Growing old…

It was two or three days before Chinese New Year’s Eve when I went and bought a brand new carpet…

I liked one that was of the best quality and cost over RM1K but my daughter said this one was nicer and it was of the second best quality and cost over RM600…

This is thicker and heavier than the ones I bought long ago – I think I paid over RM200 each only then but like the owner, one in particular is showing signs of ageing.

They did not deliver it to my house but they did carry it and put it into my Wira for me so when I got home, I had to carry it out myself.

I must have pulled a tendon or something as the very next day, I felt an acute pain on my shoulder. Unfortunately, as they always say, the show must go on as there were the cleaning and the mopping and the vacuuming to be done, the hanging up of the decorations and everything and somehow or other, the pain disappeared for a day or two…and it was only until the 2nd or 3rd day of Chinese New Year that I felt the pain on my left shoulder, elbow and wrist. I just rubbed those parts with some balm to relieve the pain and one night, when I was out for dinner with Huai Bin, I asked him to accompany me to see a Chinese sinseh.

The guy said that my veins got entangled (the direct translation of some sort) and he pressed my arm and shoulder here and there and pulled and stretched and asked me to return the next day…which I did. He did the same thing and told me not to go anymore as I was all right already. All right? I certainly was not all right yet as I could still feel the nagging pain.

Eventually, I tried acupuncture…

The funny thing about this traditional form of healing is that when you are in pain, it does not hurt one bit when you are being poked with the needles…but as you get better, it would get more and more painful. That certainly worked for after a few days, I was all right already but I was instructed not to eat prawns, crabs and the like, no belacan, no cincaluk…for a month. Good grief! That’s cold turkey!!!!

I’m not even sure whether it was the carpet that was the root cause or whether it was the result of spending too much time online – I had the same problem on my right elbow a year or two ago but it was not so bad and the pain just disappeared after a while. I remember telling somebody that whenever I went online, I had the fan on my right hand side blasting at me at full speed and she said, “Turn it off! You’re not a satay!!!” Whatever it is, there can be no denying that I AM growing all, no spring chicken, that’s for sure…and definitely not what I used to be anymore. Like it or not, that’s life… Sigh!!!!