The bad month of September, has and shall now come to a close.

It was a rough September for me, as each household member took turns to either fall ill or hospitalised. It started with me, when I was hospitalised for sudden excruciating pain in the abdomen. It happened one weekend midnight just as I was preparing for bed. It came all too sudden, and I was crunched up in pain, like I was in labour. Believe me when I said it was worse than labour pains itself. An immediate painkiller was administered into me as soon as I reached the emergency department, and the doctors and specialists took almost a day to figure out what the pain was all about. After many tests and scans, I was finally diagnosed with a cyst rupture in the ovaries. Ah-huh, that fully explained the crazy labour pains I experienced!

A week after I was discharged, the husband woke up one morning totally immobilized by a sharp pain in his upper back. I had to rush him to the A&E, with fears of all the illnesses coming to mind. Slipdisc, stroke, paralysis, what exactly was causing this immobility! Fortunately, he was diagnosed with accumulative muscle strain on his upper back and was advised by the kind doctor to have plenty of rest and do nothing that was strenuous or exhausting. We decided to seek traditional chinese medicine for his situation, to help ease up the strain and allow for quick recovery. Who would have thought, the acupuncture caused further immobility for another five days, but it was all worth it. The husband was granted a "new" back after that.

Just as we thought September would ease up already, and we could jolly well head out for a good much deserved family outing... our boys were struck with the all dreaded Hand, Foot, Mouth disease. It all started one night when the littlest one was awoken up from his sleep with a 39 degree fever. Then came the loss of appetite, which we taught perhaps was caused by the fever so we did not think much about it. And then the loss of appetite became NO appetite at all, and we almost rushed him to the hospital for fear of dehydration because he was not eating nor drinking anything for almost a day. The husband, a paramedic, used his knowledge to good use and checked his tonsils for signs of a sore throat. Alas, he confirmed that the son indeed did have sore tonsils so we brought him to the doctor that very day.

After a thorough check, the general practitioner informed us that our littlest is down with HFMD which caught me by total surprise because I have always thought that these sicknesses are only rampant in schools. My sons are not attending school, neither have they been playing at the playground so I was baffled that they could actually catch it still. Well, apparently the doctor informed us the HFMD is on the rise now, and can happen to anyone who does not practice hygiene. I guess that summed it all up, because this particular son of mine is a very dirty sensorial boy.

So we ended our September with a ten day quarantine which is quite the bummer because Children's Day is just around the corner, and there are activities catered for little children all around our sunny island. We are definitely keeping our fingers crossed that the boys will be cleared of HFMD as the weekend approaches! To think I was chanting Wake Me Up When September Ends the whole month, and here it is, October is finally here. I am hoping for a robust October ahead!