Noah’s been down with a fever, runny nose, and cough since last Wednesday. The last time he had a fever was after his first vaccination at one month old, and apart from the runny nose he had in Bali, he hasn’t really been this ill. He’s had the occasional blocked/runny nose, but nothing as severe as this, and nothing that requires this much medication. The poor boy has been badly traumatised by the various meds, two of which need to be sprayed/dripped into his nose, and another four via the syringe. He starts crying when we pick him up and hold his arms down, arching his back and twisting frantically to get away.
We brought him to the PD on Thursday, when he had a runny nose and cough. The stand-in PD (our regular PD was away on a conference) was very friendly, and had quite a bit of fun playing with Noah during the visit. The baby was still well enough to smile and giggle at him, and we thought the meds would help. Unfortunately, he came down with a fever that night, and we spent the whole of Friday giving him Paracetamol, and praying that the fever would subside. When his fever went up to 38.8 degrees that night, we decided to bring him to the PD again on Saturday. Initially, I wanted to rush him to the KKH A&E at 5am, but C very logically told me that he’s probably not going to be considered an urgent case, and we would most likely end up waiting for hours there. Since Noah managed to fall asleep after another dose of meds, we figured it made more sense to let him get some rest.
When the PD saw Noah that morning, he immediately noted the difference in our baby’s temperament. Gone was the cheerful, playful boy, and in his place was a whiny koala, who cried pitifully when the PD was examining him. We were given stronger meds, and told to look out for rashes. As Noah has eczema, the PD kindly showed us some photos of what the rash caused by Dengue would look like, so that we could try to distinguish between the two. Poor Noah was also having diarrhea, which caused him to develop a really bad case of diaper rash. However, we thought that his diarrhea was improving, and so didn’t get more meds from the PD for that.
On Monday afternoon, when the haze started reaching unsafe levels, we noticed a rash on Noah’s neck and chest. We couldn’t tell if it was his eczema (so much for the PD showing us photos!) and sent photos of the rash via email to our regular PD, who, thankfully, was back from her conference. Don’t get me wrong, the stand-in PD was really nice and seemed to know what he was doing, but there’s a reason why we have a regular PD, right? It’s always much better to go to someone who KNOWS your child, and whom you already have a relationship with. She told us that although it didn’t look like the dengue rash, it was safer to get Noah tested, since our estate has more than 10 cases of Dengue already. We had to rush down to her clinic as the lab was closing, and when she saw Noah, the first thing she noted was how different he seemed. I guess it’s a good thing that Noah is usually so cheerful, as it’s pretty easy to tell when he’s not feeling well.
The blood test was a horrible, horrible experience. Noah sobbed while I held him down, and the pleading look in his eyes just killed me. He couldn’t understand why mummy wasn’t picking him up, why the two ladies were prodding his arm, and I’m pretty sure it hurt quite a bit when that needle went in to extract so much blood from him. I tried singing to him, and telling him that everything was okay, but nothing worked. He finally calmed down when I was able to pick him up and hug him, but even now, I can still hear his cries ringing in my ears. Sounds dramatic, I know, but I think if you’ve gone through what we did, you’d know what I mean. Strangely enough, when we got home, he seemed to have forgotten how miserable he was, and I caught him playing with the wheels on C’s chair.
See the huge plaster on his left arm?
Thank God that the blood test came back negative. She was reluctant to medicate him further for his diarrhea, so we got a bottle of Probiotics instead. She also adjusted the meds slightly, and told us to continue hydrating him as much as possible. The bubs seems better today, and his fever seems to have subsided at last. There’s still plenty of mucus and phlegm, which is evident in his cough, and we pray for God to heal him completely as soon as possible. C is off on a short business trip from tomorrow, and I really can’t imagine having to give Noah his meds by myself! It’s been a two-person job, and I’m especially thankful that C is able to work from home during times like these. Please do pray for our little boy’s speedy and full recovery, okay?
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