Sick logs... September - November 2011

September 2nd. Hospitalization

It was a Monday, I came back from work and was vegetating on the sofa and she was playing next to me on the floor. She climbed onto the sofa and knelt while playing with Justin's laptop. The laptop slid off her lap and the next thing I knew I saw her grabbing onto the laptop and she slid down as well.. head down on to the laptop which had fallen onto the carpeted floor. She cried as usual and it was her forehead that was red. I pacified her and she was OK after that. 30 mins later after a few spoons of porridge, she vomited. REALLY vomited. Almost all her food came out. I panicked, but Justin came home and calmed me down. 20 mins later, she vomited again. And she didn't stop. At 6.40 we rushed to Dr. Pauline (she's amazing) and she did a thorough check, said that her responses were perfect, but the vomiting was worrying. She wrote a letter for admittance into Pantai Cheras, which we eventually changed to SDMC because of distance.

Rushed to SDMC ER, where we waited 10 minutes until she was checked out. Then waited another 1 hour until an IV was put on her to help with dehydration. It was painful to watch as they bundled her with a bedsheet, I held her tight while trying to calm her as she kept calling and screaming "mommy mommy". My daughter was in pain and all I could do was hug her. I was helpless.

The consultant paediatrician in charge said she'll need a CT scan just in case but she she needed to be really still.. aka asleep.. so we waited for another 2 hours until she had gone into deep sleep. We got her scanned, and she remained sleeping (they had already added an anti vomit drip only 30 mins prior). Results showed NO brain damage, swelling etc. It was normal! But the diagnosis was a mild concussion with no lasting damage. Relieved, we checked in to the room for overnight observation and for the drip to run. She vomited a total of 16 times.

Next day, we only managed to check out at  7pm, with a whoopping 1.7k hospital bill. That night, after milk she vomited again.. but not much. So we prayed and went to sleep.

Next morning, after milk, she complained of stomach pain. My heart dropped. And 1 hour later, she vomited in the lift in school... My heart stopped. After cleaning her up, I got a call from Dr. Pauline who was calling just to check on Alyssa (see why I said she's amazing?) And she asked whether Alyssa had diarrhea, which she did this morning! Two smelly runny poop filled diapers! And that was when Dr. Pauline said, then her initial diagnosis and hunch was right - there was no concussion. It was a case of bad bad bad viral stomach flu (which I caught just 2 days before Aly fell sick). With proper instructions and medication - probiotics, anti diarhea, oral salts, Aly recovered 2 days later... All I can say is that God was so kind.

But that virus was really something... a day after coming home from hospital, Justin caught it and started vomiting. The next day my mom took care of her and started vomiting before the end of the day. The day after that the same fate landed on my sister who took care of Aly while my mom was sick. =/ Really something. 

October. Flu, cough, and sleepless nights

Few weeks after the hospitalization, she case the common flu bug. Needless to say.. stuffy runny nose and itching throat kept her waking almost every 2 hours.. and us with little and close to no sleep. Her nose recovered in 3 days and her cough went away after 10 days. Phew.. we had survived another wave...

October: Swollen hand.

Another Monday.. while on the way to the carpark, I let Aly stand in the lift. Then lift door opened and her hands was on it... her hand got dragged into the space between the door and the lift. She screamed, and I immediately yanked it out. She was then crying inconsolably. We rushed her to the nearby clinic outside ,fer,REER(re because Dr. Pauline wasn't opened. The doctor said it was unlikely that it was a fracture, but we should monitor her swelling and her pain levels. At 7, we visited Dr. Pauline and she gave the same diagnosis..
soft tissue damage. We were sent away with an RM80 bill and pain and swelling medicine.

The cute thing about this was how Aly reacted! She literally went around like her arm was broken/detached from the shoulder. It was really really cute! But sadly, with the whole worrying and crying, I forgot to take pictures! =(

So this lasted for the whole night. To monitor her, I let her sleep next to me on my bed and I basically kept watch almost the whole night, making sure she wouldn't roll over and hurt her hand, and to reposition her once in a while so her hand will get enough blood circulation.

Next morning I decided to stay home but it was evident that she wasn't showing that she was getting better. And my daughter being drama queen Justin suggested that we bring her to school for half a day. Just to see whether she'd come alive with the students and the excitement. True enough, she did come alive. First order of business upon entering school was to announce (like a boss) that her hand was pain. "baby.. hand.. pain!" Then she started running around and playing, with the "hurt" hand. Suddenly it was business as usual, she was drawing with that hand and playing catching with Elise (her favorite che che).

After the trip to school, she was miraculously healed and that was the last of this episode.

November 19 - privates infected.

During lunch she started crying and screaming while holding on to her diapers in the groin area. 2 hours later, same thing happened.. and we noticed she did it while peeing. I was worried that it could be a UTI so we rushed to Dr. Pauline who examined her thoroughly and took a urine test. Test results were negative for bacteria so it was unlikely that is was UTI. Her vulva and anus were red, which could be the cause of her pain. Urine stinging infected parts = pain. So we were sent home with a bill of RM83, some pH medication soap used for her to soak in, some cream, and probiotics.

I set up her tub with the prescribed soap, and got her sitting in it. a few seconds later, she stood up screaming in pain. the concoction must have really stung. But we were instructed to soak her for 2 minutes, so we had to literally hold her in while she cried "daddy naniiiiiiiiiii naniiiiiii" (daddy, no no). Sigh... Broke Justin's heart.

Applying the cream after that was equally bad. But the fun part was that she was to go diaper-less. And boy, did she enjoy that. 30 mins later, she peed with lots of screaming and tears. another 15 mins later, she peed again, this time with no screams.. but whines. 30 mins after that, she peed a whole puddle and we didn't even notice cause there was not even a squeak from her until Justin went checking on her and she exclaimed "daddy, peee peeee". And another 30 mins after that she again peed a puddle, and this time kept real quiet and had fun time playing with the pee, which included rubbing it over her face. Sigh. So, it seemed that the medication did work really fast and well as Dr. Pauline said it would.

With that, I close this sick log entry. I hope it'll be a LONG time before I have to enter another log.

=]'[;
X][[X[X[CFFFFFFFFF <<< Aly says hi.

Sick logs... updated

We finally took her to her pediatrician on Wednesday. And her diagnosis: ulcer on her throat/sore throat. But by that time, she was already beginning to heal! (yay!) We were given some drops to numb the area so she could drink water and swallow food - as she wasn't having anything but ice cream/yoghurt for the past 2 days.

This morning, we woke to a very happy baby!! Our lil Aly is back in business!! Really missed her.

Something about this round of sickness drew us closer together. =)

I really thank God for speedy recovery!

As for the cause of the sickness... we're not sure. But the hubby has observed that almost a day after every visit to the swimming pool landed her sick. As an added security measure, we shall be purchasing an inflatable pool to be placed in our porch, until her immune system's stronger.

I'm just sooooo happy to have my baby back!! Whee


On a side note, she added new words to her vocab! Plis (please), nananana (no no), nana (banana), pish (fish), babee (baby), klo (close), bouh (open), wahhh, tar (guitar).

We noticed a huge leap in terms of being able to vocalize new words this week We only need to repeat a word (that is similar to what she can pronounce) once and she'll be able to pick it up! Just yesterday I was telling her that I was feeding  her a banana and  she smiled and said "nana"! This is a really exciting!! We're going to teach her to say "thank  you" next!!

Sick logs... (?)

Couldn't really think of a more.. suitable title.

The internet is filled with info that warns about a dip in immune system's ability to cope after the 6th month. That's when the mother's milk no longer supplies antibodies like it used to before baby was 6 months old. I noticed that... and at 1 day over 6 months, it was the first time Aly fell sick.

6 months 1 day - Roseola, high fever for 4 days, mild rash on tummy on 5th day, recovered on 6th day

12 months 1 week - Roseola, high fever for 3 days, bad rash on tummy which spread to the forehead and cheeks, recovered on 8th day.

13 months 4 weeks - fever, lots of drooling... Not sure if it's just teething...

Suffice to say... Those times hubby and I had almost no sleep. Baby was cranky to say the least... and I felt totally helpless...

She's sick again. We're not sure if it's a virus or whether its teething. All I know is.. I can't describe how much it hurts watching my daughter.. my tiny tiny daughter cry in pain...knowing that there is nothing I can do to make it better. Last night, she lay on the bed looking at me, crying... ma ma... And my heart broke.