Monday Blues - 25 July 2011

25 July 2011, a Monday, was indeed not one of my better days...!

I left home without my mobile but thought that I should be able to manage without it as my wife was with me and we were taking her mother to the TTS hospital for her doctor's appointment; a 2-3 hours event.

Everything went as expected until the taxi dropped us off at my mum-in-law's (MIL) block of flats in Toa Payoh.

We were careful to ensure that MIL took her time to get out of the taxi and was moving with her walking stick.

BUT after a few steps, she somehow switched to two hands on her walking stick in front of her.... and she lost her balance and fell on her left side.

We were behind her but it happened so fast that we were caught off guard.

We helped her up but it was obvious that she was in pain and her left elbow was badly bruised but luckily, she did not hit her head on the ground.

We wanted to send her for an x-ray to check that there was no broken bones but MIL refused and claimed that if she has any broken bones, she could not have walked back to the flat with our help.

Never argue with an old stubborn lady...sigh

We iced her hip area and I cleaned and put some iodine on her elbow wound area.

She was in pain so we gave her her pain killer medicine just obtained earlier from her Dr.

Later in the evening, we managed to convince her to go to TTS A&E to have her hip looked into as she was really in pain and having difficulty walking to the toilet.

I followed the ambulance and got off the taxi at TTS A&E car park.
A few steps later, I realised that I might have dropped my wallet after paying my fare.

My wife called NTUC Comfort and managed to get them to locate the taxi and he agreed to return to the TTS A&E car park for me to pick up my wallet.

We were impressed by their prompt service and very grateful as we were not in the mood to go to the police to report the loss of the wallet and then to call the Banks to cancel all my credit cards.. and replace my NRIC too!

I gave the taxi driver a small reward and he refused but I insisted on it.

The X-ray showed no broken bones but MIL was warded to do a MRI the following day.
By the time she was warded and we waited to meet the Dr on duty, it was almost mid-night.

What a day...... a Monday, the start of a new week too....!

David

My July 2011 Penang Trip

I just returned from my trip to Penang to visit my parents and my elder sister.

I accompanied my Mum to the hospital for her twice a week Physiotherapy sessions, each lasting an average 2.5 hours and about 6 exercises.

This is the Physiotherapy centre, a separate building and entrance from the hospital proper, next to the car park at the side.

I am glad that Mum has gotten used to going for her Physio sessions and she looks forward to them. I jokingly say that it is her social club as she knows all the staff there and also a few of the other patients.

My sister with her car parked near to the Physio centre. There are no taxi running on the road in Penang so it is more convenient to have your own car especially when it is so much cheaper there compared to Singapore.

I managed to go down to Prangin Mall to do some shopping...but nothing much unless you have something in mind; eg I repaired my son's mobile as it was about S$10 cheaper there.

I also went out with my sister and my Dad separately for a meal and a movie; seeing the movie, Transformers - Dark Side of the Moon, twice as there was no other interesting movie showing then. The movie cost me less than S$3 per person...!

It was a good break from life in Singapore....ha...ha...

David