On Sick Babies and New Apartments

Good Ol' Mukonoso! "It's Very Nice!"

Well, this is the first real, non-video game related post I've made since moving into the new apartment. Hooray for much smaller and slightly smellier apartments! I only say smellier because of the rice fields next door that get a healthy dose of manure daily! Woo hoo!

It's a nice place and all, and a hell of a lot more convenient than the last place. Cheaper, too. I could do without the Yankee and Big-Car Driving hosts of our building, but what are you going to do? (I hate young people!)

Everytime I mention to Japanese co-workers that I now live ing Mukonoso, everyone immediately tells me that, 'OOOH! That's a very nice place!" When upon asking if they've ever been there, they so no. And I don't see why anyone would want to go, except to spend time with friends or relatives. There's no real appeal. It's a nice small city, but nothing extra ordinary.

My Poor Poor Squidgle

Nolan's been a bit under the weather these days. Last Monday, he started coughing and choking on his milk. After drinking, and for a long time after that, he would have terribly painful gas that refused to come out. Patting and rubbing his back only seemed to make it worse. This pain and constant crying would then make him ridiculously sleepy, which would make the crying worse.

This, of course, has lead to my wife having several panic attacks and generally being stressed out for the past week. Not a minute goes by that she isn't constantly checking on him. I tell her, whenever possible, that she shouldn't drive herself crazy over this. We know he's sick. We know we don't know what to do right now. Making yourself nuts over this situation is no good for her OR the baby. Of course, this doesn't always work.

We've been to two pediatric clinics in the area. Both times, the doctors would listen to the heart and check his throat. Both times they would give a superiorly vague analysis, then throw a bunch of medicine our way. Hooray for the Japanese medical system, where in order for a clinic to survive, a doctor must say little and push drugs! Sounds eerily like another country I know. I don't want to name names, but it's initials are The United States of America!

Anyway, towards the end of the week, we went to the local hospital where we talked to (and by we, as always, I mean my wife) a very nice pediatrician who took a lot of time to ask questions, answer ours and describe what might be happening. Today he's going back for some scheduled tests that hopefully tell us what's going on.