So Where Have I Been

Ok... 3 weeks hiatus from this page... It's not that I've been away yg super jauh ke ape... Cuma I've been swamped! At work and at home... Byk benda nak story-morry ni...But let's start with one story yang paling kecoh skali - our girl Nia, was warded in Damansara Specialist again - making full use of my medical quota for year 2011...

So what really happened?

Memang I was planning to take 1.5weeks leave starting dari end of Nov sampai first week of Dec...kebetulan on Wed - 23 Nov (my last working day), mr hubster was feverish and so was Nia...so, that day, we decided to leave the office a lil bit earlier...went back home and amik Nia skali nak gi clinic..her fever wasn't that bad...temp was just 37+, but she was pretty weak that day...so at the clinic, tgh nunggu turn tu, I saw her face was quite pale...pucat sampai kuning-kuning dah...so when we saw the GP, I told the Doc la, ape pasal si Nia ni kuning skit...riso gak...so the Doc check her tummy....in case of any swelling to her spleen and liver...at this time she was quite weak...lembik and nak berdukung je....which is quite worrying since her temp tak panas mana..lepas da check, there's no indication of swelling, but we were immediately referred to the Hosp...makanya, went back home, packed our stuff and terus gi Emergency Room kat DSH... there, the doctor took some blood samples to do some tests...by then temp dah start to go up to 38.5...terus dapat one shot of voltren...since Nia ni ade fit history kalo demam panas sangat, so we hv to be a bit careful, cannot let her fever run so high...then we were told to wait for an hour for the test results to come back from the lab...maka, tunggu lah kami...

45-mins later, the doc called us back in, and told us we need to get her admitted...sebabnya, her red cell count (hemoglobin aka darah merah) is too low...her reading at that time was 7 and the normal min reading for any person is supposed to be 10...so 3 levels below the min amount...my feelings at that point of time - risau, takut, sedey, u name it, sume bercampo aduk... earlier, when we came in to DSH, we called her Paeds - just to inform him of her case ni, and he told us not to worry, it could just be a regular case of Keratin-overdose...nampak gayanye, its more than that la now... so before naik to the ward, they had to take more of her blood, cos now they need to do more tests to see the cause for the Jaundice - dah second round amek darah - mengamok lagi la princess ni...by then she was pretty pale and yellowish...so after all the processing, we finally settled down in the room at 1.30am...Nia was already asleep time tu - I guess tired from all the crying sebab kena cucuk situ sini... :-'(...my feelings masa da settle masuk bilik and watching her asleep - Ya Allah...risau and takut - Tuhan je yang tahu... I couldn't sleep the whole night and spent my time googling on the symptoms and possible deseases related to it...texted mr hubster who had to go back home to check on Aaryan - dia pon takleh nak tido jugak...eehhe....i guess, both of us had sleepless night malam tu...

so, 2nd day, Dr Musa, our Paeds, came is super early...7.15am he was already with us checking on Nia...cos the night before time warded tu, cuma kena check by the ER doctor...some of the blood test results came back as negative, so we still dont know whats the cause...Nia was a lil bit active on the second day...and can even play around and chit chatted as the usual...she was still pale and yellowish but the Paeds said, as long as she is active then its not so worrying...that afternoon, Dr Musa had to draw more blood from her...3rd time during our 2 days stay....to do more tests...as everything has came back as negative - again!...I was getting more concern now and very very very worried...but can't do much cos still tak tahu ape cause...so...3rd day came...Nia is getting very lethargic on this day...weak, loss of appetite and no mood to play at all...throughout the day, she didnt take any solid food and cuma minum 2oz of milk and a little bit of water and juice...so, we had to start her on glucose IV sebab kencing dia pon da start jadi kotor...partial blood test results came back and it showed that her red cell count was even lower now...6.3...if it goes below 6 there are possibilities of breathing difficulties, heart and internal organ failures, etc....my feelings? *cry*...hmmm....tapi bile org datang visit, control je la, cakap we are ok...so, that afternoon on the 3rd day...Dr Musa came and check, and he finally decided that Nia will need to do a blood transfusion...we were kinda hoping not to do it, since she is still small...there's not side effect whatsoever, cume taknak la kalo bole...the original plan was to get a second opinion from a Paeds blood expert based in University Hosp - but he was away travelling....so in order not to make Nia's condition worse, we had to have the transfusion quickly...at this point of time, i don't really care la...nak transfuse ke ape, as long as we can make her feel better again...so the nurses prepped her, sambung the wires and started the transfusion...tak banyak pon...cuma 1 bag of blood...at this time, i feel so grateful to whoever la yg menderma darah tu (marila kite menderma darah lagi lepas ni ye rakan-rakan)...so, the transfusion took 5 hours to complete and we need to monitor her for any side effects - fever, rashes, heat-flush, etc...

4th day...transfusion ended at 1.30am...wires are out and she's just left on the regular IV drips and some antibiotics for her fever yg dah start to subside....Alhamdulillah - there are no side effects so far and our girl is back to her chirpy noisy self...my feelings? Syukur Jazakallah...Alhamdulillah... my child is healthy again...

5th day...monitoring continued....the Prof from UM is still on leave, so we can't get the 2nd opinion still so Dr Musa decided to discharge us, since Nia's vital signs are OK now...Alhamdulillah...we got most of her blood test results...it's -ve for dengue, -ve for hep A/B/C, enzime checks are normal and G6PD is also normal...last one yg pending is for talasemia check and will only come back in 1 weeks time... so balik la dulu doctor kata...the chances of re-lapse: tak tahu...what if it happens again? terus bawak gi hosp if she shows any of the symptoms that we had before this, lethargic, dark urine, loss of appetite, pale and yellowness of the skin - check on her face, tummy, palm and feet...sounds pretty normal symptoms kan...mmm...any pantang or whatsoever? no....cos she's a perfectly healthy girl and since tak tahu ape cause sebenarnye, there's basicaly nothing we can do...

so follow up a week later...talasemia results came back and as expected, it's also negative...so the final rule is, doctor said, it must've been viral infection....(this is one powerful virus we're talking about!!...phewww)...so she's now on multivitamin precribed by the doc and folic acid - untuk tambah red cell...other than that, she's now back to herself seperti biasa...the final diagnosis that we got masa discharge was: Hemolytic Anemia hope this will never ever happens again...Sebab this is one scary parenting experience that I hope none of us will have to go through....Seeing your child weak and pale...Ya Allah...you feel so helpless and you just wish that you can make everything better again....I salute to other parents who might have to face dugaan yang lagi besar from us... sesungguhnye, this experience is humbling for me...for now i realized, how small we are and how precious life is....Alhamdulillah, Nia is all better now...berkat doa from everyone...Thank you all and Thank you Allah...and of course, thank you to Shell for paying our medical bills throughout our 5 days stay at DSH... :-)

Blood bag ready to be infused

Mommy said, solat dulu before masuk fresh blood - doa to Allah so that, with this new blood, Nia jadi sihat again..

The difference between healthy pink and whity paleness

The following day....dah bole senyum...