ANAK OMAK

Epit has been calling me every so often, something he has never done before. His fever is worsening. I told him to get a couple of papaya leaves and get 2 tablespoons of juice out of it. I had no idea how he could do that in his room at the university.

I called Ayong to try getting the papaya leaf juice somehow. Since it was night, Ayong said she could only do that after her class the next day. Epit called again telling me he was feeling worse. I was exasperated. It was almost 10pm. I called his father and TOLD him to get the papaya juice to Epit. He said he would do that as soon as he could. I knew it would be never. Why did I bother?

I tried to finish as many scripts as I possibly could which was not many. I must have dozed off at the table when Epit called again. It was about 6am. He asked to come home.

There was no way I could drive to KL in my sleep deprived condition. Anyway, Epit might not be able to walk down from his room. So I called my youngest brother to accompany me. Luckily this was school holiday and he was not unwell himself.

Reached UIA at about 9am and Epit was able to come down himself. His fever had subsided a bit. He had an appointment at the university clinic for another platelets count.

Took him to the clinic. His platelets count dropped to 108 from yesterday’s 125. I told the doctor I want to take my son home. The doctor said, usually the count would return to normal on the 7th day after the onset of the fever. I decided to take Epit home considering his muscle and joint pains were making him very weak and it would be difficult for him to handle the fever from a university room. The doctor gave him 3 days MC. I took Epit home.

At home I made sure he took the papaya leaf juice every 12 hours.

As far as I know there's no specific treatment for dengue fever. Hospitalized patients are just put on IV of saline solution ... pretty much the same as taking isotonic drinks.

I think it is a standard procedure to wait for the 7th day after the onset of fever and unless the platelet counts drop to below 90 there's no point of hospitalization.

Anyway Epit prefers to be home nak bermanja ngan Umi kot. Kalau kat ward tak ada sapa nak layan dia. Kalau kat rumah ngan Umi boleh manja lebih. And I am confident it couldn't be any worse. I am also giving him the papaya leaf juice as recommended in postings to our YG. I notice every time after he took the juice, Epit seemed a bit better ... not in so much pain. Memang doctor hanya bagi paracetamol to bring down the fever and helps with the muscle and joint pains which didn't help very much so far. I hope his platelet count will improve tomorrow. I'm giving him another dose of the juice in the next hour.