The Great Singapore Tumble

This goes down in record as one of the worst days of this year and possibly in a long time, and I'm only 4 days into the new year!

In fact, I fell twice today! The first fall was not so bad. I had just dropped Cheryl off at school, and nearly at my doorstep. The corridor floor was wet from the downpour in the night. I slipped and fell on my bum. Nothing serious, just got my shorts wet. When it was time to pick Cheryl up from school, I decided bring Isaac along and wheel him in the pram. I was early but I had waited at the wrong back door. By the time I realised this, I was late, so I rushed to the other back door. As I pushed the pram along the road, the front wheels of the pram got caught in a metal grille, and I simply tumbled forwards along with the pram and crashed my face onto the road. Ouch! At first, I didn't realise the seriousness of my fall. I was more worried about the impact on Isaac who was strapped to the pram, and I was worried that Cheryl would be waiting anxiously somewhere. I picked the fallen pram up, and Isaac was crying. But he looked ok. I thought he had grazed his knees, but only later I realised he had taken a knock on his forehead as well. By then I was bleeding at the mouth,but I didn't realise how badly. My teeth felt strange too,but I also didn't know I had actually chipped off half of my front tooth. The sharp edge of the broken teeth had cut my inner lip, and I had bad abrasions on my chin and above my upper lip.

I must have been a sight to behold, probably frightened all the kids along the way! I borrowed some tissue from a passing bewildered maid. Cheryl revealed to me later that she was terrified when she saw me. She was almost in tears. The admin clerk insisted that I go to the principal's office where the principal herself applied some first aid on my injuries. Only then did it dawn on me that I had lost my tooth and noticed Isaac's bump on his head because the bulge had started to show. Many things came into my mind: "Boy, it's my front tooth! How am I to face the world? How much will it cost to fix it? Will I not be able to eat chilli crab for the rest of my life?" The principal was going on about the merits of this particular antiseptic cream she had just applied on my wounds, but I wasn't really paying attention. There were some bad bruises on my legs but it didn't really matter to me. I felt helpless, with one bawling kid and another traumatised one. I had called my mum, and she came down immediately and we went back home together.

TT came home later and brought me to dentist who helped me to temporarily seal up the edge of the broken tooth. I had to come back about a week later to fix the teeth up properly. Then it was off to the doc who gave me some cleaning liquid, dressing and antiseptic cream... and 2 days of MC.

I was relieved Isaac was ok. He even said, "Mummy fall down. Dun push pram so fast!" Frankly, I was quite shaken by the whole episode, and it didn't sink in till in the afternoon while I was resting in bed. In retrospect, I really wish I hadn't rushed. It really wasn't necessary. That's me, always rushing for time, trying to do things as quickly as possible. I've learnt my lesson.