It rreeeally HURTS!

As you may know, my son has been in and out of the hospital for the past 12 months. The early symptoms of his Nephrotic Syndrome relapse seems to start with a stomachache followed by lost of appetite and then lost of energy or sluggishness. Edema begins next around his facial area, his urine begins to look foamy and by now, he is pretty much not doing anything besides laying on the couch waiting for our doctor to call for approval to be admitted in to the hospital. This is basically his routine prior to being admitted in to the hospital.

At the hospital, he's given full attention by the nurses, doctors and of course his very worried parents. Anything he asked for, he would pretty much get it. If he wants ice-cream, then ice-cream it is that he will get. If he wants to play computer online games or watch a certain tv program, he would get it. He basically receives a full ride when he gets sick.



When he is well and at home, he's been given responsibilities and chores just like any other normal kid. One of his responsibilities is to set up the eating utensils each time before a meal.

Over The last few days, he's been complaining about having stomach pains when it is approaching lunch or dinner time. Other than his complaining at these particular times, he did not show any other symptoms. So, I decided to test him out to see whether he was for real or just pretending.

Mom: It's dinner time, Somebody needs to set the table.
Son: ...eerrrr.....I am not feeling well.
Dad: What's wrong son
Son: It hurts..
Dad: Where son, are you ok?
Son: Mmmm...It hurts..
Dad: Where does it hurt? Is it here(Pointing to the head, eye, hand, butt, nose and then feet and purposely don't point to the stomach)
Son: No..here..Dad.. here
Dad: Where?? Is it here? (Pointing at the all wrong places again..)
Son: No No NO..here.. IT hurts here
Dad: O you mean, you are hurting here..pointing above his abdomen area on purpose.
Son: (Getting agitated) NO NO NO NO NO NO...Here...tummy tummy.(circling around his tummy with his palm)..
Dad: O I see. Then we need to go the hospital right now and you need to get poked!
Son: ....(hesitating)...hmm...It's ok dad, it hurts only a little bit.
Dad: But we must be careful, we need to go now. Mommy get the keys!
Son: I am hungry..
Dad: You are hungry or hurting?
Son: I am hungry and hurting and I am tired. I can't move well.
Dad: (Forced to use the ultimate Scheme and it works each time) Ok son, why don't you rest first and daddy will help you set up the table.
Son: Thanks dad.
Dad: O..you want to play your favorite online game Nickjr?
Son: (Suddenly bounced off from the couch and forgot that he was "feeling" sick or miraculously got heal, jumps up and down and says YES YES dad..I want to play.
Dad: THEN SET the table first! After you eat, you can play 5 minutes!
Son: ..(getting back to the couch slowly)..hmm. my tommy is hurting again Daddy.

AND back to square one!

See this funny clip below: Who did the kaka?

My First Real Cell Phone Conversation with my Son

For some reason, my household has been plagued by sickness lately. My wife had diarrhea after eating some bad ice-cream and was miserable for about two days. I had to take care of her, our son and maintain an orderly home for a period of 48 hours. This is no laughing matter and it's tough work. Since we have dwelled on the subject of taking things for granted from my last posts, let me just take this opportunity to once again acknowledge and give my salute to single parents. I don't know how they can do it because I could barely move after 48 hours while trying to hold down the family fort all by myself and meeting a project deadline at work. I prioritize what was the most important and do that first! I made sure my wife would be nursed back to health as soon AS POSSIBLE!

During the 40Th hour of my wife's suffering, I had to detour back to the office to attend for some urgent business. My son was sort of left alone while mommy was half asleep resting comfortably on the sofa where she could still occasionally catch a glance to see what else our son was destroying around the house. Later on, my wife told me that our little guy seemed to really enjoy himself because he wasn't supervised. He got to watch TV for 5 hours straight, followed by playing online computer games with NickJr, and to top it off with a grand central train track station mess in the middle of our living room. Mommy was too tired to yell after running in and out of the bathroom.

I called home on the 42th hour to check on mommy. I called her cell phone and it rang for several minutes but no one picks up. I called again and it rang for several times until my son picked up. This began a very neat experience with my son.
The first word that came out of his mouth prior to me saying anything was, hi daddy, mommy is tired and is sleeping and the rest of the conversation goes something like this:

Son: Hi daddy (Very gingerly and almost nervous soft tone voice).....mommy is tired and is sleeping.
Daddy: Ok..what are you doing since mommy is sleeping?
Son: Er.. mommy is tired and she sleeps a lot.
Daddy: Ok.. I know mommy is sleeping because she is not feeling well.
Son: Yesss..daddy..Mommy hurt in tummy.
Daddy: Mommy sleep a lot? What did you do when mommy is sleeping?
Son: Yes mommy sleep on bed a lot, Mommy sleeps mommy sleeps.
Daddy: Ok...son, did you play? did you play trains?
Son: Err..hmm mommy go to bathroom a lot and then sleeps and and I also hear noises from the bathroom..
Daddy: Er..ok..er.. Hmm... Are you ok son? Do you need daddy to come home?
Son: NO daddy! Not yet! I will cook dinner for you daddy! Don't come home yet...Mommy still not feeling well...Love you.. follow by CLICK!

I figure my son was doing quite OK after that first real phone conversation we had.