@Undisciplined kickstarted a new feature called Parent Corner, and of course, I have something worthy to contribute.
Something happened to my son this week that made me grateful that my brother is a pharmacist. Don’t worry, nothing that serious happened. It’s just that parenting is uncharted territory, and nothing can ever prepare you sufficiently for it. You can ask Google Sensei, but you won’t get a satisfactory answer.
This is what happened:
- Last Sunday, my son developed a high fever. So, I took him to our friendly general practitioner. As my son was coughing badly, the GP dispensed him a cough syrup called promethazine as well as paracetamol.
- My wife wanted our son to fight off the infection, so he didn’t consume paracetamol. He, however, drank promethazine on Monday and Tuesday.
- By Wednesday, his fever came back and subsided alternatively, much like how Survivor contestants switch alliances at the drop of a hat. Joking aside, my wife was concerned about the fever, so I took my son to visit the paediatrician.
- His lungs were clear, thank goodness. The paediatrician prescribed another cough syrup called Kaloba because promethazine causes drowsiness, which might interfere with his ability to function.
- Thank you for reading up to this point. Wait a while more, the climax will be revealed soon.
- My son drank the Kaloba on Wednesday and Thursday. Just that after consuming it on Thursday night, he proceeded to vomit his dinner out 20-30 minutes later, much like Singapore’s legendary icon, the Merlion. 🤮 If you don’t know the Merlion, it’s time to visit Singapore!
- But I digress. Here is the Parent’s dilemma: Should we feed him another dose of Kaloba, given that he could have vomitted it out? Is it advisable?
- My wife wanted to feed him another dose of Kaloba. I was hesitant to do so because I don’t think my boy would have digested the Kaloba so soon after dinner.
- But the thing is, we didn’t know for sure. And here is when my brother came to the rescue. Over text, he advised us to:
- Lesson learnt: if your child vomits after taking his cough syrup, it might be best to feed him another brand of cough syrup.
- This is what I meant when I said that even Google can’t help you with your medical enquiries. What happened to my son was so random.
Which leads to this question: what medical tips and insights have you gathered along the way as you raise your children to adolescence? Any anecdotes that you think are worth sharing with newer parents who are being burnt by the baptism of fire?