We spent the night in the hotel room with towels and diapers everywhere, plastic bags of biohazards stashed aside and a big dustbin right beside the bed for Alfee to bend over. I had to hold him many times over the bin and bags to vomit. His poor body went limb he couldn't even stand after the episodes of spasm. And of course, he suckled all night. I was thankful he hasn't weaned off breast milk, at least he has enough fluid and nourishment to sustain him.
Sophie started off with a bit of diarrhoea in the morning. Then her turn came. She started feeling queazy and weak. Then she vomited. We actually thought we could manage two sick kids and went to the museum. I even brought all my medicine for them to take. Well, at the museum we bought some hot chocolate in hope to coax her into drinking her medicine. We were creating a scene and soon, the staff came to tell us not to consume anything outside the cafe. He was concerned that we might dirty the floor. Reluctant, desperate and pissed, I grabbed everything and moved into the cafe. CK was also very stressed out and he almost yelled at him as well.
After some time, Sophie finally swallowed her medicine and we moved on to the entrance of the museum. However, Sophie vomited just before we entered. I was too late to contain the vomit despite the bag in my hand. Some unfortunate tourists even stepped right into it. Some gave snorts of sensitive laughter or acted disgusted by the foul partially digested hot chocolate on the floor, but they quickly lowered their heads and walked off quietly when I gave them the glare and threatened to let Sophie vomit on them silently.
The first aid staff were very helpful actually. We were quickly ushered to the first aid room for Sophie to rest. They helped us clean up and advised us on medical facilities available to us. Then they even hailed a cab for us to take Sophie to a nearby clinic. We were told that the clinic is sufficient to treat her and the hospital A&E might be too crowded. Thus, off we went... returned the entrance tickets with refund and sent the kids to the clinic.
We spent the entire afternoon in the clinic. The kids had caught the stomach flu from me and Sophie got hit the hardest. Her initial flu was still lingering so she could not fight the another virus. We were advised to let her go on a drip to speed up her recovery. Fortunately, she was asleep when we were there. The wonderfully skilled nurse managed to insert the drip without waking her up at all.
Meanwhile, we had to feed Alfee with the medication prescribed. Essentially, they were given pills crushed and mixed. We had a very difficult time forcing it into them. Sophie woke up a bit disoriented but alright. She didn't cry or panic in any way. She was very brave and steady. She just complained of boredom and itch on her hand. She was super grouchy though.
We could only briefly inform my brother about our whereabouts. So, our driver had to comb the area to pick us up. We waited for a while for the medical documents for our insurance claim. And all this time, both kids didn't eat anything. They were just tired and grouchy. Our driver's service was terminated today. He was very disappointed that he couldn't go to certain tourist attractions because we were sick. In fact, he confessed that he agreed to this job mainly because he wanted to take a look at those places. That was why he tried to convince us to go regardless of the kids' condition. Frankly, that really pissed me off but I kept my cool. I had no time or energy to lash out at him.
We felt so bad that we took them out to buy toys that night. I was prepared to buy almost anything for them. I was heartbroken to see both kids in pain, especially Sophie. Sophie was so angry with everything that happened to her that she just acted like a spoilt brat. She picked her toys but there was no smile on her face. It's more like her own way of getting back at the bad things that had happened to her.
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