Scorp Express

“Strength does not come from winning
Your struggles develop your strength.
When you go through hardship
and decide not to surrender,
that is strength.”

My friend says I only update when I’m worried. I guess that’s very true lately. I’m so busy having fun with him when he is well =P. He loves playing hide and seek although he doesn’t quite master the concept of “hide” and keeps peeking. He also loves reading, or more accurately being read to. And he stays awake most of the time during the day, yea, he just started to combine his morning and afternoon naps into one early afternoon nap. This picture was taken when he still had the crack in his upper lip, so the smile is a little wierd and very cute (to me)

3 posts reporting sicknesses in a row, what kind of a lousy mom am I?

Soon after he survived Prevenar, a red area started to develop at a corner of his mouth. I left him on the 19th, it was a small red area , and 5 days later, it became a pretty bad ulcer. More than that, his gum looked very red, his breath smelled, and the coating of his tongue (the white stuff on one’s tongue) was unusually thick and yellowish. I don’t know how western medical theory would interpret these symptoms. But in the traditional Chinese medical  theories, all these symptoms suggested that the “balance” in his body was disturbed, and the element “fire” was taking over.  So I took the traditional measure—took off his extra clothes, made chrysanthemum tea, increase his water in-take, added more vegetable and fruit to his plate.

I really wish I have enough wisdom and courage to circumvent and deal with all these sicknesses. Lele is a wonderfully happy baby who almost never cries, so when he does cry, my heart gets ripped off.

020810, 10 am. Took the shot (Day 1)

Fever (>100F): 020810, 2 pm-020910, 1 pm. ( took 4 doses of Tylenol)

High temperature (98~100 F): 020910-021110, came in waves.

Irritability: accompanying the high temperature.

Interrupted sleep: 020810-021110

Poor appetite: 020910-021210

Vomiting: one incidence, 021010, after morning nap.

Diarrhea: 020910,  7 pm-0201410

         020910-021210, 7~8 waterish poop/24 h period

         021210-021410, ~3 very soft poop/ 24 h period

         021310 saw a tint of fresh blood in the stool, likely due to some anus injury caused by overly frequent bowl movement.

Mild hive (not sure whether this was related to the shot): 021510-021610, only on cheeks.

Lele’s mood had been ok the whole duration, except for the fever-baring moments. He was willing to play,  drink, and eat, although he ate very little. This was the only sign from which I got the confidence that he could survive this without medication.  I became anxious on the 10th and called Wyeth ( the producer of the vaccine), the local CDC, and went to the clinic where he was given the shot. None of them could tell me what’s going on. They all said that it was possible for the reaction to last for 3, 4 days and this may very well be it, but I should keep an close eye on him.  The only helpful thing was learnt from the doctor at the clinic, he said if it’s due to shot, then the reaction should decay monotonically. If any symptom came back after disappearance, then I should definitely take him to a doctor. Luckily, although very slowly, he seemed to be getting better. I also had my hubby consulted his friend who’s a pediatrician, he assured me that our boy should be fine.  

Finally, he made his first normal poop on the lunar new year’s day. I was more than happy.

I really am lucky that I did not mess up too bad this time.

We managed to get the majority of Lele’s immunization shots done before our relocation. That means there are a few shots left, and Prevnar was one of them. Prevnar is a “Pneumococcal 7-valent Conjugate Vaccine” by Wyeth which requires 4 shots for little babies. We got 3 done and one left. So you can imagine how excited I was when I learned that “沛儿“， a Pneumococcal 7-valent Conjugate Vaccine by Wyeth， is avaliable in China (although at a very high price).

So I called the local CDC to learn more about the vaccine, and searched on the internet at the same time. After I made sure that this indeed is a 7-valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine by Wyeth, and it’s the only vaccine against pneumococcal bacteria for babies under the age 2, I concluded that this must be the vaccine “Prevnar” we had. Totally overlooking that the English name for ”沛儿“ is PrevEnar, rather than Prevnar. Of course I checked the name, just did not notice the sneaky “E” at that time.

So my boy had the shot in the morning yesterday, and started to have fairly strong reactions, inculding a fever, irritability, decreased appetite, around noon, then diarrhea kicked in around 7 pm. Although this sounds like normal reactions, it is already of his personal record. I started to panic, searched for the vaccine again, and noticed the “E”. I was so devastated at that moment. Although a calm mind may be able to think that evenif it’s a different vaccine, it’s still a vaccine for babies of this age, there shouldn’t be any damage，all that I can think was “what have I . done to my baby!”.
After beating myself up and freaking out for a little while, it occcured to me that maybe I should check the content of these vaccines and see how different are they. To my joy, here’s what I found:

沛儿(Prevenar): 每0.5 ml剂量含各型多糖共16μg；其中6B型4μg，4、9V、14、18C、19F和23F型各2μg。
Prevnar:Each 0.5 mL dose is formulated to contain: 2 μg of each saccharide for serotypes 4, 9V, 14, 18C, 19F, and 23F, and 4 μg of serotype 6B per dose (16 μg total saccharide); approximately 20 μg of CRM197 carrier protein; and 0.125 mg of aluminum per 0.5 mL dose as aluminum phosphate adjuvant.
In clinical studies, the most frequently reported adverse events included injection site reactions, fever (38ºC/100.4ºF), irritability, drowsiness, restless sleep, decreased appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, and rash.

The former was from the intro page (could not open the detailed word file) and the latter from “Prescribing Information”. Hopefully that explains why more details were provided for Prevnar. According to some random report I found on the web, “Prevenar” seems to be the name used outside the U.S.. Cannot tell you how happy and grateful I was when I had these better reasons to believe that they are the same vaccine.

Maybe this sounds a little paranoid, but after this vaccine incidence, I will be much more careful when dealing with things like this. You can not be paranoid enough when it comes to child’s safty.

When calling home last night, learned that the little one caught a cold. Mom told me it’s nothing to worry about and he will get better soon. I hope so, but couldn’t stop worrying.

I couldn’t believe it’s only2 months since he started “sort-of-walking”. He’s literally running around all the time except in his sleep. In fact, sometimes he could even be bored and request somebody to hold him. The signal he gives is to walk up to you, hold your both legs, and lift his leg as if he is going to climb on you. Not only does he know how to send signals, he is surprisingly good at recieving verbal signals, too. Although he could only say “baba” and “mama” (and only at his will), he clearly knows who is who. I was really surprised that he could clearly and accurately point to the right person when asked “which one is daddy?” etc. Babies are indeed little miracles.

My only friend in this city is leaving today.  I am very sad about that, for what had happened to her in the past half year that made her life so unhappy, and for myself—her departure made me feel even lonelier here.

Life posts more and more rediculous tests, as if getting older itself is not sad enough. The world for grown-ups is so complicated, I really wish there’s a real life GA to help me figure out where is safe to stay.

Even though Lele hasn’t called me mom yet, I think he clearly knows who I am. Every friday night, with his big cute smile, he tells me “I’m very happy to see you”. I couldn’t even begin to describe to you how sweet that feels. It is literally heart melting. Babies are little miracles running around. World becomes a much better place with them.
On the other hand, my anxiety also grows day by day–how could I make his world better? how could I stay as far as possible from screwing up this privilege of being his mom? Now I begin to understand why people say kids change their lives–you just couldn’t help but want to be a better person.

I ran across a magazine today with a headline “Farming in skyscrapers” on the cover. Out of curiosity, I picked it up and flipped over the pages and was fascinated by the idea (food safety, availability to the next generation, and sustainability have become constant concerns in the back of my mind lately. I guess being a parent and living in China are the main reasons). Anyway, I think this is an interesting idea, and maybe a good topic for a teatime discussion. The idea actually has been around for a while and maybe you’ve already heard of it. I do hope this could turn out to be a good way to solve our food problem, but I also fear that this will once again lead us or our children into some unforeseeable/neglected problem fifty years later. Cautiously optimistic.