The Nightmare Before, During and After Christmas

Friday, 17 December 2010
Sarah, our Indonesian maid of more than three years, told Lillian that she has been hearing voices asking her to follow them.

Sunday, 19 December 2010
She was so tired and worn out from lack of sleep that she slept the whole day.

Monday, 20 December 2010
She was still listless and lethargic so we let her rest another day.

Tuesday, 21 December 2010
When Lillian was ready to send her over to our apartment she found the maid in bed wrapped up in blanket. She refused to budge when called so Lillian left for her appointment.

When I went over to pick her she did not answer or open the gate for me even though I rang the bell, called the house phone and even called her handphone.

Yes, we trusted her so much and she had been such a good maid
that we bought her a handphone when she requested for one
so that she could call home.

Later in the day when hubby and I went over to confront her she said she didn't hear the doorbell or the phones ringing. She acknowledged that she was not well and consented to being prayed for.

Wednesday, 22 December 2010
I took Pastor Wai Fong and two other cell members over and we prayed for her. She confessed that she has a boyfriend who fell sick the week before and on Tuesday, 14 December 2010, she "kongsi kekuatan" with him. She also confessed that she had stolen money from Lillian.

Thursday, 23 December 2010
She started to openly engage the voices in conversation and was so spaced out that she could not complete simple tasks that she used to do. Even the manner in which she talked changed. It was as if she was some politician giving a ceramah.

She also refused to eat and bathe!

Friday, 24 December 2010
We asked the agent to talk to her and to inform her that we have no choice but to send her back.

Saturday, 25 December 2010
Lillian took her for breakfast at Gurney Tower, left her to speak to someone and when she came back the maid was gone. According to the cook at the mamak store she walked off.

So we made a police report.

Sunday, 26 December 2010
She came back in the next day! She claimed that she did not know what happened to her the past 24 hours or more. She walked back to our apartment when she finally came to her senses.

A friend who supplies foreign workers to the factories kindly offered to house her for the night while we tried to arrange to send her back. At the hostel she exhibited such freakish behaviour that it scared the occupants of the apartment. Spending the night, packed like sardines, with their friends in the other apartments was preferable to spending the night under the same roof with her.

Monday, 27 December 2010
The agent advised us to get a doctor to certify that she is fit to travel before sending her home. So we took her for a check up at the Perak Road clinic. After a blood test and consultation they diagnosed her with schizophrenia.

We took her home, took away the house keys, kept all the knives in our bedroom and slept behind locked doors. We could not risk another "runaway" episode so we had to keep her under constant surveillance.

Tuesday, 28 December 2010
The medication proved to be too strong for her. The next morning she was curled up on the floor, complaining that she could not open her eyes. She could not walk at all. She was like a blind drunk, staggering around with her eyes closed and hands outstretched!

We went back to the Perak Road clinic where we were given a referral for admission at Casualty and Emergency at the General Hospital. However, the wait was so long that by the time the MO saw her the medication had worn off. She was back to "normal" — like she was before taking the medicine — albeit still talking to herself. Thus it was not necessary to admit her but they did another blood test and ordered a brain scan.

Thank God the Dancing Doctor — a senior member of the trauma team — who was on leave happened to drop by the hospital and saw me. He told the yong MO that a brain scan was unnecessary and that saved me a few hundred ringgit.

Actually the Dancing Doctor sms-ed to tell me to immediately go
to ER, tell them I know him and to start dropping his name
in order to get things done faster. But the dropping his name part
sounded so ludicrous and I was stressed out accompanying the maid
to the hospital while at the same timetrying to work on my laptop
that I thought I had dreamt it all. It was only later
that I retrieved the sms and realized
that it wasn't a dream.

We finally obtained a referral to the Psychiatric Ward for the next day but it was too late so we went home.

Wednesday, 29 December 2010
I took her to the Psychiatric ward early in the morning. At first they said we had to make an appointment but I insisted on seeing someone that day because we were supposed to have seen the psychiatrist the day before if not for the late hour. We finally managed to see the psychiatrist but she still could not give us a letter certifying that Sarah was fit to travel.

So I took Sarah back and that was the start of the longest two weeks of my life. I had to make sure she take her medication and we had to take her with us everywhere we went. In short I became nurse, baby-sitter and jailer to my maid.

Thursday, 13 January 2011
The day of the check up finally dawned. We saw another doctor who told me that I have to get a medical report and accompany my maid back! Of course I objected and said that if that were the case I would have taken her back earlier and saved myself the inconvenience of the past two weeks. After consulting with his superior, he issued a memo stating that Sarah is healthy and stable and therefore fit to travel.

Monday, 17 January 2011
We dropped her off at the agent's office for her flight home the next morning. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! What joy! The nightmare is finally over. I survived.

The reason for this post: That I may not forget the chronology of events
although I'll never want to live through it again.

And my New Year resolution: NO MORE MAIDS.