my family had a wake up call last Saturday.

my father had heart attack. dear calm and strong dad had a heart attack.

I was at work. got a call from my mother at about 4.30pm telling me that dad wanted to go to ttsh because he was having chest pains since 2pm. and afterwards, it was kind of a fast and slow turn of events.

I immediately called hubby to fetch me and straight away to get my dad and drove to ttsh.

Once registered, when we mentioned he complained of chest pains he was immediately sent inside, without waiting for any of us that when I came in to follow him, I found myself in a busy room with nurses moving everywhere and beds with patients waiting to be tended to, but no sign of my dad. I asked a busy looking nurse at the counter and asked where my dad is, they only mentioned he’s in ‘resus’. I was like what the heck is resus and can I go meet him now? no, only the patient is inside. so I waited inside not knowing what to do. after about half an hour inside, hubby called and guess what, a doctor already asked for the family members outside and requested to go and wait at another room. hubby sounded serious and he said they don’t always requested for family members at a&e unless it is truly dangerous. my heart raced. honestly, it all felt like blur and a fast movie playing in my head.

it was another hour or more of waiting. we were the only family waiting there.

dr ashok came out with a serious and stern face, I was already worried. Mr Kamir had a heart attack. a serious heart attack, he said. at any moment it can turn out really critical. but he is safe now. my brain had to digest two different news in a split second, I do not have time to react. he could have…

they did a stem operation on his heart. although another artery is almost as bad. this was his second stem operation. he had one while I was in Uni around 2006. he stopped smoking for quite a long time and only in recent years, he went back to smoking, and that caused the attack. except this one was more serious. he had to stay in the icu for two nights.

we went to see him and for awhile there, he looked real frail and exhausted. tears coming out from his eyes but still giving us a smile. always the one to give a brave face and saying ‘it’s ok I am fine now.’

I am blessed he got through this one. he is home now and back to normal. but it hit me hard and I realised this is the time to really take care of my parents. the responsibility just sinks in. because if anything happened, I am the next of kin, the first person to call. it’s just, my parents are looking so frail nowadays.

I am blessed that I have my husband around with me. the shoulder to depend on.

I am exhausted. and I have a sore throat coming up.