Malaysian Medicine

Look Closely at this picture of Brian's closet. I will tell you why later. Today was a good day I think we have finally gotten out from under the sickness cloud. Malaysia is experiencing a huge viral flu outbreak. NO IT IS NOT BIRD FLU. It is just a plain old normal flu. Carley has had a cough and fever on and off for 12 days and James has been fighting it for a week now. Today in the paper there is an article about 132 children in a boarding school that were in quarantine because of the flu. I know it is bad locally because when I checked in with Carley's preschool director there were five of 12 kids in Carley's class that day. And we ran into three of her classmates in the doctor's office. We have been blessed not to have the stomach issues that have accompanied this specific bout of illness. We have battled respiratory illness since we got here. James spent four days in hospital as they say the third week we were here, and about every six weeks we are back into see Dr. Musa for another cough. He says that this is common especially for expats since we are not used to the germs, pollution and the weather. Malaysians blame everything on the weather. I am hoping that we get used to all of it soon. I hate having sick kids.
I will say I am impressed with the health care system here. Most doctors have been trained in the US or in Europe. Everyone is very professional and they are willing to talk to you. Some doctors are more western than others, but we steer clear of the Chinese herbal medicine man. But I will admit some of the things they say make sense. On Monday we had to see a different doctor since our regular pediatrician is closed this week. Only in Malaysia do you pay RM175 approximately 69 US dollars for two children to see the doctor prescribe and dispense medicine, and one x-ray with consultation for me. I have been having random shoulder area pain that I can not self diagnose so I asked for an x-ray. It makes me wonder since I have to pay a 20 dollar copay just to walk in the door in Katy. Most hospitals are older and you are not going to find state of the art cutting edge treatments here, but for the usual stuff I feel like we are in good hands. The biggest downside at least in Carley's mind is that they do not flavor the medicine here so taking it is no fun. But she is a good sport and I have only had to hold her down once to get it in her mouth.

This is where I found Carley last night after I had announced it was time for medicine. She is really good at hiding. If she ever figures out how to not giggle when I call her name I am in BIG trouble. Blessings to all of you.

Paige