From Race Podium to Cardiac Ward

24th June was the day that the kids been training for. Wouldn’t say they trained really hard for it. But that was a race that they’ve been looking forward to.

Come race day, waited for the pics to arrive. Finally lope’s face was up. After multiple of others’. But luckily his was finally there. Angah, while on the other hand, wasn’t there until sometime. I knew something might have happened. But thought he just bonked. Then by 8:49 am, Lope informed that angah blacked out. 

I knew the news midrun, almost few kms left. Didn’t know how should I react, so I just went on.

Was finally able to determine my real feeling while in the car. Blacked out can be quite normal for runs. But I knew he wanted it so bad, and I feel bad that he had to lose it this way. I knew he would be able to score some points no matter how slow. But the fact that he blacked out and lost everything altogether, breaks my heart just as much as his.

After being able to sort our logical thoughts in check, we decided to make our way to Ipoh. It was mainly for giving him some moral support for his DNF. Didn’t think it was medically concerning. Arrived by 1:30. Saw that the IV drip bag had been emptied. Asked for when will he be released. ER team indicated it was probably due to hypo and we just had to wait for final blood test result. It went on quite sometime, until we were asked to go to Critical Unit, where you had all the monitoring on. 

He was put on echo/ultrasound scan. Which I thought was still standard procedure. We had to wait even more for a doctor to attend to him. Fellow ER roommates were elderly and seemed to be needing more immediate attention. So wait was all we could. Then the ER team updated that he had some abnormalities in his ECG and blood test. Troponin enzyme profile showed very high reading, which is normally caused by a cardiac related incident. He was poked again for more blood test. Finding his vein was another big problem. No veins seem to make an appearance (plus it was probably due to the more junior team, handling the blood extraction). ER team finally decided that he needs to be sent to a cardiac ward for more monitoring and to only be cleared by a cardiologist. This was decided after about 2 hrs upon reaching. 

I had not had proper meal after my hard 12 km this morning (didn’t feel hard though, but garmin showed otherwise). It was already 4pm and I really had to find a real food, else, i myself will need some medical attention. Went out and grab some lunch only at 5. Back home at the hospital for Angah to have his lunch only at 5:40 pm. Finally got into the ward at around 6, and he had to be attached to a heart monitoring device. 

So it was a waiting game after. Hubs insisted to stay over the night in the ward since other patients were mostly male, except for 1 aunty. Managed to have a decent sleep at home and exchange our turn again in the morning. He had to be monitored further and cannot be discharged today. Well, let’s hope that by 6 pm today, things are cleared and at least he can be discharged by tomorrow. 

Recalling what had happened, his last memory of the incident was him overtaking his Cougar’s batchmate, Aqil Suffian. He knew Ezra was not too far in front. He remembered he had to push a bit more to catchup. He didn’t feel any sickness except for the need to push. Then it all went black. He managed to gain consciousness on his own. He remembered his front was on the ground, so he rolled himself sideways since he couldn’t bring himself up. He tried to get up on his own again, but he couldn’t. Couldn’t remember how long he was out. Until a sister passed by and lend him a hand. The lady kindly brought him to the hospital but the hospital asked him to be sent over to the school, so he can be managed by the teachers. He was fetched to the hospital in an ambulance. Apparently few others required some medical assistance of some sort. But he was the only one fainted. 

When asked what other things was on his mind, he said what he knew was he had to fight his mind. His seniors’ words were all he could think of, “jangan ikut mental”, “remember why you started”. I did tell the kids to dig whatever you can in your final mile, but apparently, it’s his seniors’ words that gets him pumped up. Ariel, the Capt Koko, passed by him and persuaded him to push even more. And that was slightly before he passed out

Still in the hospital now. Putting here so I can recall everything that had happened

Drafted in 25 June 2023. Only got posted today, 13 May 2024