Saturday, 25 September 2021

The Health Scare

Three years ago at around this time, Stanley and I went through a health scare journey.

The source came from one of our former national service bunk mates, Russell, who was warded with symptoms of a heart attack.

Our NS group chat, titled Red Berets, stirred to life at 10.40pm Singapore-Hong Kong time.

Like a dormant volcano pushed to erupt, the messages in our usually-silent group chat came fast and furious.

Stanley my sex bunny friend, who is one of the group admins, also erupted fast and furious.

Apparently he was on a tryst when he got a message from Suzanne, Russell's wife, about the sudden rush to the hospital.

Stanley later told me that he too, experienced a sudden rush - of a totally different nature.

True to his swift, time management skills, Stanley had his beefcake and eat it, managing to satisfy both his ONS, and Obligations of NS.

I was alerted to the news at around 9pm, more than 3,000km north of Singapore.

I was having an oily Myanmar curry for late dinner when I got the shocking news.

Two decades ago, Russell was fit.

You would expect everyone of us in our NS unit to be so - nothing less.

Two decades later, at 40, Russell is still fit.

Which is why it's so shocking to all of us.

Among the 20-over participants in our group chat, only a handful of us remain lean and fit, and Russell the private investment banker was one of them.

This is what J my partner would always say: If you're fit, it doesn't necessarily mean you're healthy.

Russell was having one of his late nights in the office when he broke into a sweat, became breathless, and had a squeezing sensation under his left armpit.

Fortunately, he alerted his fellow workaholics who immediately called an ambulance.

Stanley was the only one who managed to visit Russell at the private hospital that night.

The rest of us was a case of the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak - at least three of us in the group including myself are based overseas, and the rest had little ones to put to bed or are already asleep themselves.

In Stanley's case, his spirit is willing but his flesh particularly weak considering his recent exothermic activity, but he made it purely because, well, he was up and about anyway, and was quite close to Mount E.

That night, our group chat was filled with chatter - those that expressed shock, get-well-soon messages, as well as raunchy gifs supplied by the resident cheekopeks of the group.

The next day, more of our Red Berets brothers dropped by to visit Russell during lunchtime and the group chat was filled with wefies and photos of a smiling but weak Russell.

Our friend had indeed experienced a health scare - the symptoms he felt were indeed those of a heart attack.

But Russell's CT scans showed his heart was perfectly okay, and the sharp pain under his left armpit - which Russell described as the pain of a gunshot wound - was an indication of a lung infection.

So it was a case of bad versus worse.

The group chat messages soon veered into topics like health checks and the importance of listening to your body.

One of our Red Berets friends - a lean, mean fighting machine - actually listens to his body almost every day.

He would check his resting pulse rate and would proudly announce that for a 40-year-old man, he is in excellent health given that his heart rate was 61 beats per minute.

Stanley later privately messaged me to say that he too, has been listening to his body.

My physical indicators are quite different, but when it sends me throbbing signals, I respond immediately, Stanley said.

So I will take good care of my health.

And the next time I break into a sweat, become breathless, and feel a squeezing sensation, hunny darling, it can only be a good thing, he said.



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Adam's stories are based on real life events and inspired by real people 

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