A Singaporean In Australia

I received a good amount of callouts from friends and family to consider a return to Singapore to treat my affliction. The advantages include a possible shorter wait to get treated, lower cost, higher quality of treatment, family support and Jen could rejoin the workforce because my mother would be able to take care of Albany in her absence at work. In short it would look like either of these: return to Singapore - get treated - return to Perth and the variation: return to Singapore - get treated - stay there for good. That would be discussed on a later post.

A day after my diagnosis, we moved from our previous place in Gosnells to our current cosy abode. We decided that the rental increment was too high for our liking, bit the bullet and moved to a smaller place. I would be the less common patient who didn't mope for a couple of days. Couldn't. Circumstances didn't allow me to. We made at least 9-10 trips on Goldilocks in full loads and 1 trip with the company ute for the big items - with Pat and his elder son Jason lending valuable hands on Wednesday evening. Moving our fridge and bed base up the second level through a narrow and angled stairways was almost an impossible task. We cracked some plaster on the wall doing so.

I slept like a dirty torn rag that night. I was absolutely knackered in all sense of the word, in every aspect of my self. It was fortunate that my parents were around to take care of Albany, for which all the actions would have been impossible. That highlighted the point that my sister made. If I were to move back to Singapore, I would be partly relieved of taking care of Albany so I could concentrate on treating myself and that Jen could find work without the reservations of leaving Albany in a child care.

The new place, lovely as that, looked like a war torn zone the next morning. There were lots of work, I mean LOTS, to do. It would probably take us until Winter to get everything into place and then fully settle in. There was no time to worry about that because we had half a day to fulfill our cleaning obligations in the previous rental unit and return the keys at 1600 hrs that day. I had to hold my breathe to avoid breathing in too much fumes from strong cleaning agent. There were too much to do, too little time and we were still suffering from fatigue from the entire week of packing and the previous night of moving. We made ourselves to the finishing line at East Victoria Park almost right on time, zombified. Because dead is too fresh to describe that kind of weariness.

We strolled out of the estate management company and strolled along the lively Albany Highway along East Victoria Park. We decided that we had all but 30 minutes to find a rental car before the end of the working day the preceded a much anticipated long weekend with both Friday and the following Monday being public holiday. The long weekend we were supposed to go on a trip. 

Amidst all the chaos, we had put our Albany trip entirely at the back of our minds. The trip was planned last Summer with a small group of friends. Everyone was looking forward to it, including ourselves. Perhaps until I received the bad news on my condition, that made me the exception. Still, I thought the getaway would be beneficial for me after all the euphoria.

Rest. All I wanted was rest and nothing but rest. Albany was as beautiful as before, despite the cloudy skies shielding the ocean from looking its absolute best. No matter. The long weekend probably brought a lot more traffic to the little sea town than I preferred but the place was still as serene as I remembered it. We did a customary run to places of interests as a few of us were first-time visitors to Albany. We spent every other time doing nothing, strolling with little Albany in our arms and introducing her to animals nearby our stay. It was awesome and we loved it. The air was untainted and the weather was perfect at mid twenties in the afternoon. It was criminal to stay for only 3 days 2 nights there. The next time we manage to persuade ourselves drive over 400km for a getaway, we will love to stay much longer, keep attractions run to a bare minimum and simply live life as it is.

Back to the street of East Victoria Park, our strolls slowly took to a jog after we realised there was a car rental shop just 400-500m away from the estate management company we just left. Jen giggled and soon we began to laugh as we raced to the car rental. It had been awhile since we spent a little time without little Albany around us, as we left her in custody of my mum while we tried out best to complete all deliverables of that day. My mind took me back to 6 years ago where I first came to Perth and both of us explored the streets of Perth with a pure heart and nothingness in the minds. I felt younger, as we sprinted the remaining distance of our mock race. The kind of thing we would do in the past. We got what we wanted before the shop closed and drove back the red Hydundai i20, slightly undersized but just enough to get us comfortably to-and-fro Albany.

Sister's advice was as sensible as always, but it requires a lot of thinking about. It is a simple solution but not easy, not easy at all.