Smee is Sick

As I type this, I have a sick Smee sleeping rather peacefully beside me. Not quite snoring yet but lucky for him, I'm a heavy sleeper. He's unfortunate enough to have come down with an appetite-reducing fever and general lethargy.

While I was out with Lil Miss J at her final work drinks, my phone started ringing. Expecting a Nando's request, it was much to my surprise to hear Smee say 'Smee, I'm really sick. I went home at 1pm today *cough, cough* '. So off I trotted home to don my nurses outfit, where I was greeted with a feverish, sweaty Smee bundled up in the doona. Hmmmmmmmmmm, I have never seen him so weak and pathetic. It would have been a most advantageous time to wreak havoc, but given that I'm not such a person *tee hee* I instead, did my best to make him feel a little better.

After taking a little bit of a history, I discovered that Smee went home at 1pm at the insistence of work colleagues and upon arriving home, he collapsed/fainted into bed and had not eaten all day. After offering him some water (which he refused), offering some soup (refused again), I did the asian thing and cooked some congee, which he also refused. Given that he had a burning fever, a compress was placed on his forehead. I dunno, are you meant to do that for a fever? You see it in the movies all the time. Anyway, it didn't seem to hurt him.

Hmmmm, a person with a fever will usually feel better after some rest, but I still wanted to exhaust my options of symptomatic relief. Fluid offerings didn't work. Congee, the ultimate Asian-Cure-All didn't work. There was minimal relief with the compress. What next? Aaaaah, how could I forget my pharmacology lectures? Paracetamol!! The anti-pyretic!! This would make him feel better! We're so lucky to have a Tescos downstairs.

After returning, I recalled what I used to have done whenever I had a fever as a child. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm "Cao Gio" - coin scraping with a Chinese Oil.... mmmmmmmmmm therapeutic. As a person of western medical teachings, I'm not sure how or why this always managed to make me feel better but I don't care!!! This treatment rocks!!!

Not for the squeamish, this is what happened to Smee's back after I rubbed it with a coin and some Chinese medicated oil:

Cool eh? Red = sick. Not red = not sick. I'm SOOOO a Doctor.

I've always thought that this was common practice amongst all Asians, but it seems as though only the Viets and Indos know what I'm talking about (hi Lil Miss J! hi bao!). Anyone of Malaysian Chinese or Honkie descent think I'm freaking mad. I have not asked a mainlander yet.

Now, because I'm a nerd, I had to do a bit of research into this treatment to quell my desire to understand it's mechanisms. Here's the ever *reliable* Wiki entry. And look!! I even found a semi-medical, not-quite-medical-journal-quality review of the treatment. While neither articles are overly conclusive, I am still quite happy to perform this voodoo on others as well as be the recipient. Even if it's just a placebo, it's a damn effective one!!

By the way, Smee did feel a lot better immediately after coin rubbing. But I did give him the paracetamol anyway.