Monday, August 14, 2006
Sleepless in KKH
Last Saturday, Matthew came down with gastric flu. Sad to say, he got it from YiXuan during a BBQ gathering at Auntie Jamie's place on National Day. It started with a low grade fever <37.5oC and a bout of loose stools in the morning. After that, he seems ok and we even went to Suntec and Botanic Gardens.
Near lunch time, he had another bout of diarrhea and wasn't too keen on his chicken rice. We went home and he had a nap. He ate a little porridge and had diluted milk. Fever still moderate. In the evening, he had some porridge for dinner and fell asleep in front of the TV. We woke him up for his paracetemol and went down for our dinner. He broke out in hives! He had taken paracetemol before, so we were surprised to see hives. He slept around 10pm. By then he had about 5-6x diarrhea and minor vomitting (because he ate too much too fast).
At 11pm, his hives subsided but fever went up to 39.5oC. We decided to give him brufen, a stronger fever medicine to try and bring down the temperature. An hour after, he broke out into FULL BLOWN hives. His eyes were swollen, body full of patches and it made him very restless. He was a zombie, leading me around the house, turning on all the lights. That worried me quite a bit, so I decided to get ourselves to KKH.
When we reached KKH, Matthew's fever has gone down to 38.9oC but eyes were still swollen and he was in a better mood. He really hates having his temperature taken. He cried! Really loud! and got everybody staring at him... as if they have never seen a kid cry before. *sigh* We walked around the whole place and waited 2 hours before we finally saw a doctor.
What I like about KKH is because it has a children's emergency department and they attend to the urgent cases first. But the non-emergency cases are often seen by the not so experienced doctors. They always have a more experienced doctor who they can consult, so that wasn't too bad. But sometimes you got to repeat the exact same thing you told the 1st doctor to the 2nd doctor. That can be annoying, especially when you have a crying baby on hand!!!
Anyway, we finally got to see TWO doctors and Matthew was given 5ml of some steroid based medicine to suppress the hives and 10ml of some pink anti-allergy medicine and half an hour later 5ml of paracetemol. By this time, my crying Matthew (who hates doctors because of the steroscope) was wore out, tired and falling asleep. At least he took the medicine without fuss and even drank 1 oz of water.
We spent another 2 hours in observation. By then the hives have gone down quite a bit but eyes were still swollen. Temperature was down to 38oC. After paying $65 (which included the medicine), we went home, with Matthew still sleeping and he slept till 9am.
What an ordeal! It really scared the hell out of me. Dr Ong said that what I did to administer the brufen was right, because his temperature did not come down, but we had no idea that he might be allergic to brufen.
Matthew is ok now, no more fever, but diarrhea continues. Get well soon, my dear boy.
Near lunch time, he had another bout of diarrhea and wasn't too keen on his chicken rice. We went home and he had a nap. He ate a little porridge and had diluted milk. Fever still moderate. In the evening, he had some porridge for dinner and fell asleep in front of the TV. We woke him up for his paracetemol and went down for our dinner. He broke out in hives! He had taken paracetemol before, so we were surprised to see hives. He slept around 10pm. By then he had about 5-6x diarrhea and minor vomitting (because he ate too much too fast).
At 11pm, his hives subsided but fever went up to 39.5oC. We decided to give him brufen, a stronger fever medicine to try and bring down the temperature. An hour after, he broke out into FULL BLOWN hives. His eyes were swollen, body full of patches and it made him very restless. He was a zombie, leading me around the house, turning on all the lights. That worried me quite a bit, so I decided to get ourselves to KKH.
When we reached KKH, Matthew's fever has gone down to 38.9oC but eyes were still swollen and he was in a better mood. He really hates having his temperature taken. He cried! Really loud! and got everybody staring at him... as if they have never seen a kid cry before. *sigh* We walked around the whole place and waited 2 hours before we finally saw a doctor.
What I like about KKH is because it has a children's emergency department and they attend to the urgent cases first. But the non-emergency cases are often seen by the not so experienced doctors. They always have a more experienced doctor who they can consult, so that wasn't too bad. But sometimes you got to repeat the exact same thing you told the 1st doctor to the 2nd doctor. That can be annoying, especially when you have a crying baby on hand!!!
Anyway, we finally got to see TWO doctors and Matthew was given 5ml of some steroid based medicine to suppress the hives and 10ml of some pink anti-allergy medicine and half an hour later 5ml of paracetemol. By this time, my crying Matthew (who hates doctors because of the steroscope) was wore out, tired and falling asleep. At least he took the medicine without fuss and even drank 1 oz of water.
We spent another 2 hours in observation. By then the hives have gone down quite a bit but eyes were still swollen. Temperature was down to 38oC. After paying $65 (which included the medicine), we went home, with Matthew still sleeping and he slept till 9am.
What an ordeal! It really scared the hell out of me. Dr Ong said that what I did to administer the brufen was right, because his temperature did not come down, but we had no idea that he might be allergic to brufen.
Matthew is ok now, no more fever, but diarrhea continues. Get well soon, my dear boy.
