H1N1 Scare

@ 39 months 2 weeks 5 days

Ryan would normally share with me what happened in his class during the day. Last Thursday, while on our way home in the car he told me stories about his friend (he meant his classmate) had to wear a mask as he was coughing and having runny nose. Ryan actually thought the mask part was really funny so when we got home he insisted I give him one to wear. DUH. 

On a separate note, despite finding Ryan’s story entertaining, I was not pleased by the teachers’ actions; as we were told the school takes strict policies to isolate a sick child in a sick bay until his parents come to pick him up. Call me kiasu but with the current H1N1 cases spiking every day, this is no joke. Obviously we do not want to expose our child to any possibility that affects their immune system.

I asked the teacher the next day. She assured me the child was just having dry cough and they had taken precaution to isolate him from other classmates in class yesterday. I wasn’t pleased for sure but I did not pursue the matter further, although, frankly logically thinking, you know germs are airborne, in situation whereby the class is air conditioned does make the matter worse. Isolation within the class, huh?? .. is not good enough.

Anyway, I let the matter rest while hoping Ryan did not catch anything nasty knowing how ‘keh poh chee’ he is, he’ll sure go and disturb his mask wearing friend. His busybodiness can really go to the extreme, for eg. one time he told me his friend peed in the class, while the cleaning auntie was mopping the floor this little rascal of mine went and stepped on it. I asked him why he stepped on it, he said  ’EEEWWW… HIS PEE SO DISGUSTING. I WANT TO SEE‘. What a silly boy right. Yikes, stepped on pee! Goodness. Anyway, on Friday evening, Ryan came back with a mild flu. It came and gone and by evening he was showing no further symptoms.

Saturday came and gone too. All seemed good.

On Sunday, his runny nose came back in the morning. His body temperature was slightly higher 37.7C. I gave him some medications before he had his usual nap around 1pm. I was quite worried. I would not have been so given the normal circumstances but it is the swine flu season now and we were urged to seek medical assistance within 24 – 48 hours to allow a full recovery. The H1N1 case reported in Ryan’s school a week earlier did not help. The whole classroom was ordered shut by MOE. Teachers, students even the bus driver and those in the same bus who had contact with the child were quarantined for 7 days.

Came Monday morning, Ryan was still having runny nose but no other flu symptoms. Nevertheless I brought him to the paed. After some examinations, doc suspect he could be down with just the seasonal flu. But I am not contented. I insisted a swine flu test to be sure. Yes, super kiasu here but as a parent who wouldn’t right. Afterall, I am in a high risk category now thus having two sick cats at home is certainly something we all dreaded.

So after $60 and 15 mins agonizing wait, the results came out negative. It was a false alarm afterall. Phew phew… Total damage to the pocket $140 incl consultations and medications (cough and runny nose). Expensive, expensive but you know what, the sigh of relief is really PRICELESS.

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Love that smirk on his face. Ryan had wanted to get a gun for the longest time. I really hesitated… but one day while shopping he saw this M16 gun and showed me his ‘muka sepuluh sen’. I gave in this time. He was evidently estatic. As if we don’t have enough intruders on our bed, that night he insisted to sleep with his gun by the side. 

A few days later, he came home from school and told me this ‘Mom, Ben and I are the bad guys’. I went ‘huh’ and ‘why’??. His reply.. “Because we both have guns’. Pengsan. LOL.Â