Lately...

This week we experienced going to the Dr. and the hospital for the first time in Japan. Nothing serious happened, but Brayden had the typical fever and cold symptoms for the third time this month. So I finally took him to the Dr. to make sure it wasn't developing into anything worse. The teachers at the daycare told me where to go and called to make an appointment for me. An employee at our school who speaks fairly good English went to the appointment with me to help translate, although the Dr. spoke a little English himself. The Dr.'s office was just like any pediatrician's office you would find in America--lots of kids and a fun looking waiting room with toys. The Dr. prescribed him an antibiotic which I went ahead and took because I was tired of Brayden being sick so often. They make/have all their medicines on hand so I got those in about 5 minutes and didn't have to go to another location for them. And, the total cost was really cheap, considering I had no proof of insurance (yet) and went home with two medications. That is one thing that is cheap here--healthcare. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but you can buy into their national insurance, which I believe is based on your income. From there on they pay 70% of health related costs. Anyways, he had a fever the rest of that day, and most of the next day. He just laid in my arms and slept most of the day and was very inactive. By the time we put him to bed on Tuesday night he was breathing really fast and shallow. A few hours later I counted his breaths per minute and I counted 80! I counted it several times and got an average of about 75 breaths per minute. Thats why we decided to take him to the hospital. I could not go to sleep knowing he was breathing like that all night long. I was worried he was getting pneumonia or something. The Dr. at the hospital listened to his chest and said it sounded fine, and that his breathing was fast because he had a little bronchitis. He also said he had a little ear infection, but basially sent us home and said there wasn't much he could do. We just had to keep an eye on him, continue the meds he was already on and wait it out. So we did, and the next day his fever went away and he was up and playing much more! It always seems to happen like that--they get really sick and scare you right before they turn the corner and start to get better! He is back to normal now and is playing/eating/sleeping like he always does. I hope the sick stuff going around is done for now, and that with the Spring coming soon we can be healthy for a while!!