Day: January 19, 2007

My temperature’s back at 38C, probably because the effects of the PCM had disappeared after more than 8 hours. So went to my usual clinic, sat there, described to the doctor my symptoms, temperature, blood pressure and pulse readings at various times; then as he was going to prescribe me with Ibuprofen, I told him I am probably allergic to NSAIDs (Non-Steroid Anti-Inflammatory Drugs). He asked me how did I find that out as my record shows I declared only to be allergic to Aspirin? I told him I had had stones in the Urethra, and the GP I rushed to jabbed me with Voltaren to minimise the pain I was suffering from as I was only supposed to be allergic to Aspirin-based medicine; only for me to return some ten minutes later gasping for breath and my sinus cavities had swelled up. Even when they performed an IVU to locate the stones, I had to be prepped with Prednisolone for days before they could inject me with the IVU dye…to top that, a nurse was on stand-by in the X-ray room just in case I stopped breathing.

He then asked me what do I do for a living, and I told him that I am a full-time diver. He replied saying he’s very surprised that I know a lot of medical terminologies and thought I had worked for the health industry before.

If only he knows I have been prescribing some of my own medicines since my Air Force days…and I still do. 🙂

Here I am lying down in bed struck by fever. It was 39C at midnight, downed PCM; went down to 38C at 7am, downed more PCM; now it is at 37C. I looked at the date and remembered that some three years ago, TNB CEO Lookalike, Jai the Bhai, Walking Vibrator and I were busy planning for our deployment in Langkawi. I also had to plan to retrieve some equipment that were lying around in Krungthep. By the end of January of 2004, Walking Vibrator and I had retrieved the Krungthep equipment and then I went up to Penang to attend a seminar on US Customs laws and regulations, then rented a car and went up to Alor Setar to move some equipment in Jitra to the Alor Setar Tower. Later that evening I was already in Langkawi where some more equipment were due. I left the rented car at the Alor Setar Airport because the next day I flew back to KL by Air Asia.

I remember as the aircraft thundered down the runway on its take-off roll, I could feel that we were slightly slower than usual. Some 15 minutes later we were orbiting Penang and I could see the airport from Flight Level 25 as the aircraft then spiralled downwards. The aircraft had developed engine problems and had to land in Penang. I spent some 5 hours on ground before we were allowed back on board. I knew something was still wrong as the downwind leg prior to landing at KLIA was a bit too long, and the cockpit crew were playing with the throttle levers to help maintain course etc. It was truly a long finals but we landed safely. The other passengers were oblivious to the fact that we were in some major trouble, maybe because they do not know how an aircraft functions.

It was the start of a period of two weeks in Langkawi that lasted some 5 months.