Hospital Episodes

10 days after I stopped breastfeeding, Phoebe was purging badly. >10 times in a day. Took her to see the pediatrician at Lam Wah Ee, took medicine but didn't see any improvement the next day. She was all lethargic when I returned home at lunch one day. Took her back to the clinic again. We decided to run some tests on her. Paed said it could be caused by different thing and the treatment would be different. We had been speculating that she took the wrong food at the Japanese restaurant and took too much fruits that day. She was warded that day itself.

Paed needed to draw blood through an IV line and maintain that line to inject antibiotics later. She cried her lungs out and kept screaming for "Mummy" and "Bao-bao". Heartbroken, but that was the right thing to do.

We were initially given a 4-beded because they ran out of single beded. Praise God that we were given single beded by evening that day. It would have been a nightmare for other patients if we were left at the 4-beded since Phoebe cried a whole lot that night due to a new place for her.

Blood & Urine report was out and it turned out to be non-food poisoning. She had Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). UTI in babies had diarrhoea as a symptom. That was why Phoebe didn't vomit. She could still eat normally and drink her milk at half strength. No drip needed, not dehydrated.

She was discharged at Day 4. We were home happily. Took her for her hair cut that afternoon since she was all well and active.

However, the next day (Sunday), she developed a fever at 10-ish in the morning. Called the doctor and he said feed paracetamol and monitor her temperature. He said it could not have caused by UTI again. It must be something new. We fed Paracetamol 2x over 8 hours, fever didn't subside.

Sent H to airport for his short business trip to Singapore in the afternoon. My mom came over and stayed with me.

Called the doctor again at 7PM, and he said he will meet me at the LWE A&E at 8.30PM.

At this point, I think I have to introduce you to this exceptional pediatrician we have had. He is Dr. Tan Eng Guan from Lam Wah Ee.

We were at LWE A&E at 8.30PM, her fever was 38.8. Dr Tan was there shortly. Looked at Phoebe, no ear infection, next thing he checked was the throat. He discovered 2 big ulcers on her throat. He said it was Hand Foot Mouth Disease. This was another form which was not obvious on the surface of the mouth, hand or foot. He prescribed a mouth wash, oral aid and a course of antibiotics. We went home.

Phoebe fell asleep on our way home and still with a fever. We had to keep on sponging her to cool her down. Changed her to a short sleeve t-shirt and have the air-con switched on. She was still running a fever. She refused her milk and medicine. When I checked her around 12midnight, her fever was 39.4. I didn't have suppository to insert into Phoebe to lower the fever. I called Dr Tan at 12.30AM. He didn't pick up the phone and my mom said, let's get changed and drive down to LWE again. And when we were there at around 1.30AM, we saw Dr Tan walking in. I asked him why was he there, he said he saw my call, tried calling back but I didn't pick up the phone, he figured I would be at the hospital and so he came.

He checked Phoebe's throat again, and it was definitely red. He inserted the suppository and we went home. Fever dropped for the next 6 hours to 36.x. Was good.

When morning came, suppository effect over, fever came back. It was around 38ish. She refused milk and water. I figured it would have been the pain on her throat. Fed her some yogurt, she refused ice cream, and no water intake for more than 6 hours. Fever cannot subside instead went up to 39.4. I called Dr Tan again and said that I will be going to see him at his clinic. I inserted one suppository and I drove down to LWE with my maid. I told Dr Tan I would prefer for Phoebe to go on drips because I am worried about dehydration and the high fever. And so Phoebe was admitted for the 2nd time in 5 days.

This time, she knew what she had gone through while Dr Tan inserted the IV line, she screamed and fought back once we brought her into the treatment room. It took 2 nurses to hold her down. She was traumatized. She won't leave my arms for that night. I put her down to sit on the bed, she sat there for 2 minutes, she started crying. From then onwards, she cried when she saw Dr Tan, she cried when she saw the nurses, and later she cried when the room door was opened. Poor girl.

Praise the Lord that she could start drinking milk and had some food the next day. Fever subsided and never came back. Her drips was only for 24 hours. And once the drip was off, Dr Tan discharged her. She recovered from HFM in 3 days. We continued with the mouth wash and oral aid at home.

It's going to be a week she was discharged and she is now all active and running about. This was definitely an experience for Phoebe and for us having to take care of a sick child the first time. We were very glad we met Dr Tan. He's been patient, responsive, responsible, humourous and kind. Thank you..