My Ulysses' Odyssey

Man, I tell you the period 30 Apr to 13 Jun 2008 has been 1 odyssey for me. What started out as a decent job transition break turned out to be more than what I've bargained for. In summary:

I. Fulfilled the eventual life objective of going on a missions trip (eventually to Chiang Mai);
II. Repainted virtually all the walls and ceiling of our comfortable flat; disposed, sold many redundant artifacts coped up in the nooks and corners (no thanks to many previous donors who wittingly or unwittingly passed their invaluable "treasures" to us).
III. Lost a total weight (5 kg) that turned out to be the climax clincher of the long-break;

This is supposed to be my year - the Year of the Rat, where I am to have a field year - full of energy, vibrancy and challenges. But God in His marvellous and hilarious ways, had other plans. When Pst Dominic declared this year was to be the Year of New Beginning, boy, did he spark off really a chain of events in my life. Never would I expect that I leave my company of 12 years (that I joined ... in a 'Rat-year - 1996) and jump onto another one. Never would I expect I would eventually land up ... again for the very first time ... in a hospital, only to be confined for 5 agonising days. Truly, this was a very memorable period as I launch into a new phase of my working life. Anyway, the summary of events on some unforgetable days:

30 Apr: Last day of work; Didn't even bother to go for the last department meeting @ 3 pm. Had already spent the last 2 weeks clearing out my desk and cupboard - retrieving my personal belongings and throwing away all unnecessary and redundant items. Even to the very end, I didn't do what would be the norm for all departees - write and spam an email to the entire local addressees to tell them this was my last day, my personal email address, blah, blah, blah. Quietly, as I had joined the company, so quietly I fade off into oblivion. No need for regrets, disappointments nor even angst. T'is the season for change; God orchestrated it and so I must pack my bags and follow His bidding. I only saved the fond memories of some wonderful and congenial colleagues (my sia-loh, Mak; the lovely Diana who oozes an impossible aura of feminity and humor, the Christian cell members (the docile Joyce, gentle Ruth, steadfast Sara; supportive Vivien, the prayer warrior Doreen and last but not least, Stephen Tan whom I will always have this love-hate relationship (yes, the ONE who tried very hard to impress me with his 5 PDAS, iPhone and all those wonderful gadgetries, but have never quite gotten the software fully loaded to realise their potential).













Did I fade into oblivion? Not for the evening, God and I forbade! This auspicious day called for a celebration and celebrated so did we. We headed off for a wonderful scumptious dinner @ the Teochew restaurant and ended the night with a rousing, noisy karaoke session. What's to withhold back our rowdiness - afterall, the next day is May Day, a public holiday. I sang until I was hoarse all over.

21 May 2008: Losing weight the quick way - Get Infected with Dengue Fever !!

God had a hilarious way of answering my last prayer - He sent an Aedes mosquito (or at least He allowed it) to bite me. Don't ask me if this was a Thai or Singapore breed: I never felt sick nor weak during the entire Chiang Mai trip; although I had armed myself with insect repellent and with 6 other female companions who were better (and warmer) hosts for these blood suckers than I, I never recalled being bitten. I can only surmise that the varmint originated from a certain breeding spot @ the top deck of the multi- storey Toa Payoh car park.

Ironically, I felt the first symptoms of the fever on the very 1st day I started painting the flat. By afternoon, my muscles were aching; I thought it was due to the strenous strokes arising from painting the ceiling. By 3 pm, I felt my energy ebbing away. Rested a while before I resumed the painting. By 5 pm, the fever had set in. Since I was to have dinner with my new boss that evening, I popped 2 Panadol and went to sleep, hoping to feel better by the early evening. The fever however never subsided unfortunately. So against the odds, I popped another 2 more pills, put on a brave front and went with Fun for the dinner rendezvous. Although it was a sumptious seafood dinner @ the Turf Club, I struggled and agonized through it. When I finally reached home, I was a total wreck. Body temperature shot up to 39.2 C and I was aching all over and nursing a painful sorethroat.

It was no better the following day (Thurs. 22 May 08); so a visit to AM/PM Clinic was inevitable that evening. Needless to say, my beloved painting job had to be suspended for the time being. I ended sleeping the next few days. As I was still weak and feverish on Sunday 25 May, I had to give that much vaunted SAFRA Cycling Rally @ Paya Lebar airstrip a miss. Pity, because I wanted to rendezvous with Colin, Patrick and even Wolfgang for a nice sportin event. Sigh!

By 27 May, I paid another visit to Dr Lau; my temperature was going like a yoyo - 1 min down to 38C and then rebounding back to the sub-39C. It was obvious by then that I was not merely having a bad flu; rashes broke out on my arms, around my tummy area and thighs. My appetite went bonkers What used to take me barely 10 mins to consume a bowl of bee-hoon now stretched to almost an hour; I felt nausea, my nose and tongue revolting to sesame and cooking oil. Even Pepesi Max sucked. Eventually I became so weak that I had difficulties getting out from the car set after fetching Fun to work. Imagine - having to use my arms to hold the car door and hoisting myself up from the seat because of my wobbly legs.

A blood test on the 28 May revealed my platelet count was down. Dig this reference: Normal humans have a platlet count between 150,000 to 450,000; Mine was down to 65,000 (Medical books call this thrombocytopenia). So, since the Ministry of Health's criteria for admitting DF patients is less than 80,000, so off I went to SGH.

Needless to say, this was about 1 of the lowest point in my life: I never liked being admitted to the hospital much less going to one (although technically speaking, I drive wife to SGH virtually every other work day!). From the time I was identified as having a fever, I was put on a wheel chair and diverted to the A & E ward. From there on, I didn't know what was worse - the agony of the long wait or seeing the doctor; I had to endure both. Eventually, I decided it had to be the doctor. There he was, masked and unidentifiable (to protect him from being infected), doing a tourniquet on me, poking a syringe into my forearm and extracting blood from me (so what's the distinction between a doctor and a mosquito @ this juncture?). AFter reading the referral letter from Dr Lim, he pronounced in quite an uncompromising but assertive tone that he suspects I was suffering from dengue fever and had to be awarded. He followed through by sticking a big fat needle into the vein of my right palm, ignoring my garbled protest at the sudden surge of pain.