Get well soon, MIL!

At about 10.23 am today, Da forwarded to me a text message that he received from his sister, GN. According to GN, MIL called her a while ago to say that she (MIL) has a knee infection condition and is presently warded at Changi General Hospital for antibiotic drip treatment. MIL told GN that the condition was "nothing serious", which is why she omitted to inform GN and Da that she has been warded since 2 December 2008.

Goodness me! For MIL to be warded, her condition must be serious enough! As I was at home (we had guests coming over to our place for dinner today), I arranged to pick Da up from the MRT station near our home (Da was at work today) at 1.45 pm and we would adjourn to the hospital after that to visit MIL.

Before I left the house, I packed some oranges for MIL.

I had baked fruit cake this morning, so I packed some for MIL as well. Fresh from the oven!

When we arrived at the hospital, we decided to park in the basement carpark in case it rained. At the basement carpark, there were useful signs to indicate which lift to take for the respective wards.

We realised then that we were not within the visiting hours. However, we decided to go ahead and visit MIL since we were already at the hospital.

MIL was warded at Ward 36. I had guessed that the "36" meant that she was on level 3 but I guessed wrongly. She was on level 6 instead.

When we exited the lift, before we entered the ward, we looked out of the window. There is a lot of greenery near the hospital. Incidentally, the hospital is also surrounded by numerous residential developments.

Ah! Ward 36... finally... When we entered the ward, we saw a patient lying on the hospital bed with 2 policemen guarding him. Interesting... is he under arrest or is he a witness to a crime?

We arrived at MIL's bed. However, where is the patient?

MIL is an active person by nature. I guess a small issue like a hospital stay is not sufficient to make her lie in bed like a good girl. (We were subsequently informed by FIL that MIL is so active at the hospital that sometimes when it is time for her antibiotic drip treatment, the nurses have to go around looking for her!)

Finally, the patient arrived. She showed us her knee. It looks swollen! However, according to her, the swelling has subsided quite a fair bit since the day she was warded in the hospital. The doctor is unable to tell her the cause of this condition. However, as she is diabetic, the doctor has decided against surgery to remove the fluid in her knee at this point in time.

As Da and I had not yet eaten and FIL was in the midst of his lunch at the cafeteria downstairs, Da and I decided to join FIL at the cafeteria. The cafeteria turned out to be the Houseman's Canteen, which sells food at subsidised prices.

Da ordered a cuttlefish and century egg porridge, which cost S$3.00.

I ordered a mini pot noodle, which cost S$3.50. This comprises soup with some ingredients together with a separate bowl of dry noodles.

FIL likes his coffee sweet, so I ordered for him a coffee with additional condensed milk, to accompany the Malay rice (nasi padang) that he was already in the midst of eating.

When we finished our lunch, we chatted for a while before FIL started grinning. I turned my head. Why was I not surprised to see MIL walking towards us in her pink hospital garb, black office pump shoes and make-up (complete with lip stick)? She had just taken a shower and she was raring to walk around again! sigh....

MIL kept us in stitches as she told us tales of the other patients in her ward, especially a patient (who was recently discharged) aged about 71 years old and who was warded for a fall. The doctor apparently asked her whether, prior to her fall, she was able to walk. She retorted that if she couldn't walk before that, how could she have fallen? Also, when her son told her that she was going to be discharged, she apparently heaved a sigh of relief and said that it was about time, since she had been warded for about a week already and she was eager to get home to resume her busy lifestyle. What a lovely lady! I think that I would have enjoyed chatting with her.

At about 5 pm, Da and I decided to make a move as I had to get home to resume cooking (I had stopped my dinner preparations halfway when I left the house to pick up Da from the MRT station).

Before we left, I went to the washroom. I was puzzled to see a gadget next to the toilet bowl.

On closer inspection, I was amused. If you were to turn the dial to "WASH", water would squirt out from the toilet bowl, ostensibly to wash your backside! How ingenious. I didn't use this function although I could not resist standing at a distance and turning the dial to see in which direction the water would squirt out (and yes, I got the front of my denim skirt wet...).

Before we left the Houseman's Canteen, MIL bought a plain pancake. I took a photograph of the pancake and showed the digital image to the stallholder, who smiled when she looked at the photograph.

Da and I decided to accompany FIL and MIL back to MIL's ward before we left the hospital. En route to the ward, we came across a big pond with many huge fish swimming freely in the pond. The fish that you see in the photograph below are Flower Horn fish (luohan fish) , if I am not mistaken.

There were also many beautiful koi fish in the pond.

MIL will be discharged from the hospital on 9 December 2008.

Get well soon, MIL, so that you can KLKK (kia lai kia ke) (literally translated to mean "walk here, walk there") again... Wait a minute, you are already KLKK in the hospital! sigh... get well, get well!