Jing Han Skipped School - Fever

Yesterday, saw Han having a fever pad on her forehead when I reached home after work and she was sleeping on the long chair. Later she told me she got the fever when she was at KinderWorld and vomited. Did not bring her to consult doctor as I felt it's just a normal fever and she could get well by tomorrow morning.

But this morning, she woke up and told me she has told mommy she did not want to go to school. But I saw her behave like normal, not pressing her further, I let her rest at home but told her must do and review her school works. She said okay.

When I was in office, received text from her mommy that she did not do and review her school works. As usual, her impatient mommy got mad and scolded her and told me she would send her to Kinder World for teacher to teach her do her school works.

Arrived home after work and was informed that she has finished her school study revision. 

A Letter to Jing Xuan - You Were Braved

My Dearest Jing Xuan,

I know you can't read and understand any words at your age now but you can read this once you have started to learn a,b,c,d....and later understand each meaning of a word......

It was Friday (30/10). You started to vomit at night after drinking the milk that you normally drink. We thought it was because you had taken too much of food. You were having a bowl of porridge about 2 hours ago but since it was your routine to drink a bottle of milk before sleeping, Papa just prepared in about 3 ounces (usually you drink 7 ounces in about 3 to 4 hours time gap).

The next day, you were alright and I sent you to nanny house in the morning. You behaved as normally throughout the day. At night, before you slept, you took another bottle of milk but, not long after the milk, you vomited and this time you cried. Again, we thought that you had too much of food.

On Sunday, you have no problem at all, you ate and played as usual. It was a great day that Papa has with my two little princess.

Then, on Monday morning, as usual, I sent you to nanny house. While in the nanny house, just when I put you down on the floor but you quickly came to hug my leg and vomited again. I told nanny that I would send you to visit your doctor first and then sent you back here. I went home and together with your mommy, we brought you to consult Dr Goh who has been your doctor whenever you were not feeling well. Dr said you have viral infection in your stomach but you did not have any fever. He then prescribed medicines to you, including a diarrhea, vomit medicines, prolactor and oral rehydration salt. After giving you the medicines, I sent you back to nanny house. You were fine for the whole day and could sleep well at night.

The next Tuesday morning, after drinking milk at about 5.30am, you vomited again. We gave you medicine and let you sleep.I decided not to send you to nanny house and asked mommy to look after you for a day to see how was your condition. We measured your temperature but you did not have any fever. Papa left for work then.

Mommy called me at about 9am++ to inform that you cried and did not want to drink milk. I could hear your crying very loud from the back ground. Worrying your conditions, papa decided to take an emergency leave from work to bring you to consult doctor again. Just right after papa was packing stuff in the office, mommy called me, papa did not answer but called mommy back very shortly, what papa could hear was that, mommy was screaming and crying...mommy said Jing Xuan fainted...which papa could not hear clearly and papa could also hear mommy was shouting "tolong, tolong...." to neighbor to ask for help. Papa immediately ran out from office and drove as fast as I could back to home....While driving, papa prayed to Guanyin to protect you and not to let anything bad happened to you....Papa called back again to mommy and she told papa she was at the normal clinic and doctor advice mommy to send you to hospital immediately. That time, you were conscious and doctor also has checked your oxygen level and you were fine temporary. Papa told mommy to hold on as papa would be there soon....mommy called me again and informed that doctor asked not to wait any longer and must send to nearby hospital, which is KPJ Shah Alam. Papa insisted mommy to send to Sunway Hospital as you have all the records there, in addition, Papa had a bad experience in KPJ hospital. That time mommy was about to leave from the clinic with the help from a neighbour, papa said papa would meet her half way. We met and papa thanked the driver, who papa never met before (Papa found out later that he was a contractor and was doing renovation work at one of our neighbour houses).

Papa saw you were resting at mommy's arms, looked very tired. Mommy told me actually you were having fit at home when you cried and mommy was panicked. Again, papa drove fast and prayed to Guanyin for her mercy and protect you. After reaching the emergency place, mommy alighted from car and brought you to see one of the nurses and you were examined by a doctor very soon.

After parking my car, papa walked fast to the emergency ward and asked a nurse where was my daughter, she lead me there and you were crying. Papa carried and consoled you. It was about 11am. A nurse came and informed that the doctor advice us to admit you for one or two days to monitor your condition but let us decide. Papa agreed. While waiting for admission registration, you vomited again. Doctor said he wanted to have your blood for examination. The nurses then wrapped you with a towel and when papa saw the doctor inserted the long needle syringe into your hand, it was really disheartening to watch you crying, papa knew it was very painful for you. You refused to sleep on the bed and only wanted papa to carry and slept on papa's shoulder. Papa decided to stay with you in hospital and asked mommy to go home and bring papa some cloths and stuff.

At about 12.20pm, you have another fit again, it was frightening as your eyes rolled up. Nurses quickly came and inserted a medicine into your rectal. The whole thing lasted in less than two minute. You were giving oxygen to help breathing. By now, doctor said you must place in High Dependency Unit or HDU for observation. Papa asked a nurse what is HDU. She told me it is a close monitoring room, just like ICU but ICU is for more critical condition. Your conditions must be closely monitored since you had 3 fits within such a short period while in the emergency ward. Doctor also said you have to do an EEG to determine whether the fit was caused by your brain. If it is, then you have to take medicine for a long time. If the result is negative, then the fit might cause by virus in your stomach. Hopefully, it would be the later one.

We waited until about 2pm, then a nurse transferred you to the HDU. You looked really tired and only wanted to sleep. Nurse informed us that normally after a fit, a person would feel tire and sleepy. Papa felt really sad and disheartening when seeing you lying on the bed. You were only an infant but have to suffer from such an illness. Papa felt helpless except praying that you could overcome all this very fast.

While in the HDU, you have another fit again around 4pm++. A doctor and nurses came in, this time, you vomited. We rolled your body on one side. A nurse used a long tube and inserted it into your nose to your lung to suck out the liquid, you were struggling. Papa could see from your face that you felt pain to have that tube in your nose. The nurse did this twice and the second time when the tube pulled out from your nose, I saw there was a small amount of blood in the tube. By then, you were back to normal and fall asleep again. It was so scary and so sad to see you having fits and suffering........

A nurse later replaced another bag of drip, according to her, it was for the treatment of fit and you needed it for about an hour. Your body temperature was measured at an interval period as well. You were later given a normal drip after an hour. Papa prayed that your fit did not happen again. Papa think God of mercy heard me and for the whole night, you did not have fit but two time diarrhea. You did not cry, I just changed your pampers.

On 5/11 (Wednesday) morning, you woke up at about 6am, the time you used to wake up at home during week days. I could see from your eyes that you were still tired. I asked you if you wanted to drink milk, you noted your head and said yes. Papa prepared 5 ounces of milk for you.

Papa was glad to see you to behave such a way that you looked so strong. When you saw your hand being bandaged and there were few wires on your body, you did not cry or make any noise. You just played with them. You were really a strong child and papa was so proud of you.

But soon after you finished your milk, you vomited again but did not cry. Nurse helped to change your bed sheet and papa changed your cloths. You were given a medicine later and slept back soon.

You looked strong again although you vomited short while ago. Papa is very proud of you.

You slept for about 2 hours. About 8.45am, I asked you if you wanted to eat bread, you said yes. As usual, you always wanted to take whatever you can grab. You hold the breads with your two hands. 

 Although your left hand was being bandaged, you still tried to hold and eat the bread without any complain. 

 After finished your breads, a nurse came in asked if you wanted to eat porridge, you always never refuse a good offer.

You have to do an EEG to record your brain activity on Wednesday (5/11) morning and was given a sleeping medicine for you to sleep in order to carry out the procedure smoothly. Soon after you fall asleep, a lab technician came with an EEG machine. He attached about 20 small discs with a thin lead connected to the EEG machine on your head and papa was told this procedure would take about 45 minutes.

But the procedure lasted only about 13 minutes as you were awakened by the door noise when a nurse came in. The lab technician said he managed to get some activities of your brain and the procedure could be stopped. He said the report could be ready by this evening or tomorrow morning and a doctor would explain to papa the results. Your stool was also has been collected for examination.

For the whole day, you only could drink a little bit of milk as you would vomit if you took too much volume. One of papa primary school mates from Australia (we have a whatsapp chat group) advice papa not to give you drink milk as your stomach was weak, we could let you eat porridge but with more water on it. Papa wondered why doctor never informed papa or mommy about this. I called mommy and informed her about this and she bought a soy milk product, Isomil Plus which is not a cow's milk based formulas.

Doctor came to visit you in the evening and said the EEG report still not ready. Papa asked if you could transfer to normal ward since you have started to stabilize (only diarrhea), he said if your conditions remained the same good as now, you could transfer tomorrow. You felt better on the 2nd night in HDU and was able to sleep soundly. 

On Thursday (6/11) morning, you woke up about 7am and papa prepared 5 ounces Isomilk for you to drink. 

 You look better than the first day.

Doctor came to visit you about 9am++ and papa asked doctor when could you transfer to normal ward, doctor said he would instruct the nurse to do the transfer. Again, papa asked whether the EEG result was out, he told papa to wait as the doctor in-charged still has not let him know, probably by this afternoon or evening. A nurse came to ask if papa wanted a Deluxe single-bed room or normal double-bed room. Papa told her papa wanted a single-bed room as papa prefer to have more privacy for my little Jing Xuan. She said for a single-bed room, papa has to wait as there was no room at the moment, the hospital would put us under waiting list.

Mommy came around noon time. By then, you looked better but still have diarrhea from time to time. Papa told mommy that papa wanted to go home to settle some of papa's things and would fetch your elder sister from school later and come back to hospital.

After fetching your sister from kindergarten in the evening, we went for a dinner, went back home to change her cloths before going to hospital.

While on the way, in the car, your sister said.....

 Papa, this little bear is for little sister, I miss her a lot....

How nice to hear such a words from your sister. though she is still young, yet she knew what was going on with her little sister.

When we reached hospital, the single or double bed room was still not available, neither the EEG result was made known by the doctor. Papa went in to the HDU and saw mommy was carrying you, papa took over and mommy went out from the HDU area to bring your sister went home as children below 12 years are not allowed to go into HDU.

For the entire night, you slept soundly as the previous night. You woke up about 7am++ and wanted to drink milk. Papa prepared 5 ounces Isomilk for you. After an hour, you wanted to eat again and I gave you some corn flakes...

You are definitely better than the past few days...

Yummy, yummy...you miss the corn flakes a lot.

 

Papa, do you want to have one ?

Doctor came in the morning and knew the normal ward bed room was not available. Papa asked if you could be discharged today since you were alright as you could eat and drink without vomit, you could play, speech and laugh but only has diarrhea. Doctor said he would inform after getting the EEG report from the other doctor concerned. 

You started to feel impatient....you did not want to sleep and stay in the room but wanted to be carried and out from the bed and room. The nurses would play with you and we could hear your laughter and enjoyed. 

You only slept once in the noon time and most of the time, you were out from the room, of course wanted papa to carry since you could not walk. 

In the evening, doctor came again and examined you, read the nurse's report and gather some feedback from the nurse. He then said you were allowed to discharged. Papa asked him what about the EEG result as it was pending too long ? He re-checked with the nurse and the relevant department. Apparently, there was a miscommunication between doctor and the specialist.He told papa he would get the report and let papa know later but said again, your conditions should be alright but we have to send you back for check up after a week. Papa wanted to know what was the root causes for you to have vomit and fit. Doctor said the cause could be virus in your stomach but not the rotavirus as the result was negative after they have done a lap test on it. The virus might trigger your brain nerves and caused the fit happened. He advice us have to monitor your condition at home and not to send to nanny house for time being.

It was really a relief to see you recovering from the vomit and fit. Now, we only have to watch out for your diarrhea. Before you left the HDU room, you have a last diarrhea and nurse came in to help.

After paying all the fees. Papa was given a medical report and the relevant invoice and bill for papa to claim from the insurance company. Mommy came and we brought you home. While in the hospital, your sister was so happy to see you able to go home.

Later, papa went through the doctor's report and it wrote that the final diagnosis was Viral AGE & Afebrile Seizures. 

Papa is curious to find out what that means and what actually caused my little girl to suffer from fits or seizures, though doctor told papa it could be the stomach virus but how the virus did until you have the fits. Papa search through the internet and found some of the articles that are useful to learn and understand :

1. Viral Gastroenteritis (AGE)

2. Viral gastroenteritis (stomach flu)

3. Aferbrile Seizures

4. What is afebrile seizures ?

5. Afebrile seizures in association with viral gastroenteritis (AGE)

The doctor's report also mentioned that there is a possibility for you to relapse. Since then, mommy and papa decided to take care of you ourselves without sending you to nanny house anymore. Mommy has cancelled few of her piano classes. 

After a week, we brought you back to the doctor for a follow up check up. He only asked us few questions and said you should be alright. Papa asked again if you have the vaccine of Rotavirus, how could you suffered from AGE ? Doctor explained that it was not caused by the Rotavirus, maybe some other unknown virus and then show papa and mommy the test report for Rotavirus, which was negative. 

You are back to her normal life now..... you play, want to be carried, eat, laugh, cry, make funny gestures for us to laugh, fought with your sisters for toys.....

We pray the relapse will not happen and pray to Buddha that you always stay healthy and happy.

Jing Xuan, papa want you to know that....Papa, mommy and your sister always love you very much, forever !

I Won The Battle, Finally

I woke up the next morning. It was Friday (21 Mar). Dr Usha came early to see me and asked what happened to me ? I told her all the things, she said she was also surprised as I was only having a normal Influenza. By that time, my headache started to resurface again. But since I was having so severe headache, she would asked a Neurologist, Dr Richard to come visit me. 

Before lunch time, Dr Richard Chua came. He asked me about my headache conditions, I told him what was happening to me. He then said he would do a Magnetic Resonance Imaging or MRI to see what happened in my brain. Then, a nurse came and asked me to sit on a wheel chair and brought me to Radiology Center whereby I was asked to change my attire. Another nurse then helped me to go into the MRI room and asked me to lie down on the MRI bed and gave me an earphone as the sound would be very loud. I asked how long the process took ? She said about 20 minutes. She gave me a panic button to hold on my hand and informed me if anything happened, I could press the button and they would come to see me. She then used a white color structure to put onto my head so that my head could not move around during the MRI process.

When the table transferred me into the scanner, I was very scared. Immediately, I pressed the panic button twice. The table moved out and nurses came to asked me why ? I told them I was very scared to go inside the tube as the space was very compact. One of the nurses asked was it a phobia, I said yes. She then tried to calm me down and said it should not be any problem when I was in the tube. And she would split the process into 5 minutes for 3 times. But I insisted that I was afraid to go inside the scanner and asked whether they could give me injection so that I could sleep while doing the MRI. The nurses said they needed to consult with Doctor first. They came back later said the MRI scan has to cancel since I was afraid of going into the scanner.

I found out later that there is a word to describe such fear. It is called claustrophobic. Quoted from a website ....."Claustrophobia is an anxiety disorder. An afflicted person has symptoms of anxiety that are triggered by being in a confined space, or the thought of it. The sufferer dreads not being able to breathe properly, running out of oxygen, along with distress at being restricted.

It is not necessarily the small spaces that trigger the anxiety but the fear of what can happen to the person if confined to that area, hence the fear of running out of oxygen.

Some medical devices, such as MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanners are also an example of small spaces that could trigger anxiety.

I was transferred back to my room. Dr Richard came later to find out what happened. I told him that I would rather put to sleep if I must do the MRI. He then suggested me to do the CT Scan and the space of this scanner was bigger, I should be able to do it.

After lunch, I went for this CT scan, I was a bit afraid when I saw this scanner but the medical officer told me it only took about 5 minutes. Having a sceptical feeling, I then told myself I have to do it in order to find out what happened in my brain that caused me the severe pain. I did it, finally.

They report came out in the afternoon and Dr Richard said nothing was found in the brain, everything was okay. I was relief.

My pain slowly disappeared since taking a few medicines to consume this morning. Dr Usha came in the evening and explained to me that my blood test report showed no abnormality. I could be having meningism. The only way to recover is to take medicines. At night, I was able to sleep well.

The next morning (Saturday). Dr Usha came very early to see how was my condition and later she said I could be discharged if my condition stabled. I told her I felt much better. She said she did not want to see me back in the hospital.

Finally, I was discharged in the afternoon. At last......home sweet home !

During my stayed in the hospital, I received news that my colleagues wanted to come and visit me but I had informed that I did not want to trouble anyone as they were busy with works and have to spend time with family members. They also contributed to a fund to buy things for me, although I told them no, but....

These were the nutritious products I saw in my office when I returned to work. Not only these...I also received a greeting card that was full of blessing and concern...

I was very touched to see these and wrote an email to thank all my colleagues for their caring and concern.

I must also thanks Dr Usha for her friendly and caring advice and services when I was her patient in the hospital.

I am thankful that I recovered fully from my illness. It must be the strength given to me from my two lovely angels that I told myself I must win the batter against those little devils so that I could be with them.

The lesson that I learned from my illness is that no one will knows what happens tomorrow, things are very unpredictable. Therefore, we must spend more quality time with our family or the one that we love very much. Cherish and value every single moments that we have. Do good things to others and more importantly, take good care of our own health. I always believe that if we really love our family and children, we must have a very good health in order to take care of them !

My Nightmare Started....

The next morning, the headache had reduced. I thought all the worst had over and it was a sunshine day, a new beginning for me ? But.....the night mare has just started.....
  
I felt very tired and weak. I remembered that morning, the haze had gone and the air was fresh, I went out to the car porch to do some light exercises, hopefully it could help. However, my headache started to resurface after my light breakfast. For the entire morning, I was struggling to overcome the headache. I took medicine on time but the pain did not go away....

I tried to sleep over and over again the whole day and also listening to Buddhist chant music so that I could have a peace of mind to sleep. All the efforts failed. I lost my appetite and started to vomit in the evening.

By the time the sky turned into darkness, my headache became more severe. I waited again to see my two daughters came home at about 7pm. Then, I went to sleep, switching the air conditioner on and off, turned on the fan but the headache kept attacking me....

I used ice pack to put onto my forehead but it did not work as well. Finally, it was about 10pm, I could not stand at all.....I told my wife I would drive myself to Sunway Hospital..she was quite worried as my condition at that time was hard for me to drive alone to hospital. I had vomited more than 6 times by then. I told her I could handle myself. I put on my long pant, a shirt and bring along a sweater and straight jumped into my car. I told my self I must stayed conscious to reach the hospital.

It took me about 15 minutes to reach the hospital. I parked my car and walked fast to the emergency counter. I saw many people were sitting on the chairs, not sure if they were here to accompany friends or family members. I told the staff at the desk counter about my conditions, he checked my blood pressure and temperature and gave me a queue number, I was the next patient. In less than 5 minutes, I was called to a room. A lady named Dr Wong attended to me, I told her my situations and she asked me what type of medicines did I take, I said a flu and a headache medicine but I did not know what was the name of that medicine. I told her I wanted a medicine or injection that could relieve my headache. She said she must checked my record first to make sure what type of medicines I had taken and she asked a nurse to check.

The nurse came back soon and asked me was the medicine in white color round shape ? I said yes. The doctor asked whether someone accompanied me here because the injection could make me feel sleepy. I told her I came alone and asked whether there was a place for me to rest after the injection. She checked with the nurse and later the nurse brought me to a place where there were 3 beds there. I lie down on the bed, the nurse then gave me an injection on my buttock and said this medicine would start to see the effect after a while and she would come back to see me again.

My headache still did not subside after about 10 minutes. The nurse came back asked me how was my condition, I told her the pain still existed. She then said she would check with Dr Wong again. Dr Wong came later and told me if she gave me another injection, then I had to be admitted as the injection would make me sleep, I told her I wanted to be admitted as long as the injection could relief the pain and make me sleep.

The nurse then brought me to another open ward and asked me to lie on a bed. At the same time, my admission process would be assisted by hospital staff. I saw few patients were there as well, including an infant. By that time, I just wished and prayed that nothing bad would happen to me as I still wanted to see my daughters grow up. There were many things that I could not let go......

I did not notice how long I waited there, a nurse came to give me an injection, very soon, I felt very sleepy but my mind still awake as the admission process still not done. A nurse then came to take my blood for lab test followed by a male staff who helped me to do the admission. I told him I wanted a 2 beds room and he said he would arrange.

Later, another nurse came and asked me to sit on a wheel chair so that she could push me to my room. Along the way, I told the nurse I wanted to vomit, she asked if I could hold on....I said no....she then quickly grabbed a black dustbin plastic bag from a nearby cleaner's trolley and passed to me. Immediately, I vomited into the bag. By that time, I all the things inside my stomach already empty and I did not know what else came out from my mouth but I knew it was a liquid. My vomit's sound made few people around to turn their heads to look at me. I knew it was weird but who cares ?

Three times, I vomited three times along the way to my room. When I reached my bed, I quickly jumped onto it, by this time, I felt really sleepy and the pain seemed did not bother me or I was too sleepy until I could not feel the pain. But I still able to read my whatsapp and told my wife I was admitted. Very soon, I fall asleep after the nurse put me on drip again.

What happened next ?

I Was Admitted in Hospital

After preparing some stuff that I might be used in hospital, my wife accompanied me to Sunway Hospital. I told the information counter about my condition and showed her the referral letter. She asked me whether I wanted to go to emergency ward or went to see a physician. Since my conditions was not that critical, i opted to see a physician. The lady then asked me to go to 2nd floor to see Dr Usha who is a respiratory specialist.         

When I met Dr Usha and passed her the referral letter, she asked me the same questions that the previous doctors asked. She also asked me what was my occupation and did I contact with foreign workers most of the time ? She said I needed to go for another blood test and an X ray as well. The X ray was to see if I had Pulmonary Tuberculosis or TB. At the same time, I have to be admitted for observation.

I went down to the registration counter to do the necessary admission process and was told that I had to pay RM3,0000 as deposit. I went for a blood test at the lower ground floor and then proceeded to have an x ray scan before I went to the hospital cafeteria to have a simple vegetable lunch with my wife. It was almost 1.30pm after the lunch before I went back to the registration counter so the staff could bring me to my ward.

My wife stayed with me for a while in my room and left. Dr Usha came later in the afternoon and explained to me that the x ray showed my lung did not have any abnormality and my blood test report did not show any signs of dengue fever, it was an Influenza B, but not H1N1.

She said I would be given drips and medicines and advice me to drink lots of water as well. She also asked me to wear a face mask since my sickness was still in the period of within 5 to 7 days, which was easily spread to others. In addition, I have to urine into a given pot so as to measure the total volume of in and out water. I was also given few medicines to consume, only remembered one was for my fever, one for flu, one for my coughing and one to protect my stomach.

I was given a cake and a cup of milo for my afternoon tea time.

It was a really bored day for me to be alone in the room. For every 4 hours, a nurse would  come and measured my high blood pressure and body temperature. As the room air conditioner was central controlled, I asked a nurse to give me an extra blanket but she gave me 3, thinking that my family member would come to accompany me at night.  

Each time I wanted to go rest room, I had to push along the drip and its hanger to the toilet. Since I drank lots of water and coupled with the drip, I went to rest room very often.

About 5pm, my dinner was served. It was a chicken porridge, vegetables and 2 slices of oranges.

I was really did not have any appetite to eat and could not finish all. My whole afternoon and evening was only watching TV and reading books.

I slept early that night but again was not well slept as I had to wake up often to go rest room. But compared to the previous 2 nights, it was slightly better as my fever did not go up and the muscle aches did not recur as well.

I woke up about 6am but since was informed by nurse not to use tooth paste to brush my teeth to prevent gum bleeding, I was given a Thymol mouthwash. I did some light stretching exercises. Then, a nurse and a doctor came to take my blood for another lab test.

My breakfast was 4 slices of bread with jam and butters and a cup of Milo. About 8.30am, Dr Usha came and told me that my platelets and white blood cells have started to go up. I requested Dr to allow me to go home since my conditions were stabilised. She was reluctant initially but said she would come back in the afternoon to see how was my conditions before decide whether to let me go home to rest.

I requested for a vegetable lunch and it was ready for me at about11.30am. Again, I could not finish all.

My wife came in the noon time to bring me porridge, watermelon and some cloths. I told her I might be discharged that day. She asked why I have to be discharged so fast, better to stay for another night to see how was my body progress. I told her it was very bored to stay in hospital. But in my heart, I missed my two angels very much, just wanted to see them.

About 3pm, Dr came and after seeing my record and asked me how was my condition, I told her I felt better except that I could not sleep any longer as my head started to get pain but insisted wanted to go home. She allowed me to go home but told me to see her again on 26 March and also had to do another blood test. Immediately, I told my wife that I could be discharged but she said she would not be free to fetch me. I told her I would take a cap.

After making the payment of RM 2,346.72, I took a taxi to go home. I was upset by then as my wife whatsapp me to inform that she would send our youngest daughter to nanny's house for a night. Did I  make a wrong decision to be discharged early ? A lot of questions popped up in my mind again. I reached home, had an argument with my wife and straight went up to take shower. I was trying to sleep but by then my head was terrible painful, I tried to chant in a hope to get rid of the pain but it failed. 

I was struggling to fall asleep for about 2 hours but all the efforts was not helped. Then I went down to the living room to watch TV and also tried to prepare myself 2 slices of bread and a cup of milo to fill my stomach. I had no appetite to eat but I forced myself to finished all.

My wife went to fetch Jing Han from school and Jing Xuan from nanny's house about 5pm, by the time they reached home was already about 7pm++, I sat in the living just wanted to see my two daughters back while holding my head like a crazy man. The headache started to become worst in the night time. I slept in another room with a fan switched on but I did not open the window as the haze was terrible bad. I was suffering from the headache for the whole night. Although I knew my body was very tired but the pain did not allow me to sleep well. I was having all sort of negative thoughts, what happened to my family, especially my two lovely daughters if anything happened to me ? I love both of them so much, I must be strong enough to fight against this devil war.....By the time I felt asleep it was already dawn.

Next, nightmare started......

I Was Diagnosed Suspected Dengue Fever

On Monday (17 March) morning, I went to another clinic for consultation and told the doctor what had happened to me since Friday. She asked me to have a blood test immediately. I waited for about 10 minutes for the result. Dr informed me that my platelets (PLT) and white blood cells (WBC) had dropped from the normal range. My hematocrit (HCT) also gone up. Dr said she suspected it was a dengue fever but I had to come back tomorrow again for another blood test to see those three readings movement. She prescribed 4 different medicines to me and told me stop taking the previous medicines since there were not effective to help me recover. I was on medical leave again.

The medicines did not bring any good sign to my body. The temperature went up and down through out the day and night. I was suffering from the muscle aches and high temperature. My wife had to cancel her piano classes at night to look after our two princesses.

On Tuesday (18 Mar), I went back to the same clinic for another blood test. The result was not favored to me....my PLT and WBC continued to drop and HCT was going up. The doctor advised me to admit to a private hospital as government hospital would only let me to admit when my PLT dropped to 80 per micro liters. That time my PLT was 114 and the normal range should be between 150 to 400.

She wrote a referral letter to me to bring along to the hospital. I went home and informed my wife about this.

Next...

Why Me ???

I started to feel uneasy on 14 March when I woke up in the morning but as usual, I left home to fetch Jing Xuan to nanny's house before headed to office. My body started to feel pain while in the office until I could not stand any longer after coming back from lunch. I went to company's panel clinic and told the doctor about my conditions. She prescribed me few medicines and let me on medical leave.

After taking the medicines, I slept through the whole afternoon but when I woke up later in the evening, body pain still did not subside. I continued taking the medicines, hoping that after one night, I would recover.Unfortunately, I did not have a good sleep through  that night. My body temperature went up to 40 degree, I used an ice bag to cool down my body temperature.

Next morning (15 Mar), which was Saturday and also was my working day, I thought that since I only worked half-day, it was better to go as I could rest at home after work. I sent both daughters to nanny's house and went to office. Yet, my body conditions did not allow me to focus on my work, I left office about 9am and straight went back to the same clinic for consultation. It was a different doctor that morning. I told him my conditions and he measured my body temperature and the reading was 37.4 degree Celsius, which confirmed I was having fever. He prescribed me another different  medicines, including antibiotics and advised me that if by Monday, my fever still did not subside, it was better for me to go for a blood test to check whether I was infected by dengue. He gave me a medical leave.

By afternoon on Saturday, my fever has gone down and the body pain was not that bad compared to morning. However, in the nigh time, the fever and body pain came back. It was a sleepless night for me. By Sunday morning, again the fever subsided but my body started to feel weak.

To continue....