SINGAPORE - It has been almost a fortnight since Madam Khoo Bee Hua lost her left hand in a lift accident in Block 322, Tah Ching Road, Jurong.

And the 85-year-old, who was used to leading an independent life and was fond of cooking before the accident, is now learning how to live with one hand, her son told Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao.

Madam Khoo also fell and suffered a bone fracture in her left leg. She underwent knee surgery last week after a metal plate in her left knee shifted following the fall. Her knee is now in a cast.

Doctors say it will take six weeks before Madam Khoo can stand, and another one to two months of physiotherapy. She is expected to regain her mobility in about three months.

Although she is calm, Madam Khoo's main lament is that she can no longer "cut vegetables," her son, who wanted be known only as Mr Lee, said.

However, the family is worried about her mental state, he said, and try to avoid bringing up the incident.

Madam Khoo, who is undergoing treatment at National University Hospital (NUH), used to be an independent woman who fired a maid her children had hired for her.

She insisted that she can cook better and was capable of sweeping and mopping the house herself.

Mr Lee recounted that she enjoyed cooking and would cook for him and his sister when they visited every weekend, chasing them out of the kitchen if they tried to help. Her specialties are curry chicken, popiah and other Hokkien dishes.

Her left hand was severed on Oct 9 by a lift door when she tried to stop it from closing. She had been returning with her dog to her flat where she lives alone. Doctors, however, did not manage to reattach the hand.