Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Prior to the hospital stay

It started off with Bea2 having a fever on a Thursday morning. After one shot of paracetamol, she was ok till Saturday morning, on off till Sunday morning. Monday morning, I was surprised when I checked on Bea1, her temperature was 39.0 C. After giving her paracetamol, I brought both of them to UMMC. Since it was already passed 5 days for Bea2, the doctor took a blood sample. The result showed it was ok and she said she believed it was a viral fever and preferred not to give antibiotic. On Tuesday, Bea2 was basically ok but was still having some coughs. Bea1 was still having fever on and off, reduced appatite on Wednesday, almost not eating at all on Thursday and Friday, and became weak.

Here are a few things that a stupid mom like me did, that contributed to make situation worse.
1. Did not try hard enough to get medicine stay in Bea1's system: Bea1 hates medicine especially the cough syrup. Almost everytime it touched her lip, she would vomit everything out her tummy. To avoid seeing her weak of not being able to sustain food in her body, I gave it up.
2. She also hated the paracetamol, so I resorted to suppository. It was not provided by the hospital, so I just used the ones from pharmacy, paracetamol 225 mg. The box said, 1-2 sup. for kids 2-6 years old. Being paranoid of overdose, I only inserted 1 sup. every 6 hours. Thinking that it was the same case as Bea1, I thought it would just go away after awhile.
3. My parents were in KL on Tuesday and Wednesday. I brought both kids to meet them in Shah Alam and let Bea1 played outside with the other kids in the neighbourhood. Trying to get her to eat, we brought her again to Alamanda on Thursday. She could still run around but went straight to bed when we were back home. And still, she just could not eat. I spent sleepless nights, sponging her to reduce her temperature.

I went back to UMMC on Saturday, was scolded by the first doctor I met for giving a wrong dose of paracetamol. She should be given 250 mg or 2 sup. of 225 mg. That's why, the fever was on and off. She was a really 'garang' doctor, she even said she was worried looking at my 3 year-old still in a stroller. I told her, she was not eating for days and she was just weak. Otherwise, she is just like any normal kid. I was asked to get an X-Ray after she listened to her breathing, besides a bloodtest. Before leaving the room, with her firm and cynical voice she said "Itu lah awak, jaga sangat anak awak tu". She dared to say that to a sleep-deprived, hungry, worried pregnant woman, I was furious and sad at the same time but preferred to shut-up.

After getting the X-Ray, I could see a 'patch' on her right lung and I saw a 'pneumonia' word in the report. I did not understand the rest, but the word was like stab on my chest. I was pondering on what I had done, when a staff called and said that Bea1 had to be admitted. I broke down and cried, but felt better after talking to my always cool hubby.

Hubby arrived later that afternoon and said I sould have gone to the girls's regular pead in Damansara Specialist Hosp. instead. At least I would not get nasty remarks from the doctor, he said.

The doctors in the ward were just wonderful. One of them said, those outings that we did was actually a no-no. Bea1 was still weak, and being in a public places expose her to a lot of other microorgasm/viruses. She was having a lot of phlegm, and they would try to get them out by nebuliser, and sucking. They would continue with paracetamol and antibiotic. They could not confirm if there was any infection in the lung as it was a Saturday and the lab was closed. But despite being awful initially, instict told me that my little girl would be alright.

5 Comments:

Blogger Shamira said...

She will surely be alright Ros. Its terrible to go through an ordeal like this.Just hang on ! God Bless

2:03 PM  
Blogger Mumsgather said...

I hope your little one get well soon. Take care.

2:14 PM  
Blogger mama23beas said...

Shamira and mumsgather...thx and yes, it really freaked me out. She is fine now, but only took the antibiotic when we gave her a choice: let papa and mama feed her or the doctors at the hosp!

10:15 AM  
Blogger amira shasmeen said...

Hiya Ros .. I was in the same boat as you last week. Amira was admitted for high fever. Want to blog about .. just don't have the time to do it yet . Brought her for check up after demam tak baik about 4 days and her temperature suddenly shot up to 40.2C at Dr's clinic. Admitted immediately .. *sigh*. She's much better now ..

5:10 PM  
Blogger mama23beas said...

Hi Lyza...now where's pompit (anyway that name reminds me of Pompeii..you know, famous for its volcanic eruption). Yeah...remember to try to bring the fever down immediately, oh gosh 40.2C...luckily you're at the clinic already. Pray for Amira for a speedy recovery.

11:22 AM  

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