His determination is commendable for someone so young.
the boy has been coughing on & off for a few weeks now, & it's gotten worse the last few days. it sounded wet but listening to his chest (with a stethoscope) gave no clue as to the cause of this mild discomfort. he didn't have fever, running nose nor sore throat, & he certainly wasn't sickly.
finally, took him to see my paediatrician colleague, who not surprisingly also drew a blank. nevertheless, he prescribed a bronchodilator (helps lungs breathe better) & an expectorant (aids coughing out phlegm) which he explained sometimes does help in indeterminate cases like this.
i wondered if it's something else. maybe it's the air-con or the iced drinks. i reasoned with him that fast-food (& the iced soda) is off limits till he gets better & that he won't get better till he stayed off the air-con & iced drinks.
last nite, we had dinner at a fusion joint & i asked him if he could just have warm soup with his meal. he replied, almost with indifference, that it's OK. & because it's customary for parents to dote on the kids, we each offered him a little sip of our iced drinks & you know what. nonchalantly, he flatly refused to be tempted.
this 5-year-old kid is really serious about getting better, not to mention that he hasn't asked for the air-con since. or did he desire the burger more??
i wonder, had Adam possessed the same resolve, might we all still be living in Eden??
don't you just love this boy - he takes his own medication, as long as it goes down with ribena! (& yes, he's left-handed)
13 comments:
Hmm, he does have that determined look. Hope his cough gets better.
you know, sometimes when western medication fails, the traditional approaches come in useful:
Try these:
1. Do not eat oranges esp chilled ones. They increase the phlegm drammatically
2. Could be allergy to airborne stuff like pollen, dust.. that irritates the airduct..etc. Get the aircon cleaned and sterilized!
3. Try the boiled "tong sui" from leaves of the Indian Borage
http://www.rimbundahan.org/environment/plant_lists/taman_sari/Plectranthusbarbatus.jpg
4. Try cooking eggs with mashed ginger and some bits of shallot/green onions.
alex,
thanks for your concern.
yes, he's determined alright, sometimes to the point of being hard-headed. but i can't fault him, because he inherited that trait from me! ha ha!
he's already coughing less & sleeping better. i expect he will negotiate for a Big Mac soon.
las,
thanks for the tips.
i am not averse to traditional medication, with some exceptions.
the boy doesn't like oranges & the air-con has been cleaned recently. i'll tell the missus about the indian borage & egg/ginger.
doc,my problem has problem taking medication....wish he is as "kwai" as yours
left handed huh? who does he take after?
just me,
we had the same problem at the beginning. later on, we offered him a drink (other than water)eg.milk, vitagen, to go with the medication & he finally settled for his favourite - ribena.
of course, the setback now is that, he will PROBABLY NOT take any medication without a flavoured drink now. but at least, for now, we don't struggle on this matter.
just me,
oh, i forgot - he is the only one i know in the family who is left-handed.
perhaps, he is proclaiming that he is his own man. i now wonder if he will grow up to be "enfant terrible".
Is he getting better now? Well, my little cousin once coughed and coughed for at least a year or so. She grew so thin.. resorted to even traditional medicine. She was banned from all sorts of cold beverages! At a point, not even chicken meat.. thank God she is back to normal now.
lynnx,
thanks for asking. yes, he is much better now. if not, he would need a chest xray soon.
perhaps there's more truth to the old wives' tale about iced drinks than we care to admit.
btw, congrats on a successful church camp.
Thanks. It's just a CF camp, not a church level. :D
Talking about chest xray, I remember I went for an xray when I was young because I coughed a lot. My first chest xray!! Hahaha.
lynnx,
i was co-organiser for the church camp last year but i take no credit as it was the organising committee that did most of the ground work. so, therein lies the secret to a successful camp (pls take note) - loads of prayer & the support of a dedicated group of members.
i had my 1st chest xray as part of a medical check-up for varsity admission.
Let's put it this way: Had Adam and Eve been Chinese, we would all still be living Eden bcoz they would have eaten the snake instead of the apple :) OK.. that was an old joke but I bet you still smiled... even sheepishly :)
Andrea,
i was so impressed when i 1st heard it that i repeated it as an ice-breaker at a church camp.
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