The Scare

So, about two weeks ago, I had quite a scare. And no, I'm not talking about turning 41. Although come to think of it, that can also be a scary proposition. What with osteoporosis, menopause, memory gap (ok, wider memory gaps) in the offing. Thank God, my body doesn't feel like it's in forties yet. Woe to you who says I look like I'm 40 or older. Grrr.... :-)

Anyway, my earlier post about Sarah being sick did turn out to be dengue! I don't know where she got it. We stayed put most of the summer, with a few trips to Lola Mama's house in Marikina and to the mall. Still we are mobile, and the mosquitoes are mobile and then wham! Somewhere in the universe, the twain did meet.To make it worse, damn mosquito wasn't content to bite just one kid. She had to have a taste of Kahlo, too. So it was that I spent the week of my birthday in the hospital. (For a timeline of events, you can view my KiDS' blog here.)

It's not easy taking care of a sick child, so I am grateful for the efficient staff at SDS. I am glad that is not a teaching hospital because I do not think I could have tolerated interns coming in every 30 minutes to "check" on the patient. Still, since I took care of them full-time (DH had to earn money to pay for the hospital bills hehe), I had to find ways to entertain myself. I finished the Chronicles of Narnia (yes, all the seven books) in 4 days. And on the 5th day, DH smuggled in our DVD player, so Sarah and Kahlo were able to watch Pokemon (sadly, no cable in the hospital.) I also managed to watch Season 3 of The Closer.

But all's well that ends well, the KiDS are fine now, and I am one happy albeit tired and older Mama. The good thing, I discovered this small restaurant at the back of the hospital called Qizia. They serve really good pesto pasta and at really cheap prices, too. Didn't have a chance to take food photos cause I usually ate in the hospital room in styropor packs. Not very picture-worthy but oh so delicious.

So one life challenge hurdled. School will start this Monday, so I expect more challenges on the way. Heaven help me!

BTW, I did have some sort of a birthday party before we went to the hospital, thanks to Ching, who so kindly turned a welcome salo-salo for herself to an impromptu bday party for me. They even got me a birthday cake, and a really cool present which I will brag about, I mean blog about later. :-) Ching is a scrapbooker based in the US who came home to the Philippines with her family for a brief vacation. Nina and I went all the way to Novaliches to meet her and her husband Bob. We had a lot of fun meeting them. They're really such a sweet couple.