MR SARJIT Singh's Achilles' heel, it seems, is in his knees.
The 51-year-old has had 37 operations on his knees since 1975, when he fell while running in an obstacle course during national service.
He has fallen three times and has become a minor celebrity among Singapore General Hospital hospital staff and doctors.
'I am prone to falling because of my weak joints,' said Mr Singh, from his hospital bed on Friday, before his 37th knee operation, 'and I accept it (weak joints) as a gift from God.'
The first fall, during NS, tore the cartilage in his right knee.
The following year, he fell again - this time down a slippery staircase - and had to go under the knife again.
By the next year, his cartilage had worn out, causing friction when he walked. He had to have his knee reconstructed.
The knee reconstruction operation was successful but the pain persisted - in both knees - when he climbed up and down the stairs.
So in 1989, he had a leg reconstruction operation.
The procedure involved replacing the torn ligaments in his knees with tendons from other parts of his body.
More operations followed until Friday, when he went under the knife for the 37th time - for a procedure called an arthroscopic debridement on his left knee.
This involved placing a thin scope with a camera and a light source to see what was in the knee. Through another puncture, a small automated instrument was used to clean the joints.
To date, he has had six operations on his left knee and 31 on his right.
A doctor who has been treating Mr Singh for 25 years said his case is unusual.
'At the very most, I've seen my patients going through four or five times of surgery at the same part of their body. But none (of them) has had as many (operations) on the same part of their body as him,' he said.
The doctor, who has been practising for 41 years, declined to be named.
Mr Singh, who is self-employed, recalled one day in 1990 when the pain on his right knee became unbearable. He had about 40 doctors having a conference over his knee while he lay in the hospitalbed.
Mr Singh said: 'They told me that the only option was to kill the joint, otherwise chances for recovery would be slim.
'But I didn't agree to it because if I did, that would have meant walking with a limp for the rest of my life.
'Luckily, one doctor there disagreed and suggested a transplant... of a tendon someone had donated tome.'
After the transplant, the pain eased and he could walk normally.
But the pain eventually returned, and he was wheelchair-bound from 1995 until 1997.
Shortly after recovering and getting on his feet again, he had another fall.
He was then working as a hotel security supervisor and fell after stepping on a bit of butter while climbing the stairs.
This time, he injured his left knee.
'It was very painful but I went to the hospital only after I finished work that day, and that was about four hours after I fell. By then, my left knee was swollen already.
'I later found out that I had suffered internal bleeding,' he said.
A series of operations followed.
Sometimes, his knee would collapse, or his kneecap would be moving.
Why does he keep falling? Is he a klutz?
'In this world, there is the good, the bad and the ugly. Anybody can say whatever they want and I can choose to take it as a compliment or an insult.
'But I can't be bothered. I feel proud knowing that some of those MOs (Medical Officers) who operated on me back then are now professors.'
Mr Singh said he was born with a 'rubber body'.
For example, he could fully bend his fingers backwards, walk with his two feet facing out like a penguin, and bend his body until his head touches the ground.
And the numerous operations have not stopped him from engaging in activities that one would never have imagined an orthopaedic patient could do.
He said: 'In June last year, I walked up the 272steps of Batu Caves near Kuala Lumpur without much of aproblem.
'I can even do the various yoga positions and sit on the floor cross-legged. It is slightly painful but I continue doing it anyway.'
Three years ago, a doctor who was measuring his legs found out that his left leg is longer than his right by an inch.
But Mr Singh, who had never noticed it before, believes that it is not the cause of his frequent falls.
Having gone through so many operations, MrSingh takes all the treatment in his stride, so to speak.
When The New Paper contacted him before his latest operation on Friday, he said: 'For me, an operation is just like sleeping for an hour or so and waking up to find that everything is back to normal.
'I'm so used to it that there's nothing to be scared of any more.'
He joked that he's very popular among hospital staff now because of his knees.
'I can't afford a holiday and that's why I'm staying at the hospital,' chuckled Mr Singh, who has two daughters, aged 12 and 13.
His medical file is now seven volumes thick, with a 34-year history as a patient.
