We Go Down Good.

I can't tell for sure if old folks are no longer dying of old age. I don't get to hear about them go down as often as I hear about folks as young as in their 20s dying of ordinary things like headache, chest pain, indigestion and pneumonia. I don't hear about old folks dying of serious illnesses like the head exploding into a fireball.

In less than sixty days, I got the SMS about three young folks in their 30s who went down in their sleep, leaving behind a life they had lived up to their age, and the missus with children still in their pre-school. One went down with pneumonia leaving behind his daddy and mommy in their 60s who had to get over losing the only son they had hoped he'd marry a nice girl, have children and live the life of a middle income married couple in an egalitarian society where everything we own is gotten by credit.

I also received an SMS from a dad who had lost his son in a car accident coming home from watching football game with friends at a mamak corner. A young kid barely into his 20s leaving behind a mommy who could no longer cry for losing a son she had hoped to grow up to be a man, a husband and a dad like his daddy but all that is gone in second.

Young folks, like you. Not me. Because I am as old as the old man can get and like all the old men my age, I got almost everything a man my age is supposed to have like blood pressure that's a little on the high side that I gotta pop Exforge to control it. Cresto to control the bad cholestrol. But these are not doing me any good because I keep eating what I like to eat and I run and swim and cycle whenever I can, but I know for sure all this is not enough to bring back all the vigor of my youth. All I can hope is to be able to do the things I do while I can and hope that I go down before my muscles do me in. But I know for sure I can only hope. What's in store for me, I really have no idea.

I visited kamabakar while writing this and learnt about Dalilah aka Raden Galoh. She texted me about how I gotta eat well to undergo chemo. About the Ayat Qur'an she recited to help her through. About cancer. About being strong. About fighting it out. About the things I needed to know about how to deal with cancer. Thank you, ma'am.