Labour Day, Istana, and the ER

Pictures -

Istana

Note - The snake and the iguana were part of a special exhibit today







I hope that this is the craziest day we have while we're here. Don't know how many of these I can handle!

This morning, Brandon was soooo cranky! I tried to talk to my mom and dad on Skype, and I couldn't hear them over Brandon's fussing. He was up coughing last night, and I just figured that he was tired. His teeth also seemed to be bothering him. Steven asked if we should take him to the doctor, but I didn't think so. His cough wasn't too frequent, and it was a dry cough.

So, when Steven left for work, I figured that I would take Brandon for a walk. I didn't want to take him out if he wasn't feeling well, but sometimes he just wants to go out and do and see something other than our apartment. The stroller instantly seemed to calm Brandon down. I still wasn't sure how good he was feeling as he wasn't very interested in any food, even the yogurt melts that Grandma B sent. And, those are his favorite!

Amanda had told me that on a few public holidays here in Singapore, the President's house is open to the public. Today, Labour Day, was one of those days. The Istana is the official residence of the President of the Republic of Singapore, and it's located on Orchard Road. "Istana" means "palace" in Malay. It wasn't a far walk to the palace, so we headed there. The grounds were a tropical paradise! A huge golf course, swans, ponds, water fountain, etc. Gorgeous!

Before we even made it to see the actual "house", Brandon was starting to get fussy. I saw that there was a playground set up on the grounds, so I thought that letting Brandon run around there before seeing the house would be a good idea. As I figured, he loved it! He went down the slides, played in the small house, and ran down the hill.

Unfortunately, it was sooo hot outside that I could only let Brandon run free for about ten minutes. I checked weather.com when I got home. It was about 90 degrees, and it felt about 100 degrees! Ouch!

Brandon wasn't very crazy about being back in his stroller, and it was uncomfortably hot at this point. I decided that a quick look at the house was sufficient. No need to see the interior. I heard that the part of the house open today showcased some gifts to Singapore from other countries.

Brandon had a meltdown in the stroller on the way home. I felt so bad. He was crying, which made his face bright red and made him cough more. People were staring at us. I'm sure they were thinking that I was a crazy lady for having my coughing kid out in this heat. I just wanted to get home as quickly as possible. I even ran part of the way in my dress and sandles...

When I got home, I put Brandon down for his nap. He had a lot of trouble sleeping because he was coughing so much at this point. I was a little worried, so I called my friend Amanda to find out who her daughter's pediatrician is. I thought I could at least call and make an appointment, and then evaluate Brandon when he woke up from his nap. I called two doctor's offices, but they were closed for the holiday. I was told that my only option today would be the ER if I felt that Brandon really needed to get in.

When Brandon woke up from his nap, he was breathing very rapidly, and he was weezing. It also seemed that his cough had become "wet" and had gone to his chest. His chest was rattling. I was very scared when Brandon was struggling to breathe. I called Steven at work and told him to get a cab, come pick us up, and take us to the hospital ER.

We made it to the ER in about twenty minutes. It was only about a ten minute cab ride from our place to Mt. Elizabeth Hospital.

I was very impressed with our experience at the ER. As soon as we walked in, someone was there to check Brandon's vitals. They said that his chest was very congested, and they gave him a breathing treatment. Brandon did NOT like this! It took three of us to hold him down. He is so strong, and he used all of his strength to fight us. After a few minutes, he did quit fighting, but wow, it was hard! The breathing treatment did seem to help. It was a steroid that dilated Brandon's airways to help him breathe.

We did request to see a pediatrician when given the option. We wanted someone to look Brandon over more thoroughly.

Dr. Chiang arrived about 30 minutes after the breathing treatment. He checked Brandon over and said that Brandon had a bad cold and some kind of asthmatic symptoms, which was possibly bronchitis. I feel like Brandon might be having some issues getting use to the air here. I've noticed that he has had several small coughs and runny noses since we've been here. Could he have some allergies here? No telling. We will have to be more careful having Brandon outside when he has small colds, especially in the heat.

Dr. Chiang told us that our two options were to admit Brandon overnight so they could continue giving the breathing treatments and monitor him or to take him home with a small breathing treatment we could give on our own. We really weren't sure what to do. We asked Dr. Chiang if we could take Brandon home for a couple of hours, monitor him there, and bring him back if he wasn't any better. Dr. Chiang was fine with that. He prescribed a cough medicine, a cold medicine (antihistamine), and a couple of breathing treatments (one that dilated the airways and one anti-inflammatory).

In Singapore, the doctor's offices have the pharmacies in them. So, the doctor writes your prescriptions, and they are filled right then. No need to stop at a pharmacy later. Very cool.

When we got home, we gave Brandon the cold and cough syrups. They made him drowsy, and he fell asleep at 5:30 pm. We planned to touch base with Dr. Chiang by 8 pm, but Brandon was still sleeping. We checked Brandon very frequently while he was sleeping. It seemed that while he was still breathing heavily and rapidly, the weezing and rattling had stopped. I called Dr. Ching at 8 pm. He suggested letting Brandon sleep and touching base again at 10 pm. When Brandon woke up at 8:30 pm, we did the breathing treatments. They seemed to help. Brandon played on his own very happily for a while.

Right at 10 pm, Dr. Chiang called. Very impressed. It made me feel like he really was concerned and cared about Brandon. He said that it seemed fine to keep Brandon at home, but he made us an appointment to go in Monday morning to see him. He wants to do a follow-up to see how Brandon is progressing. Brandon didn't have any fever during the day, but at night Brandon had a fever of 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit, which is about 38 degrees Celsius. Dr. Chiang just recommended giving Ibuprofen.

Brandon went back down to bed for the night at 11:30 pm. Just one of those days!

I am so happy that Brandon is okay. Steven and I were both so worried. Not only was it scary, but we are far away from home. Just makes it a little scarier dealing with something like this in a foreign country, even though the medicine here is very good.

Oh, and I shouldn't forget to mention that the whole ER visit, medicines, etc. cost us SGD$420 ($300 U.S.). I was prepared with Brandon's medical records when we went to the hospital, but I forgot to bring our travel insurance information. When we returned from the ER, we looked into our coverage. We can mail in our receipt and submit a claim to get reimbursed. Hopefully, we can get reimbursed for 90% of the costs. But, if not, then no big deal. It was definitely worth going! (We were a little hesitant to admit Brandon overnight without knowing our coverage. Of course, we would have done it if necessary. We did find out that 90% of our costs today should be covered too. Also, the hospital we went to has a relationship with our insurance carrier, so in the future, we shouldn't be billed until after the visit when the hospital and insurance settle their part.)

We are so thankful that our baby is okay!!!