Reality Check

Reality Check.

It's not every day that you get admitted to the hospital.

Especially if it's an emergency situation you're caught in.

At least that's where I found myself to be two days ago.

It was on the 23rd October 2018 (Tuesday), roughly about 4.30pm.

I was having a short meeting with my Senior Pastor (Pr Reynold),

and we were conversing on many different topics.

Suddenly, I felt a little headache-y and uncomfortable.

So after Pr Reynold prayed for me, I went straight to my desk in office.

Sitting by my desk, I was just feeling so so uncomfortable.

On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being extremely painful - I was at a 8 in my head.

It also feels like a lot of wind wants to exit my body.

So I went straight to the toilet trying to release something but to no avail.

Went back to my desk and sat there a little longer.

The pain in my head then increased to a 9.9, and I went to the toilet.

I vomited out a lot of liquid and it smelled pretty bad.

Then I went for a meeting with another pastor (Pr Gordon) and a friend (Justin).

After the meeting, I went to the toilet and purged twice.

It was so so so uncomfortable.

As soon as the pain and tummy rumbles subsided,

I thought to myself how this could be the best moment to drive home.

And so, I did.

By the traffic junction in SS2, I was waiting for the traffic light to turn green.

When suddenly the 9.9 headache pain returned.

And a lot of wind wants to come out again.

I was panicking not sure what to do, and just screaming in pain.

I winded down the window, turned on my hazard lights,

and just tried to figure out a way to stop the pain.

Suddenly, both my hands became numb, and it became cold.

I couldn't feel blood in both my hands.

I started praying and asking Jesus to save me and help me.

I really really really didn't wanted to die.

And I had no idea what was going on in my body.

So I stopped by BHP petrol station with my hazards lights still on.

Went down the car, and sat in front of the cashier outside the station.

A male petrol attendant asked me what's happening,

and I told him that I couldn't feel my hands, there was no blood in it.

Worse off, now I couldn't feel my feet.

My feet was also becoming numb and very cold.

I asked him for help.

But instead, he said he needed to attend to a customer first.

Then that particular customer came running to me.

Her name was Nadia, she was a very kind malay lady.

Apparently it was her daughter's birthday.

And her 2 children was in her car at the backseat.

She requested to bring me to the hospital.

Then 2 male petrol attendants carried me into her car.

One of the male petrol attendant grabbed a bottle of water for me.

He told me not to worry about paying for it, he will handle it.

And so Nadia started to drive me on a long journey to the hospital.

She turned her hazard lights on and started honking along the way.

Some cars gave way, some totally didn't bother.

A motorist also came by to help honk to make way for us.

Along the way, Nadia drove her car off-road for a faster passage.

She went through a really big hole and her car was damaged underneath.

Keep in mind that my head was still on a 9.9 pain level over 10.

I apologized to her for her car, and she said:
"Don't worry! My car can fix, your body cannot fix!"

After a long drive, we arrive at University Hospital.

I was supposed to be admitted to the emergency ward,

but the nurses said I have to register first.

A male nurse attended to me to check my heart rate.

As he put me on a small bed, the first question he asked me was:
"Ini ada kaitan dengan syaitan tak?"
(Translate from malay): Does this have any relation to demons?

I replied no, definitely not.

Then he continued his job to check my heart pulse.

He asked me what was my occupation?

I told him I'm a pastor.

And he replied he's just checking if I'm in a heavy-duty line of work.

And then no more questions were asked.

Thereafter, I purged 2 more times in the hospital.

And after many many minutes, I was sent into the emergency ward.

This was the same ward that I was operated 11 years ago.

I had a condition back then: "Haemo-Pneumo-Thorax".

But this time, it was different.

It was like I was prepared for whatever coming my way,

but still didn't really wanted to die.

As they placed me on the hospital bed,

the first female nurse asked me the same question again:
"Ini ada kaitan dengan syaitan tak?"
(Translate from malay): Does this have any relation to demons?

I said no once again.

And then she proceed the blood test and checked my pupils.

Then a chinese doctor (Rika or something) came in.

She asked me a series of questions to diagnose the situation.

Then the purging and vomiting symptoms went away.

My headache pain also subsided from 9.9 to 5,

I was given a painkiller jab by my butt,

and was also asked to just rest on the bed for awhile.

After a while, I was sent to do CT scan on my brain.

This was done just to check if I have any brain bleeding.

I was also sent to do X-Ray scan on my chest.

They wanted to make sure if my previous condition had any relation to this.

After a couple of hours, a few people visited me including my family.

The reports of the scans also showed excellent results.

Everything was fine, nothing was abnormal.

And the doctors asked me to rest until 7.00am in the ward.

When I came out in the morning after discharging from the ward,

somehow it made me treasure my life even more.

I remember when I was lying on the hospital bed so helpless,

I hated that feeling. The feeling of being so helpless.

There was nothing I could do, except praying and asking Jesus to help me.

Worse off, my life was kind of also in the hands of the doctors.

And I couldn't stop the headache pain that was going on.

The doctors told me the vomit and purging could be due to food poisoning.

But the headache, they can't figure that out.

This could be a spiritual attack, but I can't say for sure.

Why would the hospital staff even ask me about demons?

Or maybe the pain was a reaction to the tummy complications.

Either way, it has encouraged me to continue devoting my time to God!

It sure is a night to remember :)