in sickness & in health

i blogged about rauf being a real trooper despite his nasty cold and cough last week.  he WAS a trooper, up until he ran a fever and we decided to bring him to the st.lukes ER to undergo analysis & work-up. 

since i sincerely believe (and this has been proven N number of times before) that my son is not stupid, lo and behold, he turned into a feisty fighter upon entering the portals of the ER. 

he clung on to me/lola when the nurse was taking his temp. he refused to be weighed. he didn't wanna be laid on his ER cot. he fought the nurse tooth & nail when the nebulizer mask was still 6 inches away from his face.  he squirmed & gyrated when laid on the xray table, it took a male technician (the female gave up) & me to pin him just enough for his chest to be photoed.  he flicked his wrist at the right (for him.  wrong for the resident. haha.) time TWICE on EACH hand when the resident was inserting his IV on his hand/s.  and it took SIX people (me, 2 nurses, 2 interns & 1 resident) to finally insert the IV needle on his left foot.

rauf was a fighter through and through.  and despite his mommy's pain at seeing her son having to go through all those, she had to be a fighter too.

my son the fighter is also a mover.  he loves moving from one end of the bed to the other, and i'm sure if he were put on the floor, he would move from one end of a room to another room, or even to another house. hehe.  so imagine his frustration when he couldn't even turn over or crawl just 3 paces.  his IV got in the way.  he would scream and shout and cry and kick just to prove to all & sundry that he was one mad little boy.  when his IV was finally removed on the day of his discharge, his face lit up like sunshine... he turned over and crawled to his heart's delight.  my heart just melted.

three days, numerous nebulizations, lots of IV meds and tens of thousands of pesos later (oh yes, i had to mention that. hehe.), my son was finally discharged from his kiddieland room (they call the pediatric wing in st.lukes kiddieland. cute.).  i couldn't be happier.  my son was well!  the imp is baaaaack!!!

i hope and pray this doesn't happen again anytime soon.  or ever.  babies are meant to be happy & smiling & playful & active, not irritable & mad & fussy & terrified. 

to my son, be strong. be well.  mommy is sorry for giving you bad genes like being prone to allergies and asthma (and that's just the tip of the iceberg).  but mommy knows you'll always be a fighter.  and she'll make sure you won't ever face any opponent alone. 

to all mommies & daddies out there, the weather isn't helping much and there's been numerous viruses (virii???) flying around.  don't bring your babies to public places full of people.  and it won't hurt to have everyone in your house who's sniffling to wear a mask.  better safe than sorry.

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super duper thanks to Dra. Teresita Narciso, pediatrician-pulmonologist!!!  she was sooo great with rauf!  her clinics are at MAB-516 st. lukes medical center (T/Th 9-12) and at patient first, mercury drug building, glorietta (forgot the days, but she's there 1-4).