CNY pain in the neck
Senior citizen spends new year in hospital after swallowing fish bone
A SEPTUAGENARIAN had to spend five days of the Lunar New Year in hospital after he accidentally swallowed a fish bone during a family dinner in a Seremban restaurant last Thursday, reported Guang Ming Daily.
The 75-year-old man, known only as Pang, said he felt pain in his throat after he ate a piece of tilapia fish.
“Something got stuck on the right side of my throat.
“I went to the toilet trying to throw up but failed.
“My family members sent me to the hospital as I couldn’t stand the pain. It was painful to even swallow my saliva. After an X-ray, the doctor told me that I had accidentally swallowed a fish bone.
“I underwent a minor surgery the next day and had to spend five days in the hospital due to a throat infection,” he said, adding that it was the most “unforgettable” Chinese New Year for him.
> Japanese Occupation and Second Sino-Japanese War veteran Tai Pin Chuan, 98, died in Guangzhou, China, on Jan 29, reported Nanyang Siang Pau.
Tai, who migrated to Canada 42 years ago and became a citizen there, had attended the Penang Overseas Chinese Anti-Japanese War Memorial World Remembrance Day on Nov 11 last year to pay tribute to his fallen comrades.
He said in an interview then that he was first recruited by the Chinese government as a truck driver when he was 16 to carry war ammunition on the Burma-China Road to fight against the Japanese.
Tai, who was born in Kedah but later moved to Penang, served for about eight years.
His daughter Janet, 70, said her father died at the Guangzhou Hospital due to pneumonia.
She said Tai was cremated and the urn containing his ashes was brought back to Penang, where it was placed at the Kek Lok Si Temple.
It was learnt that Tai had stayed in Penang for a week after attending the Remembrance Day event before flying to Singapore.
He later flew to Guangzhou for skin treatment. However, he caught a cold after taking a bath in a hot spring in China, which led to pneumonia.
Currently, there are only five “Nanqiao Jigong” or overseas Chinese mechanics of the Japanese Occupation and Second Sino-Japanese War who are still alive.