Fever Blues!!
Just that afternoon of sunny Sunday, he was playing with his cousins. By evening, he was running 39.4°C fever that caught him completely debilitated. Seeing my boy so weak and helpless just breaks my heart.
Coming home from a lunch gathering at my in-laws’ place last Sunday, I laid down for a quick siesta. My youngest son, with his usual charming smile, came to me and told me he wants to stay beside me while he plays his video game. Only a few minutes passed, he fell asleep. An hour after I heard his soft whining, as if he was in pain. I thought he was just having a bad dream so I decided to wake him up already. It was time for dinner anyway and his favorite food “Pork Sinigang” was on the menu. But as I touched him, I was jolted at the heat on his skin. He was burning up! Even without a thermometer, I knew that he was having a high fever.
I woke him up, and asked him how he was feeling. All he said, “My body is hurting and my head hurts too. I’m going to vomit.” Quickly I accompanied him to the bathroom to vomit. As I was cleaning his face and getting him to brush his teeth, he complained,”Can you carry me? I cannot stand. It hurts.” This got me very worried as I’ve never before seen any of my kids showing to be this weak from a fever.
I carried him to the room and gave him a sponge bath (tepid water) and lightly clothed him. I gave him paracetamol and slapped on a KoolFever cooling gel sheet on his forehead. I knew he had to get some food in him, but he refused, even if it was his favorite food.
I have no clue as to what caused this fever and what this fever is a sign of. We’re on our 30th hour of the fever and his temperature has been up and down. He’s still weak and gets sleepy easily, but he’s more talkative now than in the first hours of his fever.
Right now, I’m focused on three things–
1. Break the fever and keep it down. With paracetamol, Vicks vapor rub, KoolFever cooling gel, light clothing and the sponge baths. If you have any other suggestions to get the fever down, please let me know.
2. Keep him hydrated. The only soup he takes is sinigang soup which, thank God, we have now. Commercial juices and soda are of course, a no-no. I’ll pick up some Gatorade tomorrow since it’s the only drink with electrolytes that’s acceptable to his taste buds.
3. Be on the look out for other symptoms. I do hope this just turns out to be fever.. an irritation from his sniffles or something and just that. I’ve heard stories of dengue, foot-hand-mouth disease, chicken pox and measles commonly happening now.. oh dear GOd, please let it just be fever.
He won’t be able to attend school tomorrow (and missing his Christmas program practice). If he reaches a 39°C temp again within the next 24 hours, he’ll be heading to the hospital.
I do hope that he gets well in the next day or two though. I’m leaving for a few days this week and I wouldn’t want to leave him this way.
Please pray for his quick recovery.