From Tiny Red Spots To Painful Ulcers

I checked her throat last night and saw a few ulcers sitting inside her throat. The tiny red spots that she got 2 days ago have now turned into painful ulcers. I noticed there’s another tiny blister on her lower lips. Gosh, don’t tell me it’s really HFM!! But there aren’t any blisters on other parts of her body yet, in particular the palms and soles of the feet.

She’s still on Augmentin and her fever hasn’t fully subsided yet, obviously due to the ulcers in her throat. Even drinking water and eating porridge are causing her excruciating pain. Looking back, she has never had any mouth ulcers before. Last night, I found out from one of the health websites that there’s no specific treatment for HFM disease, and antibiotics aren’t effective as it’s a viral infection. The infection simply must run its course. The only help is to lessen the discomfort by taking plenty of fluids and rest more. The signs and symptoms usually clear up in 7 to 10 days.

Looking at her present condition, I will continue to keep her out of school until her fever is gone and mouth ulcers have healed. I am thinking of getting her a tub of vanilla ice cream to soothe her aching throat later. Her face will definitely light up upon seeing her favorite ice cream :D

All 3 Down With Fever

Sharlene’s piao cheh was not well last Saturday and her fever bug passed on to her brother last night. He was still running high temperature this afternoon, so sis-in-law rushed back from office to take him to the doctor. This afternoon just before lunch time, Aunty YK called to inform me that Sharlene was not feeling too good since she got back from school. Oh dear, now it’s her turn to catch the bug :( Her temperature was at 38 degree Celsius this afternoon. I told Aunty YK to give her paracetamol syrup in the fridge and to monitor her temperature from time to time. I called home a few times to check on her condition. She’s feeling better after the medicines but her temperature was up again when I got home around 6.30pm. Immediately took her to the paed’s office. She looked so sickly and was whining away in the car. The paed took her temperature and it was 39.5 degree Celsius. She gave her a suppository on the spot. She also checked her throat and noticed there were 3 tiny red spots inside there. She told me to watch out for signs and symptoms of HFM disease like red blisters or lesions on the tongue, mouth, palms and soles of her feet.

I will quarantine her for the next few days. Hopefully her fever will soon subside and there will be no symptoms of HFM disease on her. Ok, got to go and check on her now. She’s due for another insertion of suppository at about 1 am. Will hit the sack only after putting the suppository for her. Goodnite, everyone!

Oh No, Not Again!

Yesterday afternoon I received a phone call from home that Sharlene’s down with fever when she came back from school. Her body temperature was at 39 degrees Celsius. Oh dear...just when she’s about to recover from her prolonged cough, she’s hit by the fever bug at this time! Her immune system seems to be weak ever since she attended pre-school last year. As her fever was at a high side, I told her nanny to insert a Voltaren suppository into her anus right away. She was so tired and slept on the couch the whole afternoon. When I called back to check on her at about 3pm she’s still asleep. Hubby brought her to the paed’s office in the evening and that was her 3rd visit to the paed in the span of 2 weeks. Sigh! my poor gal has been prescribed with 2 bags of new meds including a course of antibiotics for her fever from the doc yesterday. She absolutely hates to take her meds.



That was how she looks like last night – so sickly and listless

Ouch! My Bum Bum Is So Pain:(

Sharlene has been complaining about this the whole day. She has slight diarrhoea and each time she complaint of tummy ache, she passed out watery stools numerous times today. So frequent that her bum becomes sore and painful. She also accidentally poo pooed in her pant. She yelled and cried everytime she needs to poo poo today.:(

Sharlene had developed high fever of 39.5 degrees Celsius on Wednesday afternoon, after she came back from school. She was so unwell that she lied down on the sofa the whole afternoon and refused to eat anything. Luckily, she didn’t reject water which was given to her from time to time. Her fever came down after a Voltaren suppository was inserted. She took her nap shortly after that and was again in her bubbly self when I came home after work. I started to have a second thought of bringing her to the paediatrician, thinking she’s all right.

After I came out from my shower, I saw her lying on her bed and I knew instantly she wasn’t feeling well again. Her temperature shot up again. Hubby and I rushed her to the paed clinic immediately. After a thorough check the paed said she has 2 ulcers in her throat. Poor girl, her throat must be so painful at that time. We went home with a bottle of antibiotics (Augmentin), and a bottle of fever and pain relief syrup (Nurofen) for her.

Her fever subsided quite fast. However, she’s still taking her antibiotics today and I think it could be the antibiotics that caused the diarrhoea and her painful bum…haha! Hopefully, the diarrhoea will stop once the antibiotics is discontinued, which will be on Monday. She should be able to go back to school on Monday as well after being absent for 2 days.

Tonight I’m going to apply some petroleum jelly onto her painful areas and hopefully it could relieve the soreness.

What's Wrong With Her?

I really don't know what's wrong with Sharlene. Yesterday she has no fever the whole day. She was back to her usual self, very playful and also has appetite to eat and drink. So, I thought she has almost recovered but just now her fever came back again although it's not as high as 2 days ago. She was very whiny and wants to be carried most of the time. She still has red spots all over her face and body and looks so sickly and weak now. I told her I have to give her suppository but she cried instantly. I talked to her nicely and with the help of daddy, I managed to give her the suppository. I have to check her temperature again later in the night.

She normally gets well very fast, within 3-4 days but today is already the 7th day. She has also completed her antibiotics today but she doesn't seems to get well. Looks like Daddy will bring her to the paed again tomorrow.

High Fever With Rashes

Sharlene has been down with fever since Tuesday. We brought her to the paed 2 days later (Thursday) when the fever failed to subside and she vomited after taking her milk on Thursday morning. The paed prescribed antibiotics (Augmentin) of which she has to take for 5 days. If after the 3rd day she still has her fever, then she has to go back for a blood test. While I was checking her temperature yesterday evening, I saw some rashes which looked like tiny red spots on her body, buttocks and legs. I was terrified when I saw all the spots appeared on her body and began to think whether she's having measles, chicken pox, dengue or only a heat rash. And worse of all her fever was as high as 39.8 degrees C. She is also complaining of leg ache. I was so so worried about her.

Hubby and I quickly brought her to the paed again last night. After checking her conditions, the paed advised us to have a blood test done to rule out the possibility of dengue fever. She said dengue fever begins with a sudden high fever. A red rash may appear over most of the body early during the fever. Other symptoms include vomiting, joint aches, muscles aches, etc. Since Sharlene is having the symptoms of dengue fever, a blood test is the only way to diagnose this condition. We agreed to have the test. I carried Sharlene very tightly in my arms while hubby and the nurse held her hand. She cried when the paed poked a needle on her hand and thank god, the test was done very swiftly by the paed. She told us Sharlene's blood samples will be sent to the lab now and the result will be known on the same night. She will call us or send a text messages as soon as she has the results. If the test confirms she has dengue, she has to be warded immediately for observation. My heart sunk after the paed told us that. My poor girl will definitely cry her lungs out if she has to be warded.

Hubby and I kept our handphones on and waited the whole night for the paed to call. Finally, a text message came from my handphone at around 12.45am. Both of us got up from the bed and rushed to take my handphone immediately. In our heart we prayed and hoped for good news. Then I opened up the message and we saw "Good news not dengue. It is a bacterial infection. Plt 324. Must complete abs." We were so happy and glad after seeing the message. What a relieve! I sent a thank you note to the paed and went to sleep with a peace of mind.

I hope the fever will go down and she'll be fine soon.

She Finally Takes Her Medicine

Hooray! Sharlene is finally taking her medicine today. I snapped this pic when she was taking her Paracetamol just now. Even though she still has fever, she looked much better today compared with yesterday.


Look at her sweet smiling face here. She was showing off to me her almost finished medicine. Well done, sweetie and mummy hope you get well soon.

Fever

My handphone rang at about 4.30pm today and when I picked up the phone I looked at the screen... its a call from the house. I have a feeling that it must be some bad news or matters related to Sharlene and true enough! Sharlene's nanny called to say that Sharlene has developed fever of 39 degrees C. According to her, Sharlene was fine in the morning. She went to school as usual and after came back from school in the afternoon she took her lunch and had her shower. When she was half way doing her maths exercise she complained that she was tired and wanted to sleep. After she took her milk she went to sleep and woke up an hour later. That was when her nanny felt that her body was very hot. She proceeded to take her temperature and found that she had a fever.

I rushed home after work and while on the way i called hubby to inform him of Sharlene's condition. He said he will be home early as well. I can sensed that hubby was very worried and 'kan-cheong' (anxious) about her darling gal. When I reached home I saw my poor girl lying motionless on the sofa and she looked so sick and listless. She was so so different from her usual self - refused to talk, inactive and no appetite to eat anything at all. By right I should take her to the paed immediately but I hesitated coz' this girl will refuse to take her medicine no matter how we sweet-talk her or reward her with the food she likes.

She cried miserably when she saw me and obviously she was feeling really unwell. I put a KoolFever strap across her forehead but after a while, she took it out and refused to put it on again. I don't understand why she dislikes the KoolFever?? The cooling effect of the KoolFever should make her more comfortable. But she hates it. And hubby just bought back 1 big pack of KoolFever - luckily, the expiry date is July 2010. Her body, forehead, neck were all so hot and her face went red due to the rising temperature. My heart hurts to see her going through all these. At about 8.30pm, she said she wants to brush her teeth and go to bed. So, I brought her upstairs to her room, brushed her teeth, gave her a light sponge and changed her pyjamas. I made her a bottle of milk but my poor girl has no appetite to drink at all and the bottle of milk was left there untouched. She dozed off very fast. I was waiting for her to sleep so that I can insert a suppository into her rectum. When I check her temperature half an hour later, the temperature went down to 37.5 degrees C. Hubby and I will continue to monitor her temperature closely throughout the night and hopefully her fever will subside by tomorrow morning. Otherwise, hubby has to bring her to the paed and she has to skip school tomorrow.