Lesson learnt~ life is shorter than you think

We had a scare, in fact it was so scary that it's 2.43am where I am, and I couldn't sleep a wink.

BB had passed out while driving his car near his kebun 2 days ago. When he came around, he got out of the car to inspect the damage cos he was sure he had hit something. True enough, he had hit some structural root, burst a tyre and damaged some under belly car mechanism.

He was so disoriented that he fell on his back, couldn't move and couldn't utter a single word.

His kebun hands, a few young guys, didn't know what to do and thankfully they called an ambulance and he was brought to the nearest hospital where it was determined that for some reason or other his blood sugar reading was 26, his pulse 109, his BP 129/57. It was quite clear that he had suffered some kind of mild MI (myocardial Infarction). In English~ a heart attack!

I don't know what he told the medical personnel there but he was released into the custody of a friend he had called earlier instead of me, not wanting to scare me.

I was not able to fully grasp the gravity of the situation as he did not say much about what happened.

Morning after, I saw how listless and tired he was although he had a fitful sleep the night before. I had to act fast and I managed to round him up to the GH nearby. At the AE, after describing what happened to him the day before, his case was coded RED and he was rushed through a series of tests and ECG and was promptly warded at the CRW ~ Cardio Rehab Ward.

After some further testing he was diagnosed to have suffered NSTEMI -Non ST Segment Myocardial Infarction , a kind of heart attack which occurs when one or more coronary arteries is partially occluded by a blood clot.

Still, I was able to accept the situation, made all the arrangements and got him comfortable at the ward. I had a good night sleep despite everything that happened as my body was just too tired running around the GH earlier.

But tonight, while visiting him, I heard that a patient in the ward was fighting for his life since 6pm. At 10 pm we heard sobbings and a voice frantically calling for her loved one. I assisted BB off his bed and went towards the voice.

She was a young woman in her very early twenties and she was sobbing her heart out. Her husband had just lost his fight and left her widowed. He was just 25....and they have a young boy of 3 whom the husband told her he missed so much.

All I could do was hold her hands and told her that it is GOD's will and for her to redho' with the situation. All the while I told myself that I was lucky that it was somebody else and not me.

Then it dawned on me, that it was not me, simply because it isn't BB's time yet. It had nothing to do with luck. Someday, somehow his time will come and if I am still around, I would be feeling the same overwhelming sense of loss this young lady was going through. At that time, I am sure there's nothing she cannot forgive him for, if only her forgiveness could bring him back to life. No matter how ill he had been, at least she had him while he was still alive.

I kissed BB's hand and cheek, told him to take care and that I will be back early tomorrow morning with his coffee. I vowed to live our lives in the future with that much more respect for the sanctity and fragility that was life.

His name was Muhammad Shahril and please give a prayer to his soul who is meeting his Maker on a FRIDAY...al Fatihah

'Death will not come ahead and it will not be delayed.'

3.54am