Persistent cough and a very old PD

As Cayen's cough didn't improve despite the four weeks of Chinese medicine (there was one juncture it almost disappeared but it came back the last minute), my mum suggested to track down this PD I used to see when I had a persistent cough when I was a kid.

Miraculously we found that the clinic is still there, and the PD still surviving after thirty odd years ...so so we went. We described all his symptoms and received the diagnosis that this didn't look like an infection but an allergy and it looks like it could be triggered by persistent exposure to air con (oops, guilty) , and perhaps dust / other allergens (possible .. cox he used to have eczema / allergy to milk when very young) .. Hence, we were advised to wean him off aircon (this is going to be real challenge as he can't really take high or even moderate room temperature very well). Finally, he ended the session by showing us how to "slap" the phlegm out of the system using cupped hands on the back which he was able to convince Cayen to let him do. 

We left with three small bottles of medicine and a $90+ bill. Apparently , the bottles looked the same as the one I took when I was a kid, but the bill was three times higher after nearly 30 years. 

There were three colours, pink, yellow and black. The first two should be quite sweet and the last bitter. Hence, when we meet Ah Zang (my bro in law), he asked Cayen if he could eat his medicine, Cayen said "yes, I drink the yellow one, you drink the black one". Ah Zang asked why . Cayen paused a little and said, " Because I'm wearing yellow and you are wearing black". We all rolled over laughing at his nonsense but funny excuse. 

After taking the medicine for three days, the cough has decreased considerably and we went back for another visit. Again, doctor was able to perform the back slapping action on him one more time (at home, he was unwilling to let anyone do it). So we took home one more course of medicine for another three days (today is the last) and I think the cough and phelgm has finally disappeared. 

However, he had taken such a liking to some of the flavours of the medicine that when he heard us discussing if we should feed him the last spoonful since his cough seemed to be gone (we purposely whispered in hokkien hoping he wouldn't know), but still he purposely coughed and "ahem" to show he's still eligible for the medicine. What a cheeky boy! 


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