So I left work today, to have dinner with Chee. It was my second meal of the day which involved food, so it was dinner.
At Bangsar, my regular haunt. We talked for a couple of hours, and then Chee went to the toilet. I was SMS-ing people, and BBM-ing them, and Fb-ing and Tweeting, for what seemed like 10 minutes, when I heard gasps of horror from the next table.
I looked up, and there was Chee, covered in blood. Like, literally. AT first, though, I thought he was covered in tequila and cranberry juice. I don't know why. Maybe cause I was a bit high.
He was groping about, and I realised that he couldn't see.
Took him down to his seat, some guy gave him a towel with ice inside and I began questioning Chee.
Me: What happened?
Chee: I can't remember.
Me: Did you black out?
Chee: I think I did. I remember peeing, and then it was totally black. I think I blacked out, dude.
Me: Did you see the future?
Chee: What?
Me: Nevermind. How many fingers in front of me right now?
Chee: I can't see, man.
Me: Okay. Where's your phone? I need to call Ling.
By the time he gave me his phone, Chee had regained his sight, but was a bit freaked.
Chee: Man, a blind artist - that's pathetic.
Ling is Chee's wife.
So I called her up, and asked her to come and pick us up, as Chee was in no state to drive. Starting to tell her was difficult.
Me: Umm... he's all right. Chee's okay now, but he bumped his head and I don't think he can drive.
Ling: I'll take a cab and be ther in a bit. Where are you guys?
Me: We are at Bangsar. At ___ ___.
Then, I grilled Chee again.
Me: You can see now?
Chee: Yeah.
Me: Dude, that's a lot of blood.
There was a large stain on his chest, and some dried blood on his forehead, chest and huge bruises on his shoulder as well as collarbone. There was a huge cut on his forehead which will leave a lighting-shaped scar. Blood was oozing out.
Most worrying, though, was the fact that he blacked out and lost his vision. That freaked both of us out.
Me: How many is this?
I waved three fingers.
Chee: Three.
Me: Do you feel pain at the back of your head?
Chee: No. Just here. And here.
I remember thinking at the time, that the part of the brain that controls vision is at the back of the head. If he didn't hit that part, it might not be brain damage after all. But the cut on his forehead was deep, and it was oozing blood.
I went and checked where he fell.
At the restroom area, there is a steep staircase, with sharp, jagged edges where the tiles broke off.
At the bottom of the staircase, was a large pool of blood. It was the diameter of a Dominos regular pizza. It was a lot of blood, really, and I presumed that Chee had fallen, opened a gash on his head, lay there for several minutes as the blood pumped out, and then got back up again.
I went back to Chee.
Me: I saw the crime scene. There's a large pool of blood there, the size of a regular Dominos pizza.
Chee: What? Crime scene what? I need to see the crime scene.
Me: No. Let me settle the bill and let's go to a hospital. Let's wait for Ling.
Some people at a table nearby was telling me what to do.
They: Take him to the hospital.
Me: Yes. I know. We are going. We're waiting for his wife.
They: Take him to the hospital.
Me: You don't listen, do you? We. Are. Going.
Then I thought, why wait for Ling? We can just go now.
So we got the bartender to call a cab, and we went to Pantai Medical Center. I also called Ling to meet us there.
They took him into the plaster room, after some prodding. Ling arrived 15 minutes later, and the doctor checked on him 15 minutes after that.
Apparently, no broken bones, he requires some stitches, and they wanted to CT Scan Chee's brain.
I waited outside with Ling. Cracked some jokes about Langkawi, and 40 minutes later, Chee okayed by the physician.
Apparently, he did not suffer any brain damage. The loss of vision was most probably due to concussion. Even though I advised Chee to ask for as many painkillers as he could get hold of, he said no to any sort of drug.
I advised Ling to get him Ponstan and Damidol - painkillers used to alleviate toothache and period pains - and also to get him Benadryl.
It was an eventful night. The last time I went out with CHee, we got raided at a pub in Sunway.
We went out tonight, and his head was split open. Maybe next time, we should just do lunch.
