From The Straits Times    |

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When Madam Siti Hajar Abdul Gaffar, 44, woke up one morning, she could not see with her left eye. What’s more, she could hardly open her right eye. She thought she was dreaming.

But the dream turned into a nightmare as she sat on the edge of her bed, rubbing her eyes again and again, only to find that she still could not see.

A horrified Siti took a taxi to the Accident and Emergency department at Changi General Hospital (CGH) on Jan 23.

“All I could see out of my left eye was pitch darkness. I could not see even the tiniest ray of light,” she said.

Madam Siti, a single mother of two children aged 11 and seven, added: “I could still see with my right eye, but it was blurry and there were black spots in my vision.”

The customer service officer in a food distribution company was diagnosed with Klebsiella pneumoniae, caused by a superbug that is resistant to antibiotic treatment and that causes life-threatening infections among those susceptible to it, such as diabetics or patients with weakened immune systems.

It does not normally infect healthy individuals.

 

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Madam Siti, who is diabetic, was told that the bacteria had spread to her left foot, her kidney, her liver, her lungs as well as her eyes, and she was admitted into CGH.

On Jan 20, three days before the diagnosis, Madam Siti had gone to a polyclinic with a high fever.

“The doctor initially thought it was dengue, so I had to take a blood test.

“After that, they said it was just a normal fever, so I was given antibiotics and the rest of the day to rest at home,” she said.

Speaking from her two-room rental flat in Eunos, Madam Siti said she had not felt any pain in her eyes.

But she had noticed a sudden increase in the number of eye floaters or tiny “cobwebs” that appear in her field of vision.

“I didn’t feel any pain or nausea. That was why I felt so shocked when I woke up that day unable to see with my left eye,” said Madam Siti.

Two days later, she underwent surgery to replace her left eyeball with a glass implant. She also had a minor operation to remove pus from her left foot.

“The doctor initially told me that he was not sure how much the infection had spread to my right eye and there was still a fighting chance that I’d be able to use it,” she said.

But her hopes were dashed when she could not see with her right eye the next day.

Madam Siti said: “For 44 years, I could see perfectly, then everything went black.

“All I could think of was my children and how I am going to take care of them from now on.”

 

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She was discharged from hospital on March 25 and was accompanied home by a caregiver from CGH, who stayed with her for two weeks to help her adjust to her sudden disability.

Describing her family as “loving and complete”, Madam Siti said: “As a single mother, I never had to depend on anyone. I checked my children’s homework and got them ready for school all by myself.

“I am going to miss a lot of big moments in my children’s lives. I can’t sign school consent forms or attend parent-teacher meetings any more. The thought that our lives had changed in a heartbeat broke my heart.”

Madam Siti’s close friend of 14 years, Madam Nur Azreenawaty Mohamid Hamid, 34, told TNP that it is the first time her friend has had to rely on other people.

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“She is a very strong and positive woman and rarely asks for help. No one expected this to happen to her,” she said.

In a bid to help her friend, Madam Azreenawaty approached Ummi Abdullah catering service.

“I was very happy when they offered to cater dinner to kak Siti’s family on weekdays for free. It will at least ease her daily burden,” she said.

Madam Siti is still employed, but has taken time off work to cope with her sudden loss of vision.

“The biggest challenge used to be dressing myself, but I’ve got better at it,” she said.

“I listen to prayer calls on the radio to tell the time and count my steps everywhere I go, I am still trying to figure out a system for my life.

“Sometimes you don’t appreciate the things you have until you don’t have them any more. I am blind now, but I am determined not to let my children’s lives be compromised by my disability,” she said.

 

This story was originally published in The New Paper on April 6, 2016.