24 hours

Each day has 24 hours. We always complain that it is never enough. Work, sleep, eat, play. I used to complain about it. When I was working in the events line, my best day was to schedule 4 appointments within a working day. As I didn't drive, 4 appointments was optimum. I guess planning is essential to fulfilling a person's life.

Anyway, I was on leave for 2 weeks, so I took the opportunity to do my lasik. As I was recuperating at home, I didn't plan to do anything, so some of my days are just plain slack. However something took place within the last 2 day that made it a very eventful end to my week.
(Names have been changed to protect the identity of the parties involved)

Friday, 15th Jun 07, 19oohrs:

I was meeting J, C & X for dinner in town and probably for a movie too. Well it has been a while since I met the girls and I was looking forward to catching up.

I was early as usual and I call J to see if she is in town. Seems like everyone is late. Found out X was in Kino, so I made my way up to meet him.

I had met X last week before my lasik and a few days prior, as he stays near my mum's place.

X said that he will not be joining us for the Fantastic 4 movie, as he thinks it's not good.

We met J at Takashimaya. Seems like C is late, J said that we should decide on a place to eat. I suggested Tonkichi, but when we got there, the queue was damn long. Not wanting to wait, J suggested we eat at Angus House, which has good steak.

Angus House has exorbitant prices, it reminded me of Lawry's that I had 5 years ago. Although I could afford it now and I do like good food, it still 'hurts' me to be spending this much on a meal.

X commented that he went to Angus House in Jakarta and that the restaurant's furnishing and decor is exactly the same as the old in Takashimaya. I am not surprised. After doing 6 months in Flex and overseeing some work, I know that franchise chains actually have a book of guidelines in the way they furnish the shops, letterings, and all the nitty gritty details. They can't stray from it, as it would upset the main franchiser and it may result in them losing the whole franchise.

We decided to have some red wine, thinking it should be a good accompaniment to the steak. J asked the captain to recommend a red that is not too dry.

I had tenderloin and X ordered sirloin. J had lobster. C who joined us later had some salmon. She claimed that she was supposed to be vegetarian on that day and she said that she cannot take meat. Obviously, fish was not considered a meat to her.

The food came and we tucked in. Steak was good but not worth that amount of money. The red wine, instead of complementing the food, drowned the taste of it. Damn it!

After the meal I was still hungry, J had to leave to pick up her bf, who was joining us for the movie. X excused himself and went to the loo. He came back asking if he had taken a long time. I told him 'no' and we left the restaurant.

2100-2130hrs:

I was buying Takoyaki at the basement. and we still had some time before we were supposed to meet J and her bf. X looked a bit puzzled and kept asking us about what happened just now. 'What did we do just now?' and 'Did I embarrass myself or offended anyone?' was repeated at least 10 times. At first we were amused, then it got to a point that C became frustrated and recorded his questions on her cell phone. When he asked again, she replayed it to him, so that he may realise he had been repeating the same questions. However, it still did not help. He seems to be unable to register in his brain. His condition seems to have worsen as his memory started to go blank from the time he met us till after dinner. We started to freak out. He too was freaking out as we tried to explain to him the situation.

When we met J and her bf, we quickly told her about X. She thinks that he may have a virus or something. X pulled me to one side and continued his 'interrogation'. He later claimed that he does not even remember meeting J and her bf. When I told him J left earlier at the dinner, he was saying 'Dinner? Where? With who?'
He seem like he went missing in time as everything was a blank. I feel like this is not the real X, as though as a clone was in place. It feels like a plot out of the movie, too dramatic, too scary.

2200hrs:

We were walking towards Cineleisure for our movie, X was asking us what movie we were watching. In view of his situation, I repeated to him again. 'Ok, I will join you guys' he said
C and I looked at each other in total disbelief; X had earlier told us that he didn't wanted to watch Fantastic Four and we went ahead with the booking. Now we were in a dilemma because there was only 20mins more till showtime and it was the opening week for the movie. I knew that we would never be able to get him a seat but we went to the booth and tried anyway.

True enough the tickets were sold out. We were in a fix now; we want to catch the movie but were afraid of X's worsening condition. In the end, he claimed that he was alright and he will be going over to Borders, instead of going home. He assured us that he knew the way and that he would call us if necessary. We parted ways.

2330-0000hrs:

In the midst of watching the movie, X called me. He kept asking the same questions as before. I excused myself and went out to speak to him on the phone.

I asked about his whereabouts and he said he was on a bus on the way home, but he did not know how he got on to it. He doesn't even remember the train ride from Orchard to Yishun but he was positive he took it.

I was worried, so I urge him to go home take a shower and try to relax. However, he was more concerned about his actions when he started to have this short-term memory loss thingy. I reassured him that he did not embarrass himself or us, and he definitely did not offend anyone while he was with us. However, I told him, that I am not sure what happened during the 2 hours that we were in the movie.

"You are in a movie now? With who?" he was puzzled. This piece of information seemed new to him when he just parted ways with us less than 2 hours ago.

Nearing the end of the movie, he called me 4 more times, although I didn't pick it up, I was anxious to call him back immediately once the lights are on.

"Hello X, are you alright? Where are you now?" I asked him. Again he asked me the same questions, afterwhich, I learnt that he was on a cab headed to a medical centre. He asked me where is the nearest hospital, because he was a bit worried now and wanted to seek medical attention. I agreed with him and told him to go to Tan Tock Seng's A&E department.

J, C were worried and asked if we all should be there. X called again and ask me which hospital to go...I knew we had to go. I told him to tell the cabby to take him to TTSH A&E and we will meet him there.

0030-0230hrs

J, C and I arrived at the hospital. Jess's bf had left and he took the car, so C has to drive her back later.

Anyway we saw X waiting in the queue inside the room and were trying to get his attention. He looked dazed and I called him on his mobile. He turned around and saw us. As the A&E dept has a strict policy of each patient having only 1 companion during consultation, I volunteer to sit in with him. J and C were seated outside, waiting anxiously.

After a while, we were just waiting for his name to be called. There were many others waiting at this hour and from past experience, I knew that it's gonna be a long wait, so I told J and C to go home and rest. They came straight from work for dinner and they had a long day. I was fortunate to be on leave for the past week and would not be working until the day after. They agreed and they appreciated my efforts. X also thank them from coming and apologised for causing inconvenience to them.

As I stayed with him, he was still trying very hard to piece together what had happened. He kept asking me questions and I was like his personal time machine, piecing together what had happened. It seems to me that his condition had worsen, as he is now asking questions like 'What year, month, date is today, what day is today?', 'Is BroadcAsia over?', 'Who did we do just now?', 'Who did we had dinner with?', 'Where did we dine?', 'What is my profession?', 'Which company I am working for now?'...the list goes on. I was shocked, and after a while, I kinda got a bit impatient. He sounded like a broken record (though by no fault of his) and I also sounded like one myself, as I kept repeating and repeating the answers.

He didn't even know how he got here. Fortunately, he has a habit of keeping his receipts. When he took them out, I sorted them and used them as proof of the actions he did. My goodness, if it wasn't for the receipts, I wouldn't have known that he drew cash to pay C for the dinner, he came by taxi and paid the cabby with his credit card, he also paid for the A&E consultation fees.

In this furry of events, I rationalise with him as though I am a detective and went through the clockwork of things, as though as I was on the CSI team. It was exhausting but I knew I had to be there.

At about 2am, it was finally our turn to see the doctor. The doctor analysed his condition and wants him to be warded. He needed to go for a CT scan immediately. While waiting for him to be warded, YK called me and ask me if I am available for supper. I told him I was at Tan Tock Seng and if he came over, we could go for supper at Balestier. He agreed and was at the hospital in a short while. I told X that I had to go and asked him to call or text me his ward number. I left shortly after.

After supper, I tried to call him but his phone was off. Thinking that he must be warded and going for the scan now, I returned home, hoping to give him a call in the morning.

o400hrs:

I was woken up by the ringing of my mobile phone. The hospital called me, as I had given my contact when I accompanied X. They told me to call his family. However, as I told them that I do not have his house number, I couldn't make the call. I also asked them which ward was he in. I was given a number and told to call later to check before I popped by. I went back to sleep.

1100hrs:

I was woken up by C's sms; She was concerned and wanted an update. I called her and told her that I will be going to the hospital once I washed up. Although she could not join me, I assured her that I will keep her and J updated.

1130-1700hrs:

Took a cab over and saw X on his bed. He look ok to me, not as dazed as the night before. I apologised for not coming back after supper, but he couldn't remember that as well. However, he assured me that he is better today and more things are settling in his memory.

Unfortunately, he still had no recollection of what happened the day before, from dinner until he was warded. The only thing that he remembered was a pretty lady medical intern, attending to him in the morning. From that I knew he was definitely better...haha

His father came over and we had a short chat. It seems that X had called home 4 times the previous night but he had no recollection. His father was saying that a similar incident occurred to him when he was younger. Could it be a case of heredity memory loss, triggered by alcohol consumption? X defended his case by saying that it could not have been alcohol, because he had consumed larger quantities before and this never occurred. It must have been something else.

He told me that the CT scan revealed that there was a higher than usual amount of white blood cells and that the doctor told him that his body could be fighting an infection. However, that is all the doctor knew. There was no further diagnose and he was to stay in the hospital for further observation.

I deduced that since he had a slight bump in his head, he must have taken a knock while he was in the restaurant's toilet. As he came out yesterday saying that he had a sudden blackout, I knew something must have happened. In spite of this, there was no visible bruise on his arms, so I knew he did not fall flat, maybe just a slight knock. There was a small reddish patch where he felt a bump on his head.

I continued with the deductions and piecing the 'puzzle' together with X. Until the doctor came to visit him. The stubborn workaholic wanted to return to work as there is a big event coming up. The doctors advised against him discharging, however, as they couldn't diagnose anything wrong, they agreed to it but not before making him sign an indemnity form. That's the way it is in Singapore; everyone wants to protect their own asses...

We waited and waited for 2 to 3 hours before he was formally discharged.

1730hrs:

I reached home, damn tired and drained from the day's event and the lack of sleep. However, I was glad that all's well ended well. Just as I was printing out some information for work the next day, YK called me for dinner, reluctantly I joined him...I never expected the hectic day would continue from there... (to be continued)

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In life, nothing is predictable. You can't be prepared for anything at all. Follow your heart and do what you desire. Remember, life is a buffet, eat all you can!! :-)