I was in perfect health when I flew back to KL the Thursday before Eid. But when I got there, everyone in the family was either coughing or wheezing. I guess I already knew I was gonna get sick too eventually, with all the sickness that was going on.
Sure enough, the following Sunday, I started feeling unwell. I started coughing. That's how I always get sick since I have been having tonsilitis ever since I can remember. I thought it would just go away. Although my tonsilitis never 'goes away' just like that before, not without a visit to the doctor, I didn't feel like it was a big deal. My brother thought I was just having the coughs. So he suggested I get some lozenges for the cough. My throat had begun to feel raw from all the coughing and I was already coughing up some blood by then. It grew worse, until Wednesday, I felt sorry that my being sick had caused everyone to be stuck in the house, so I suggested that we all go to Tampin that morning. Bukan nak spread germs. Tapi because kami memang mesti pergi Tampin kalau Raya cuz itu rumah my uncle (my mom's older brother) yang wajib we all visit time Raya. So we all pergi la. Malam Rabu tak dapat tidur langsung cuz I was coughing and wheezing so much and had so much mucus throughout the night, asyik kena pergi bathroom to get rid of it. And I my coughs have started feeling more chesty than it was before and I can feel my lungs 'gurgling' with moisture every I cough and wheeze for air.
The next day, I went to the clinic with my sister. The doctor buat cam biasa je. He gave me some meds and gave a a spray or two up my nose with a nasal spray. That cleared up my breathing. Selama ni I thought nasal spray tu painful, rupanya idak. Then I also mintak to be injected so cepat sikit sembuh.
Anyway, I went back, and started on the meds. Balik dari Tampin, sampai Sabtu, ubat and antibiotics dah habis, tapi tak tunjukkan tanda-tanda akan sembuh. Malahan jadi tambah teruk adalah. My momcould hear the noise my chest was making and she suggested I postpone my going back to Lawas and pergi masuk wad. I thought about it, maybe that is a good idea because I don't remember being in such a bad shape before.
Tapi then I remembered that ada 3 orang kawan sekolah nak tumpang balik sama in my car from KK. If I do that, they would be stranded in KK for a day before taking the bus on Monday.
Kerana itu je, I had to trash that idea. Lagipun my mom said, takpelah balik sekarang. Sakit pun, boleh pergi jumpa doktor kat sana nanti, at least ada kawan nak balik sekali, tak la driving sorang.
I didn't know how bad it was. I coughed in the plane. I covered my face when I cough cuz tak nak menakutkan penumpang lain. It was so bad. Nasib baik, I sat at the back sekali. So tak la sesiapa yang berani nak menoleh ke belakang mencari orang yang batuk macam nak mam tu...
Sampai kat airport, I jumpa budak bertiga tu, berlawak-lawak. Lapar, I manaaged to have one piece of chicken wing from KFC. Lepas tu hantar Z pergi cuci wedding pics dia and then terus drive ke Lawas.
This morning, I went to school. Sebelum cuti Raya, I left my question paper dengan printer person tu. Dia janji nak tolong staplekan. So to make sure that it was done, I went to school. Dapatlah hantar si Z ke sekolah sekali. Lepas tengok question paper in order, I gave it to Z since she was the one yang patutnya masuk first jaga exam masa tu, then I drove back to town.
Sepanjang jalan balik tu, I dozed off a few times. My dar dah masuk kat area berumput on the bahu jalan atau dah melalut ke tengah jalan baru I tersedar. Bukan doze off sikit-sikit. Terlena terus. I still drove on sebab I know if I stopped pun, bukan I nak tidur pun nanti. Mesti wide awake dibuatnya. Sampai kat Lawas, I terus park kat depan klinik doktor Chong walaupun 45 minutes awal. I tidur je dalam kereta, sebab kalau balik nanti mesti tak larat nak keluar lagi.
10 minutes ebelum kul 8, I masuk and duduk kat lobby klinik. Bila masuk, doktor tu ask usual questions and then ask me to go to the next room and put me on the neb machine for 10 minutes. Barulah I could breathe normally again and my chest pun tak terasa penuh dengan
kahak sangat.
I tak mintak pun, tapi dia bagi MC 2 hari and for medication, dia bagi Ventolin inhaler, ubat batuk, paracetamol and antibiotics. Dia kata I kena semput. What is the proper medical term for semput? Asthma? Do people get asthma later in life? I don't remember ever having asthma.
I senang dengan doktor Chong daripada pergi hospital kerajaan, sebab ubat Hospital Kerajaan tak berkesan on me. Dari kecik pun memang my mom took me to private clinic kalau I demam. Lagipun kalau I sakit, doktor Chong tak akan tuduh I am trying to get free MC macam doktor kat Poliklinik kat pekan tu. Kepala hotak dia. Ingat aku macam tu ke? Memang perempuan tu babi. Aku sakit ni, dia kata aku pura-pura. Lagipun dulu aku pernah main tennis sama time sebelah court dengan doktor Chong. Kira kenal la juga. Kawan-kawan dia pun kenal aku juga.
Balik tadi, aku beli nasi goreng tapau, lepas makan, aku amik ubat and tidur je most part of the day. Aku dah call boss. Kesian dia. Kak Liza takde plak minggu ni. Dia ke Kuching, ada kursus PK1. Esok aku cuti lagi.
Malam ni aku masih batuk lagi. Tapi tak sesakit atau sedahsyat minggu lepas.
My mom tak berhenti-henti call to see how I am doing. She must be worried. Kesian my mom. I hope she knows that there is more to me than the anak manja that she thought I was. I will be okay so she will be okay.
So now I have asthma to add to my health record. I wish I could turn back time and took better care. Tapi dah terlambat. But this is not a death sentence. I just have to find a clever way around it, right?
Thanks Bella, for the pointers. I didn't get around to getting the Tussils. Tapi now I am feeling better from the inhaler and ubat batuk. Tekak pun tak rasa sakit macam hari tu.
Harap-harap esok I will be much better.
Sure enough, the following Sunday, I started feeling unwell. I started coughing. That's how I always get sick since I have been having tonsilitis ever since I can remember. I thought it would just go away. Although my tonsilitis never 'goes away' just like that before, not without a visit to the doctor, I didn't feel like it was a big deal. My brother thought I was just having the coughs. So he suggested I get some lozenges for the cough. My throat had begun to feel raw from all the coughing and I was already coughing up some blood by then. It grew worse, until Wednesday, I felt sorry that my being sick had caused everyone to be stuck in the house, so I suggested that we all go to Tampin that morning. Bukan nak spread germs. Tapi because kami memang mesti pergi Tampin kalau Raya cuz itu rumah my uncle (my mom's older brother) yang wajib we all visit time Raya. So we all pergi la. Malam Rabu tak dapat tidur langsung cuz I was coughing and wheezing so much and had so much mucus throughout the night, asyik kena pergi bathroom to get rid of it. And I my coughs have started feeling more chesty than it was before and I can feel my lungs 'gurgling' with moisture every I cough and wheeze for air.
The next day, I went to the clinic with my sister. The doctor buat cam biasa je. He gave me some meds and gave a a spray or two up my nose with a nasal spray. That cleared up my breathing. Selama ni I thought nasal spray tu painful, rupanya idak. Then I also mintak to be injected so cepat sikit sembuh.
Anyway, I went back, and started on the meds. Balik dari Tampin, sampai Sabtu, ubat and antibiotics dah habis, tapi tak tunjukkan tanda-tanda akan sembuh. Malahan jadi tambah teruk adalah. My momcould hear the noise my chest was making and she suggested I postpone my going back to Lawas and pergi masuk wad. I thought about it, maybe that is a good idea because I don't remember being in such a bad shape before.
Tapi then I remembered that ada 3 orang kawan sekolah nak tumpang balik sama in my car from KK. If I do that, they would be stranded in KK for a day before taking the bus on Monday.
Kerana itu je, I had to trash that idea. Lagipun my mom said, takpelah balik sekarang. Sakit pun, boleh pergi jumpa doktor kat sana nanti, at least ada kawan nak balik sekali, tak la driving sorang.
I didn't know how bad it was. I coughed in the plane. I covered my face when I cough cuz tak nak menakutkan penumpang lain. It was so bad. Nasib baik, I sat at the back sekali. So tak la sesiapa yang berani nak menoleh ke belakang mencari orang yang batuk macam nak mam tu...
Sampai kat airport, I jumpa budak bertiga tu, berlawak-lawak. Lapar, I manaaged to have one piece of chicken wing from KFC. Lepas tu hantar Z pergi cuci wedding pics dia and then terus drive ke Lawas.
This morning, I went to school. Sebelum cuti Raya, I left my question paper dengan printer person tu. Dia janji nak tolong staplekan. So to make sure that it was done, I went to school. Dapatlah hantar si Z ke sekolah sekali. Lepas tengok question paper in order, I gave it to Z since she was the one yang patutnya masuk first jaga exam masa tu, then I drove back to town.
Sepanjang jalan balik tu, I dozed off a few times. My dar dah masuk kat area berumput on the bahu jalan atau dah melalut ke tengah jalan baru I tersedar. Bukan doze off sikit-sikit. Terlena terus. I still drove on sebab I know if I stopped pun, bukan I nak tidur pun nanti. Mesti wide awake dibuatnya. Sampai kat Lawas, I terus park kat depan klinik doktor Chong walaupun 45 minutes awal. I tidur je dalam kereta, sebab kalau balik nanti mesti tak larat nak keluar lagi.
10 minutes ebelum kul 8, I masuk and duduk kat lobby klinik. Bila masuk, doktor tu ask usual questions and then ask me to go to the next room and put me on the neb machine for 10 minutes. Barulah I could breathe normally again and my chest pun tak terasa penuh dengan
kahak sangat.
I tak mintak pun, tapi dia bagi MC 2 hari and for medication, dia bagi Ventolin inhaler, ubat batuk, paracetamol and antibiotics. Dia kata I kena semput. What is the proper medical term for semput? Asthma? Do people get asthma later in life? I don't remember ever having asthma.
I senang dengan doktor Chong daripada pergi hospital kerajaan, sebab ubat Hospital Kerajaan tak berkesan on me. Dari kecik pun memang my mom took me to private clinic kalau I demam. Lagipun kalau I sakit, doktor Chong tak akan tuduh I am trying to get free MC macam doktor kat Poliklinik kat pekan tu. Kepala hotak dia. Ingat aku macam tu ke? Memang perempuan tu babi. Aku sakit ni, dia kata aku pura-pura. Lagipun dulu aku pernah main tennis sama time sebelah court dengan doktor Chong. Kira kenal la juga. Kawan-kawan dia pun kenal aku juga.
Balik tadi, aku beli nasi goreng tapau, lepas makan, aku amik ubat and tidur je most part of the day. Aku dah call boss. Kesian dia. Kak Liza takde plak minggu ni. Dia ke Kuching, ada kursus PK1. Esok aku cuti lagi.
Malam ni aku masih batuk lagi. Tapi tak sesakit atau sedahsyat minggu lepas.
My mom tak berhenti-henti call to see how I am doing. She must be worried. Kesian my mom. I hope she knows that there is more to me than the anak manja that she thought I was. I will be okay so she will be okay.
So now I have asthma to add to my health record. I wish I could turn back time and took better care. Tapi dah terlambat. But this is not a death sentence. I just have to find a clever way around it, right?
Thanks Bella, for the pointers. I didn't get around to getting the Tussils. Tapi now I am feeling better from the inhaler and ubat batuk. Tekak pun tak rasa sakit macam hari tu.
Harap-harap esok I will be much better.
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