Wheezing

Poor baby contracted another virus again! He kept awake for past 2 nights with the phlegmy coughs and the nose that is dripping like a tap. And yesterday he started wheezing. And so this morning we decided to bring him to doctor. Unfortunately his usual GP (General Practitioner) clinic is closed, we have to see Dr Terence Tan again at Kinder Clinic.

I like Dr Terence Tan. But his clinic is always full of people and the waiting time could varies from 2 to 4 hours. Makes one wondered why are there so many unwell babies, is it really because our Mother earth has became so polluted? The waiting to see him can be a killer. Samuel would be running all over the place in the clinic and might contracted other viruses in the process since his immune system is not really fantastic. And Paediatric doctor is considered a specialist so the costs of seeing a specialist is definitely a lot more than seeing a GP.

Bill for Today: $756.16!!!

Lucky day! We bumped into the Doctor in the lift so was able to get a quick analysis. Just as we suspected, he is definitely wheezing and has to be put on the nebulizer.

This is the second time he is using the nebulizer.

To be frank, I’m not a great fan of all these western medications which I believed might weakened the body in the long run. And look at the list of meds he has to be on 😦

1. Dexchlorphenirame: Running nose
2. Sinuphet: Mucus
3. Rhinathiol Promethazibe: Cough
4. Singulair: Allergies
5. Ventolin: Breathing problems (via nebulizer)
6. Atrovent: Respiratory problems (via nebulizer)
7. Pulmicort: Prevent asthma attacks (via nebulizer)

My original intention is to bring him in to see a TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) doctor. But chinese medication can be a long haul process. While many Chineses believe it can be a cure to the root cause, it is not easy to locate a good TCM in Singapore. I found out there is this Thomson Tcm that is nearby where we live. I will bring Samuel there once his condition stabilises, for wellness or to buildup his immunity system.

Now we have to keep him on nebulizer for 5 days, and Singulair for 3 months. A lab test has been administered to find out more about his virus. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the lab report has nothing severe. Please get better soon, baby!

P.S. Although Samuel is sick, he was still playing cheekily with the doctor so the doctor can’t help telling us he loves our boy! 🙂

Allergies!

We brought Samuel to the doctor again. Poor baby seems to be prone to different allergies. First he has nose allergies, then now lung allergies. I like his doctor, he’s so positive. ‘It’s like the case of Norton Antivirus. In order to built the antivirus profiles, he gets the virus but his immune system gets strong from all these virus attacks’, he says.

This is Dr Terence Tan from Kinder Clinic of Mount Alvernia. He is attentive, detailed and always seems to have the diagnosis spot-on (so far) 🙂

2 weeks ago I brought Samuel in for his persistent night coughs. One look at him, he concluded he has lungs that are prone to allergies. I almost jumped when he told me he’s going to prescribe Zyrtec. (Yes, I’m one of those freaks who made a mental note on what’s being prescribed so I know when I have been given the same meds.) He calmly told me it’s a combination of meds. Zyrtec on its own is not good enough and Samuel would need to be on Singulair. (Doesn’t sound so terrific when I googled Singulair and found it to be another asthma/allergy medication.) But the doctor says it’s for prevention when one has sensitive lungs.

Through out all this talk, Samuel was just too busy sliding his cabinets open or checking out the doctor’s office. The doctor told me to be prepared that he is more prone to virus being so active; he noticed that Samuel couldn’t sit still at all. He was also observant with the fact that Samuel’s daddy was sniffing a little bit with his allergy nose. So he highlighted to us that if allergies run in the family, it’s probably in the baby genes. I asked him if I should be concerned with Samuel’s weight (8.9kg). He jokingly told us we have the most active baby who would never be fat but he is one strong one, probably the lean strong type like a lightweight weightlifter. Just when we were leaving, his daddy noticed he has something in the mouth. We struggled to get the stuff out from his mouth. It was a soil ball. The doctor was apologetic that he didn’t notice this. Actually we are kinda of used to this by now since Samuel typically likes to ‘eat’ up things. 😛

With the combination of meds he prescribed, Samuel miraculously recovered with barely one/two doses. This is miracle to me since god know how many doctors I have brought him to. Anyway, that night Samuel slept through the night without a single cough. When the baby sleeps, the mum sleeps too. So I’m happy.

Today, I went back again. In fact, he’s The Pediatrician for Samuel now. If you are keen to visit him, please be informed that you will need to walk in and put your name at around 9am and would only get to see the doctor around 4pm. That’s a whole day of waiting time. But it doesn’t bother me much since technically the clinic is not too far from my place. Besides they will call you when it’s nearly your turn, so in the last trip we were happily strolling along the MacRitchie Reservoir.

At the clinic, I told him how Samuel has stopped coughing since the last meds but since I have the flu/cough virus, he somehow caught it. Poor Samuel! He remarked that it’s very easy for baby to catch any virus as long as they are exposed to other kids. With lower immune system in kids, they send out a lot more germs than the adults. So the possibility of him catching the virus from me is actually lower than him catching it in play school. He warned me he might be falling sick every 2-4 weeks once he goes into full time school. But again better recovery when young than older.

And this time round, Samuel is put on ventolin for a week on top of Singulair. Touch wood! I haven’t hear him cough since he has one dose. Did I mention the baby is so smart. I didn’t even realise he’s capable of chewing a tablet. The nurse has prescribed Singulair in tablet form instead of powder this time and commented that it’s cheaper. So again the cheapo mum took the bait. It’s never too young to start them! 🙂

PS. I’m happy that Samuel is 9.6 kg today. 0.4kg to 10kg!!