Just as Sophia reached the bus stop downstairs, she noticed a mother holding a two- or three-year-old boy, anxiously trying to Call a taxi by the roadside.
Sophia glanced at the child and noticed he seemed weak, lying listlessly in his mother’s arms, his face pale and spiritless.
“Benjamin, hold on! Mommy is going to get a taxi and take you to the hospital right away!”
The mother kept trying to flag down a car, but it was the weekend, and all the passing taxis were full. She tried for a while without success, growing more frantic to the point of tears.
“Benjamin! Just hold on a bit longer; Mommy will carry you there!”
As she was about to run forward with the child in her arms, Sophia stopped her.
Benjamin’s mother looked at Sophia in confusion.
Sophia smiled and asked, “Is your child running a fever?”
“Yes!” The mother’s eyes filled with tears. “He’s been feverish for days; it keeps coming and going. We don’t know what’s causing it.”
Sophia smiled gently, observing the child for a moment. She lifted his hand, examining his fingerprints, and then said with a calm smile:
“It’s nothing serious; no need to worry.”
Benjamin’s mother froze at her words. “Not serious? Are you a doctor? Can you diagnose him?”
Sophia nodded with a smile, rolling up her sleeves. “I’m a traditional medicine doctor.”
“Traditional medicine?” Benjamin’s mother noted her graceful demeanor and assumed she must be a student from a local traditional medicine clinic. She quickly asked, “Could you take a look at my child and see what’s wrong?”
Sophia observed the child carefully without taking his pulse. In traditional medicine, doctors rarely take pulses for infants and young children, as they often struggle to communicate their symptoms clearly. Pediatrics is sometimes called the “silent department” in traditional medicine because young children cannot articulate their ailments, and their pulse can be hard to interpret. Thus, diagnosis often relies on observation and other non-invasive techniques.
Sophia noticed the child’s labored breathing and irregular rhythm. His body was flushed, an obvious sign of fever.
She placed her hand on his back to check, finding him burning hot.
When a child falls ill, it feels like the world is crashing down for the parents. They can’t communicate where they’re hurting, and everyone, from the doctors to the parents, feels anxious. A fever isn’t inherently frightening, but understanding its cause is essential, especially when it’s a recurring fever with no apparent reason.
“Has he taken any medication?”
“Yes, he’s had fever reducers, and we checked his blood, but there was nothing abnormal. The fever just won’t go away!”
The child was visibly suffering, huddled in his mother’s arms, unable to express where he felt uncomfortable. Sophia felt sorry for the little one.
As she pondered, the child suddenly began to twitch, his eyes rolling back.
Panicking, the mother cried out, “What’s happening to my child? Why is he having seizures? Is he…is he dying?”
Sophia frowned and instructed, “Place the child on the bench!”
“Should I call an ambulance?”
Sophia shook her head firmly. “No need! Just give me five minutes!”
Benjamin’s mother was at a loss, pacing around in distress. Her child was convulsing and burning up, but this young woman was stopping her from calling an ambulance.
“I should go to the hospital. What if something happens to him…”
Before she could finish, Sophia gently lifted the boy’s shirt, placing her warm palm on his abdomen, and began massaging it while pressing specific acupoints.
The mother watched, unsure of which acupoints Sophia was pressing, but she noticed her skillful movements. Sophia’s hands appeared both firm and gentle, methodically massaging the child’s stomach. Initially, the boy resisted, but her touch seemed to comfort him, and soon he relaxed, even looking somewhat pleased.
The mother’s heart began to settle.
Suddenly, Sophia pressed an acupoint near the boy’s navel.
A loud noise followed, accompanied by a foul smell—the boy had a bowel movement!
The mother froze, startled by the sudden “event.” How did a simple massage lead to the child’s bowel movement?
But the surprises weren’t over yet.
The boy continued to release gas, followed by more bowel movements. It lasted a while, completely soiling his pants. Thankfully, he was wearing a diaper, preventing any major embarrassment.
Most astonishingly, once he finished, his convulsions stopped, and his body temperature had dropped significantly.
“This…”
Sophia explained, “Based on your child’s symptoms, I determined his fever was caused by food accumulation. This type of fever often recurs. If the waste isn’t completely expelled, the fever won’t go away. I performed a pediatric massage to help him release the stool. If all goes well, his fever should subside shortly.”
The mother listened in amazement. She suddenly recalled that her child loved eating, and over the past two months, with summer fruits abundant, he had been snacking constantly, interested in everything he could try. But a child’s digestive system isn’t as developed as an adult’s, and overeating could indeed lead to food accumulation. The hospital’s modern approach only focused on treating the fever with medication, which clearly hadn’t addressed the root cause. She had never realized that a simple pediatric massage could resolve it.
“So…my child will be alright now?”
“Barring any surprises, yes.” As she spoke, the child coughed a couple of times. Sophia checked him again and added, “He’s had this cough for a while, hasn’t he?”
The mother stared in surprise. “How did you know?”
In fact, the boy had been occasionally coughing since spring. She’d taken him to the hospital multiple times, but the tests always came back normal. The doctors said it wasn’t serious, but she hadn’t expected this young doctor to see through it at a glance.
“For a mild cough, I could treat it with massage, but this has lingered too long. Prolonging it further won’t be good for him. Come to my clinic, and I’ll prepare some herbal medicine to apply to his throat.”
Back at the clinic, Sophia prepared an herbal formula, ground it into a powder, and applied it to the acupoint on the child’s throat.
