I was supposed to take the kids to the community pool yesterday and everyone was excited about it. Then the air con man was able to come from 10 to noon so it threw the schedule off. When he was done it was time for lunch and naps then swim lessons for my two big kids. The kids were okay with it because I promised them I’d take them today and we spent about two hours at the school playgrounds during swim lessons again.
Today the crew had a late breakfast then played Wii or Barbie dolls. We had lunch and Brian and I figured out where to take Maddie to a doctor on a Saturday afternoon for an ear infection. We spent several hours up with her last night writhing in pain and agony. All morning she said she was fine. Finally I sat with her in a quiet moment on the couch and asked how her ear was again. She said it felt fine. I gently put my finger in her ear and asked if that hurt and sure enough it did. Then I put my finger in her other ear. Nope. Didn’t hurt at all. She is terribly afraid of getting shots so she didn’t want to go to the doctor. We explained what they doctor would do and how quickly the medicine could make the hurt go away forever. She just wanted to take the medicine again we gave her last night that took away the pain and figured that was good enough. Finally with Maddie on board with the doctor plan I sent her and Brian off to walk to the 24 hour walk in clinic down the road.
I was ready to tackle the pool alone with eight kids. Only no one wanted to go. The three older boys were deep into their spy and war games. Emma had a book she was happily devouring. The two little girls wanted to watercolor so I started them into making Father’s Day cards for tomorrow. No one seemed to care about swimming at all so I finally asked if they wanted to skip it and play. Everyone except poor Abby voted to play here. I figured a way to convince sweet Abby that she had already been swimming today since the girls and Jake all “swam” this morning in about two inches of water in our front yard pool and she seemed satisfied. So I decided to just put Jacob and Rebecca down for naps.
When Maddie returned from the doctor (with SIX different medications) she happily joined the crafting at the kitchen table. Everyone is happy and I now get the afternoon at home instead of the public pool. Unfortunately I think I’m going to spend it preparing for home school lessons next week instead of having fun. Such is life.
Oh yeah. About medical care in Singapore. I’m still in love with it. Brian walked to the clinic. No appointment. Saw a doctor. Got six medications prescribed. They hand you the prescriptions right there in their office. $30 consultation fee, $60 in medicine. Seems like a whole lot of medicine. When Jake had an ear infection in February we went to the doctor downtown and he got decongestant plus antibiotics for $17. It was enough for him. But for Maddie they gave her some ear drops, congestion medication, pain medication, flu medication, antibiotics and something else I can’t remember right now. Hope Brian listened closely to all those instructions! I don’t think she’s actually supposed to take them all, but we have them all in case it develops into the flu, etc. So far, medical help has been fantastic here!
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