Healthcare options; art, lessons and life combine

There seems to be a real split here on how to handle illness. There's the home, holistic, organic treatment crowd, of which my wife is a member and I'm on the fringe. These folks don't go to doctors or clinics much, except in an emergency, and prefer homemade remedies consisting of teas, roots, flowers and such. They'll go to the internet on occasion, but tend to stay within their own culture and associates, often on Zalo or Facebook. I'll use any online advice I deem appropriate and end up applying ice to 75 percent of my ailments. Unlike Peru, where the pharmacists would provide decent suggestions or advice, the pharmacists here haven't been particularly helpful to me, often giving hand waves and suggesting medicine not relating to my problem. When I try to speak Vietnamese, it only makes matters worse. No doubt a language thing. My Spanish seemed to be understood at times. The clinic/hospital advocates here understandably consist of many elderly people, but not exclusively. I mentioned my son's coughing and upset stomach to a young woman who suggested I take him to the hospital for chest X-rays. I appreciate her concern but thought X-rays weren't necessry at this point. Besides, hospitals are full of sick people. I guess you could have a family doctor, but I've never heard of anyone having one. Still, most medicines are considerably cheaper here than in the U.S.  My glaucoma eye drops cost about 75 percent less here than in the U.S. For now, I'll stick with the Internet and cheap meds.
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 Homeschooling is going surprisingly well with my daughter, who remains focused on drawing and coloring animals, especially Komodo dragons and iguanas. But she has also combined art ideas with our lessons on landforms and illnesses due to poor nutrition, telling me "I have to draw a Komodo on a plateau with goiter." She never did draw the elevated, iodine-deficient Komodo dragon, but she drew more than 20 miniature  book covers on one sheet of paper; each one focuses on different aspects of her life, art and school the past few weeks. If you look close enough you can see a shark and whale breaching, a reading tiger, king Komodo and frog, the Lorax, and even Horton holding a clover with the Who on board. Joanna is approaching 6 years old -- hard to believe -- and she's really changed for the better but remains as quirky as ever. No real peers or organized outdoor activites may contribute to a little frustration at times.
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  Speaking of frustration, I let my emotions get the better of me for the first time in a long while. A car came off the street onto the sidewalk where Joanna and I were walking to get a birthday gift for my wife.  The car started backing up toward us, so I held up the umbrella I was carrying and yelled as politely as you can yell, "Careful, there's two people here." At that, the car accelerated a little so Joanna and I moved to the side and I asked the guy "what's up, man?" He gave a mean-looking stare like I was in the wrong. That's when I lost it and shouted profanity-laced invectives at him and stared that loser down. And loser is the right word for someone who drives on a sidewalk, accelerates toward a father and his 5-year-old daughter after the father shouts "careful" and then tries to give the father the awkward eye. My daughter laughed hysterically at my vulgar behavior and language. That helped calm me down and we continued our walk to get Phuong's gifts. I'm sure Joanna will remember every inappropriate word I used, including the mother of all curse words. My $#@^%* bad.
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Our son Elijah has been pretty sick this past week with a horrible cough, runny nose and vomiting for a few days. He really hasn't eaten much, and when he does he spits up pretty quickly. He still causes mischief around the house, but without the usual elan he exhibits. Too bad there isn't a magic wand or way to make a sick child instantly better. It's so tough to watch.
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 We had the mother of all birthday parties this past week for the mother of Joanna and Elijah. It's been a tough week for Phuong with Elijah being sick and not sleeping much. Good thing she's still a young woman -- she needs the energy to handle Elijah. I got her some headphones, fancy bath soaps and sponge, and a computer table so she can lie in bed and use her laptop. I cooked -- nothing new there -- and Phuong's aunt made a fabulous cake -- nothing new there, either.. It was a wonderful little gathering; I wish Elijah felt better. Anyway, hope you had the happiest of happy birthdays Phuong, and many, many more.

Adapting to rainy season; feet don't fail me now

The early arrival of the rainy season has forced a few minor lifestyle adjustments. Sometimes I'll take an umbrella on afternoon walks with the kids, or only one of our two children will accompany me. I've been fortunate because I haven't been caught out in the rain with both children. Joanna and I have been stranded a couple of times already, and once we had to walk home from the swimming  pool -- about 1.5 kilometers  -- in a steady rain.  Yeah, we were already wet from swimming .... and there was no thunder or lightning so it wasn't scary.  But for whatever reason, whenever we're out in the rain we invariably get sniffles and sneezes the next day.  Since Covid still lurks here, that's a mild concern.  But with three shots and a couple of mysterious illnesses to my credit, I don't worry too much. I have enough other health issues to keep me occupied.  And Joanna seems to have an iron constitution. Just to be safe, we wear masks everywhere and keep plenty of orange juice in the fridge, which we guzzle after long walks. There's always a warm bath or shower to finish things up.
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The shoes I ordered from Softstar Shoes in Oregon that are supposed to relieve tailor's bunion discomfort finally arrived via DHL They were stuck in Ho Chi Minh City customs for a while, so I called DHL customer service and the shoes arrived the next day. And the DHL driver's assistant or whatever he was gave me three DHL pens, which thrilled my ever-drawing daughter to the max. Good job by DHL. Anyway, I look like I have duck feet now -- hence, the Oregon ducks -- but so what; I walk pain-free on our hardest of hard floors. Walking barefoot or with so-called sports sandals in our house gave me nothing but pain. The duck shoes were pricey, and so were the customs fees, but worth it in the end. The internet suggested the shoes, ice soaks and pain relievers; all have helped. Walking is essential here, and I prefer to do it without pain.
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My wife brought home some sesame flower buds from the park and she says they have medicinal value, claiming that they help with skin issues. She put quite a few of them in Joanna's bath and the skin issues our daughter had after swimming in a pool -- I suspected chlorine as the cause -- have disappeared. The flower buds are all over the street and park. I'm a believer and will try them on the scars on my nose left by heat rash and infection.
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Joanna loves checking out the fish tanks at Mega Mart, especially the ones with sturgeon and lobster. A dad came up to the tanks with his son, reached in and pulled out a sturgeon and tried to hand it to my daughter. She squealed in delight, but didn't touch the fish.  That struck me as funny since she touches fish whenever she can at coffee shops like Kim Koi or Gosanke. The guy also pulled out a lobster to more squeals of delight.

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I bought science text books at the local book store to assist with my homeschooling. The books aren't too corny and include stickers, which all kids like.  We've had lessons on obesity and nutrition, diseases, planets and seasons.  They're OK lessons. Joanna likes the books because they're her books, not random papers from the printer. They give her a sense of ownership and independence. We had a major breakthrough this week. I left the room and Joanna continued her work -- identifying singular and plural nouns, and verbs, in sentences -- by herself. That type of independent work was a first. She'll draw and color by herself all the time, but she's never done stuff like English and math without prodding and supervision ... until now.

Worrisome future for kids; bad reaction; go-to doctor

I wonder and worry about what kind of world my children will be growing up in  ,... actually, not just my children but everyone's children, and grandchildren as well. I chatted briefly with a friend about this. We're seeing a war of horrible atrocities in Ukraine that threatens to expand, a bitter political divide in the U.S., a virus that hasn't gone away yet, climate issues, and tensions between the U.S. and China. Who knows what's on the horizon. Adding to my gloom is being unable to get my wife a visa and take our two children to the United States. We can't even get a rejection on the waiver for a visa, which God knows we don't want.  A decision may not come for another five months at least. Covid and now refugees from Afghanistan and Ukraine are possibly contributing to the delay in a decision on my wife's waiver. Those folks are obviously in a worse situation than we are, so there's no complaint on our part about refugees being a priority. We just want our children educated in the U.S., especially our daughter, who speaks, reads, and writes splendidly in English, but not so much in Vietnamese; I'm not sure why, but that's the reality. The one school here that conducts classes solely in  English costs about $20,000 USD a year; I'm not sure why, but that's also the reality. My concerns are more selfish than survival, but my children will need every advantage to face and overcome the challenges of a world in flux.
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My daughter had a reaction to the chlorine in the swimming pool we go to -- at least I believe it was the chlorine -- with red bumps pretty much all over her body. There was no itching or pain, and the bumps are subsiding. But still. I wasn't affected, but Joanna spent a little more time in the water. Next time, we'll try bathing with a special soap immediately after she's out of the pool. Applying vaseline petroleum jelly beforehand is recommended, but vaseline is difficult to get here. I really want her to play in the pool because it helps a very energetic child burn off energy, and most importantly, she enjoys it. We'll try again once the bumps go away.
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The Internet really has become my go-to "doctor" here. I try to use my experience and logic as well, with less success. Dr. Internet (I call her Dr. I for short) believes the nasty pain on the outside of  my left foot near my little toe is a tailor's bunion. It comes from walking way too much in inappropriate shoes, and genetics. My Ukrainian mom had foot issues. Anyway, Dr. I recommends 10 minutes of ice application to my sore foot three times a day and she also says to take anti-inflammatories and get more comfortable shoes. Being a good patient, I've been icing and drugging, and my shoes hopefully will arrive in a week or two. I can walk with a little less pain now, so I think Dr. I is on to something.
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Delivery service here is very iffy for items coming from out of the country. Services like DHL and FedEx now want passport number, bank account statements and proof of purchase to get items out of Vietnamese customs. The eight books I ordered for my kids arrived this week; bunion-friendly shoes should be coming in the next couple of weeks. I ordered four books three months ago that never came -- lost $85 on that deal. I don't care about the money because I really wanted the kids to get those books. .... My Kindle streak is at 851 days in a row. Alexander Hamilton has reeled me in. .... My son Elijah loves all music. His favorite is Vivaldi's Spring. Excellent taste. He loves dancing, too, but to his credit he doesn't dance to Vivaldi; he just listens.

Covid still lurks; sketchbook helps conserve paper

My wife Phuong got her Covid booster shot with minimal side-effects. Good for her. I've read where a fourth shot or second booster might be beneficial to someone over 60, which means I'll be a human pin cushion if that's what is necessary to eliminate or minimize the impact of Covid. The virus still has life here, with close to 70,000 new cases a day. The total number of cases is now at 9.7 million. Schools go on and off quite frequently due to the virus. Masks remain in vogue for most of the general public. Businesses are very slowly returning to something resembling normal, but people must still be a little jumpy about Covid because our park remains relatively quiet and the swimming pool we go to has only a handful of people. But the coffee and milk tea shops here, which are something of an economic barometer, are drawing more and more customers.
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My daughter Joanna's love of drawing, coloring and painting led to a minor dispute. Being a temperamental artist, she won't use two sides of a paper. I complained about waste. She can be overly fastidious at times, so I suspect that if the paper isn't absolutely, perfectly clean, she simply refuses to draw on both sides. She'll snatch clean sheets off the printer and she refuses to conserve despite talks about trees, waste and expense. At the mall bookstore I bought a good-sized sketchbook with about 15 pages. After two days, she's done elaborate drawings and colorings using only two pages. In the past, she would use between 15 to 20  pages over two days -- at least.  Maybe the larger size of paper and finite aspect of the sketch book has forced a change of attitude. The drawings are little stories and describe much of what we've learned in class. I say 'we' because so much of what 'we' study is as new to me as Joanna. Anyway, so far so good with the sketch book.
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My daughter saw her first motorbike accident here ... and I hope it'll be her last but I won't hold my breath. A guy came off the sidewalk and merged into a guy coming down the street at a good clip right next to us. The guy on the street stopped his bike but the guy who merged into him didn't look at him and rode away, which probably means he was in the wrong. I thought he was. Joanna just watched the proceedings and didn't say anything.
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Joanna and I returned to swimming this past week because Joanna is antsy and bored. Also, dancing at homeschool doesn't spin her beanie so much and there's no real playground in our area where kids gather. So we walk to Pegasus, a residential high-rise with a pool on the seventh floor. After some bouncing around the pool we go to the overpriced Japanese bakery across the street and Joanna eats a hot dog and pastry. I'm hoping the swimming helps my foot, which still hasn't recovered a from a marathon walk with Joanna last week to Lido and beyond. Ah, the Golden Years.