Often when the kids get a fever, I don't panic and immediately go to the doctor. I know that it takes 2 days for a fever to break so as much as possible, I just give the kids paracetamol to keep the fever down and observe.
It was initially that way with Dylan. His fever started last Sunday and we attributed it to his mild cold. It went on till Monday which made him miss his classes. Tuesday, he was feeling a little better, the fever has broken, or so I thought.
Wednesday morning, his fever was back and that was the time I became concerned. I remembered that when Den had dengue, her fever was on and off and she didn't show any of the usual signs of dengue, like the rashes. When we took her to the hospital, it was only a suspicion of dengue but it turned out, she was lucky we brought her that day because her BP was already crashing. She stayed in the ICU for about 5 days that time.
So you can imagine my fear when Dylan was showing the same signs. Patrick missed work for this on the off-chance that Dylan had dengue, someone had to go home and arrange for his stuff to be brought to the hospital. His doctor, Dra. Violeta Mendoza of the World City Medical Center, advised that he have blood tests and a dengue test done just to be sure. It was a good thing that Dylan was covered under Patrick's health plan at work and we didn't have to pay for anything.If you look at this picture of Dylan and his daddy, he doesn't look like he's sick. :)
Here's a scanned picture of the laboratory tests done on him. It was for a complete blood count, Platelet count and NS 1 Antigen. It only took one needle prick to get the results for all the tests. I admit I was nervous when we went to the laboratory because I wasn't sure how Dylan will react when he sees the needle. But he was a very good boy and he didn't even cry when the interns proceeded to find the vein in his arm. They had to do it three times because they couldn't find the vein on either arm. When they decided that they will use his right arm, they immediately went to work. It was also good training on their part not to show the needle to Dylan until the last minute when they were actually going to prick him. Imagine if other kids immediately saw the needle waiting there on the table, I bet they'd be thinking too many horror stories :) Dylan flinched a little when he felt the prick but he didn't jerk and he didn't scream or cry either. Good Boy!! :) When it was done and they put cotton and tape on the prick, he moved like an old man, like his arm had the whole weight of his body hahaha
Since we had to wait for 3 hours for the results, we first went to Cubao to pass the time. We ate at McDonald's. It was funny to watch him eat because he refused to use his bandaged arm :) Eating was a chore to him at that point :) We just went around Ali Mall to see what's new, and there were a lot of new developments, like new shops that weren't there before. It was good to see Cubao getting revived. Patrick felt like he was running full circle because his dad used to bring him there when he was a kid and now, he's a dad and he's bringing his kid to Cubao :) I felt the same way. Cubao was the destination for families during Sundays after church when I was a kid too. :)
Anyway, we got the good news after we got the results. Dylan didn't have dengue. His fever was mostly probably viral, according to his doctor, which apparently can last for 5 days. His blood work didn't show any signs of infection so he wasn't prescribed antibiotics either. He was just advised to rest and take it easy and stay away from other sick people LOL So that was a huge relief!!
At home, Dylan and Patrick just stayed in bed reading Top Gear! :D
For more information on dengue, here's what Dr. Eric Tayag of the DOH, said about the symptoms of dengue:
- High Fever
- Rashes
- Vomiting
- Stomach pains
- Nose bleeding
- Low Platelet count
- Difficulty in breathing
