I am a mother - sigh

You cannot help it but wonder sometimes how a child's state of unwell can distress even the calmest of parents. Forget the fact that it's your kid - mine is 16 - he's put me through the initial hell of rolling off a mattress as an infant, falling into drain channels when he was a toddler, fever always in the high range that it induces convulsions, running out of the bathroom after a shower which resulted in 6 stitches - that should have given me more than enough practice in the 'don't panic' department - but it didn't.

As with all medical conditions, the point to make is, you either know what's going on or you don't. Lucky me, I can handle medical - but it doesn't take away the fact that I'm his mother and WILL panic. I hate to say that I accept being ill better than him - or rather, i cope better - but then, I'm me, and he's him. He was sent home from school along with a good handful of his classmates as they were all having a slight temperature. His body does not cope with fever quietly at all. The good thing is, if he throws up, then whatever that's irritating his stomach, would be gotten rid of - the bad thing is, he will not be able to retain anything for a while. It's normal for him to go through this cycle of having a fever, emptying the contents of his stomach and then recover slowly.

This morning, I went off to the supermarket again to top up the refridgerator with juices, chinese tea and sushi. When the stomach is in an intolerant state like this, it's best to go slow. I usually start with juice - fruit may just aggravate him at the moment since his last throw up was less than 12 hours ago. So far, the juice is being retained. I make him shower too and then rub him down with Vicks Vapo-Rub - it will help his stomach settle and breathing the ointment in does help calm his airways. Then i'll feed him ONE small maki roll - not a whole tray which he's accustomed to consuming. If that stays down, he can have another in 30 mins.

His fever has subsided a lot since last night and hopefully, he'll be able to progress to mashed potatoes - but nothing with dairy stuff i.e no mixing that with butter or milk since the stomach will not be able to retain milk.

As a mom, it's my business to know what's going on with the kid - and I give him home therapy, which has always worked for him - I only bring him to the clinic if i'm clueless or if he's not getting better after 48 hours - most times when he's not well, it's just some bug - he has a weak stomach and if he eats something that doesn't agree with him, it comes right out in less than an hour. It's going to be a weekend of nursing him back to his feet, tiresome, since he's 16 and should be able to at least be less helpless, but he has a mom and i'm his mom - and as with all kids and some grown people, they regress to infancy when they are not well.