Heavy Rain

The SMART Tunnel has been closed for the last 3 days and there was no sign of it being opened. It has been consistently raining heavily by late afternoon and today, the heavy downpour hit me hard while driving home from my lecture in Kelang. I thought of ex aping early, by leaving the hospital before 4. By the time I reached Puchong, it started to rain and I made the mistake of driving into town rather than endure the carpark that was MRR2.

Halfway in, I saw the message that the SMART tunnel was closed for flood mitigation operation. Oh dear! I only managed to reach home just after six. A solid couple of hours in the car. Certainly not good for my sanity I would've thought!

How the mighty had fallen

After a trio around town to run errands and visit some family members who was admitted into one of the local hospital in KL, myself, Anita and her parents had lunch at the once famous Cosy Corner, at Ampang Park right in the middle of town. The place used to be and to a certain extend, still was full of patron come lunchtime, with queues of legendary length. The food there was really good, both of the locals and Western variety. The service was fast and prompt, making it ideal for a quick lunch meeting for the corporate types on a budget.

The laser time I was here must have been a good couple of years ago. I used to remember the food being excellent, or at least much better than its sister outlet, Cosy House at Great Eastern Mall. Unfortunately this time, the food was frankly bad and the service - as the core of the waiters and waitresses comprised of Indonesian workers, the order were messed up, and the right ones did not go to the right table. It was frankly a mess. A far cry from what it used to be.. To make mattered worst, I ordered a sirloin steak - cookers to well-done. It came with some basic vegetable and a few slices of French Fries. It did not even come with gravy. When asked, apparently, I had to pay extra for them, and they only came in in black pepper or black sauce. I just shook my head in disgust. How do you expect me to guzzle down a dry piece of steak with some chilling sauce. Disgusting!

The irony was, the steak came with a small Malaysia flag. I felt like assaulting the Manager's eyes with it ..... I was that disappointed. Suffice to say, I would not returning the any time soon. I would rather have the McDonald's downstairs ....... and that was meant to be an insult .....

Practice Makes Perfect

How unfortunate. Idlan would be celebrating his seventh birthday in the exam hall. Since being in Year One, I have lost count on how many assessment he had gone through. And it was not even half a year yet. There would be another one starting Monday.

Idlan wearing his artwork!More preparations

For that, he has been practicing his Maths and Arts. For Arts, he had to prepare a birthday card as the topic, which was both appropriate and ironic. Maths, Sciences, Ugama and Moral, English and Bahasa would come later in the week. I have promised both Idlan and Irfan that I would take them to watch Kung Fu Panda next weekend, regardless of how they did in the exam. To be honest, exams this regular in the first few years of their schooling life was rather too much.

Of another mortality

Just after midnight earlier, I received another phone call. This time it was from Institut Jantung Negara where Anita's aunty has been admitted since Monday. she has a history of heart disease and has recently been ill. She was initially admitted into another hospital in Ipoh but due to complications, was transferred here.

She was doing fine until yesterday when her condition took a sudden sharp deterioration. The family gathered yesterday, but she was still fine. Apparently she suffered a stroke, details of which was rather sketchy, and something I would rather not dwell on. She drew her last breath after midnight, and I just returned from IJN where at this very moment, her body was being driven back to Ipoh. My in-laws would be traveling to Ipoh later today, but I don't think that either myself or Anita would. Therefore, in the space of 24 hours we had a couple of family members passing on. Alfatihah.

Of mortality

I just learned that a family member passed away earlier this afternoon. Alfatihah. He was diagnosed with liver cancer at the end of last year and by the time the diagnosis was established - in UMMC as he was originally from Kuala Terengganu, it was already too late and all that could be offered was steps to increase his quality of life. He was put on an expensive medication to help curtail the spread of the disease. He had a good 4 months period since taking the drug. He was able to return to Kuala Terengganu to spend the last few weeks of his life, to say his last goodbyes.

This took a turn for the worst a couple of weeks back. He turned jaundice and his children asked him to return to KL. He was admitted the day after and it was established then that the end was approaching. He was started on pain killer. Some fluids were taken off his lungs to ease his breathing. He did not suffer at all in the end.

How appropriate that I heard the news about his passing while I was attending a kenduri arwah, held 40 days after a death of another family member. This lash had relapse of her breath cancer. She was first diagnosed with it back in 1989 at the then University Hospital. She was operated on, following she had radiotherapy. She had almost 20 years of near-normal life. But time caught up with her.

Being an Oncologist, sometimes I disattached myself from the subject of mortality in order to function. But it still effects me if it were to happen on somebody I know personally. That was also the reason why I went to distance not to treat any of my family members - sometime they even accused me of not being helpful. But I guessed that was my coping mechanism .....