08-23

     I won't forget this number. It's my last apartment unit in Singapore, the third apartment I rented, before I was sent home to the Philippines for good by my stroke. I stayed in this unit from November 2014 to May 2019 if my memory serves right. It was my first time to stay outside of the busy central business zone of Singapore. My first stay was at City Square Residences, a posh residential apartment, then I moved to Toa Payoh to a flat. 

     I miss this residence of mine, my home office starting November 2014. I did not hire housemates as I was worried they may be disturbed of me working from home as I had a lot of teleconferences.

The grilled doors to the flat 

     It was in this unit where I experienced to be brought to the hospital three times, two of which were emergency situations. I stayed alone as I used it for my day work, working for an American chemical company for a regional post for Asia. My first open heart occurred when I was already staying in this flat. It was February 2015 when I woke up  very early in the morning, I had difficulty breathing, seemed I couldn't move my feet. I called a friend, a bartender working late at night, who told me he will call his wife, a nurse at the National University Hospital(NUH) of Singapore.  In a few minutes the ambulance came and brought me to NUH.

     In February 2017, I had a scheduled surgery to correct my aorta as I had a triple A condition, acute aorta aneurysm. After those two surgeries, I thought everything was in order when in February 2019, I had a stroke. It took almost 24 hours before I could be rushed to the hospital Tan Tock Seng. By some miracle, I was brought to the ICU and survived the ordeal but unfit for work which sent me back home for good.