23/08/2013
– Friday
Here I am, sitting on this uncomfortable
white bed that could be controlled remotely in this lighted room. In agony and
sadness, I wake up from my nightmare to write about my automobile experience as
early as 3AM in the morning.
Before everything happened, I shall
explain what happened from the very beginning. On 21st of August
2013, it was supposed to be just like any other ordinary day. Sadly, that
didn’t appear to be the case.
I slept early the night before and woke up
fresh for the day. I go to school, studied and lazed around a little before I
went home. On the way to my car, I noticed my left side window was severely
cracked.
“Oh no,
not again..” I thought as this has happened to my right side window few months
back. As soon as I got home, I grabbed my phone and rushed off to find a repair
shop for my car. Searching for the repair shop was a huge burden as my mom
seriously needs to improve her ‘giving directions’ (we were on the phone). I
gave up listening to my mom’s directions and found a repair shop on my own. The
original repair cost was 170 ringgit but I managed to bargain a discount of 5
ringgit. Oh well, the extra 5 ringgit would serve as my lunch money. The repair
men told me that cases like my car window cracking is nothing surprising, it’s
even increasingly popular. The cause of the window cracking could be the work
of people who cuts/shaves the grass, just one small stone that flicks to my car
window is enough to crack the entire portion.
Receiving the knowledge that I may be able
to claim back my repair fee from the government, I eagerly rushed home and
geared up to ride my dad’s bike back to school (wanted to check for evidence of
grass being cut/shaved). Carefully riding my bike, I noticed a taxi by the
junction. I was going straight and not too far from the junction so it was
obviously my road. Despite that, the taxi driver selfishly swooped out from the
corner to make a U-turn and blocked my road. There were 3 lanes, the first and
second lane was blocked by the taxi, I was on the second lane and the third
lane had an oncoming car not too far from me. In the midst of urgency, I
grabbed my clutch to kill the engine and carefully pulled the emergency brake.
It was too close and I had no time, my tires
screeched and wobbled then my mind blacked out before/after I crash. Everything
happened so fast and no, no light flashed before my eyes or whatsoever, I just
blacked out. When I regained consciousness, I saw people of different races
barricading the road for me. I was lying right in the middle of the road with
my face looking up to the sky, the sky looks as if…someone wrote before ‘sky
goes on forever’. The people whom were barricading the road for me (to prevent
any more accident) stared at me intently, I sat up and cried in agony. There
were no tears but the pain can be detected from my voice. I turned my body a
little and saw my dad’s bike (Kawasaki ZRX 1200) lying on the ground, damaged.
Still screaming in agony, as my side ribs and shoulders hurt immensely, there
was a girl whom I thought was from my school (found out later that she is my
classmate’s elder sister) who called out to me in the crowd “Bryan, are you
okay?” but I was in too much pain to bother. It took me a few minutes to gather
my strength so I could walk to side of the road (with the help from the crowd).
They settled me on the sideway and pushed my bike to the side. The taxi driver
came out from the taxi and looked down on me with his cold eyes. He was there
standing while blaming me that I was going too fast and rammed into his taxi.
Nobody bothered listening to him, they gave me water and urged the taxi driver
to drive me to the nearest clinic available.
I told the crowd to grab my keys for me
and they helped me onto the taxi. The old chinese looking man was mumbling on
his own as he reluctantly drove me to the clinic. He appointed me into the
clinic (with the Identity Card in my wallet) and left without another word
(I’ll explain more about this later). I was laid on a small bed in the clinic,
screaming agony, I had no strength to spare the doctor’s endless questions.
Luckily my mobile phone was intact, he used it to notify my mom that I was
involved in an automobile accident. Once again, it was my mom’s turn to shower
me with her set of endless questions. Receiving no proper answers from me, she
rushed from her office to find her son, to find me. About 15 minutes after the
doctor injected the painkiller (which was ineffective), my grandma and sister
came to visit me, as the clinic is just opposite of my house. Soon after that,
my mom came and prepared to car as I had to be immediately sent to the
hospital. I grabbed my mom’s wrist and tears started rolling down my cheeks.
“I’m sorry”, it wasn’t the pain that made
me cry, it was because of the burden and worries I left for my family. Two
indian men and one indian lady came in, carried me into the car and I was
rushed off to Sunway Medical Centre (the hospital).
We were caught in a bad traffic jam and
nobody bothered about my mom’s ‘hazard signal’. Every second, every bump and
every brake was excruciating to me. By using the emergency letter from the
doctor before, I was given immediate attention by the hospital and was rushed
into the emergency ward. Breathing was a challenge and so was enduring the
pain. They scanned my upper body with X-ray before injecting another stronger
dose of painkiller. After I have calmed down a little, I was brought for CT
scan. Once that was done, I was left lying on the temporary bed in the
emergency ward, waiting for my results. Making effort to breathe in and out
once again, tears began to roll down my cheeks once more. My mom was sitting
next to me, wiped my tears while engaging on her numerous phone calls.
“Yeah, he is lying on the bed, crying.”
Was what I heard. Little did she know that my heart was saying “Mom, I’m not
crying because it hurts, I’m crying because I’ve hurt you and caused you to
panic because of me.”
Even with extra dose of painkiller from
before, I was fighting back tears and pain. My mind was screaming out her name
“Li Hung! Li Hung. Li Hung….” before I fell asleep. She is my strength and
motivation, so thinking of her calms my nerves.
Unaware of the hours that passed by, I
woke up to find my sisters and aunt looking at me. My mom was still on the
phone though (whao, she’s busy). We received good news from the doctor as there
were no serious nor permanent injuries. My shoulders are fractured, my ribs and
back are cracked and my lungs are bleeding. Few hours later, I was admitted
into a proper room (a room for two), my relatives came to visit me and we
shared our stories. I then found out that the taxi driver made a police report
before my family did because when my mom left the hospital earlier, she typed
in my dad’s bike plate number and immediately another plate number popped up,
it was the taxi’s number. Anyways, as visiting hours ended, everyone was forced
to leave because I was sharing the room with another man named Mohan, my
neighbor.
My body was laying on the bed uselessly, I
just kept thinking of her name, repeating it over and over again till I fall
asleep. It was not a peaceful night. There was the sound of snoring coming from
both sides (one was my neighbor, another was a patient from some other room),
the ‘nurse bell’ was ringing non-stop, my body felt horrible and my heart was
uneasy.
The following morning came by, 22nd
of August 2013, my mom and sister came to visit me at approximately 7.30 AM. The
doctor came into my ward and gave an unofficial result, similar to the day
before, no serious nor permanent injuries, all my wounds and injuries will heal
in a few months. The day just passes by with visitors coming in and out of my
room. I shared my story, I ate my meals, I chat a little and fiddled with my
phone. Obviously, I was stuck onto the bed the whole time.
I want to thank my friends, Adrian and
Edwin, for taking care of my bike while I was away and I appreciate the, visiting
me in the hospital along with their packet of oats. I am touched to have
friends who would help me when I am in need of help.
Family,
relatives, friends and my mom’s church friends came to visit me I appreciate
each and everyone one of them. Visiting hours ended and I forced myself to
sleep once again. The light on my neighbor’s side was on, the televisyen was on,
he still have visitors (even when the visiting hours ended), the ‘nurse bell,
was blaring non-stop and I just laid on my bed helplessly, thinking of her.
23rd August 2013, here I am,
once again, I’m back from the beginning. It’s 6AM and I just finished chatting
with my room neighbor, Mohan since an hour ago (he was also awake). I really
appreciate right now, getting up and taking a few steps is already a huge
effort for me.
I end now and tell my tales, another day…
Side story
: it was my first time sitting on a wheelchair. I was bored and wanted to
explore the hospital even if it’s a little. My mom showed me Starbucks,
7-eleven and the list of doctors in Sunway Medical Centre. It was just a short
while but I already ran out of breath as sitting up is also an effort to me. “Thanks
mom for pushing me around in the wheelchair and sorry for causing you so much
to trouble. I love you even if I rarely show it.”
The end.
