A week after Keston recovered from the bout of high fever, I fell sick myself.
On Tuesday I woke up feeling fine. By midday, I felt my body aching everywhere and a general weakness in bodily functions. Took my temperature at night and it was 38+ degrees. Popped panadol, did the usual baby routine and went to sleep. Consistently took panadol but by Wednesday afternoon, fever still persistently high. Went to see doctor, costed me a whooping $60+ to be told I have the flu. Went home and continued with my panadol and other flu-type meds but stubborn fever refused to go down. Bad sore throat and blocked nose developed. Thursday went to see another doctor to get a fever jab. Costed me $80+ this time. Bodyaches disappeared and fever went down. Horror started. I did not sleep all night. I don't mean tossing and turning and falling asleep fleetfully...I simply could not fall asleep. I laid in bed with my eyes closed from 10pm and I was fully aware of everything around me until 6am the next morning. So when Keston stirred in the middle of the night, I could get up pronto to pat him back to sleep. Friday woke up with no fever. Yay! But by evening time, started feeling cold and odd again. Temperature went up to 38+ again. Horror continued, I still could not sleep! Felt so exhausted due to no sleep the previous night, and fever and flu. Medicines made me drowsy but I could not fall asleep. Saturday, brought Keston over to my parents place. The plan was so I could rest and sleep at home. I laid in bed all afternoon, all evening and sleep refused to come....I tried counting sheep but it took me some time to conjure up an image of a nice docile sheep. Then I decided to count horses instead but then decided the clippity-clop may be a tad too energetic. Then I decided to count Kestons but that made me smile and didn't do the trick. So I went back to counting sheep but couldn't decide if the sheep should be jumping over a hurdle or just trod past. Anyway you get the idea, I didn't get to sleep again. No sleep for more than 48 hours and my eyes were bloodshot and swollen. I was terrified that I couldn't sleep for the 3rd night running. When I tried blowing my nose, my eyes actually hurt so bad. I was still having fever.
By Saturday night, I decided to see another doctor to find out if something is actually wrong with me and also to try to get some sleeping pills. Doctor said fever can take up to 1 week to go off and I was only on day 5. Then he gave me some flu pills that were 'guaranteed' to make me fall asleep. Guess what? It didn't work, so I had my 3rd sleepless night in a row. Sunday morning came and my eyes hurt so bad. Previously I thought baby being sick was one of the hardest things to bear. I take that back. Mummy being sick is a hundred times worse cos I just could not conjure up any energy to take care of Keston. I could barely smile at him, and I could barely open my eyes to look at him. It was that bad.
Sunday. Again stayed home to try to get some sleep. Keston by this time was a tad bit feverish (37+)....did not get any sleep. Evening time, Dad called to say Keston's fever soared to 39.6 degrees. Panicked and asked them to send him to KKH. HW came home to pick me up to meet them there. The wait was horrendous...I think it took him more than 1 hour to get to the first counter that takes your temperature and your basic details. In the time we were there, his temperature went down considerably to below 37 degrees so we decided to bring him home. Yep after waiting over an hour, we decided to go home. That night, I finally managed to fall asleep! BUT Keston kept waking up all night so I might as well have gotten no sleep.
Monday. Keston woke up all cranky. Not his usual happy self. Took abit of milk and stayed cranky. My eyes still hurt and I still needed my rest, tried to soothe him and play with him. He refused to smile and kept whining. Brought him over to mils so I could stay home to rest. Went over in the evening to get him and she said he was v cranky and refused to drink milk or eat or sleep. He was truly not his usual self and I got worried. After much procrastination, decided to send him down to KKH again. His temperature was now 38.3 degrees. The wait to the first counter was much quicker this time-- 30mins? Then another 15mins to register him. The wait for a doctor was horrendous-- probably 2hrs at least!! And this is in the children's emergency! In all this time Keston refused to drink milk and he kept crying cos I think he was really hungry but just didn't want to drink. We couldn't dream what went wrong with him....suspected teething but this was getting abit extreme. After what seemed like forever, we finally got to see a doctor who inspected and found ulcers in his mouth. He suspects HFMD. WTF!? Keston had rashes on the dorsum of his hand and feet, no fluid filled blisters what. But still, because he was refusing his foods, the doctor suggested we admit him so he can get hydrated via a drip.
Admission was another horror, wait so long even though there weren't many/any people waiting. By the time we actually got up to the ward, it was already past midnight and I had a very hungry and sleepy kid on hand. I was told 'the doctor is coming'. When I cuddled Keston, he fell asleep (he was that tired) so I quickly tucked him into bed. Half an hour later, I asked and was told again 'The doctor is coming'. 'When? Anytime tonight?'. 'Yes. He's seeing 1 patient now, you are next.'. This blur doctor took another half an hour to appear. He woke poor Keston up to inspect his rashes and ulcers and the poor baby started crying again. Then v abrubtly the doctor just left. I was again told that they are preparing to put the drip on. I managed to get Keston to fall asleep again. 15mins passed, I asked 'Is the drip coming tonight or tomorrow?'. 'It's on the way.'
I very naively thought I could go home and sleep and come back the next day! hahaha..that was how much I needed to sleep. But they told me Keston needs someone with him, so I shoo-ed everyone home. By then it was 2+am. After some time, the same blur doctor appeared again, I think to put in the tube for the drip. They chased me out of the room and Keston was screaming away while they tried to poke him. It was VERY disturbing when I kept hearing the blur doctor asking the nurse 'Why like that ah?' After a very distressing 15mins, the doctor abrubtly left. No one told me what they'd been doing. And I found my crying son with a red mark on his foot but no drip. Asked again 'Is the drip coming?'. 'Yes. They are making arrangements.'
Put Keston to sleep again and 30mins later, another female doctor appeared. She was seemingly more experienced and did not chase me out of the room to poke Keston's foot. She managed to get whatever hole she needed amidst the crying and thrashing. Again put Keston to sleep and another half an hour later, the holy drip finally arrived. Keston was awakened again while they poke the drip in. Wah liao! Finally! Finally he can sleep in peace. Somehow we made it to morning and Keston was cranky. Lack of sleep, no food, what to expect right?
Tuesday. Keston still not drinking milk and took only a bare minimum of porridge. Not in good mood all day.
Wednesday. Keston drank a little bit of milk and took more porridge. Drip was removed in the afternoon. Kept forcing him to drink milk but he refused. But was in better mood.
Thursday. Drank more milk to start the day. Less than usual amount but more than past few days. Doctor wanted to discharge him but I wanted to stay another day just in case. Cos he was still not drinking/eating as normal. Keston more or less back to normal playful self. Nurses kept stopping in to play with him.
Friday. Finally discharged from hospital. Still not drinking alot of milk, think the teat is poking at one of his ulcers. Eats more porridge. Very playful again.
Back home, drinking very erratic. He's generally more willing to take his milk when we are with him for the first 2 feeds. The rest of the milk feeds are sparse and few. His daily intake has gone down from 800ml to about 500ml. Poor boy has started coughing v badly after discharging from hospital.
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