My husband was never a discriminating eater. He loved his food especially ox-tail soup, mutton curry, nasi lemak and the list went on. Time and time again I told him how he’d poisoned himself with food so rich in fat and cholesterol.

When I refused to cook ox-tail soup for him, he would cook for himself. If he didn’t eat at home he would eat out. It was like he was let loose in a candy shop. Eating to his heart’s content, food he wasn’t supposed to eat.

In his thirties he played a little badminton and football. Then he stopped altogether and took up golf. He played during the weekends. He almost led a sedentary lifestyle and ate rich food. This combination was a recipe for disaster.

When he was 44-year-old he attended a seminar, he was given track suit to partake in cross-country run in the evening. He made light of it when he told me after the episode of the run he was dizzy and thought he saw stars. He brushed it off as a confirmation that he was out of shape.

The next few months he was his normal self until one day he came home after playing 18-hole golf, he felt he’d had pains around his shoulder area.

The pain must be bothersome for him to seek out his company panel doctor. He was (and still is) a great believer in panadols. He would only seek help when the pain had become intolerable.

The doctor who checked him out seemed to think he was all right. He checked his blood pressure, listened to his chest, and checked his blood count. He concluded my husband had muscular pain. He prescribed medicine for muscular pain.

My husband was so relieved because he wasn’t suffering from something life-threatening. He could handle muscular pain. He took his medicine and went to work.

The medicine seemed to be working because one morning he lifted me from bed as I refused to be roused from my sleep.

His act of lifting me had aggravated his recovery. However, during the day, the pain subsided only to return later. It so happened he talked to his friend’s doctor wife who advised him to have an electrocardiogram taken. His company panel doctor thought it looked okay.

I suspected it was heart problem and pressed him to have a thorough medical check-up. Appointment was made in a week’s time.

Three days before he left for his medical appointment in a private hospital in Kuala Lumpur, he had this recurring pain or attack every 2 hours. By the time I saw him he had already been through several attacks.

I told him he should go the local hospital. He wouldn’t want to go. “I’m leaving for the hospital in 3 days.”

Do you think you will be in time? I was frightened and then I remembered he had a doctor friend working in the local hospital. I called his friend and passed the phone to him.