Father's four fractured ribs.

I brought dad to Normah Medical Specialist Centre yesterday to do a bone mineral density scan. It basically tells you how strong your bones are and how prone you are to fractures. It's mostly done by women who worry about osteoporosis. So why did dad have to do one? Long story..

Okay, lets rewind to November 2008. School holidays. The whole clan went to Singapore to visit the 2 sisters and brother who defected from Kuching. 8 grandkids from Kuching, (some were left behind, mind you) plus 2 in Singapore, equals 10 grandkids, all below 9yrs of age, together for 4 days. Recipe for disaster perhaps?

The kids went crazy playing with each other and especially had a great time at Wild Wild Wet. That must've been the last straw for dad who was later diagnosed with pneumonia back at home!

So dad was prescribed 2 types of antibiotics, on top of medication for fever and cough. Now he's one of those people who do not like to take drugs, unless absolutely necessary and in this case, it was either oral medication or admission into hospital for intravenous drugs! Obviously he chose the former.

When he recovered, sis no.2 and I brought him to a Chinese physician. He prescribed more medication to strengthen his lungs which were scarred due to either working at the shipyard or heavy smoking in his younger days!

Then, dad decided he was strong enough to go play golf. The next day, post 18 holes of golf, he blacked out and crashed into a table before ending up on the floor. The A&E doctor declared 2 fractured ribs. Much later, the lung specialist spotted another one and geriatrician sis no.1, who flew back from Singapore, spotted another one! So the grand total was 4 fractured ribs! Which brings us to yesterday's bone scan.

Poor dad had to give up gardening and golf till after Chinese New Year. We children blame the golf for the blackout. Dad however, blames all the medication his children forced down his throat. Okay, so there was also some complication arising from the calcium we made him take, it constipated him, which led to him having to take laxatives as well... Oh ya and also before that, the antibiotics caused diarrhoea and obviously diarrhoea medication followed. Well, what can I say, that's what you get for having a doctor and pharmacist among your children (btw, there are 6 of us, which explains the 14 grandchildren).

Whatever the case, dad is doing great now. Gardening, golfing and even fishing. I hope we'll all be as healthy as him when we reach our 70's!