Thursday, March 17, 2005

When animals attack!


I’m a channel flicker. Until I see something interesting, I’ll leave it on for a while and see whether I want to stay on that channel. So I happened to settle for a while on channel 17. “When Animals Attack” was showing. Argh! Frantically pushed the "+" button.

These types of show scare me and bring back memories. I know I can be such a drama queen, but seriously, the marks on my upper arm remind me everyday of my “freak” attack.

We were on the last day of our honeymoon, everything was perfect and we had scheduled for a couples massage in the afternoon. We thought we’d go for a little bit of snorkeling before lunch. Into the clear, blue, turquoise water we went, swimming with my little fishies.

It was as if the beautiful school of fish knew I was leaving, they actually followed me back to the shallows of the beach. So decided to sit with my snorkeling gear on and played with them for a while before retiring on the hammock.

Gbvrroooo…vbfroow… (the sound of Homer saying something with his snorkel on), while tugging on my leg.

Fbrooo…gwbrooof..

Felt a bump on my arm.

Saw a moray eel swimming literally inches away from me.

Stood up immediately, turned to Homer and said, “OMG! Isn’t that moray eel?”

I think it bit you.
OowwwwwWWwooowwwWWoo. It stings! Argh! There’s blood.. OwwooWW
It’s okay, sweetie. It’s only a little bit, okay?
You sure?
Yes, sikit je. Come up, I’ll wrap it with a towel first okay?

Oww..ooww… pedih.. oww owWW
I just use the bath towel first okay?
Is it bad? It feels really bad..
No, a little bit only..
Tipu..
I call someone first okay? We’ll get you to a clinic.
Why? You said sikit je? OMG.. you’re lying aren’t you?
No.. but maybe we have to stitch it up..
Haa?? Oww.. ooWWW Oww

5 minutes later. A young boy came with 3 band-aids and some iodine.

Erm, I think we should take her to a clinic .. NOW
Sir, you said an eel bit your wife?
Yes! And I think we need more than the band aids..

Eh, I thought you said it’s a little bite..
I know sweetie, but it is always good to have it checked by the doctor, right?
Let me have a look at the bite.

Unwraped the towel, lifted my right arm.

Oh. My. God. Oh. My. God! You are right sir, I bring the Marine Biologist to have a look at her!

He started to run and fell, got to his feet again and ran again. Fast.

This is when I started crying, “You lied! You said it was just a little bite.. And it’s really painful” *Bawl*

We waited another 10 minutes, and by that time I was really worried. What if the thing was poisonous? Am I going to lose my arm? I don’t want to die on my honeymoon! Help! (Paranoid or what??)

The marine biologist insists that a moray eel does not come to the beach area, in fact they are usually found in deep waters. Who cares? We know what we saw. We watch Animal Planet, Goddamit! Homer unwrapped the towel and showed the wound.

Gasp! (Screaming to walkie talkie) get the speed boat ready! We’re sending Mrs. L to the clinic!

OOhoohoo. Now you believe us. My arm must look really horrible. There was so much buzz around us as we went to the jetty.

To cut long story short, I was asked to identify the culprit, which was a type of moray eel, a young one. The German doctor poured hydrogen peroxide on my arm and armpit, while his colleague snapped on my wounds. For educational purpose, he said. So, if you happen to see a picture of a woman's armpit with deep bite marks, that’s me!

This was also the day Homer discovered how well I can swear and use really bad and ugly Malay words! All thanks to hydrogen peroxide.

Because we were leaving that night, the doctor said that it won’t be good to stitch it up, plus he’s worried that there might be an infection which will make it worse. He cleaned it up nicely (and painfully) and told us to seek further medical attention when we get back to KL. Moray eels are not poisonous, but they eat dead fish so they have a lot of bacteria in their mouth, so I was given some antibiotics, pain killers and a few jabs (on my ass!) to help me through the afternoon.

Everyone on the resort fussed over me, from the manager to our masseuse. But I’m afraid that I will be forever be remembered by all the staff on that resort, as fish bait.

Back in KL, as we were rushing to the hospital, Homer told the story to my family. And my smart ass brother, J said, “Tu la… tak mandi terus masuk laut, deodorant pun mesti tak pakai!”. I wanted to strangle him, but I was high on painkillers.

-scarred-L