Renzo and the Nebulizer

To me, Renzo has always been a pretty healthy boy. Sure he has some runny nose and fever once in a while (okay okay... a little more than once in a while *sigh*), but at least he physical growth, in terms of his body mass, undoubtedly puts him under the category of "well-nourished".

But as with all kids, especially those put at childcare centres, visiting the doctor is a pretty frequent thing. It is not as if we adults don't fall sick, let alone these little toddlers who are still developing their immunity system to fight off the legion of bacteria and viruses.

So here we had a little Renzo, suffering from a serious cough for quite a few days and a runny nose worthy of an Olympic medal. But since no fevers developed, Mummy Chan and I agreed that we'd still send him to childcare and that after his breakfast, I'd take him to the doc just one level below the childcare.

The visit was a pretty pleasant experience, firstly it being in a slightly more 'ulu' location, there were only a couple of patients before us. Secondly, the service was pretty top-notch. When it was Renzo's turn to visit the doc, instead of having the nurse calling out Renzo's name like the other clinics, we had the doctor himself opening the door to his office and smilingly calling out for Renzo. After simple diagnosis, the doctor instructed the nurse to prepare the Nebulizer, a device that supposedly administers medication in the form of a mist/smoke to be inhaled.

Initially, I was rather worried that Renzo will reject having to breath with that mask over his nose and mouth, but to my surprise, he didn't even react to it. Maybe it was the novelty of the new 'toy', maybe it was the sleepy side-effect of his breakfast, but either way, he took the medication well. It being a ten-minute (i think) process, he soon grew restless just sitting there in my lap while the whizzing machine does its job inches away. So I had to whip out my trusty Android and entertain Renzo with some flash cards and his favourite game...... Angry Birds. I must add that it was damn funny to hear Renzo talk through the mask, reminds me of my military training on chemical warfare...lol

When the process was completed, the device came to a halt and Renzo was left with a noseful of mucus flowing down to the edges of his tiny lips. The attentive nurses quickly gave him some tissue before proceeding to lead us back to the doctor's office. The doc looked at Renzo for a while before concluding that Renzo is find and that it was probably a mild case of Bronchitis.

While waiting for the nurses to prepare Renzo's medication, Renzo played with some wooden blocks and toys (I presume this clinic has a fair number of little patients considering a childcare is just one level above) and proudly reciting his Alphabets and counting. This came to the attention of one of the nurses who spoke in Hokkien to her colleague, praising Renzo for stronger linguistic abilities compared to her almost-two-year-old grandson. By the time the medicines were ready for collection, Renzo's nose and mouth regions were again flooded with his mucus and required tissue again. The nurse promptly did so and recommended a device meant for clearing toddler noses by means of a simple chamber attached to a long pipe where one end was to be fitted onto the nostril of the little one and the other, a straw from which the adult sucks to vacuum out all the dirt and mucus out.

Before we left the clinic the nurses smiled at Renzo lovingly and reminded me to get the nasal-cleaning apparatus they recommended and specifically mentioned to get it from Pigeon Brand as the others ain't as effective. Looks like Daddy Chan and Mummy Chan will be visiting Kiddy Palace again pretty soon ~