Penguin RushRota...
The BeginningIt was on Friday, 30 May 2008. My family and I had a dinner at a restaurant. They were serving some crisp poppodums (the above photo is not poppodums) as part of the meals. Upon seeing my food which came first and since his porridge still had not arrived, Ikhwan, as usual, was excited to have some.
Silly of me to think that the poppodum would have the same texture as Ikhwan's biscuits (i.e. soft when in mouth). Just as my wife tried to stop me from giving him quite a big chunk of poppodum, Ikhwan already put it in his mouth and tried to swallow it whole. Because of that, Ikhwan was either choking or trying to vomit the poppodum back out. He then, did vomit - not just the poppodum but most probably, almost his entire meal for that day. It was like water coming out of the hose after the tap was open. I would never forget the pain expression on his face and immediately, guilt took over me.
His vomit was all over the table where he sat by and on the floor and did not stop there. When wife took him to the sink to clean him up, Ikhwan vomited some more.
The Days That Follow
Ikhwan was feverish the following weekend, quite weak and did not eat much. Initially, we did not suspect anything serious. Then, on Sunday night, Ikhwan vomited the same way he did the previous Friday. Seeing that, I felt more guilty, fearing that could I have ignited something serious that had affected Ikhwan's digestive or breathing system....?
Wife took a day off the next day, hoping that Ikwan would recover from whatever bug he was having.
On Tuesday, Ikhwan's condition hadn't fully improved but his fever did subside a bit. So, we decided to send Ikhwan over to his sitter's house as usual. Around 3pm, I received a call from his sitter who said Ikhwan was burning hot, hardly ate and slept and cried most of the time that day. She also believed he had tonsilitis for his throat had inflammation. I could hear him crying. I called out to him, and his sitter told him that 'Ayah' was on the phone. His cry slowed down a bit. I talked to him further, trying to calm him down.
After hanging up the phone, I broke into tears. I had difficulty in telling a colleague about my son being sick, because emotion took the better of me. I think the reason I became teary was because;
1. I felt so helpless hearing him cry over the phone, not being able to hug and comfort him.
2. I could picture in my head how he must be looking at the earpiece when I was talking to him. He must have wanted his parents to be around.
3. I had myself to blame for making him sick due to the whole feeding-him-with-poppodum-when-I-shouldn't-have, which I believed had ignited his sickness.
That night, we hardly slept (especially wife) and neither did Ikhwan. We feared that his temperature would sore without us realising. Every time he ate or had his milk, he would vomit them all back, almost immediately. The vomiting was projectile and so much (considering he ate and drank very little, compared to his usual amount)!
The Hospital
Wednesday, 04 June 2008 - I took an emergency leave. Wife went to work, to rearrange her work schedules with her colleagues so that she could come home early and perhaps, took another day or two off too.
Soon after she left, I realised Ikhwan was breathing rather heavily, like he was very tired. He had also developed cough and flu. He hugged my right hand tight, with my palm as his pillow. He tried to sleep but was too restless to do so.
I could feel how hot his body was. My attempt to give him the pill through his bottom failed - it kept coming back out!!! I started to panic. My wife was still at work. Being a doctor, she knew these stuffs better. Usually, she was the one in-charge in giving Ikhwan medicine this way. With Ikhwan's body temperature like this, oral medicine would take some time to have any effect.
I gave Ikhwan a tap-it sponging. Once done, I rang my wife. I must have sounded all panicky that soon after that, wife called back, saying she was heading home.
At the hospital, the doctor measured his temperature. It was about 40 degrees C. Ikhwan was also dehydrated. This warranted him to be hospitalised. Wife told me that her leave application for Wednesday to Friday was approved. Unfortunately, she could not escape from working that following weekend.
Ikhwan needed to be put on drips. About 4 people had to hold Ikhwan on the bed, on each side, since the nurses had difficulty in finding his vein (and Ikhwan was struggling at the same time). One poke after another, they still couldn't find it. For every poke, Ikhwas was crying and screaming loudly.
The hospital did some tests on his stool and Ikhwan was diagnosed with Rotavirus, which meant this was no ordinary case of diarrhoea, fever and vomiting. That same day, all four of Ikhwan's grandparents and my brother in law drove up to visit Ikhwan. In laws went back to Muar in the evening, while my parents stayed for two more days.
On the second day Ikhwan was hospitalised, Ikhwan had no more diarrhoea and vomiting. I drove to the hospital straight after work. Wife told me the needle that allowed Ikhwan to receive his drips had caused his hand to become swollen. Luckily he was not infected. So, they had pull that out and the process of finding his vein started all over again. After more than 10 pokes (in total) were attempted on Ikhwan, this time around, the doctor gave up. This angered me a little bit, although my wife seemed to understand (of course!) that for those who are chubby or overweight (babies and adults alike), finding their veins could be quite a task.
The doctor advised my wife to give him enough liquid. Well, if only his appetite had come back and he drank as much! His lips cracked due to dryness, tongue had white patches on it, while throat was still as red as ever. All this caused difficulty for him to drink. In matter of days, he had already lost weight. I stayed at the hospital till well past midnight and only had dinner afterwards. I really didn't feel like leaving those two behind.
Friday morning, driving to work as usual. While stopping at one traffic light, the vision of Ikhwan looking up to his 'Ibu' with his sunken eyes and looking so frail, came to mind. Again, I broke down. Streams of tears running down on my cheeks and it didn't bother me if people could see me. I heard that, in couples, one of them would usually be more emotional than the other. Guess, in the case of wife and I, no question there who would that person be, huh?
While in the hospital, I noticed there were a few babies who were by themselves and taken care by nurses. Wife said those were from welfare homes - babies who were orphans or abandoned. Wife remembered cases where doctors or nurses, who, after spending days nursing the babies, felt attached to them and later adopted them.
Well, I could relate to that. There was this one baby girl who was about Ikhwan's age, if not older by a few months. She was so cute, of bubbly nature and friendly - she was the one who greeted me and my mum when we walked pass by her bed. She cried when we left her. That was rather devastating, having to leave her like that. I told wife, if only raising up a child was easy and cheap, I would adopt her for sure. At least, Ikhwan had a friend to play with at home.
While in the hospital, I noticed there were a few babies who were by themselves and taken care by nurses. Wife said those were from welfare homes - babies who were orphans or abandoned. Wife remembered cases where doctors or nurses, who, after spending days nursing the babies, felt attached to them and later adopted them.
Well, I could relate to that. There was this one baby girl who was about Ikhwan's age, if not older by a few months. She was so cute, of bubbly nature and friendly - she was the one who greeted me and my mum when we walked pass by her bed. She cried when we left her. That was rather devastating, having to leave her like that. I told wife, if only raising up a child was easy and cheap, I would adopt her for sure. At least, Ikhwan had a friend to play with at home.
The 'After-Hospital' Effect
On the third day (Friday) evening, the doctor allowed him to be discharged. I picked them up after work. He was still rather feverish and weak that Saturday, and slept for many hours. It was apparent, his full recovery only started that Sunday.
On the third day (Friday) evening, the doctor allowed him to be discharged. I picked them up after work. He was still rather feverish and weak that Saturday, and slept for many hours. It was apparent, his full recovery only started that Sunday.
Days that followed after being hospitalised, Ikhwan's behaviour changed a bit. Normally, he would be like that bubbly baby girl, the first to greet or smile at strangers. But the experience of being surrounded by strangers (the nurses and doctors), being hurt at and to live in an unfamiliar and uncomfortable environment, must had traumatised him. Everytime while in elevators, he would cry so loudly if there were other people nearby. There was this one day, when we passed by a man with him in the stroller, he also cried. The man wasn't even looking at us and was surprised to hear Ikhwan cry.
My wife and I were worried of course, in case he got too scared of people. Now, after a few weeks had gone by, Ikhwan is back to his usual self. Actually, more friendly than before. He also eats more these days, laughs louder and very, very talkative. That's our boy!!! :-)))
My wife and I were worried of course, in case he got too scared of people. Now, after a few weeks had gone by, Ikhwan is back to his usual self. Actually, more friendly than before. He also eats more these days, laughs louder and very, very talkative. That's our boy!!! :-)))
Meantime, you can read about my cousin niece's and nephew's encounter with Rotavirus here.
P/S: Please note that the above photograph serves as an illustration purpose only. There's no scientific evidence linking the Rota Crackers with Rota virus and thus, I should not be held responsible for any decline in sales of Rota Crackers should any readers feel contempted to buy the crackers as a result of reading this article.
Labels: Health, Life, Love, My Children, My Families, Parental
posted by The Pisces Man @ 8:03 am
8 Comments:
Prolly its time to make more babies....
Hmmm... judging from current economic condition, 'manufacturing plant' manager would have to oversee its production ;-)
glad that your kid is back to his old self now..
as for rota the crackers, wujud lagi ke?
Ryzah, oh yes, we are too....
Laa, ya ke Rota dah extinct? Patut la cam tak nampak jer lagi..Penat jer aku tulis statement tuh, hehee.
OMG! Siannya Ikhwan :(( But seriously, wa it caused by the cracker tht he ate? Scarylah!
My 3yr old nephew experienced the same thing that Ikhwan experienced. It all started after he ate those plum assam...perut tak tahan...
Since doctor diagnosed dia ada Rota virus, so his cirit birit and muntah (plus possibly the fever and the flu) may be caused by the virus lah kot.. coz I'm not aware if the virus can be found in foods, let alone choking on food would trigger the virus.
Maybe coincidentally it happened before the cracker incident lah kot. Wallahua'lam..
Hi there..
It's been ages since I said anything (or upload any story on my blog for that matter). Been busy lah.. Anyway..
... I was so shocked to read about Ikhwan.. kesiannya dia. He's still a baby. So going through all that must have traumatised him. These days, there's just no knowing how these diseases come about, or how it was inflicted on people.
I hope he's ok now.. Please take good care of him. Give him a hug for me will you.. :)
Yeah, i notice ur blog long not updated :)
He's ok now.. Hey, perhaps we all can meet some day, huh? What u think...?
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