22 JUN 2005 - Balik2 dari opis, aku melayan karenah Danish yg geram nak cakar2 muka aku. Thanks god my mother in-law had his nails clipped yesterday! Kalau tak, abeh la muka bapak dia ni. Hilang la pekej! Heheh... Hani plak tengah unpack barang & beg kitorang yg bawak masa balik kampung hari tu masa kawin Pie. Tetiba handphone aku atas fridge berbunyi. It was a call from my uncle whom I called 'Abah'.

"Mie, something awful happened. Salman felt down the stairs, knocked the back of his head on the staircase and is now half unconscious. He's now in the emergency ward at Hospital Kota Bharu. My son, he kept on asking for you".

Jantung aku cam nak berhenti bila dengar those words. Hani sensed the changes in my face and burst into tears when I told her what happened. I dialled my mum, but her handphone was left unanswered. Called my sis but couldn't really talk to her since she was sobbing. The only thing I heard from her is that "... Abang... Man sebut nama abang... " and the line got cut. I was left at the end of the line, trying to digest this dreadful thing; yet the shivers got the best of me.

I remembered two accidents when my youngest brother Faqih felt twice when he was small. Once down the kitchen stairs with his walker and another through the window of our 16 feet high house that my late granpa had to fix a couple of crossbars to the windows to avoid the same thing from happening. Fortunately, both incidents were not serious and Little Faqih was safe and sound. Nevertheless, everytime I hear the awful thud of someone's head, my breath catches for a moment...

Concussion = A brief, temporary loss of consciousness following a blow to the head. The signs of a head injury can occur immediately or develop slowly over several hours. Even if the skull is not fractured, the brain can bang against the inside of the skull and be bruised. The head may look fine, but complications could result from bleeding inside the skull.

I was left blank, expecting what's the worst can happen. Thankfully my wife was there for me. She made me sit down and got me back to my senses. I went to my room and had my prayers. After my prayers, I went to get Hani in the living room and said, "That's it dear, start packing... we're going back!"

We arrived in KB at 8 o'clock in the morning. Masuk2 bilik, Man tengah baring atas katil, with his hands on the back of his head. I touched his head, searched for any cuts or injuries but thanks god, there were none. Noticing my presence, he whispered slowly, "Sakit bang..." My mum was sitting next to him. "The doctor said that his head had a strong bonk and the x-ray didn't show anything serious. But they say if he vomit or anything, then we have to get him back to the hospital."

That whole day Man was having difficulties to find the right balance to stand so we had to escort him everytime he wanted to go to the washroom and stuffs. The giddiness he was suffering also didn't show any signs of depriving. Every second seems like forever; waiting for god's miracle to happen; waiting for him to get back on his feet again. We prayed, and we prayed hard. That evening we brought him to see a tukang urut in a nearby kampung. Thanks god, he's beginning to show some positive improvement.

As we speak, Man is now recovering. And hopefully, he'll be back on his feet again real soon and starts hitting those nets for goals again! Our prayers are with you always, my brother. Amin Ya Rabbal Alamin...

Posted by Wan Mohd Fahimi @ 1:49 PM