Croup has to be one of the WORST illnesses a child could ever get! Last week was an agonizing time for poor Lucas while this week, I struggle with a cold, keeping up with the recovered toddler and our upcoming Beijing “break” 
As I posted about symptoms of croup here, croup comes on suddenly without warning just like the winter here in Fujian.
One day we were still in t-shirts and shorts but the next day, we woke up to a chilly winter morning!
Lucas’ croup started off with a runny nose and a cough progressed this way:
Days 1-5: During the day, I’d have to hear his hoarse voice, bark-like cough and noisy, laboured breathing. The breathing sounds terrible as if he’s wheezing but other than that, he can still move about quite actively in play.
The nights were the worse because after his night milk, he’d try to go to sleep but his cough would wake him up. Also, he’d just cough, cough, cough until he vomited everything! The vomit comes up with a lot of phlegm / mucus.
Because he’d vomit at least 2 times the first few nights, the little guy developed a phobia for his night milk and falling asleep 
Hubby and I were kept busy wiping him down, changing his clothes and changing the bed sheets until one night, I was just too tired that we used bath towels as pillow cases! Hubby, caught up with conference calls and emails had to chip in too to rinse off the vomit…
Besides taking the doctor’s prescribed traditional Chinese medicine, I rubbed Vicks Vaporub on his chest, back and soles of his feet. I also hung wet towels around the room to increase the humidity, which seemed to help.
When he didn’t improve on Day 4, I decided to give him his Promethazine and Salbumatol. The Nim Jiom Pei Pa Koa was also given along with regular bottles of boiled barley juice and honey water. You can see I was getting desperate!
I boiled a soup everyday and put him on a soft diet. Since he’d throw up his dinner, I made sure he had a good lunch and tea while he only took a light dinner.
By Day 6, he was much better and back to his bouncing self. Unfortunately, I came down with a cold and a cough!
Since his kindy only allows a fee deduction for 5 consecutive days, I decided to keep him at home for the rest of this week - I can then save 2 weeks of kindy fees :S
However, imagine A HEAVY HEAD OF FLU, A STUFFY NOSE and a CRIPPLING COUGH
Answering emails, phone calls and writing, writing, writing
Cooking lunch and dinner and of course to
clean, help to pee, help to poo, wipe the butt, FEED, play, teach, read to, sing, dance, jump, SCREAM at, chase, bath a healthy, bouncy, cheeky, chatty toddler…
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Sorry to hear you’re down with a cold.. poor Lucas too… but great to hear he’s bouncing around now.. hope all the cold etc will go away soon.. take care
When it rains, it pours yah. Are you feeling better now? Oh before I forget, I usually have a bowl of water in our room to help increase the humidity, especially when we sleep with the air-con switched on nightly. Lucas is all well now, I gather?
soon you guys will be back to our weather and hopefully, no more colds. speedy recovery to you!
awwww… I hope you feel better soon! My son has done that too - cough till he throws up. I find that it helps him to be propped up in bed. Of course, he’ll slide back down & the coughing starts up again, but if I can I sleep with him and prop him up against me. The sooner he gets better, the less the chance I’ll pick up whatever he has… ((hugs))
Hope Lucas is feeling much better now.
When are you guys due back in M’sia??
Poor Lucas and mummy really seems to be getting sick one after another so frequently these days. Hugs to you two.
I know EXACTLY how you feel. I just recovered about a week or so ago, and boy was it a relief!
Thanks for all the kind comments, tips and suggestions
We are both better now and packing to go back to Ma-lai-see-ya soon.
Thosai, roti canai, teh tarik, nasi lemak, chee cheong fun, wantan mee, nasi kandar, mee goreng, rojak, Western food, char koay teow, ais kacang, ondeh-ondeh, satay etc - we’re coming to get YOU!!!!