On March 2, 2012 TD took his first road trip. It was a 14 hours car road trip in total back and forth from Singapore to Kuantan, Malaysia and back in three days. He was fine with being in the car for about seven hours, although he refused his favourite pasta for lunch (probably out of excitment).
The wedding was what pushed his limits. The entertainment singer and her microphone was going at about 96 decibel. That is the equivalent of a hand drill (a normal conversation is at 60 decibel). At 95-96 decibel, sustained exposure can hearing to hearing loss. I am glad that TD chose to stay out of the restaurant 95% of the time.
After the wedding dinner, we still had to drive back in the dark for about 30 minutes with no street lamps, but occasional oncoming traffic with their incredibly bright flashlights were glaring, and probably intimidating to a 23 month old. This was not well-received. TD wailed really loudly and asked to sit on Mummy. This was extremely rare, as TD seldom cries and wails. We stopped the car, and I went to back to sit with him.
On Saturday, TD caught a cold. I knew he was going to catch a cold, but I also knew that if I put on a jacket FIL would comment that its too warm, so I didn't and indeed he caught a cold. In the night, he had a fever. I didn't bring a thermometer, not any medication for him as TD seldom fall sick in Singapore, and I didn't think he would within a three days span. My bad. Indeed he did, and the nearest clinic was 14 km away. We were so desperate. I used cool towel as he slept, and chanted Green Tara, hoping the fever would go away. In a way, we didn't really trust seeing the doctors too. It was a miracle, his fever went away.
On Sunday, we drove back. Lunch was at 3pm, and the lack of breaks during the seven hour car ride led TD to wail again.
He didn't eat much during the trip, and all he had appetite for was apple and bread.
When we returned to Singapore, TD's flu was mild so he didn't require medication. It took about a week to recover. My helper caught a cough too due to lack of water. My MIL and FIL were sick. I had to work extra hard as I was away from work for a few days, and now that TD and helper were down. In the end, I caught flu myself. Luckily, I recovered within a day.
Alas, my FIL came to visit with a cough. On that very night, my helper who was recovering well, started to cough, TD started to cough with fever (!) and I had fever and cough (!!)...
With no choice, I had to feed TD medication. He was recovering slowly but well. All in all, TD and my helper recovered fully in two weeks.
As for me, this is my second week of cough, and I am still coughing. I have seen two different doctors. With no luck tonight, I will see another tomorrow. I usually recover within a week for cough, but this time it is different. I would wake up hourly at night from the coughing...
Sorry, this isn't the usual positive and optimistic post. Irwin and I learned lessons the hard way. We will only travel with others if we have control of the timing in future. We had no idea it was going to be a 7 hour car ride each way. We had no idea that we couldn't plan his meal times appropriately. Having coughed for two weeks, and seeing TD lose weight and coughed in the night, and as we battled with his fever which went up to 39, all I can say is Health is the most important. Treasure it and take steps to build a healthy body. We will not compromise health to appease anybody else in future. We need to make responsible decisions from now on.
