not cool "ill", bad ill

I've been out of email commission since Phet left about 2 weeks ago it seems. Why the long silence? Well, Ji got this ultimate sickness and I have been run ragged trying to keep him ok and to start my job. It's been insane!

Ji actually started getting sick while Phet was still here, but we thought that it was mostly just a cold from the weather adjustment. It was hot as usual in KL - basically like Singapore where the weather NEVER changes - and then here it is very dry and while warm during the day it really cools off at nights. Like I only brought one thin blankie and all three of us were huddled under it for the first few days we were here. So, Ji got a cold and was sniffly. Fine, I bought some Dimetapp and tylenol and kept him dosed up. We went to school ok for 3 days with Phet helping out in picking Ji up early, then Phet left.

I think the day after P left Ji got worse. In the morning the teacher told me Ji seemed really tired and was lying down in class. I talked to Ji at lunch and he looked fine and had no fever so I thought he was just faking because he was trying to get out of doing what the teacher was saying (not an unknown concept in our household, the 'I'm tiiiiiiiiired' thing). I actually told the teacher, "I think he's pretending to be tired." I rue those words now, man. That afternoon when I was done I went to go see Ji. Who was sleeping in the infirmary because he had lain down for his nap and promptly sat up and puked all over the little girl beside him. Niiiiice.

I sat down on the bed and held him and chatted. Then he suddenly puked ALL over me and the nurse and himself. I had pink puke all over my pants and shoes, and Ji was soaked. So I took him behind the infirmary to the outdoor cooking area where there was an outdoor tap that could be used as a shower and stripped him down and started to rinse him, when he said, "Mum, my bum hurts." Uh oh. A teaspoon of diarhea dropped out before I grabbed him and held him over the outdoor drain where the poo then spewed forth. We do put the ASS in classy, us. Fortunately I comforted myself with the thought that the kitchen staff probably came from towns like Pakse where holding the pooping kid over a drain wouldn't be even remotely unusual, unlike if I had done this, say, in Toronto. Once Ji was clean, I soaked myself to get the puke off my pants and got him some fresh clothes and then MOTORED out of the school, skipping (and this is a nice touch also) my 2nd staff meeting.

A kind parent stopped to see if we wanted a lift to the corner, but I was like no-no-no thanks! Because of course I was soggy and puke stinky. Fortunately Ji had tidied up well enough that I figured we'd be able to get a cab. I hailed the cab, holding Ji in front of me to cover up my soakedness and the cabbie fortunately didn't seem to notice anything amiss even though I was holding a bag up to Ji's face in case he had another puke. The driver then told me that he was selling these bags his wife makes out of used phone cards (actually quite neat) and in the end I felt so bad about being a pukey mess in his car, I bought one for a couple bucks. At home at last, I got Ji upstairs and cleaned both of us up and put him down to rest, and got him some sprite to drink.

Then, of course he puked up the sprite, so I had to change the bed, wash the sheets, and Ji all over again, yadda yadda yadda. Good god.

The next day I took Ji to school and kept him in my class where he rested but he started getting a fever. I thought I'd let it run its course a bit (with tylenol dosages of course), but he was really unwell, and in addition to the sniffly nose and stuff he'd also gotten a cough. After school I took Ji home right away (skipping my first extra curricular responsibility of running the drama class, niiiice). He went right to bed and slept for 2 hours, but his fever didn't go down. He woke up and said "Mummah, I want to go to the clinic." SO GET THE MESSAGE THABA!!! I immediately zoomed us into clothes and a cab - yes in that order - and went to the Bumrungrad hospital. Three immense cheers for the hospital: step in, information counter with nattily dressed helper, well-directed to childen's clinic, enter clinic, immediately helped, child weighed, temperature taken, immediately sent in to see doctor, child checked, diagnosis (upper respiratory tract infection) offered, medication explained, child sponge-bathed by nurse, temperature taken again, medicine immediately dispensed, bill paid, out the door with in-recovery child in, like, less than 35 minutes. Plus the hospital is all set up for kids with a huge play area, video screen, and doctor's rooms decorated like a fisher price set.

Some days it pays to pay for medical treatment. The bill was about $20 US. Huzzah!

So, then Ji kind of started the slow path to recovery on antibiotics. That night was pretty bad though, mostly a sore tummy needing to be patted and I had to sing lots of songs and such. The next day (what, my 7th day of my new job?) I finally decided to take off and stayed at home with Ji nursing him and encouraging him to sleep, which he did most of the day. He started feeling a little better that evening, and has been improving steadily since, but still has diarreah so he's had virtually no sustenance for a week plus and his little riblets are showing. It's AWFUL!! Of course he's also a tuckered out little guy but he has been fairly cheerful in spite of all this crap.

Oy vey.

On the good side, this is the only time Ji's ever been so sick, and he's doing much better. But why oh why this wretched timing? I've been sitting on my ass sunbathing for 4 months, and hanging out in Toronto prior to that. But oh no, the second I actually have to do something - bam!! [Ji Hong-15-January-2003]