Eventful Period

Yesterday I spent a considerable amount of time praying in my room. Dad will be discharged on Friday. The hospital rejected my request to ward him for a longer period. My main reason for that is due to the fact that there may be complications related to his tube-feeding. I found out about this on Monday when I went for the Caregiver's Training session.

At one of the feeding sessions, I had to do a litmus test using some stomach contents which I needed to pump out from my dad. The nurse who was supervising also could not. She said it is important to have the litmus test to ascertain a possibility of infection.

Following that observation, I asked how often would such cases be especially when dad needs to be fed six times. The nurse said it could be as often as once daily. When this happens at home, dad would have to be sent to either a General Practitioner ("GP") or Polyclinic or to the Accident and Emergency ('A&E") Department so as to have his stomach checked.

When my brother and I heard that, it worried us more as we really cannot afford the time to always send him to one of the above-mentioned due to our work and all. If it is going to be so regular, then it would be better off that he stays in hospital till the tube-feeding is weaned off.

Anyway, as mentioned, the request was rejected and now we will just have to accept the fact that dad may be going in and out of the house often to have his stomach checked should there be regular cases of infection.

Yesterday when I was considering all the adjustments which need to be made at home for all, I felt very overwhelmed because my work has been affected badly and I seriously do not know how situation will be when dad is back home. As much as I would love him to be discharged, I am frankly not looking forward to it because of the above complications which may happen.

I surrendered to the Lord all my burdens and concerns because I am at my wit's end. Only He can help me and everyone else at home. Above all, I pray there will be no cases of infection. I also prayed for God to help me bear with these current inconveniences. I also concluded that during this period, the focus is not about me but dad. I will just have to go through this period with joy and walk with dad through this period of recovery.

So much for that. I have not been training as often as I should for the Charity Bike 'n' Blade 2012 which is just one month from now. I simply cannot because of dad's condition. Even at times when I could, I was just simply exhausted.

That said, I did push myself to cycle longer distances twice last week, covering more than 80km. Today, though I am feeling tired and also having to get some work done in office, I will have to get over the inertia and just ride and hopefully to cover above 100km.

As of now, I am only short of $621 before hitting my target of $30,000 that I am raising for the event. But the overall target of $350,000 set by the organising committee is still short of $80,700. Since I still have 30 days or so left, I will try to raise as much as possible.

It has been a tiring process to get the funds in but I have been very encouraged by all my family and friends who have donated. I have never imagined being able to raise the current amount. Truly, glory to God for helping me and I know He will continue to help me as I press on.

I need to work my schedules so that I can put in more training sessions even though I have to handle matters at home. It seems impossible but I shall pray that God will help me manage my time better.

The past one and a half weeks, I have basically encountered incident after incident involving individuals needing medical care. I was at home two Saturdays ago when I heard a loud crash. At the cross junction near my apartment block was an accident involving two cars and a motorcycle. As I am trained in first-aid, I rushed down to help. Thank God out of the six victims, only one was seriously affected with neck and possibly spinal injury. I had to immobilise the lady while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. The rest had superficial injuries.

Then last Wednesday when I was cycling past a school in the east, I noticed a lady-driver vomiting in her car. She was slouched on the driver's seat and her daughter was trying to help her. I was informed that the lady is an ex-stroke patient. As I was not going to take any chances, I wanted to call the ambulance but not long after, the lady's husband came and told me that he would be sending her to the National University Hospital where her medical records are.

Two days ago when I was in Chinatown looking for dad's milk formula, I came across a young man suffering from cerebral palsy. He was shaking violently on his wheelchair and fell onto the gound. I carried and placed him back onto the chair but he fell again. I decided to call the police to come and assist me but another passer-by had earlier called for an ambulance. Soon both came. After checking that the young man was okay and having obtained his address, we all accompanied him home. It was later that I was informed by a neighbour that the man was upset that his parents had recently abandoned him and he is now in the foster care of his aunty.

All of the above have reminded me of how frail life can be and how one should help another so that the road to recovery will be much easier to trod. Hence, these have motivated me to keep doing what I can for the two beneficiaries: St. Luke's Hospital and Eldercare, which the Charity Bike 'n' Blade 2012 is trying to bless.

Okay, I shall stop here. A long account especially when I have not blogged for so long.

God is still good even though I am in a situation which I have no desire to be in. He will see all of us through and dad will be healed in the name of Jesus! :)