This happened many years ago but I was reminded by Karen Cheng's blogpost about her son. I was to have dinner with my CG leader when she called and asked if we could go to her home instead to check on her eldest son who apparently had a fall and hurt his head. She knew her capable maid would not call her unless it was really urgent.
We went to her house and found the son to be much calmed down, sniffing, but with a patch of cotton firmly taped to his forehead. I didn't think it was serious but when she peeled back the tape, there was a gash of about 1-2 cm. It had stopped bleeding but looked like it needed attention.
So I drove them to a nearby clinic in a kampung. The clinic was in an old wooden shoplot and looked like it had seen better years. The doctor took one look and said he had to stitch up his forehead. He told my friend to hold her son steady while he tried to inject anesthetic near the gash, between the thin skin on the forehead and skull. As you can imagine, the boy screamed in agony and moved, causing the anesthetic to spurt out so the doctor had to do it again.
I gasped for breath, seeing everything. By that time, the father had arrived and was helping to keep the son steady as the doctor started stitching. I stumbled out of the clinic and... sobbed, calling KS and telling him not to expect me at the meeting that night. I just couldn't take it and I'm not surprised Karen Cheng fainted from this ordeal.
Now as I think about it, if you have kids, this is bound to happen right? In my family, it was Ron who split his scalp when Grace pushed him away from the piano. In my cousins' family, it was Kelvin who hurt his head from slamming his head under a tap.
Oh dear. Maybe I'll make my kids wear helmets until they're 12.
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