Life cycle

Somehow it doesn't feel like a Friday. Today, it's my colleague's turn to take the morning off to bring her mum to the hospital. Her mum has been admitted repeatedly this year due to an alarmingly low red blood count.

I feel sorry that almost all her annual leave had been spent in the hospital ward with her mum instead of an island resort with her family.

Yesterday, my brother took the morning off to bring Ting to the pediatrician again after she spent the entire night throwing up. They had just returned from a short holiday in Bintan where many happy hours were spent building sandcastles and frolicking in the pool. On the way back in the ferry, Ting's nose already started bleeding. She began coughing badly in the night and they brought her to the doctor the next day.

I feel sorry whenever I see Ting swallowing a cocktail of drugs and using the nasaliser to ease her breathing. She's turning 4 this December and though she looks so wholesome and rosy, she is often sick. When I was a kid, I was sick alot too. My grandma used to say I was like a sweet potato that looked so good outside but lacked immunity inside.

I feel sorry for Ting's parents too, having to juggle between work, the kids and doctor's fees. What to do? I remember going through the same process when my kids were growing up. It's inevitable that the kids will fall sick, and that they will pass the virus to the parents who will end up getting sick too. Annual leaves are spent tending to sick kids or nursing a bad cold at home.

Now that my kids are bigger and stronger, the attention is on my parents who have grown old and weak. It's an endless life-cycle. Before you know it, I will be the one needing medical care and attention. I just wonder if our kids will be there for us.