The Night Mom Passed Away

Along and Abang at the hospital on the night mom passed away.

Mom passed away on Thursday night, just 12 minutes shy of midnight.

I still recall the jarring phone call from my big sis Along. She said "Mommy dah tak ada. (Mom is gone)" I remember waking everyone from sleep. I remember the bewilderment and confusion in my little brother, Abang's face as he was jarred from sleep.

But in truth, I was expecting that call that night, which explains why I was still awake at that hour.

The whole day prior to that fateful call, mom's blood pressure keep spiraling downwards.

40 minutes before Along's call came in informing me that mom has passed away I called Along and asked her what Mom's blood pressure reading was. In tears, Along told me that it was 4o/20.

I knew it wouldn't be long before mom would be gone.

Still even expecting her death, as we were all then, didn't make it any less a shock and heartbreak.

I still remember the journey to the hospital. Dad was on the phone with his good friend Uncle Johan desperately asking for strength and support in that dark hour.

Uncle Johan didn't disappoint. He straight away told dad that he was on his way to the hospital and that he would make every arrangement necessary for mom's funeral preparations.

We arrived at the hospital some half an hour after the phone call from sis. We told the guard on duty that we were headed up because there was a kematian (death).

We went into the ward and saw Along standing by the window, silent and stoic even through her noiseless tears. The drapes were closed to Mom's cubicle as two nurses were removing the life support system which had previously been keeping mom alive from four days ago, on that Monday when Mom had cease to give any response.

Truth is, the doctors had had Along sign a death in line form acknowledging that the doctors had informed the next of kin of mom's imminent demise.

But, we were still hoping for a miracle. Partly because we really weren't ready to say goodbye to mom and partly because throughout Mom's 46 days in the hospital, the doctors had been signing mom's death warrant every chance they had.

Who would have thought that a fall in the kitchen could lead to mom being riled with infections, so much so that her cause of death was written as 'sepsis with multiple organ failure'.

What a rush of memory I'm experiencing as I rehash the night that an angel left this earth to return to the Almighty.

All that's left now are memories; the main reason why I created this blog. To immortalize mom in cyberspace. Till the next time.

R.I.P. Mom.