I know that I was supposed to "launch" and "link" this blog with the SLE Association Malaysia... that was my personal project. But I got carried away with life.
Ok.. lets do a little "background" check on myself before I advance to another chapter.
Hmm...
Name : Sarah binti Kambali
Age : 26
Sex : Female
Nationality : Malaysian
Religion : Islam
School : SKTTDI, SMKTTDI, Matric IIUM, IIUM
Degree : LLB (Hons)
Date of Call to the BAR : 25th October 2007
Previous Jobs :
- Salesgirl in DKNY & Guess when I was 18
- Sales Exc in MPH OU (in between of holidays during Matriculation)
- Pupilage with Richard Wee Thiam Seng @Azizah, Sarina & Khoo AND Y.H Teh & Quek
*phew*
This is turning to be a "resume". Well... there must be variety in typing out my own Diary. Easy reference, eh?
Anyways... Ever since I was diagnosed, I never saw the illness as something serious. In all honesty, I was thinking nothing of it. All the worrying was done by my family members, to which I will interview one of these days and put it on my blog. A video, perhaps? We'll see...
I continued living whatever life I could live. When I was first diagnosed, I had to be admitted and was in and out of the hospital. There were aplenty of things that were happening during the time. At one point, I think I was loosing my mind. Of course, this was all remembered clearly by my parents especially mum. I had no recollection of what had happened.
The first year was tough on my parents... because I was in a numb state of mind. I'm not sure if it's the pain in my joints, or the fact that my antibodies were fighting each other that had made me "numb" in a way.
I took one semester off from university to get use to what I was going through. This taking leave was not my idea... if it was up to me, I'd still go to the university and continued my education. But after much persuasion, my parents had successfully made me stay home.
When I did come back, it was difficult to handle the stares and questions. I was no longer stick thin. My face had turned round with no "runcing" features. The only thing that stuck by me was my voice.
On the first day, I'd be standing next to a friend, who didn't visit me in the hospital or home, and she/he wouldn't know who I was. They would stare trying to figure out who is this "newcomer" in the Law faculty.
Only when I spoke that they had a shock expression. They would say, "Laaa... Sarah, ko ke?" (translation : Ehh... Sarah is that you?) and the next question would be "Mana ko pergi?" (translation : Where have you been?) and not to forget "Aku dengar ko sakit.. Ko okay ke sekarang?" (Translation : I heard you were sick.. Are you ok now?)
The end of any conversation would be : Ko nampak comel lagi sekarang. Lagi lawa.
(translation : You look cuter now. More gorgeous even)
Imagine, every turn for the first week... all my friends who were from my batch had the same expression and the same lines. It happened 4 years ago.. but I can still remember it clearly because it ANNOYED the hell out of me.
Things were not easy for me. I could no longer stay in campus. My doctors thought it was best that I stayed home. So, I was no longer at priviledge to stay in campus and I had to commute. Who was my commute person? Dad mostly... my boyfriend ( who I hooked up during my illness ) and my friends who were kind enough to send me places and home.
My batch were no longer my batch. I had to adapt to the new batch. One thing I thank God was that I am very easily accepted by people, despite my "sombong" face (stuck up face). I have a quality that if I don't smile, I look stuck up enough that people are scared or not interested to talk or approach me.
Another thing I thank God... the batch I was easing in, was people I already know during matriculation. They had helped me a lot... for that I will never forget their kindness and helpfulness.
There were lots of adjusting to be done during my initial year of me and the illness... but with love and help from my family, the new guy in my life, my uncles and aunts, my friends and the lecturers... I was able to graduate and also able to live life as "normal" as possible.
Or course... at the final year in the university things got a little tougher. I had to start using the wheelchair. Why? The legs - hips particularlly - were painful. I had developed Avascular Necrosis of both the hips. What is this, you ask? Well... basically, the roundness of the hip bone has depleted and is continuing to deplete due to steroid intake. The steroids that I took to stabilize my condition of SLE had lots of adverse effect... one of which is this.
Well... to cure one evil, you have to choose a lesser evil.
Maybe on the next Chapter I'll explain the condition in detail... time to leave you wandering how I coped with pain in both my hips and how my final year in university had been with me using a wheelchair & walking stick.
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