Sunday, February 24, 2013

On Croup and Baby Doctors

I hope your child never becomes seriously ill in Karachi because medical services here are pretty awful. My siblings and I were lucky growing up. Mom being a doctor used to treat us and for anything mildly serious, her network of med-school friends would make themselves available at a moment's notice.

Baby M had mild fever for almost a week. The doctor prescribed ponstan and tylenol and it went away but came back again after a couple of days. His cough worsened and one night, the poor kid couldn't sleep as he coughed, coughed and coughed until he almost choked. We'd taken him to the paediatrician earlier that evening but she put it down to allergies... Turns out it was croup!

The doctor prescribed clenil compositum (I didn't know it was a steroid until I googled it later). I continued giving him steam and in the end, the illness ran its course. After many sleepless nights, Baby M is much better now Mashalah.

Sometimes, I question my decision to return to work.. It's tough juggling work and baby. I know family will always come first but it's going to affect my appraisal and at the end of the day, I know I'm going to feel pretty awful when my colleagues are getting promoted and receiving bonuses and I'm not :s

Should I continue working knowing I'm not going to be able to put in late nights and weekends, knowing I'll have to take time off to take my baby to the doctor or stay home with him when he's unwell and still feel guilty at the end of the day for not spending enough time with him?

1 comment:

  1. Maybe you can work part-time instead of full-time. And I may not have the right ambitions but it's really not that big a deal if you don't get the promotion because you chose to look after your family first. I mean, everybody's circumstances are different, and if you're putting in your best, that should be fulfilling in of itself.

    Don't know if I made any sense here :)

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