Update

Ash was discharged on Saturday night. The main peadiatrician at SMF said that they are hoping for a natural chelation since chemical chelations have side-effects. And anyway since his blood lead level has come down from 188 to 65 ug/dl in a week, and since he doesnt seem to have any of the symptoms associated (seizures, headaches, vomiting, stomach ache etc) and is at his active best, he doesnt want to intervene. He checked with doctors at Apollo and Child Trust and various other hosps in Chennai. He will also be checking with the docs in Vellore and letting us know what to do. And we can increase iron and calcium in his diet.

The suspect for the poisoning according to them is the siddha meds we gave Ash for 3 weeks.

 

But yesterday night, Ash has developed fever, cough  and vomiting. Vomiting and stomach are symptomatic of lead poisoning, so we will be going to the dr to check on these two counts. Dr. Thomas had let us go home on Sat bcoz ash had no symptoms.

A rare case

Ash is getting admitted in hospital today. His lead in blood is still cause for concern (though not as high as the earlier value) and warrants hospitalisation. The main doctor at SMF says that he hasnt seen a lead case in 10 years while the younger ones havent seen any at all. Most of the pharmacies also dont seem to have the medicines for chelation and the doctors are waiting for a couple of them to get back with what they have.

Hoping for the best, and hoping for your best wishes and prayers.

Until I get back, bye.

The reluctant preschooler

Ashwin's lead test results will be out tomorrow evening. If the levels are alarmingly high, Dr. Thomas wants him admitted in the hospital for IV chelation on Saturday. I do not know how long the hospitalisation will be, but it means I will have to take leave in a busy week at work. My inlaws leave on Tuesday. They have been waiting for the test result to come.

***

Mira has two hours of school this week. Save for the first day, she has not been keen on going. New place, new peers - she is not sure if she is going to like it! In the morning, she tells us: "I dont want to go to school. I want to go to church (that is where all the fun is right now!) ... No, keep the school bag back on the shelf."

Today, the Gujju kid whose parents we had made friends with, was crying too in spite of being a veteran at playschool. That had Mira in tears too. When one child cries, the others join and soon there is a mass crying.

And when V goes to pick her up, she sobs and runs to him. I hope she will begin to love the place soon.

Tale of two tags

I have been tagged by Lijy to list 6 quirks of mine and by K3 to list my favorite literary characters.
I'd like to say that I'm non-quirky or just too quirky to list any 6. Or maybe my husband can enlighten me about my quirks when he has the time....

Coming to the second one - I won't say these are my favorite but these are ones that have stayed on in my mind.
1. Hester Prynne in The Scarlett Letter. I wont say I empathised with her, just that I admired her stoicism.
2. Rhett Butler (Gone with the Wind) and Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights): As someone here tells me, Rhett Butler is the kind of guy women would like to marry and Heathcliff the kind they would love to love. Maybe that is why!
3. The two men, George and Lennie, in Of Mice and Men.
4. Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair. A bit like Scarlett O'hara.
5. The Little Prince. One of my favorite books too.
6. Phantom. He symbolized the best of mystery, manliness, loyalty and adventure.

Looks like I liked the male protagonists more. Maybe it was only natural when you read these in your teens.

Pre-schooler in college

The weekend had been hectic with two kids to manage. As V says, it is like having got a new child and we are still getting used to the new responsibility. And a great responsibility it is - to maintain the special care, balanced nutrition and great love that Ash's grandparents bestowed on him. He has been returned to us with a smooth shiny skin (save for itchy patches here and there) and a healthy body. They had taken care to make up for the absence of milk and non-veg food with fruits and other vegetables at regular intervals, a time table that we will struggle to maintain and the maid would love to shirk. We have to ensure that he gets his apple and juice when we are around, as we wont know if the maid fed him or not. And the kids are too naive to tell us if they got their share or if the maid ate them all up.

Sibling battles and adult mediation is in full force once again. My head is numb when I leave for work or when I hit bed at night. We are hoping they will be too preoccupied or tired once both start school.

Mira began school at WCC today. There was only an orientation programme today, and the girls of the home science dept presented some programmes that kept the children amused and quiet. The kids got candies while the parents were given refreshments.

There are two teachers and three ayahs, two to look after the kids and one to manage the food needs. The session starts with a prayer at 8.45 am, snacks at 9.45 am, play activities until lunch at 12.30, and a nap time before heading home at 2 pm. For a week the classes are from 8.30 to 11 am. There is a separate gate to enter the nursery school and parents are by no means allowed to use the college main gate for the purpose. No fancy bags, no fancy clothes, no socks - the kids have to be comfortable when they play in the sand or learn to get things from their bags. The home science students on the nutrition and human development stream will also interact with the children on a one-to-one basis, as part of their practical learning.

In all, I think the learning experience is going to be fun and we regret not having known about it early enough to send Ash.

p.s. Just as I do on crucial occasions, I forgot to take the camera along in all the hurry burry in the morning.

The homecoming

The hero is back. With a bang. And a running nose.
As soon as he got in, and after the customary hugs, he began exploring the house and familiarising and remembering everything he had left behind. And the new stuff that came in his absence.
One person who didnt seem terribly thrilled to have Ash back was Mira. She sat glum and scowling at not being the centre of attention and did not warm up to the kiss her happy brother presented her. Anyway kids are kids, and she was last seen (when I left for work) playing with him.
Ash had his lab appointment today. The result should be ready in a few days.

Mama and Mia

Ash is coming tomorrow with his grandparents. Arent we all excited? We are sprucing up the house and planning to hide away all the daily-play plastic toys.
When V spoke to him yesterday night, Ash said: "Achacha is coming to Madras. Appa, please come to the (train) station."

We have taught Mira to respond to one basic question in English: What is your name.
And she responds: Miam.
And as an aside, she whispers to me: Appi parayalle! Appa achum. (Dont use the word Appi. Appa will beat). She has learnt it the hard way :)
Appi, the most obscene word in her vocabulary, and which she used at leisure when anyone asked her her name, is a taboo word now except when she actually wants to shit.
I am sure she will be able to comprehend and speak in English in a couple of months at the new school. Since we speak only Malayalam at home, she hasnt picked up as much English as many of her peers here do.
The name Miam gives me an idea. I am toying with the idea of calling her Mia. What say you? I dont like the chosen pet name Kripa while Mira remains only her screen name (for the blog and email correspondence). I need to call her something less babyish than Vaava soon. My dad, who doesnt like the name Kripa, calls her Maria-kutty.
But if she were to study in Kerala, she might get cat calls with a name like Mia.
Miaow!

Leaden fears

Ashwin's homecoming might happen sooner than we had planned, which was for July 7th.
The test for the lead content in his blood reveal a very high concentration that made the lab in Mumbai wonder if the child was alive at all. V spoke to the doctor at Sri Sankara who said he had a few cases, some from Indian kids in the US, but they are nowhere near the levels found in Ash. He asked us to take a second opinion before putting him on medication.
So V went to Dr. Kuruvila in the morning, who said the value could be wrong (which is what I am hoping too). He wants another test done at the earliest at Lister Lab in Chennai before starting the medication. Either of his grandparents might have to take the responsibility of bringing him here since these are busy days at work for V, June being their accounting year end. We have to plan by tonight.
While the dr. in Kerala says the problem probably started in the neo-natal stage (the traditional practitioners think it is the special ante-natal treatment that I underwent during the first pregnancy, which my gyn Dr. Nandita thinks is rubbish), Dr. KT has his doubts on the Siddha medicines Ash took for 3 weeks. Siddha, I learnt later, uses arsenic, lead, mercury and a couple of other toxic metals in small doses (homeopathy is also reported to use some of these) and since there is no quality control or dosage restrictions, people can put themselves at risk especially if they go to quacks.
Old paint and children's toys (most of which available here are Made in China) are other suspects. Save for the brief panic when Chinese-made toys were banned in the US, we have been pretty complacent. We need to identify the sources of exposure and try to eliminate them.

Light of my life

My daughter listens to the Taare Zamin Par CD quite often. She is particularly fond of Bum bum bole.

She giggles as Shankar Mahadevan reaches the Man ke andheron ko roshan sa kar dein (Fill the darkness in my heart with light) line in the title song. She knows it has something to do with her mother's name and repeats the word.

p.s. I hope I got the Hindi lines and the translation right. In spite of having studied Hindi until II B.A., my spoken Hindi is pretty pathetic.

***

Ash misses us sorely in the night. He starts sobbing, and his granpa ends up taking him for a walk at 11.30 in the night to cheer him up.

The daughter as mother

The hubby gives me a piece of his mind late last night for forgetting that I had left a saucepan of water to boil on the gas stove. I sheepishly switch it off and then bang the bedroom door behind him as he continues his harangue. I pick up the newspaper with a scowl when my two-year-old quietly opens the door and comes in.
"What happened, Amma?"
"Nothing!"
"Did Appa scold you?" she asks sympathetically.
Silence.
"Pottu, mole (doesnt matter, baby)," she consoles me.
I cant help smiling.
***
"Dochin, come here and stand. Let me take a snap," my daughter instructs me today morning. She positions my Nokia 6020 horizontally and checks the angle.
"Take off your specs. Here, give it to me". She carefully puts it aside on the table.
"Now smile." She makes a clicking sound.
"Ok, done."
***
Mira has even started barking instructions to the maid when we go out.
Wash all the plates. Fold the laundry. Wash the clothes.
***
She is already bossing over me.
"Amma, come here!" she tells me loud and sharp at a shop while the salesgirls and my sil grin in surprise.
I dont know what I will do with her in the years to come.