A Crazy 14-Days.

It has been a crazy 2 weeks for me,

An outbreak of a weird strain of the swine flu virus, which I'll write more in upcoming posts.

An almost 5 full days of crazy working hours and deadline up to 2am or 3am.

Crazy experimentation with my jailbroken iPhone 3G (fine, that's for my own enjoyment :P)

A crazily good business opportunity just presented (more like re-presented) itself.

A sudden onset of a crazy (crazy to us at least) eye allergic reaction in my 3 year old which scared the living daylights out of us. I shall elaborate more of this in this post.

Me, my wife, my 2 sons and my mom went shopping in the 1 Utama Shopping Centre on Saturday. While we were having lunch in one of the restaurant, I noticed my youngest son is rubbing his eyes again. I said again because it's not uncommon for him to do that as his eyes get itchy quite easily. While we try to stop him sometimes, we're not that worried about it, and the itch will usually go away after a while and it'll be ok. But that day it was different as his eyes were getting quite red so we were paying more attention to him and try to stop him from rubbing his eyes.

While I was shopping for some toys with my 6 year old, my wife suddenly called me on my mobile (she was sitting on a bench somewhere with my 3yo to take care of him) and said that there was something weird forming in his eyes, sort of like a blister of some sort. We were very worried and without hesitation, we decided to send him to a hospital as most of the clinics would be closed.

I was carrying him and we were walking very fast/running to my car, which was parked quite far away, and decided to bring him to the Emergency Ward of Damansara Specialist Hospital in Damansara Utama, Petaling Jaya.

When we finally get to see the doctor on duty (after registration and waiting for a while), the doctor's initial diagnosis was Membranous Conjunctivitis. When he learnt that it was a sudden onset, he ruled that out as viral and bacterial conjunctivitis usually take quite sometime to develop. He then picked up the phone and called one of the eye specialist and asked for advice. The thing I really like about this doctor is that he is calm and more importantly, admits openly that he doesn't know much about it. I totally forgotten to get his name as me and my wife were too worried to even think of getting the name of the doctor LOL!

Anyways, in conclusion, the doctor diagnosed it as an allergic reaction since it happened so suddenly. My son used to be allergic to dairy products and nuts. He is getting better now with the dairy products and we still won't let him take anything containing nuts. He must have touched something he is allergic to during lunch and accidentally rub his eyes with that hand. The doctor said that it may take about 3 days for it to totally recover. While we were hoping it to be sooner, it's not too bad.

We were given 4 different types of eye drops (1 of them contains steroid) and a bottle of antihistamine, which stops the itch. Putting the eye drops is a nightmare as my son was not very cooperative but since we had done this before we sort of know the trick. The trick is to put a drop at the inner corner of the eye when it is shut tight (due to crying), and then to try to open his eyes, either to convince him to do it, or we do it by force by gently spreading the eyelids open with fingers. Once it's opened, the eye drop will go in.

I did some research online and found something called Allergic Conjunctivitis. In other words, it's conjunctivitis that is caused by allergy. Good thing is this form of conjunctivitis is not contagious and should not take to long to recover. I'm still not sure if what my son has is an Allergic Conjunctivitis, since the doctor just said that it's an allergic reaction, but today is the 2nd day and he is already much better. The blister in the eye has subsided so we're happy.

Here are some sites that contains information on Conjunctivitis and Allergic Conjunctivitis which I hope you find it useful:-
1. Conjunctivitis from Dr. Greene

2. An article on Allergic Conjunctivitis by the University of Illinois At Chicago's Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences.

3. An article on Allergies of the eye by the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center.

So yeah, all in all, last 2 weeks had been really exciting and challenging for me :D. Well, live and learn.

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Parental Negligence Kills...

We heard of children being kidnapped, raped, and murdered sometimes due to lack of supervision (such as Nurin Jazlin Jazimin case in 2007).

We heard of a father reverses his car over his own daughter.

We heard of parents forgotten and left their baby in the car seat, and the baby died due to heat.

We heard of children drowned, sometimes even under the parent's nose when they were distracted but for a few minutes.

Now, just a few days ago, we read about a baby boy less than a month old was starved to death due to parent's prolonged binge drinking with friends over a few days. Below is the news article taken from thestar.com.my.

"
Friday March 27, 2009
Baby dies, drunk parents forgot to feed him
By STEPHEN THEN


MIRI: A baby boy, less than a month old, starved to death after his parents allegedly forgot to feed him because they were too drunk.

The baby died in the intensive-care unit of Miri Hospital yesterday morning and a police report has been lodged.

Police now want to question the parents, in their early 30s from a longhouse in southern Sarawak, who came to Miri to work and were renting a house at a low-cost housing scheme near the Sarawak-Brunei Highway, some 12km north of the city centre.

Relatives found the baby unconscious in the house and rushed him to the hospital at about 3am on Wednesday.

Miri deputy OCPD Supt Ismail Paduka Idris confirmed that the baby died in the morning.

“We are investigating claims that the parents had indulged in a prolonged drinking spree and had neglected the baby.

“Initial investigations show that the baby might have been so severely neglected that he suffered fatal consequences.

“We want to find out whether this was due to carelessness,” Supt Ismail said.

The couple also have a three-year-old daughter."

The above are but only a few incidents about parental negligence that were being reported. There were probably countless of other incidents that were not reported.

The purpose I'm writing this article is not to express my anger nor to point my finger at them parents and starts the blame game rolling. Rather, it is as a wake up call. A reminder. Far be in from me to judge others as I'm not perfect myself.

For those who think that these parents are terrible, utterly irresponsible and therefore, should be punished for their act of negligence, you are absolutely right! But do not forget that no one is perfect. We are all messed up in our own ways. Some of us are even capable of doing the same thing, or possibly things worse than these (we just don't know it yet). I'm someone who believes that until you're lying on your death bed breathing the last few breath in this world, do not ever let words such as "I'll NEVER do such a thing" rolled off your tongue so easily without any serious consideration because you may find yourself committing the said "crime" someday down the road.

As a Christian, there are a few phrases in the Bible that speaks to me very strongly regarding these matters:-

1. In John 8:7, Jesus protecting the prostitute from the accusers, said "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."

2. Matthew 7:3-5  "Why do you observe the splinter in you brother's eye and never notice the plank in your own? How dare you say to your brother, 'Let me take the splinter out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own? Hypocrite! Take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take the splinter out of your brother's eye."

3. And of course, in Luke 23:34, while Jesus was crucified on the cross, at one point, he said "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

I believe in second chances because I believe in a God who believes in second chances.  Of course there are some who has worn out their second chances, especially those who are aware of their mistakes yet remain unrepentant.

The above drunk parents will not be charged with any criminal offence as the police investigation revealed that it's a tragic mishap and there was no criminal intent on hurting the baby.

Were the parents irresponsible? - Extremely

Were they stupid? - Definitely, but hopefully not anymore

Could the tragedy be prevented? - TOTALLY

Did they want the baby to die? - I most certainly hope not

Do they deserve a second chance? - In my humble opinion, YES.

Did they deserve to be punish? - Yes, and trust me, they are really having it right now.

Personally, I hope this experience, and the second chance they get will mould them to be better parents. And I do think they are really suffering right now, unless they are totally heartless. Frankly, I believe only if you're a parent, you'd fully understand the feeling of guilt, fear, and regret that one will go through when we put our little ones through pain, suffering, and in some cases - death, whether on purpose or by accident. The experience will haunt them for life. 

Like I said earlier, we're all messed up in our own way. Some of our mistakes are repairable, but unfortunatly, there are some mistakes you just can't do-over, but life goes on. Instead of pointing fingers, I'm just going to use the couple's story to teach, and remind myself of my duty as a parent and to pay more attention to my kids, and make sure that they are safe.... but of course have to try hard not to get over paranoid LOL! Otherwise I'd be putting my kids through a different kind of hell. The last thing you want is your children growing up with emotional and mental bondage fearing and thinking that the world is out to get them :P.

Arghhh! Living a balanced life, easier said than done LOL! No one and nothing is perfect, we just got to do our best according to our own abilities.

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Post-meal Acrobatics = Post-meal Clean-up

Not too long ago... ok, fine, it may be a while ago, maybe 2 - 3 months back, I had a funny experience that brought back some memories. So why did I take so long to write about it, well, I always had some more important stuff to do or blog about and this story was always at the back of my mind, and now, I finally managed to pen it down. Well I'm not exactly penning it down but you get the idea :P.

I was at my friend's place practicing some songs for another friend's wedding, when we finished our practice and were just hanging around his house chatting, at one point the wife had to go out to fetch the daughter from the in-laws' place. While she was out, we're still hanging around and my friend's son didn't go out with mommy and was with us the whole time. We were chatting, and my friend was playing with his boy, throwing him up in the air, swinging him around, turning him upside down etc. The kid was obviously having a blast, but the dad was getting a little tired so we decided to take a sit and chill.

While we were chilling and talking, the kid was still sticking to his dad, hugging and going around his (rather big size) dad like an obstacle course, and suddenly, he became very quiet and looked really serious.

From my experience as a father, most of the time when a kid suddenly becomes very still and serious, it could only mean 2 things:-
1. He was shitting or already finished doing the deed.
or
2. He was about to throw up (vomit).

Well, it was the latter. The son threw up all over the dad, the couch and on the floor. We helped him a little bit and had to cut short our visit.

On the wedding day itself, I kinda brought it up and both the husband and the wife were there and we're having a good laugh, that was until I brought up the fact that the son vomitted because the dad was throwing him around after meal, than I heard the "shh! shh!" coming from my friend. Apparently while the wife was aware that the son threw up, she was not informed of the cause LOL!!

This kinda brought back some memories about my eldest son, who's going to be 6 years old in about a week's time. When he was younger, he really threw up a lot. When he was a few months old, after every feed, if he was to raised his legs and kicked the air, or when we raised his legs to change his diaper, most of the time, it would result in him vomitting, and the amount is really scary. He could vomit like 80% of the milk that he just drank. We were VERY worried at first, but since he was growing well despite of all the wasted milk, we slowly gotten used to it. And it wasn't until just recently his vomitting tendencies have reduced significantly.

So the moral of the story is :-
1. If you want to a have post-meal acrobatic fun with your kid(s), be prepared to do some post-meal cleaning up.
2. Don't hide important details from your wife. She will know about it anyway, so it's much better that you confess your sins with your own mouth rather than her finding it out from an outside source LOL!

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A Remedy For Nighttime Cough? Or Not? You Decide

I came across an email making some pretty crazy claim about an unlikely remedy for nighttime cough. Obviously as a parent, my children's nighttime coughs can be worrying, so when I came across a claim like this, it's hard not to get curious about it. Some of you may have read about it, but anyway, here is the email I received:-

"How to stop cough in 5 minutes!!!
This is a must try....
We have all been kept awake by our own or someone else's cough. Try this and pass it on. The tip and not the cough. ANYTHING is! better than antibiotics. Even babies could benefit from this and the parents wouldn't worry about the safety of their child. And of course, it is harmless and free from any type of side-effects.
WOW! I was raised, and raised my kids with Vicks. How come I never knew this? I can't wait for my next cough. Amazing!
READ IT ALL. It works 100 percent of the time, although the scientists at the Canada

Research council (who discovered it) aren't sure why.

Treatment:

To stop night time coughing in a child (or an adult, as! we found out personally), put Vicks Vapor Rub generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime and then cover with socks.

Even persistent, heavy, deep coughing will stop in about five minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief. This works 100 percent of the time, and is more effective in children than
even very strong prescription cough medicines. In addition it is extremely soothing and comforting and they will sleep soundly. I heard the head of the Canada Research Council describe these findings on the part of their scientists when they were investigating the effectiveness and usage of prescription cough medicines in children, as compared to alter! native therapies like acupressure. I just happened to tune in to a.m. Radio and picked up this guy talking about why cough medicines in kids often do more harm than good due to the chemical makeup of these strong drugs, so I listened. It was a surprising finding and found to be more effective than prescribed medicines for children at bedtime, and in addition to have a soothing and calming effect on sick children who then went on to sleep soundly.

My wife tried it on herself when she had a very deep constant and persistent cough a few weeks ago, and it worked 100
percent! She said it felt like a warm blanket had enveloped her. The coughing stopped in a few minutes, ! and believe me this was a deep (incredibly annoying!) every few seconds, uncontrollable cough and she slept cough-free for hours every night she used it.


If you have children or grandchildren, pass it on. If you end up sick, try it yourself and you will be absolutely amazed. How to stop cough in 5 minutes!!! This is a must try..."

Well, I cut and pasted it word for word, even the mistakes LOL!

And me being me (as in cautious and sometimes paranoid), I decided to go online to do some research regarding this "amazing" claim. While I found out that there are a lot of people claiming this to be true and that it really works, there are a few articles that I came across that sort of put me back on the cautious mode.

The first article is "Avoid applying Vicks VapoRub to babies, pediatricians say" from CBCnews.ca. This is a very good article and I highly recommend people to read it before using the above method.

Then I came across a very interesting website, Snopes.com, which investigates rumors, urban legends, old wives tale etc. On the website, there was an entry on this claim and the status of the claim is Undetermined, ie, can't say if it's real or not. Interestingly, this website posted a statement by the National Research Council Canada (NRC) denying that they ever said that Vicks VapoRub can be used on the sole of the feet to counter nighttime coughs. Go and read the whole article here.

Which then lead me to the actual statement issued by NRC from their very own website, and it's titled "Foot Rub Cough Cure: Fact or Fiction?".

Conclusion:

In my opinion, if you have been using Vicks VapoRub for your children all these while and they don't show any signs of adverse reaction to it, there is no harm in giving this remedy a try. Who knows it might actually give you a peace of mind during those otherwise cough-full nights.

However, if you want to give this method a go but have not used Vicks VapoRub before, please read the above articles carefully and heed the warnings below:-

WARNING!
1. Always, always, always, read the label before use!
2. DO NOT use adult Vicks on children under 2 years of age! I believe they have products meant for babies.
3. Any problem, please consult your doctor.

For those who still want to give it a try, here's some pictures to guide you through the simple steps:-

First
Use Vicks VapoRub

Second

Apply generous amount at the sole of both feet.

Finally

Cover it with socks to prevent staining your bedsheet.

Please Share: If anyone tried this method before, or is planning to try it, please share with us and tell us if it actually works, or not. We thank you in advance. :P

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Shit Happens, and lots of it! (Oh the smell!)

My youngest son, the 2 1/2 year old, is having the worst diarrhoea (or diarrhea depending on where you're from) that our kids had ever had. Even the worst that my 6 yo experienced was nothing like this. That being said, we thank God that there's still no need for him to be hospitalized. One thing that I could never understand though, is how can such disgusting, terribly foul smelling stuff comes out of such a cute tiny little body?? Even the fart! Oh me oh my, LOL!! Well, I guess shit happens, but that's not the end of it. The next day, it was my turn to have diarrhoea, about as bad as his but I dare say no where near as foul smelling as his. Then the day after, it was my mom's turn (she is staying with us). Like I said, lots of shit happened, and will probably continue on for another day or two.

Let's talk about my son since I'm most worried about him. His stool was very watery and every time after he drank some water, he passed it out almost immediately. I guessed that's the reason why it's recommended for them to take sips of water. The first night that he had diarrhoea, he soiled easily about 8 heavy diapers.

We got pretty worried, so the next day we decided to get some Oral Rehydration Salt (ORS). Can be obtained easily from any pharmacy. Just add one packet to 8 oz (240 ml) of water (or according to what the instruction says) and shake well. We used a water tumbler and let him take small sips through out the day. You can also use a bottle for younger children. He's acting well, still playing, active, but gets tired easily, didn't have much of an appetite and was eating less than usual, but we weren't really worried about that as long as he is well hydrated.

Today is the third day for him (and 2nd for myself). I pray tomorrow we'll all be fine. One thing though, all my life I always thought that diarrhoea is not contagious, until about 4 years ago, when a doctor told me otherwise. Well, I guess diarrhoea itself is not contagious but the microorganism that causes it is. So always practice proper hygiene especially after changing a soiled diaper, or you may find yourself, or another member in your family, follow suit with the slam dunking action.

Since my wife is just over 3 months pregnant, she was quite worried that she may catch it too. So in her visit to her gynaecologist today, she asked about it, and the doctor said that once or twice of soft stool is ok, if it's more severe, she better get it treated. The doctor was afraid that too much stress and strain may cause her to pass out the foetus!! LOL! Lucky she asked as she may very well catch it. Guess her paranoia pays off eh.

To learn more about diarrhoea (especially in young children) and dealing with dehydration, you can visit the sites below:

1. Rehydration Project

2. Babycentre

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