Post Christmas 2006

The past weeks were wet, wet, and wet. And the fact that both Kieona and Kierra fell ill during this period of time didn't up the Christmas cheer one bit. The day after we went for the Tree Top Walk, in fact on that evening itself, Kieona came down with fever. It wasn't high, so Daddy and Mommy really did not think much about it except to give her some fever medication and sent the two kids plus us adults to bed early. Afterall, it had been a really tiring weekend for us.

The next day Kieona's fever went real high, hovering around the region of 39 degrees. Panadol did not really help and we brought her to see our family GP. We didn't realise anything amiss, and thought the little cough she had plus the fever was a cold she probably caught during the rain while at the Tree Top Walk, as well as the nosebleed she had the night before. It was only when we got home, while Daddy went to get lunch for us all that Kieona complained to Mommy that her leg "pain, pain". Mommy discovered to her horror that her big darling's left thigh was swollen at least 1 & half times and it was burning hot and looks purplish.

Mommy then didn't know whether to be happy or sad. Probably just a little relieved that she had finally found out what caused the persistent high fever. Kieona was sent down to the same GP again to examine her thigh so that we can pinpoint why she had the fever. Good thing we discovered the swell, as it was a bad infection from two insect bites and that probably caused the persistent fever. Was given another dose of antibiotics as a result, which incidentally is the one and only one medication that she resisted throughout.

As if this was not enough, Kieona's cough got worse (while her fever just hovered around 38 to 40 degrees) and she started having a runny nose, so Mommy insisted that Daddy take her to see either the Nam Seng Clinic at Beauty World Centre, a TCM practitioner at Thomson Road or some other doctors that can help. Mommy kept having this bad feeling that something is not right but Daddy had kept reassuring that it needs time for the antibiotics as well as the cough mixture to work. Good thing Mommy insisted and Daddy said to go to Nam Seng Clinic. Probably like they all say, Mommies just have this uncanny ability to know if their kids are alright.

True enough, she was diagnosed with mycoplasma infection - which is caused by a very serious airborne virus that can be fatal. When she went in to see the doctor, her fever had reached almost 40 degrees. The doctor said that it has to be brought down immediately to prevent any chance of her having fits and put in a suppository for her. The fever did not come as a surprise, as Mommy had expected the fever to go beyond 39 degrees once it is past 4-5 hours after taking Brufen plus Panadol. That morning itself, Kierra also started to run a slight fever and was coughing rather badly, so wehad the doctor examine her as well. It turned out that she has a mild illness only but boy, up till this moment that Mommy is typing this entry, Kierra is still having a phlegmy cough, although it is already much better that before.

Kieona was finally completely off painkillers since 22 Dec.

Our original plans were a little disrupted for the small party to be held for some friends on 23 Dec, but decided to go on for the party on Christmas eve (a Sunday) for family. Everything went well, and Mommy managed to share her special recipe for Chicken Stew and Spicy Seafood Golden Rice by cooking for the special occasion. Most of the guests love the homemade dishes, which Mommy will be sharing very soon in a separate blog.

That afternoon after everyone left, we realised that Kieona had some white ulcers on the corner of her lips and on her tongue as well. Another illness??? My goodness, Daddy and Mommy thought it was HFMD, which was why we had to drop the idea of attending the Christmas party held annually at Grandaunt Stella and Granduncle Steve's place at Thomson 800. As the GP's clinic will only be open day after Christmas, we had to wait till that day to bring Kieona for a checkup and to certify if she really caught HFMD as well.

Thank goodness it wasn't. And Mommy is really glad that the girls are finally on the way to recovery. At last, Mommy can sleep without waking up to every cough and staying awake at night so that she can be alert to any signs of fever, be it for Kieona or Kierra. Finally, yes... we can all start to have a good night's rest.