Today has been a star-crossed eventful day.
The started out well until around 11 a.m. I was at Kimchitiam (one of our favorite Korean restaurants) with Cass and waiting for our food to arrive. While waiting for our food, I played with my phone.
Then came a Whatsapp message from my mum in our family chat group. She informed us that her trip to Sabah with papa that night had to be cancelled as she had a bad fall and broke several bones in her hand and shoulder. I was shocked to read the message. I tried calling mum and papa on their mobile phones but they went unanswered. My worst fear was she had to undergo a surgery to fix the fractures.
I lost my appetite after reading the message from my mum. When the food arrived, I ate very little. I had some marinated spinach, kimchi and pinched some Bibimbap from Cass. I only ate a few forkfuls of japchae that I ordered for myself and had it doggy-bagged home.
While chewing the spinach, I suddenly bit into a bunch of sand! And then I felt a pang and a sharp sensitive feeling in my right bottom back tooth. It felt like the top part of the enamel was scraped off by the hard sand and the nerves were exposed! 😱 I could feel with my tongue that the top part of that tooth was gone.
Double whammy!!
After lunch, Cass and I hurriedly walked home as I had to fetch Sherilyn back from school. We deliberately walked to the plaza to have lunch to soak in some sun. Today is the last day of school holidays for Cass and tomorrow will be her first day in Junior 3 (Form 3).
After trying to call my parents like 100 times but in vain, mum finally sent another Whatsapp message to the chat group to update us on her condition.
This is her message:
Doctor advised not to travel. There are 3 broken bones on the wrist and one fracture on the shoulder. The orthopedic surgeon pulled the bones back to straighten the bent and misplaced bones. Now in fibreglass cast, will take 2-3 months to heal.
Praise the Lord that no surgery was necessary🙏 I pray that mum will never have another fall. She had had several bad falls over the last two years.
Now back to my tooth. I was too lazy to go out again to the dentist and thought that I could hang on until tomorrow morning but each time I ate something, the chipped tooth hurt. I called up the dentist’s office and the dental assistant told me that I could come pronto. So I zoomed off to the dentist to get my tooth fixed.
The dentist told me that he only needed one layer of patching on my tooth. Thank God the damage to my tooth was only superficial.
Since I was already on the dental chair, I told the dentist to perform scaling on my teeth as well. I’ve not gone to the dentist for at least 4 years. I always try to evade going to the dentist as I have low pain tolerance and hate the feeling of lockjaw each time I open my mouth wide for Mr Dentist 🤐 🥴. I hate the feeling of the draining tube in my mouth and metal clanging in my teeth.
Total damage to my wallet was RM210 (RM90 for tooth patching and RM120 for scaling).
Back home, everyone asked me why didn’t I complain to the boss of the Korean restaurant about the sand and the damage it caused to my tooth. The answer is I wasn’t in a mood to complain about anything and I had to hurry home to fetch Sherilyn back from school. Moreover the boss (a Korean dude) had walked out of his shop.
Later in the evening, I sent a Whatsapp message to the Korean restaurant owner to tell him what happened. Our family has known the owner for almost 10 years as we’re his regular customers. He was very apologetic and told me that my next meal there would be on him. My main intention of telling the owner wasn’t to get a free meal but to let him know so that this unfortunate incident would not happen again to other customers. His staff are all foreign workers and they must be reminded about rinsing veggies thoroughly for their customers’ safety. After this unpleasant experience, I don’t think I will ever eat their marinated spinach appetizer again. I am now paranoid over spinach! Actually this ain’t the first time I’d chewed on sand in my spinach dish.
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So sorry to hear abt this. It’s good your mum did not need surgery. What she has is a Colles fracture on the right wrist. Unfortunately, a very common injury, to the extent that the orthopedist writes: LOLFOOSH ( little old lady fell on outstretched hand) on the consult notes. I’m not sure if your mum got further instructions abt moving her fingers while in the cast. Generally what is not in the cast, one should move to prevent stiffness.
I’m not sure of the injury to the shoulder and how long she is to stay in the sling or how much she is allowed to move. Check with the doctor. If he/ she agrees, it is important to move the elbow, also to prevent stiffness. Your mum doesn’t need to bend the elbow( unless the doc allows it) but she can turn her hand within the sling/ cast.
She will likely need physio after the cast comes off.
And a strong suggestion here, and yr mum may not agree…she should use a cane now to get around. Having your arm in a sling throws your balance off, so just to be safe…
Hi Chris
I will show your comments to my mum. I personally agree on using a cane, just to be safe. Thank you so much for the tips! 🙂
One more thing I forgot to add, anytime she is sitting down while wearing the sling, rest the elbow on a cushion/ rolled up towel etc just to take the slack off the sling and also take the weight off the shoulder.
Hey Chris
I’ll convey the message to my mum. Thanks once again!
Those are some very beneficial tips from your reader, Chris, I appreciate it and picked up a few pointers. Wishing your mom a speedy recovery, she comes across as a very resilient lady.
Thanks Alvin for the well wishes 🙂