smooth journey from Bangi. Dari awal lagi Pak Lijah and Mak Lijah dah plan nak lunch di Minah Restaurant kat Gelugor. Dulu masa zaman belajor (even sampai ke tahap universiti), hanya harap ke mak and ayah jer lah nak bawa kami ke situ sebab restoran tu dikira untuk up-market. Pun begitu, tak kisah perihal harganya sebab makanannya amatlah lazat sekali.

Untuk tuan-tuan dan puan-puan yang belum pernah makan di situ, silalah isi poket dengan amaun yang bersesuaian dahulu, dan kemudian silalah order menu wajib: Kari kepala ikan, sambal tumis udang dan ayam goreng special yang ada sos. Menu ni kena tempah khas sebab dia tak dak kat counter. Tunggu sekejap, dalam 10 menet, all will be served hot and spicy. Nevertheless, makanan yang kat kaunter tu pun sedaaaaaaap. Cuba try test sambal tumis sotong dan ayam goreng berbawang. Tapi dua menu tu selalu habis cepat.

Tengah sedap menjamu selera tu, baru Mak Lijah terperasan yang this lady yang duduk accross our table was my school mate kat Convent Green Lane dolu-dolu. And seated opposite her at her table was Pak Lijah's lecturer dulu (paper Marketing Management, kalau tak silap).

So we all pun Sembang Mak Lijah and I asked her to sign-up kat facebook sebab kat situlah Mak Lijah got connected to school friends some 25 years ago tu (remember my earlier posting?).








At about 1.50 pm, we all pun check-in kat Danisy's favourite hotel yang attached to KOMTAR, tu. After resting for a short while, anak2 Mak Lijah dah terlompat2 nak pergi swimming pool walaupun semalam diorang cakap nak pi beli swimming trunk/suit dulu sebab yang ada sekarang ni dah either ketat or pendek.

Maka berenang-renang lah budak-budak tu dan bapak budaknya dalam gerimis manja-manja tu. While the kids were still swimming, Pak Lijah pun keluar lah dari pool sambil komplen sakit pinggang. Later, Pak Lijah komplen lagi that pinggang dia makin sakit and ajak Mak Lijah ke klinik (which is so unusual of him).

Kami pun berjalan di sekitar GAMA mencari klinik, malangnya, klinik yang paling hampir di Jalan Dato' Keramat tu tutup pulak sebab Ahad. So we walked ke depan KOMTAR untuk mencari lagi klinik lain but unfortunately tak ada. Melihatkan keadaan Pak Lijah yang makin teruk, berjalan pun dah terbongkok-bongkok, Mak Lijah suggested to ask the cab driver to take us to any clinic yang buka and tak berapa jauh dari situ. So the cab driver took us to this clinic yang Mak Lijah pernah frequent yearssss ago, opposite Padang Brom (Taman Brown). Doctor dah suspect it was batu karang and gave him a jab.

Nak dijadikan cerita, on our way back, dah dekat sangat nak sampai ke hotel, tiba-tiba terperasan yang wallet dan blackberry Pak Lijah tertinggal kat klinik tu tadi. Makanya, kamipun berpatah balik ler ke klinik tu sambil Mak Lijah menekan-nekan punat blackberry Mak Lijah untuk memanggil klinik tu. Pak Lijah pulak nampaknya masih dalam kesakitan.



Malam tu, Mak Lijah memesan room service saja untuk the kids sebab Pak Lijah masih lagi kesakitan yang amat sangat. Melihatkan dia macam tu, Mak Lijah menelefon klinik tadi dan bercakap dengan dokter tu. Katanya, kalau dalam setengah jam lagi tak kurang juga sakitnya, Pak Lijah harus dibawa ke hospital. Mak Lijah pun meminta nama obat yang dijab kepada Pak Lijah tu : Volteren, 70 mg. Patutler tak baik sakitnya, dalam keadaan biasapun, Pak Lijah selalu ambil 100mg for his gout.


Selesai saja Isyak dengan doa yang panjang, Mak Lijah mengajak Pak Lijah ke hospital. Untuk mengurangkan masa menunggu, we decided to go to a private hospital.


Masalahnya, Mak Lijah ni dah lama benar tinggalkan Penang dan dah lupa kebanyakan nama-nama jalan di situ. Lagipun, kebanyakan jalannya dah jadi one-way ditambah pula dengan bangunan-bangunan baru yg begitu asing bagi Mak Lijah. Mujurlah consierge hotel banyak membantu dengan menunjukkan arah di atas peta. Tapi yang betul-betul helped Mak Lijah with the bearings was the landmark that he mentioned : CRC kiri, hospital kanan, kat Jalan Larut.




Maka Mak Lijah pun berdusyum lah memandu kereta Pak Lijah dengan hati yang sangat berdebar-debar. Mana taknya, dah ler hujan, malam pulak tu...

The route was like this : keluar hotel, turn right to Penang Road. Then turn left to Jalan Burmah and after that... ?????

Memang totally blind..! Oh my God.. cemana nak buat ni? Pak Lijah pulak semakin sakit jadinya. Arggghhh... belasah jer lah.. The formula I want to use is to drive straight through Jalan Burmah tu...

Keter pulak banyak. Hujan...Gelap... tapi ada banyak lampu kedai and yet Mak Lijah betul-betul rasa buta sebab stress/tension yang melampau. Mana nak turn ni? Apa lagi... redah jer traffic light... hon sana hon sini. Hoi...! Tak nampak ke aku bawa orang sakit ni? Mujur aku tak der sairen jer..! Dalam dok drive takut-takut tu pun Mak Lijah bawa laju juga macam ambulance gak (tapi ambulancepun bukannya bawa laju pun, kan?). Then we reached this very familiar area and I saw the signage to CRC. Fuuhhh... that's something..! Then baru nampak tanda "Jalan Larut"..


Oh dah nak sampai rupanya. Terus jer Mak Lijah parking depan pintu Emergency hospital tu.. Peduli lah nak clamp ke, nak tarik ke, nak saman ke... nak haper ke...


Pak Lijah pun masuk dalam bilik rawatan emergency tu.. Dah ada dokter sedia menunggu. Mak Lijah pula bergegas pi register sekejap. Balik dari registration 10 minutes later, tengok2 Pak Lijah tengah 'high' atas katil rawatan while the doctor and nurses were working around him. Kat tangan dia dah dicucuk apa benda entah. Macam citer Grey's Anatomy plak rasanya. The doctor pun explain lah macam2 kat Mak Lijah and at the same time asked a lot of questions, about his medical history, last medical check-up etc. Mak Lijah also explained to the doctor that we were actually on holiday and just arrived that afternoon.

Dipendekkan cerita, the Doctor said Pak Lijah has to be admitted for observation, takut sakit tu datang semula later that night. Masa dengar dia kata 'for observation' tu, Mak Lijah rasa lega sikit. Maknanya bukanlah untuk rawatan lain, i.e. pembedahan or laser or whatsoever. Masa tu, Mak Lijah was contemplating whether to call emak Mak Lijah to tell of the ordeal or not to call. Mak Lijah tak mahu dia risau, especially ayah Mak Lijah yang paling kuat risau yang melampau terutamanya kalau disebut 'masuk hospital' - itu sememangnya amat alarming bagi mereka berdua.

Akhirnya, Mak Lijah decided hanya to call anak2 Mak Lijah yang ditinggalkan di bilik hotel, diorang bertiga saja. Dah tidor rupanya. Mak Lijah beritahu kepada si Abang that I would be spending the night at the hospital untuk menjaga Pak Lijah dan berpesan kepada dia to take care of his siblings for that night. I promised to be back subuh the next day. Mujurlah si Abang faham situasi tu sebab diapun baru jer merasa 'nikmat' bermalam di sepital.

Mak Lijah bertekad that if Pak Lijah hanya di'wad'kan for observation, tak perlulah upset kan mak and ayah sebab knowing them, they will just drive all the way from Perlis to Penang malam tu juga even if I told them not to. Kesian lah kat diorang.


Semasa registration to be warded, Mak Lijah asked for a single-bedded room atas faktor Mak Lijah akan bermalam di situ. Pak Lijah pun dibawa ke bilik tu while he was still on the treatment bed. Katanya rasa melayang-layang sebab ubat tu masih lagi doing work on him. Bilik tu agak besar, much bigger than bilik Abang di Az-Zahrah dulu. Siap ada Astro and a 3-seater sofa cum bed.

Sementara tu, sempat juga update kat facebook... Keh...keh...keh... And because of that, Abang Jam called from KL to ask what happened. He had been in that situation before, a couple of years ago.


Dalam pada nak sampai ke midnight tu, nurse asyik keluar masuk bilik entah berapa kali... At the same time Mak Lijah monitor lah perkembangan Pak Lijah. By then, the pain was slowly going away. Lega lah sikit rasanya... Berbanding masa dalam kereta nak ke hospital tadi, he was much better, then.

Subuh tu, Mak Lijah bangun to find Pak Lijah dah sihat and keluar masuk toilet, as part of the reaction to the ubat the doctor gave him. Finding him like that, Mak Lijah lebih lah rasa leganya and confident enough to leave him for a while.


Dalam gelap-gelap subuh tu, Mak Lijah pun drove back ke hotel. This time it was so much easier sebab tak stress and more confident sebab jalan balik (Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah/Northam) masih sama macam dulu-dulu.

Sampai je ke hotel, Mak Lijah pun sembahyang subuh dan ajak anak-anak breakfast kat coffee house, sebelum memecut ke hospital semula. Pak Lijah kena x-ray pukul 8.30 pagi.




Sesampai je di bilik Pak Lijah, budak2 tu bukan main lagi. Diorang ingat hospital tu macam another resort je so riuh-rendahnya tak ingat dunia.


Oleh kerana nak kena x-ray, Pak Lijah tak dapat nak breakfast lagi pagi tu. By the time the whole process was over, it was almost 10 am and Pak Lijah was so hungry. The staff then brought him bread with jam and butter, plus extra lagi for Danis and Kakak. Baiknya hati mereka...

Later, the doctor came to see Pak Lijah and explained what he found through the x-ray : A three mm-sized stone. Although he said no surgery or any other treatment is necessary yet, Pak Lijah needs to come back in three months time to see the development and prescribe something if necessary. By then, thanks to facebook, ramai yang concerned tu banyak memberi petua-petua dan tak kurang juga yang menelefon Pak Lijah.


Pukul 1230, cukup 24 jam berada di Penang, Pak Lijah pun di discharged. Keluar je dari hospital, we went to Norman's, to have lunch. Menu biasa: kari kepala ikan, sambal tumis udang, ayam goreng dll. Pergggh....! Balik hotel sekejap to solat, then off to Queensbay Mall to shop and shop... Shopping bagai nak rak as if nothing happened the last 24 hours.


On Wednesday, kami meneruskan perjalanan cuti kami menuju ke Perlis, least to the knowledge of mak and ayah of what we went through in Penang on Sunday/Monday.






Akhir kata to all, thank you for your concern and khidmat nasihat yang tidak ternilai dengan wang ringgit. Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha.