911

I thought the first thing that I would write about after the come back was on the moving house ordeal that has kept me away from blogging for the last month or so - the reason why Cerita Ibu has been collecting dust.

But what could be more important to update on than the grim domestic accident in our new house? Aiyaiya.....

It all happened last Saturday mid morning which started off well, bright and cheery as with any other non working day :)

We were all gathered around the dining table. Not for breakfast , no.... but for our usual weekend together-gether stuff. Hafiz was doing his Kumon, Ameer his coloring. Abang Idin not in the picture - went on school camping trip. Ayah & I were surfing the net. To be exact, we were fulfilling our statutory duty to e-file the income tax returns. Well actually, it was Ayah who did it all. I merely ransacked my bag, retrieved my income statement, passed it on to him and answered a few questions

1) books? yes, max

2) insurance/epf? yes, max

3) pelepasan anak? yes, 3 orang

4) parents medical? yes, RM2160

5) zakat? errrrrkkk... alamak bang! guilty as charged!

Those kind of questions. And Ayah said IRB owes me RM2,000++ ! Yipeeeee!!! By the way, I was making online payment for my credit card bills - which never seem to finish! why arrr?

As for the ambience that morning.... the dining area sliding doors wide open. The morning breeze and smell of grass refreshing. Outside, birds chirping & Blackie meowing. In the kitchen, Bibi grumbling - something about the dirty laundry. Cakap jawa - tak faham! From the backyard, the trickling sound of the backdoor's neighbour's swimming pool and water feature was therapeutic.

You see.... nothing could go wrong.

Or so we thought!

And how wrong we were.

Out of a sudden, Ameer appeared from the kitchen (when did he move from his seat??!), weeping. "Ayah...... Ameer sakit ni...."

I was like .... ishhh... apa lagi la budak Hafiz ni menyakat adik dia? I didn't even look up. I think neither did Ayah. Well at least not immediately.

Ameer persisted, "Ayahhhhh..... tengoklah ni!!"

And Ayah must have looked at Ameer and it was his "LA'ILA HA'ILALLAHHH! AMEER WHAT HAPPENED??!!!!" that startled me.

I jumped out of my seat when I saw what Ameer was weeping and complaining "sakit" about. His right thumb and a small part of his backhand! Burn? Scald? Oh my god!! Hot water! Outer layer skin destroyed! Redness exposed! Ouchhhh..... Oh Ameerrr.... my darling Ameer...... sakitnya anak ibu.... Cam mana la boleh kena ni?! Oh my dear baby.....

"Macam mana boleh kena ni Ameer!!?"

"Bukan Hafiz, bukan Hafiz!!! Ameer nak air kat situ....." said Hafiz, while pointing at the thermal pot and coffee making tray.

SHIT!! ( Uh! Sorry.... ) How on earth could he reach that high? Did he step onto something?

"Ameer sakit bu.... sakit ni!" Ameer continued weeping.

Ayah just stood there. Didn't move. Couldn't move? Half frozen, I think.

"Ok sayang... jangan nangis.... " I carried Ameer into the kitchen to get the 1st aid kit. Alamak..... kan baru pindah, mana pulak letak eh? Alahai.... Oh yes! Found it. But NO BURNOL!!! Ishhh....

Meanwhile, Ameer continued weeping, "Ameer sakit bu....sakit bu..... "

"Hang in there Ameer! Nanti Ibu cari ubat ni...." trying to console my baby in pain.

In my mind, the first aid lessons on burns & scald was flashing back & forth, back & forth - blurry vision. I was not good in paying attention in class. So in that zig zag of a nano second, I was helplessly trying to think of what home remedy I could resort to in this emergency situation. Something cold. Something cold. I must find something cold.

And I rushed to the fridge and took out - what else? butter!! Grabbed a spoon, scraped a thin layer of butter and quickly but slowly .... ( hey...apa daaaa... quickly but slowly???) I mean, gently applied the thin layer of butter onto Ameer's little thumb.

"Ameer sakit bu.... sakit ......"

My heart broke into pieces.

Oh my dear baby. My handsome Ameer. I kissed him on his forehead, hugged him and consoled him, " Ibu ada ni OK Ameer? Ibu sayang Ameer!" ( nasty thoughts began creeping in ... what a useless mother! Anak depan mata pun tak boleh jaga.... ).

Ameer, though still weeping with tears rolling slowly down his cheek, was actually pretty calm and composed. He didn't cry out loud at all. Merely weeping. I wiped his tears away again and again. Hugged him - gently of course, on hi alert by then and cautious of not wanting a burn & scald home accident to escalate into suffocation.

We took Ameer to the clinic in town shortly after. I had to "tiupkan" Ameer's thumb all the way to the clinic to soothe his pain. Whatever it takes to console my little one.

(Ameer 'blowing' his own thumb to soothe the pain)

The doctor asked what that creamy yellow paste on Ameer's thumb was and I told her I couldn't find burnol and that was the only thing that I could think of then. She smile generously, and I figured she must have been quite impressed with my home remedy (the butter!!). She said I could also use ice cube or ice pack in the absence of burnol (OF COURSE!! And there was plenty of ice cube in the fridge, and a brand new ice pack which we got as free gift when we bought that eyes massager few weeks back!! AH! If only I had paid attention in class....)


We went into the "dressing" room and the doctor expertly attended to Ameer's wound immediately. After cleaning the wound from the mess of my home remedy, she applied what appeared like a "whip cream" white cream generously over Ameer's thumb and bandaged it all up neatly.

Throughout the 'procedure', Ameer DID NOT cry at all ..... Not a single weep. Nothing. The doctor was pleasantly surprised with that. She offered Ameer some sweets thereafter but he did want to take any and just clung to me. It was Hafiz who offered his willingness for the sweets - which help draw some laughter from both the doctor and the nurses.

The doctor advised me not to worry. While the outer layer skin seemed destroyed, the burn was superficial and not severe she said. Nevertheless, she said she had to bandage it all up because knowing little children, they can be quite 'lasak' and would play outside the house, so that might expose the wound to gems. Well.. at least that's what I concluded.

Ameer.... oh Ameer..... I'm very sorry for what had happened, sayang. It's unthinkable for such a thing to happen to you whom we all know as the cute 'baby' of the house who hardly ever got into trouble. What's more with both parents at home at that time. It shouldn't have happened.


Until today, we still haven't figured out how he could have reached that high to press on that thermal pot button. Each time we asked Ameer about it, he would turned and walked away responding, "Ameer dah OK dah!". Hafiz on the other hand, was having his head "inside" the fridge to help himself with some yogurt when the incident happened so he couldn't be an eye witness to tell us what and how it actually happened other than "Ameer nak isi air panas dalam cawan kecik tu agaknya ...."

But accidents do happen, my darling Ameer. I'm sorry that it happened to you this time. Nevertheless, we must thank Allah that it was just that and nothing more. As we all know, there must be a hikmah in every single event. What a blessing in disguise - we now know you can quite comfortably write with your left hand. And you can colour with your left hand too without any problem at all. Ambidextrous boy in the making!

We are now still sending Ameer for his daily dressing. Not at the same clinic though - as on the second day, the dressing was done by a nurse who was sneezing & sniffing most of the time, who did not wash her hand and who blatantly disobeyed the doctor's (not the same as day1 doctor) instruction not to burst the blister! With the little recollection from what I had read on 1st aid before - it was a valid instruction from the doctor. And since that particular doctor on duty on day 2 was so not engaged with the treatment for my little boy ( as in "err... nurse! you do lah huh? this, that, don't do this, don't do that" .... and then straight back to his seat), I decided to take Ameer straight to Damansara Specialist Hospital (outpatient emergency) thereafter.

And everynight since last Sunday, we have been a regular at the emergency outpatient clinic. Jauhhhhhh weiii from Rawang, but anak punya pasal.... sanggup! The nurses washed their hands thoroughly each time of course.

Errrr... and how come the daily dressing at D'sara Specialist cost lower that what the GP charged? RM15 - RM20++ at DSH vs RM50 at the GP. I don't understand.

Anyway...........

A few more days to go Ameer and you'll have your right hand undressed in no time :)

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