I had a major scare of my life the whole of last night night through this morning.  After a heavy lunch of Kobe beef with mashed potatoes and some mixed veggie, Cass complained to me of tummy discomfort about 2 hours after lunch.  After tummy discomfort, she  complained of chest pain.  I had given her about a quarter of a fistful of Kobe beef, cut into one-mouthful bite size. This baby with a ferocious appetite gobbled down her plate of meat very quickly and when I was busy in the kitchen, she quickly took more beef to eat and I think she must have swallowed it down her throat quickly so that she could eat more and also before I could notice her and stop her from gorging on the steak.

Throughout the afternoon through evening, she complained of tummy discomfort which started from the lower abdomen and then went up to her chest and then down to her tummy and up to the chest again.  By 8ish pm, she told me that she was very sleepy  and I got her ready for bed. But she could not sleep and kept telling me that her chest was painful.  I asked her if it was ‘little bit pain’ or ‘very pain’ but she was very edgy  and could not explain the pain to me. I massaged some tea tree oil on her chest and tummy and that seemed to soothe her a little.  It took me about 1 hour to lull and soothe her to sleep, which was something which I do not normally need to do.  At about 11:30pm, she woke up sobbing and told me that the her chest was very painful.   I panicked like mad.  I gave her some water and applied some tea tree oil from Melaleuca on her chest and abdomen and kept massaging that part of her body.  She drifted back to sleep but did not sleep well. Throughout the night, she tossed and turned and moaned in pain softly. I knew something was not right. I was scared to death and praying was the only thing I could do next. Yes, I prayed in my sleep the whole night.  I was really on the verge of asking the hubs to bring Cass to the A&E but I knew that it would be quite pointless as I have totally lost my confidence in those medical officers on duty at any private hospital after having had many disappointing emergency consultations with them, which really left a very bitter taste in my mouth up until today. I have to say that I am an even better doctor to treat my own kids and myself for minor ailments as I conduct a lot of research on any particular disorder before I consult a doctor.

At about 4ish pm, Cass woke up and complained that she was feeling very hot, although the air cond was turned on.  The hubs lowered the air cond temperature but she still fussed.  Then she grabbed her blanket and said that she wanted to go back to sleep with ma ma (hubs’ mother) in the other room.   I asked her if she still felt pain and she said not really.

I did not manage to get any sleep the whole night through 5am – the time when I have to wake up every morning to get Aly and Sher for school.  The entire night, my heart was thumping really fast and hard as i was really worried.  All sorts of negative thoughts flooded the mind of this hypochondriac — cancer, heart attack, hole in heart, kidney failure and I tried to track back what she ate and did the whole of Sunday.  After trying to put together the chronological of events that transpired on Sunday, I was suddenly very certain that Cass has heart burn or indigestion. I knew it as I had heart burn when I was pregnant with Alycia.  All the symptoms that Cass was having from tummy discomfort to that pain in the chest were symptoms of heart burn!  After trying to fix the puzzle of events in my head, I deduced that the overloading of the heavy protein of Kobe beef (which was pretty oily and heaty) with mashed potatoes was the main culprit.  I had read somewhere many times that we should not eat a heavy meal of protein with potatoes at the same time.

Read this:
Eating protein and Carbs together may complicate digestion!

Carbohydrates and protein are digested differently, so by consuming them together, it may make digestion more complicated. Several diets have come out based around this concept and state that if you separate carbohydrates from protein, you will lose weight.

This concept was first suggested when William Howard Hay followed a diet that didn’t allow you to eat starches and proteins at the same meal, which resulted in him losing 50 pounds in 3 months, and also treated his medical conditions of heart and kidney disease. This was later named the Hay diet. Several other diets based around this theory have come out since.

 http://www.caloriesecrets.net/should-you-eat-protein-and-carbs-together/

This morning, so soon as I got up at 5am, I quickly google searched more information on heart burn and indigestion.  My suspicion was confirmed. Indeed Cass has heart burn looking at all her symptoms and the events that transpired on Sunday.  This morning, she was as active as a cheeky pup again.  The pain is now totally gone.  I gave her some papayas for breakfast, to neutralize the acid in her body. She also ate a slice of white bread with my mum’s homemade kaya and a diluted mug of organic soy bean milk.

This will be a big reminder to me that I should never serve Cass with a huge portion of steak with potatoes ever again.  While some people may be able to tolerate it, some people might not, especially for a 4yo girl. Gosh I tell you, I was scared to death. And PTL God for saving Cass !