I should be in Boracay....
It's 11.30am now. 17 Jan 2015. If things went as planned, I would now be in a plane heading to the beautiful island of Boracay in the Philippines with my colleagues for a 5D/4N annual company trip. Doesn't the beach looks simply wonderful?
Well, unfortunately, things did not go as planned when Ethan was down with a fever on Sunday morning. So instead of walking on the soft sandy beach of Boracay later today, I am spending the 5th day in a hospital, accompanying Ethan who has been bitten by an Aedes mosquito.
Damn those mosquitoes!! And why hasn't anyone found a vaccine or cure to this extremely common disease?
Though I know that dengue is spreading rapidly these few months (or maybe longer?), it never crossed my mind that my own son would be one of the victims. Dengue seemed like something that happened to other people. It's not something that would happen to my son. I saw the pest control company fogging my condo compound every month and gave very little thought to it. It just seemed like something very routine. My kids won't get bitten, or so I thought.
Well, I am not even sure where Ethan got bitten. It could have been anywhere.
In fact, I used to think that dengue was no big deal. So many people had got bitten and they always got better within a week, don't they? I never thought of it to be so serious until Daddy told me that his boss' relative almost died of dengue recently. Then it got me scared.
My poor back and shoulders are now bearing the grunt of having to share the narrow hospital bed with Ethan. There is a fold-able bed available, but Ethan insisted for us to sleep on the same bed every night. Seeing that my son is already suffering, I obliged without any argument.
Getting Ethan to have the needle for the drips poked into his left hand on the first day was torturous as he screamed and cried that it was very painful.
On the second day, he had to do a blood test and again, was screaming and wailing. So the doctor decided to put another needle into his right hand and stick it there so that we did not have to repeat the ordeal every day.With both hands wrapped, it was difficult for him to hold anything. I had to feed him food and water. I had to bring him his iPad (which he accidentally dropped and cracked the screen because he could not grab it to stop it from falling). I had to help him in the toilet (which he needed to go more than 10 times everyday).
Getting Ethan to take his medicine was another ordeal altogether. He hated taking the fever medicine and I had to spend 15 - 20 minutes each time to get him to swallow that teeny tiny one tablespoon of orange-flavoured syrup fever medicine. When his fever stopped, I was just so relieved.
Next came the 100 Plus. Ethan hated all carbonated drinks and that includes 100 Plus. Getting him to drink a bottle of 500ml 100 Plus was like getting him to drink very bitter poison.
The papaya leaves extract was another thing that seriously tested my patience. I think it was even worse than the fever medicine. I tried comforting, reassuring as well as scolding and threatening but nothing eased the process. Sometimes, I am so tempted to just hold him down and shove it down his throat.
Ethan's boredom started to sink in yesterday morning when the internet plan on the iPad finished and he couldn't watch his favorite Minecraft walk-though videos. Luckily, Daddy added another 2G when he came over in the evening. So he is back to his normal self again this morning.
We are praying very hard for his platelet count and white cells to continue going up. The platelet count was 115 on the first day, then dropped to 87 on the second day, 64 on the third day and 61 yesterday.
The doctor just came in a minute ago and gave the good news that his platelet has started going up and we could most probably go home tomorrow. Thank God!
I am seriously looking forward to sleep on my comfortable bed again....
Well, unfortunately, things did not go as planned when Ethan was down with a fever on Sunday morning. So instead of walking on the soft sandy beach of Boracay later today, I am spending the 5th day in a hospital, accompanying Ethan who has been bitten by an Aedes mosquito.
Damn those mosquitoes!! And why hasn't anyone found a vaccine or cure to this extremely common disease?
Though I know that dengue is spreading rapidly these few months (or maybe longer?), it never crossed my mind that my own son would be one of the victims. Dengue seemed like something that happened to other people. It's not something that would happen to my son. I saw the pest control company fogging my condo compound every month and gave very little thought to it. It just seemed like something very routine. My kids won't get bitten, or so I thought.
Well, I am not even sure where Ethan got bitten. It could have been anywhere.
In fact, I used to think that dengue was no big deal. So many people had got bitten and they always got better within a week, don't they? I never thought of it to be so serious until Daddy told me that his boss' relative almost died of dengue recently. Then it got me scared.
My poor back and shoulders are now bearing the grunt of having to share the narrow hospital bed with Ethan. There is a fold-able bed available, but Ethan insisted for us to sleep on the same bed every night. Seeing that my son is already suffering, I obliged without any argument.
Getting Ethan to have the needle for the drips poked into his left hand on the first day was torturous as he screamed and cried that it was very painful.
On the second day, he had to do a blood test and again, was screaming and wailing. So the doctor decided to put another needle into his right hand and stick it there so that we did not have to repeat the ordeal every day.With both hands wrapped, it was difficult for him to hold anything. I had to feed him food and water. I had to bring him his iPad (which he accidentally dropped and cracked the screen because he could not grab it to stop it from falling). I had to help him in the toilet (which he needed to go more than 10 times everyday).
Getting Ethan to take his medicine was another ordeal altogether. He hated taking the fever medicine and I had to spend 15 - 20 minutes each time to get him to swallow that teeny tiny one tablespoon of orange-flavoured syrup fever medicine. When his fever stopped, I was just so relieved.
Next came the 100 Plus. Ethan hated all carbonated drinks and that includes 100 Plus. Getting him to drink a bottle of 500ml 100 Plus was like getting him to drink very bitter poison.
The papaya leaves extract was another thing that seriously tested my patience. I think it was even worse than the fever medicine. I tried comforting, reassuring as well as scolding and threatening but nothing eased the process. Sometimes, I am so tempted to just hold him down and shove it down his throat.
Ethan's boredom started to sink in yesterday morning when the internet plan on the iPad finished and he couldn't watch his favorite Minecraft walk-though videos. Luckily, Daddy added another 2G when he came over in the evening. So he is back to his normal self again this morning.
We are praying very hard for his platelet count and white cells to continue going up. The platelet count was 115 on the first day, then dropped to 87 on the second day, 64 on the third day and 61 yesterday.
The doctor just came in a minute ago and gave the good news that his platelet has started going up and we could most probably go home tomorrow. Thank God!
I am seriously looking forward to sleep on my comfortable bed again....
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