When a child is sick...

I had to give up my attempts to do my assignments and I did not publish any article yesterday. Because when a child is sick, it demands a lot of time from the parents, and even siblings, with the possibility of the whole family being sick as well.

My daughter who started showing symptoms of pneumonia last week eventually lost her appetite. I decided to leave the diagnosis to a pediatrician. I was reluctant at first because of the weather. But weighing the severity of my child’s condition versus the weather, I felt it was better to have the checkup. So yesterday, I decided for a checkup.

As we were preparing to leave the house, I cannot help noticing that my little one stopped crying and that she smiled for the first time in two days. Poor social being, locked up and sick. But we still had to wait for the rain to stop before going out. Timing was very important then. When the rain slowed down, we set out and luckily, we were able to have a taxi immediately. We were inside the clinic when the rain started pouring again.

Although there were many patients sitting inside the clinic, only a few patients were in the pediatrician’s list. The rest were for OB. We only waited a few patients before being seen by the pediatrician. The doctor asked symptoms, used his stethoscope to check my daughter’s front and back and told us the child has pneumonia. He wrote out two medicines then dismissed us. We bought medicine in a pharmacy not far from the clinic. Afterwards, we bought oranges and bananas then took another taxi home. My first boy accompanied us in order to have someone to assist us.

It was raining on the way but when we were about to come out the taxi, the rain stopped. Thanks again. We descended the stairs and was finally home. My sick daughter was now calm but she was still not eating. She tasted banana but only sixteenth part was consumed. I tried again with soup and she had some. I gave her her antibiotic then after an hour, the second medicine for her cough and colds.

We were able to sleep better than the past nights. But in the middle, I woke up to give my child some food. She had some. In the early morning, she ate again. Just a little but at least she is showing an improvement after the first dose of antibiotic. I gave her her second at around 6 in the morning. She showed some interest again in her usual activities. Scribbling and naming things.

She’s still struggling with her cough so I had to give her water every now and then but at least, the fever’s gone. Her older brother is also coughing so he is given warm water as well. The whole family actually is in water therapy. While only one’s got pneumonia, the others should know that prevention is better than cure.

Even though I had been feeling sick, I had to be strong for the children. No one else will do the job of parenting for me. Despite feeling some malaise, I just thought that it will be over in a few days. And I am hoping for that. I also hope that the rain will go away.

I messaged our head that I won’t be able to report to school for the week. To be more honest, despite appearing lazy most of the time, I always beamed at the idea of reporting to school once in a while. But this week is not the time. It would have been nice, sitting on my area at the faculty room while I steal time to type articles. But again, this week is not the time. What’s more important now is ensuring that my children are drinking warm water and medicine if necessary. Hubby went to work so all the more that I had to do my job.

I am now back to my study but this time, baby girl’s on my lap. Unfortunately, the thermos got broken so I had to heat water every now and then for our water therapy. Of all times, the thermos bid goodbye when we needed it the most. I was asking my sister for some replacement in case she has spare thermos. The burner is not happy at all being visited more often that it’s supposed to be.

So just another realization that we should always take care of our health. I’m guilty not taking precautions. Prevention is indeed better than cure. If the kids were not sick, if I am not sick then…