Close encounter with H1N1

Our whole family just returned from Hong Kong on 25th June 2009, Thursday.

Both Vincent and I received sms during our trip to self quarantine at home for 7 days as we are returning from one of the “affected countries”.

On Saturday morning, when I carried Jaelyn when she woke up, I can feel that she is very warm. By 12noon, I checked her temperature and it was 38 degree Celsius. OH MY!!! I was panicky, worried, scared, afraid… whatever words I can find to describe my feeling… I don’t want to bring her to KK to hospitalise!!! No no no!!!

So we gave her fever medicine… still the temperature did not go down… Both Vincent & I were scared stiff… We called her usual PD, Dr. Goh Siok Ying and she advised that we should observe her for 1 –2 days and only bring her to KK if she developed cough and flu. But said that if we want to bring her to see doctor, any doctor would refer us to KK because of our travel history. Even if we bring her to Dr. Goh on Monday, she also would have to send us down to KK.

Midnight, Sunday, Jaelyn still running a fever of 38 degree Celsius. Both of us decided to bring her to KK the first thing in the morning.

28 Jun 2009, Sunday morning, we brought Jaelyn to KK Hospital Children Emergency. The moment we got off the car, the nurse asked if we did travel for the past 7 days and immediately we have to be sent to the isolation tent and only 1 parent allowed.

I went with Jaelyn. She was crying and crying… she was scared because everyone was wearing a mask. Then the nurse took her pulse, she cried and struggled and wet her pant. Shortly after, the nurse took an apparatus to measure her oxygen level, another struggle. Then we waited very long to see the doctor. Thank God we packed our portable DVD player and Jaelyn’s favourite Hi 5 disc.

The tent was full of sick kids… all wear mask. You can hear the nurse saying… fever… 38.5 degree Celsius… this one back from Indonesia… so on and so forth… I was so so so SCARED!!! I almost teared… I felt so helpless and my husband couldn’t come in.

I held Jaelyn and prayed and prayed that she will be fine. In fact, her temperature dropped to 37.4 degree when the nurse took her temperature. Finally we get to see the doctor. The doctor said Jaelyn was generally healthy except for fever and diarrhoea. She did not think she is having H1N1 but as part of the procedure, she had to take a swap test. A long cotton stick was put into her nostril to take out some sampling for testing. We were given home quarantine for 7 days till 4 July 2009. I thank God that we get to go home. It was not as scary afterall. However, we have to stay home and wait for the test result. The doctor said that if the test is negative, they will not call us. If it was positive, KK will call us to straight bring her back to hospitalise.

We went home… Sunday passed by very quickly. Jaelyn poo-ed 8 times and her fever subsided in the evening…

29 June 2009, Monday… No call from KK! Was working from home and about to “off work” so I started writing this blog… And my HP rings!!!! Unfamiliar number… Doctor from KK called to look for parent of Chua Xin Yi Jaelyn.. I held my breath…

“I’m Doctor Tay from KK Hospital… I called to inform you that Jaelyn’s test result is out… the result is NEGATIVE.”

PRAISE THE LORD!!! God is good! The doctor said if we did not receive letter from the Ministry of Health, Jaelyn need not be home quarantine.. That is sure good news!

What a close encounter with H1N1!

Sigh…

Yesterday Jaelyn’s diarrhoea got better… Bought her home last night AND ………………………

Her fingers got caught by the lift door… I got the shock of my life… I shouted louder than her! I quickly pulled her fingers out and they are all red! Can see the veins… Thank God she’s ok… the swell went off after cold compress…

Sigh… so discouraged… Feel lousy… How come she keeps getting hurt…. How come I never watch over her properly…

I’m so tired… It’s really not easy to take care and bring up a child… Missing her now already… not bringing her home tonight as I’m going for the Song of Solomon bible study…

My Darling is sick… Diarrhea Day 3

Today is the 3rd day Jaelyn is having diarrhea…

It’s the first time Jaelyn had a diarrhea and I don’t really know what to do. It started on Monday, my mum called me in the evening saying that Jaelyn seems to be having a diarrhea as she has watery poo after her milk and it’s the 4th times in the day already. So I quickly rushed home… but not in time to visit the doctor.

Tuesday, after Jaelyn woke up and had her first feed, she poo poo again… So I brought her to Kidlink to see Dr. Goh. The good thing about Kidlink is that short waiting time but it’s super far. Anyway took some medicine and went home. Dr. Goh said she can continue with her milk and we may dilute the milk if we want to. The diarrhea medicine taste horrible, Jaelyn threw up after tasting it for the first time. I diluted her milk… but she seems to be hungry every hour… but if I give her anything above 3 scoops, she will poo immediately after the feed. Sigh… Tueday, Jaelyn took 4 hours nap, didn’t eat her lunch… just a bit of porridge in the evening and a few feed of diluted milk…

To make things worst, she slipped and fell and cut her right pinky finger. It’s the worst kind of cut she ever had. Can still see the loose skin dangling… I was helpless… I cried… I don’t know what to do, its so painful to me… I don’t know how to stop the bleeding… Clueless and Helpless…

Wednesday, Jaelyn woke up at 9am, gave her the first feed of milk… after 10min… she soiled her diaper. Sigh… I sent her to my mum. She was unusually quiet and listless throughout the cab journey… my heart sank… I went to NTUC to buy a tin of Friso Soy powder (Isomil soy powder for 6months and above doesn’t come in small tin). She refused to drink at first… but in the end, I guessed it’s better than nothing so she drank. She poo-ed 2 more times in the day. After work, I went to fetch her… She’s moody… quite cranky… Came back… had 2 feeds of soy milk.. poo… had another feed of soy milk.. finally fell asleep 30min ago from tiredness…

I’m totally worn out… tired but don’t feel like sleeping… I don’t know how else can I make her recover faster except to pray… She’s into the 4th day of diarrhea… I wonder how is her body taking it… I don’t want to send her to hospital… No! I don’t want her on drip… she is well hydrated, she drinks water and glucose drink given by the pd… I want my baby to get well soon soon soon!

My Baby is sick…

An overdue post… (by 1 month)

Over the weekend, Jaelyn was very very sick…

Last Friday, my mum called me in the evening to quickly rush home because Jaelyn is coughing very badly and didn’t take her dinner nor drink her milk. I literately ran across the bridge linking Suntec to Gateway to catch the bus and reached home within 30min. She was indeed very listless… not much smile and babbles… very quiet… that’s not my usual cheerful baby…

Vincent and I quickly brought her home and gave her medicine from the previous visit to the doctor… We both thought its just a cough and she will recover quickly…

But she had a very difficult sleep that night… she was coughing every few minutes and crying alot through the night.. so I decided to bring her to the doctor first thing in the morning.

After she woke up on Saturday morning, I quickly packed the milk and off we go heading to Gleneagles to see Dr. Y Y Yip… But half way through the journey, Jaelyn threw up all over herself and we have to stop by my mum’s place to get her changed. Then we realised Dr. Y Y Yip was on leave. (Vincent joked that its a sign we shouldn’t go there. So we changed course, brought her to Sembawang to see Dr. Goh at Kidlink instead. She threw up the second time on the way to Sembawang…

When we reached the clinic, everyone has to have their temperature taken before we entered the clinic… and we found out Jaelyn was running a fever at 37.7 degree Celsius. Anyway it was a short waiting time and we quickly get her medicine and headed home.

By the time we reached home, it’s almost 12noon and Jaelyn only drank 4oz of milk the whole morning.

She doesn’t want her porridge, doesn’t really want her milk… Threw up a few more times at home… it was a very very sad Saturday… we didn’t make it for Dr. Kim Sung Hae service so we watched it from home over the internet. I must say her piano was very well played and full of anointing. Jaelyn finally fell asleep so peacefully during the piano session… (She didn’t catch a wink that whole day… she was just feeling so uncomfortable and so scared of the vomiting) I teared… I felt so sorry for my baby… so heart pain that she didn’t eat that day… sobsob…. I don’t like her to be sick…

She got better on Sunday, drink slightly more milk. Can walk around the house a bit more and played with her toy for a short while… and only threw up once. But she didn’t take her nap for long because she woke up every time she coughed… My poor darling…

Jaelyn catching some sleep…