Tuesday, February 22, 2011

H1N1 scare

Gosh it's been so long...Lots have been happening actually especially the beginning of the year. Hence I was not in the mood, or in the right frame of mind to blog.

Where do i begin..Somewhere in mid-January, DH went for this company trip, an overnight trip but as soon as he came back, he started feeling unwell..it started off with a sore throat, which turned into on and off coughing, which turned into a full-fledged fever by the third night. That third night, he woke up at around 3am complaining of a fever..thinking it was nothing, he just popped 2 panadols, and well, i thought it will go away within a day since that's how fevers are to me. At most it'll be gone after popping a couple of panadols.

The next day, he slept in, and luckily it was a public holiday because at least i was home. And it was also the day Pei Chyi came with Zachary and her maid to teach me some baking basics. I now know how a cake batter is supposed to look like. Suaku or not? :) hehe thanks PeiChyi!!! DH stayed in bed the entire day, with me sponging him every one hour, and feeding him more panadols. BUT the fever never came down. Instead it went higher and higher reaching 40c and he started shivering!! So that's when me and my SIL decided to send him to the emergency ward at the hospital that evening cos I was thinking if you take medicine but the fever is still not budging, means it's something more serious right?

So we took him to SDMC emergency ward. Lots of people there, but still orderly..and thank God no patients with broken bones or blood..no gory scenes. Don't think my heart could take it that night.. Waited for at least half an hour for our turn..though i hoped it could be faster because DH was still shivering non-stop. By this time, i was very worried. The nurse finally saw him, and got him to lie down in one of those hospital beds, and took his temperature. Not long after, the Dr came to see him. We explained everything to him, where he'd been, that perhaps it could be dengue because his company trip took place in some jungle *_*. Anyway, Dr got him to do a blood test and a swab test and told us that the results will only be out 2 hours later. Sigh.. more waiting.

And in the meantime, while waiting, as per Dr's instruction, we were to load DH up with lots of 100 plus to rehydrate him. And we cannot cover him with a blanket even though he was shivering as that will not make his temperature go down. Luckily there was a 100 plus vending machine just outside the emergency room. I guess they have it there for this kind of situations? By the way..the Doctors at this emergency wards are quite professional looking. Just saying. They were all well dressed, spoke professionally, look smart and know what they're talking about. So somehow it instilled some confidence for me in them. Quite different from the time i was admitted to another emergency ward (also in SDMC but a different section) and was attended by this houseman, whose shirt was not tucked in properly, the hair also not combed properly and he has dark smudges all over his doctor's coat...

Anyway..... 2 hours later. The report came. By a grim looking Dr wtf. Okay la, not that grim but he did give me that look. Anyway, he showed me the report and apparently DH has been tested positive for Influenza A. Damn. H1N1!!!! And just a minute ago, DH was coughing right into my face. When my mouth happened to be open too. Am I gonna get it too?? Dr gave DH two options. He can either stay at home and monitor his fever, or he can stay in the hospital. But Dr said he's okay to stay at home, he just need to quarantine himself. And he will be prescribed the tamiflu And me included, as a prevention. The only difference is that I take 1 pill a day and he takes 1, twice per day. And we must finish the dosage. But the thing is, I couldn't take the tamiflu for a reason. Drat.

Next thing to do after that was to make plans for Peanut, as we don't want her to get infected cos she's still a baby. Okay she's a toddler now but she's still my precious baby in my eyes. So we put her at my in-laws so that she won't get infected as I'm now officially the "nurse" for DH.. and I could only pray that i don't get it either :(

Once we reached home, DH took the pills immediately.. and by the next day around 3pm, the fever started to subside . it was a relief. Great relief. Guess the meds are effective. I read somewhere tamiflu is most effective within 2 days of symptoms so I guess it worked in his favor. And now we only hoped that Peanut didn't get it either..Things however, weren't meant to be. 2 days after DH got the fever, Peanut started coughing. and then came the dreaded fever too! and it's a high fever, reaching 40c. Sigh...was so so worried..brought her to the same emergency ward with my BIL and his wife and my MIL , and the nurses quickly undressed her and started sponging her, and put a suppository up her butt to bring down the fever. And we told the Dr what happened to her dad, so they did a swab test on her as well.

Up to the time they got swabbed, i never knew how a swab test worked.. I thought a swab test meant putting a spatula down your throat and scraping some cells off. But no....it meant taking a very long, thin, cotton bud look-a-like thing and putting it deep inside your nose. It looked scary and I didn't know how my Peanut could handle such a procedure. The nurses had to hold her head still, while the Dr dipped the long cotton bud thingy into her nose. I think the thing was at least 10cm long, or maybe longer than that. Dr assured me it won't hurt but it'll be ticklish instead. But still, Peanut burst into tears. Guess she was scared..if me I'll be scared too. And yes, we had to wait 2 hours for the swab test results, and during that time, the fever started coming down to around 37 because of the suppository. And what do you know, she got H1N1 too. Sigh..:( i was so, so distressed. Imagining the worst. Tears started falling down..

I was motionless when the nurse called me to collect her medicine. Can't move. My mind was whirring with lots of scenarios. All bad. I couldn't think properly, cannot think straight. All i could think of was to pray. To have both your loved ones down with H1N1 was a very scary feeling. I collected the medicine. She was also prescribed the tamiflu, but in liquid form. 2 doses a day. And because both of them now has H1N1, Peanut came back and stayed with us as i didn't want her to infect the rest of my in-laws, especially my FIL who was diagnosed with 4th stage cancer in December. So I became a nurse to both of them for 1 week where we all quarantined ourselves for a week at home. I didn't go to the office..And i also slept in a separate room for an entire week. I was so paranoid. Haih. Thankfully, Peanut's fever came down after 2 days where it hovered between 38c to 39c.

And what do you know, not long after that, my FIL also had fever. OMG. I almost cried at that stage. Is it that infectious that everyone will get it? In my heart i was so worried that i'll get it too because of my ongoing situation. FIL was quickly sent to the emergency ward as well, and I was worried about his condition as he's got cancer, and his immunity will be much lower. Doc did the swab test, but he didn't test positive for it. Phew...but still..gotta find out why he got that fever..turned out he has an infection somewhere in his body..

AND! my MIL got it too. Gosh...she started the same way as the rest..coughing..and soon came the fever. She didn't go to the hospital the first two days after she got the fever, thinking it'll go away. By the third day with the fever still not going away she finally went to the hospital, did a swab test, and yes, tested positive for H1N1 as well. Sigh... My mood really plunged when i heard she got H1N1 as well..it was a very bad week for us. And it was the week before CNY but I had no mood to think about CNY at all. We were due to go back to Kuching for CNY and I was so worried that we won't get to go back at all. And most of all, I was so worried i'll get it as well. Nothing was prepared at our home. We didn't buy any cny cookies, no drinks, no cny decor, and i didn't even finish any of our cny shopping, hence no new shoes for Peanut. We just didn't have the mood to do anything at all..

During that week, I really did all the necessary precautions. No sharing of utensils with Peanut and DH, I washed my hands almost every 15 minutes till my hands were raw, didn't hug and kiss Peanut (DH did all her bathing and feeding) I wore mask almost 24/7a day, ( i even fell asleep in it) , bought lots of hand sanitizer, stopped turning on the air conditioner but instead opened all the doors and windows to let the air circulate, and I drank lots and lots and lots of hot water.and fruits for vitamin c.

And I guess, everything went well because we get to go back to Kuching for CNY. You have no idea, how happy and relieved I was that we get to step on the airplane that morning. :)

9 comments:

Blur Angel said...

gosh! one after another! hope that they are fine now! :)

The Peanut Momster said...

Min: they're fine now phew hehe..but still got little bits of coughing. until today :P

Pei Chyi said...

reliving it felt so ...exhausting wey.
Thank God everyone's okay now :)

When u wanna bake again? hehehehe maybe this time can do intermediate level class

The Peanut Momster said...

PC: hehe ya i wanna bake again but too tired at the moment. bila ada energy sikit la hehe

Leona said...

oh my, that's a really scary story, glad u managed to go back afterall...

The Peanut Momster said...

Leona: yalor i was really relieved! :)

PINKPheng said...

Oh My!!! super scary but am so glad that the whole ordeal is over de.. take care!!

PINKPheng said...

Oh My!! so scary!! but am so glad that the ordeal is over de... take care!!

The Peanut Momster said...

pinkpheng: Thanks Pheng! :)