SINGAPORE: Madam Elizabeth Chong crouched on the floor outside her house, sweat rolling down her back and soaking through her T-shirt, panic rising as her vision grew hazier and she became more light-headed by the minute.
With her blood sugar levels dropping rapidly, she called for her husband, who was inside their three-room flat, to grab chocolates from the fridge or a jar of sugar that sat visibly next to a coffee machine.
But as soon as Mr Ng Chee Yat walked into the kitchen, he would walk right back out and ask her what she needed.
This repeated itself several times.
Earlier, the couple were about to leave home for a day out, but instead of locking the gate behind him, Mr Ng, 78, locked himself inside the flat.
Seconds later, the key fell to the floor and couldn’t be found. And a neighbour who had a spare key wasn’t home.
“He can’t call 995 because he can’t say our address. I can write it on a note for him, but he just can’t say it,” said Mdm Chong, 51, of her husband.
Mr Ng, who has dementia, eventually found the key behind some furniture.
“It’s a funny story now,” said his wife. “But it was very dangerous.”
