A Visit to IJN

During the weekend, we made a visit to IJN (the national centre for cardiovascular care) to visit my brother-in-law who had undergone an open heart surgery. But let me backtrack to a few days earlier. Last Wednesday, my son in JB, Ihsan, came home (his usual monthly visit). So by Friday, we had the whole family at home with my third son, Izhar, coming back from work in APU and my youngest being picked by my other half and Ihsan from UniKL. For me, having the whole family home is a special occasion. Normally, I would take the opportunity to have a group photo while everyone is here, but the kids say that we will do this at another time. Instead, we decided to have some special meals - my other half bought durian and I bought satay.

Back to my brother-in-law; he experienced problems sometime end of last year, where his blood pressure dropped quite low. After a few check-ups at public and private hospital, it was said that he is having heart valve disease. Further check-ups were made then at IJN and they scheduled a surgery sometime in July. He was warded on 15 July and was told that his surgery is due on 18 July. Here he is just hours before the surgery (with his wife, sister of my other half).

On the day of surgery, my other half and my eldest son went to IJN to show support, while I stayed at home to wait for Ihsan. Also, I had to send Hitam (our three-legged cat) to the clinic since there was an infection/swelling on the leg where he had his drip (after the amputation)

I was told that the surgery went on for six hours (remedying the valve problems and also blockages). After the surgery, he was sent to the ICU for post-surgery observation. On Saturday (20 July), he was then moved to the normal ward. So on Sunday, we (my other half, Izhar and myself) decided to pay him a visit.

When we were allowed in, he was seated on a chair for some physical breathing exercise. One could see the long stretch of stitches on his chest from the surgery. I can't imagine the suffering that he has gone through.

This was my first time visiting IJN and it looked impressive. As my youngest son can't stand too long (seats are limited in the ward), we went to its cafe (within the same block) to rest and waited for the others to go down. Thereafter we had lunch together at the main cafe which is situated at a different block.

Hijri 1446

Last weekend, we have entered the new Hijri year, 1446. Not much has changed. I'm still at home, waiting for any opportunity to work to better my livelihood. Otherwise, I will simply wait for the  increase in pension pay at the end of the year.

Perhaps one major change that occurs for the family is the arrival of Hitam, Here he is with an undone bandage coming towards us for food.

The bandage was meant to cover his stitches, so that he doesn't lick and bite them open. Being a stray cat, he is probably more used to leftovers. Here he is eating roti canai.

We experimented a little with what food he is suitable with. He quickly becomes the darling of the family.

The other change is that our youngest son, who fell down the stairs in UniKL, has now removed his crutch and is able to walk with a slight limp. Before about a week ago, we had been sending him to work and fetching him back home each weekday. Due to some personal matters, he has now stayed back in college. Hopefully he can get food easily during the night.

We would normally fetch him back on Friday to spend the weekend with us. This weekend however, he decided to stay back to meet some friends.

I'm still following Faouzia who has entered The Singer 2024 competition in China; looking forward to Fridays where new episodes appear. She has yet to drop out from the top three. She has even sang in Mandarin for the contest. There are still two episodes left for the competition. I hope she get the recognition she deserves, whatever the competition outcomes are.