My poor boy had fever in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. He woke us up at 4am but surprisingly he was in a chirpy mood. We gave him 2.5 ml of paracetamol syrup and all the other medication as prescribed by Dr Angie. At 6.15am, he finally dozed off to sleep. I guess it must be the work of Hydroxyzine (my girlfriend, Dr CSY said it will cause slight drowsiness) and we hit the sack almost instantaneously.
The chronicles of what took after that is briefly outlined here:
9.30am - Had his milk and daddy took him downstairs.
10.00am - Hubby left for work.
11.30am - His fever returned and I was getting worried. Checked his temperature with the new Omron (Price: RM39) thermometer hubby bought the night before. The thermometer read 37.8 C, mild fever. Checked it couple of times. Still the same. Unsatisfied, I use the digital ear thermometer that hubby first bought (it cost about RM180) to check his temperature. A couple of readings showed his temperature to fall between 38.7 C and 38.9 C, which is actually high.
12.15pm - This made me worried. Instead of feeding him paracetamol which he totally hates. I decided to use suppository paracetamol 125 mg. I inserted the capsule-like medicine into Jacob's anus and hope for his fever to subside. We lay on the bed together and waited. Occasionally, he toss and turn and rested his head on my chest. As he was doing that, he was breathing pretty hard. He was like trying to catch his breath at every 2 seconds. Again, it worried me. So I craddled him in my arms. Then, I smell poo or maybe his fart but decided it must be the latter. Checked his diaper. My prediction was true. He pooped!! And out goes the suppository.
12.30pm - Quickly undressed him, took him to the bathroom to wash up. As I was washing his buttock, i felt the greasy suppository and yellow-greenish poo all over his buttock cheeks. Pretty gross, really. He was cranky too so it doesn't help when I'm trying hasten my job.
1.00pm - I inserted another suppository into his anus. This time, it stays. Made an appointment to see Dr Angie at 2.30pm.
2.00pm - Hubby took us to SDMC. MIL came too. We were actually out of the guard house when hubby said he was near. So we drove home and waited for him.
2.45pm - Arrived SDMC, registered and waited.
3.00pom - And waited.
4.30pm - And waited till Jacob dozed off on daddy's chest. We waited for like a good two hours and finally got to see her. I requested thath she test Jacob for H1N1 for precautionary measure. However, she informed us that she could not do the H1N1 test unless he was admitted as the laboratory is currently loaded. But she suggested that we could let Jacob take the Rapid Influenza Test. If his flu falls under Type A influenza, it confims that he has the H1N1 virus. If his result shows Type B influenza, it means he is clear of the H1N1 virus. The setback of this test is that it does NOT guarantee that he is H1N1 free.
5.00pm - Before the test commence, she warned me that it would be uncomfortable for Jacob and that we have to hold both his hands down firmly while her nurse, Dorothy, held his head. Then, she used a tool that looks like a 12-inch cotton bud to insert into Jacob's little nostrils. The moment the tip hit his nose, our little boy yelp and cried hard. I felt his pain. Poor boy.
Results would only be ready in half an hour to an hour time. Dr Angie would call us on our mobile to convey the news. And she went on to say this: "Jo, if his fever continues for the next 4 days or until Friday, you'll have to bring him back on Saturday to do a blood test. We want to test for dengue". (She reminds me so much of Elsa, my high school girlfriend who is in England.)
So we need to monitor him closely for the next couple of days. I hope he'll get better by tonight. I hate to see him sick.
6.00pm - Dr Angie called hubby to deliver the result. The result came out negative. Boy, are we relieved!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Just the Flu Viral
It's been a couple of sleepless nights for us when Jacob caught the flu at the wee hours of Monday morning. He woke up every two hours. Thought he was hungry. And yes, he drank but it was not his hunger that woke him up. Found out that it was actually his running nose that irritated him.
At 13.30pm, MIL drove us to a nearby clinic, Low's Child Clinic, but was refused entry because the clinic's operating hour has ended. It was 12.45pm and clinic was supposedly closed at 12.30pm. Both MIL and I was upset and tried persuading the nurse to let us in. The doc was adamant not to see us as she was apparently rushing to pick her kids up from school. At 1pm, we were still waiting outside her clinic. She was still accepting one little walk in patient. What the hell!!...We tried coaxing the nurse again but failed miserably. Should doctors be more sympathetic. After all, only one more patient and perhaps 10 mins the most. Thank God, we didn't rely on her as Jacob's paeds.
We didn't have to go knocking on her clinic if Dr Lee was around. Called his PA this morning to make an appointment to see him but was told that he is on leave until the 28th of October. Called Dr Khoo's clinic too but she too, was on leave. Jacob's flu can't wait.
At 1pm, I called SDMC again. This time we couldn't be picky. So I made an appointment to see Dr Angelina Amaladoss (i think that's how her suname is spelt). Jacob has seen her before so I was feeling a little bit at ease. Arrived SDMC at 2.30pm and only managed to see her at 4.30pm. Why am I not surprised? It's so typical at SDMC.
Anyway, we saw Dr Angelina. She was a very nice lady. Good PR skill I must say and I think Jacob likes her too. After giving Jacob a good check, her diagnosis of his 'irritability' was that he has caught on a viral and he has an Upper Respiratory Infection. "I'm holding on to my horses la Jo, but if he has high fever, bring him back" , she said. And I was like What do you mean by that? Prior to seeing her, I was already asking the nurse what are symptoms of H1N1 and whether they have many patients with that virus. This is what I found out:
Common symtoms of H1N1:
1) High Fever
2) Bad Cough (persistent cough)
3) Sore Throat
4) Runny Nose
The doc said there was nothing to worry about and perscribed the following medication to treat his flu:
1) Hydroxyzine syrup 10mg/5ml - 2.5ml at 3 times a day after food
2) Salbutamol/Ventolin syrup 2mg/5ml (cough) - 2.5 ml at 3 times a day after food
3) Tonimer Baby Spray ( it's a nasal spray to help ease nose congestion)
She recommended that we use a good thermometer and scribbled the brand name on a piece of paper. Very thoughtful of her. Afraid I might forget the name of the cough syrup, she also jotted down the name of the medicine on that same paper.
Brand of good thermometer to look out for:
1) Terumo
2) Omron
The bill came up to RM132 including consultation and pharmacy. MIL was shocked when told about the cost but I assured her that this was normal. Sometimes we fork out more than that so this was nothing. In fact her consultation fee wasn't that exorbitant at RM64 for a first timer.
At 13.30pm, MIL drove us to a nearby clinic, Low's Child Clinic, but was refused entry because the clinic's operating hour has ended. It was 12.45pm and clinic was supposedly closed at 12.30pm. Both MIL and I was upset and tried persuading the nurse to let us in. The doc was adamant not to see us as she was apparently rushing to pick her kids up from school. At 1pm, we were still waiting outside her clinic. She was still accepting one little walk in patient. What the hell!!...We tried coaxing the nurse again but failed miserably. Should doctors be more sympathetic. After all, only one more patient and perhaps 10 mins the most. Thank God, we didn't rely on her as Jacob's paeds.
We didn't have to go knocking on her clinic if Dr Lee was around. Called his PA this morning to make an appointment to see him but was told that he is on leave until the 28th of October. Called Dr Khoo's clinic too but she too, was on leave. Jacob's flu can't wait.
At 1pm, I called SDMC again. This time we couldn't be picky. So I made an appointment to see Dr Angelina Amaladoss (i think that's how her suname is spelt). Jacob has seen her before so I was feeling a little bit at ease. Arrived SDMC at 2.30pm and only managed to see her at 4.30pm. Why am I not surprised? It's so typical at SDMC.
Anyway, we saw Dr Angelina. She was a very nice lady. Good PR skill I must say and I think Jacob likes her too. After giving Jacob a good check, her diagnosis of his 'irritability' was that he has caught on a viral and he has an Upper Respiratory Infection. "I'm holding on to my horses la Jo, but if he has high fever, bring him back" , she said. And I was like What do you mean by that? Prior to seeing her, I was already asking the nurse what are symptoms of H1N1 and whether they have many patients with that virus. This is what I found out:
Common symtoms of H1N1:
1) High Fever
2) Bad Cough (persistent cough)
3) Sore Throat
4) Runny Nose
The doc said there was nothing to worry about and perscribed the following medication to treat his flu:
1) Hydroxyzine syrup 10mg/5ml - 2.5ml at 3 times a day after food
2) Salbutamol/Ventolin syrup 2mg/5ml (cough) - 2.5 ml at 3 times a day after food
3) Tonimer Baby Spray ( it's a nasal spray to help ease nose congestion)
She recommended that we use a good thermometer and scribbled the brand name on a piece of paper. Very thoughtful of her. Afraid I might forget the name of the cough syrup, she also jotted down the name of the medicine on that same paper.
Brand of good thermometer to look out for:
1) Terumo
2) Omron
The bill came up to RM132 including consultation and pharmacy. MIL was shocked when told about the cost but I assured her that this was normal. Sometimes we fork out more than that so this was nothing. In fact her consultation fee wasn't that exorbitant at RM64 for a first timer.
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