Oh hey!! Did the title, which took me a good few minutes to think of attract you to check this post out? YES?? It actually worked?? I'm awesome. *flips hair* haha. Ignore me, this happens way too often, and I'm just bored.
So, I checked back to my blog - which I did not publicize, after my first post and the stats showed me that there were people from way up there on the map (excuse my Geography) who actually checked my blog. Woahhh.. Say what? Remind me how this thing works again??! Well, I have to admit that it's pretty awesome knowing that people can actually accidentally stumble upon your blog! Like how do you randomly stumble upon someone's blog? What were they thinking? "Oh I'm so bored, let's just randomly browse through some blogs. Oh a random blog!" Hahaha. Oh well, I guess that'll just be something we will have to figure out along the way.
...
Wait a minute...
What was this blogpost supposed to be about again?
Oh, that.
Before I lose myself in another train of thoughts, I have to remind you that this is going to be a longass update post on where I have disappeared to for the past two weeks. As you've probably already read the title, yes, I was hospitalized.
So let's flashback to two weeks ago on Saturday 4th October. It was actually a pretty great day, good weather and mood and all, and we went for brunch at the Common Man Roasters (which is a whole other story. The ambience of the place was pretty good, I wanna go back again someday) and the beach afterwards. However, I totally did not feel up to my standards (Bubbly cindy standards) that whole day. I had extreme back pain. It should have come off as a big warning when I touched less than 10% of the food on my plate when I complained of how famished I was just half an hour before the food came. My back pain was SO agonizing that I resorted to taking painkillers just to be able to sit through the clock without constantly whining every second or so. The painkiller did it's job pretty well, but it came back again after a few hours. Went to the convenient store by the beach to get some Salonpas pain relief patch and spammed like 6 of them on my back. The day at the beach was cut short when I started feeling super nauseated and cold. I guess I reached my limits when we had to call it a day and started heading back home. I went home, skipped dinner and dived straight into bed. Woke up in cold sweat and a terrible migraine. It was 10pm and I knew that I MUST EAT, so I cooked myself some instant oatmeal porridge which I finally only managed to take two mouthful of before I crashed back down. Dragged myself all the way to get the thermometer and I had a high fever of 39.6 degrees. Being the idiot I already am, I informed my sister and told her not to tell my parents, which was a BIG mistake. I could've died and kill all my body enzymes or something from the high fever if I stayed home that night. BUT, I'm so thankful that my sister is a smartypants and she did, which only took her one minute after I told her not to. I guess that's what sisters are for.
Got a short call from my parents and they told me to head straight to the hospital. They also called my Uncle and Aunt who were thankfully also in Singapore for a medical check up. Cabbed to the A&E of the hospital, half alive. My breathing got really slow and loud inside the cab and I stopped hearing my thoughts clearly. My head was burning hot. My back ache was TERRIBLE - It felt like constant sharp jabs at the whole stretch of my lower back. I guess the cabbie must've seen the terrible state I was in and told me to not bother about paying when we reached the hospital (Thank you, kind soul) and just head into the A&E. I was given a wheelchair in the A&E and my temperature measured up to 39.7 degrees. The walk in A&E at NUH really sucked. My Aunt arrived to what seemed like 20 minutes later, and there were still no nurses or doctor to attend to me. I broke down and cried in pain. Yes, I weeped like a little baby in the emergency area. And yes, I was handed tissue paper. (Come to think of it, it must have been pretty random to see someone crying all of a sudden in the A&E). They panicked and rushed the nurses to get someone to attend to me. Jacq arrived 10 minutes later and the nurses finally took me in for a simple diagnosis. They took my blood pressure and my heart rate was 130! I felt like I was about to die.
I was pushed into the Emergency room and passed out on the bed almost instantly after the medication that they gave me. The pain slowly went down from an excruciating 9 to a bearable pain of 4 (the nurses checked in after a few hours later to ask me how my pain was from a scale of 0 to 10). Woke up an hour later and received a text that the homie RY was also outside. I heard afterwards that Jacq and RY became awesome translators and interpreters between the nurses, my Aunt, and my sister(who was on the phone).
The nurses didn't allow anyone to accompany me inside the emergency room. They took my blood for a blood test at about 1 am and my friends and family left at about 2am. My aunt was allowed to visit me for a short while before she left and she reassured me that I will be alright and that my mom would be on the first flight to Singapore in the morning. The night passed by really slowly and I woke up at approximately 4am. The results came out and I was positive for dengue fever.
Morning came and I haven't had a proper meal in almost forever. The nurses gave me bread for breakfast and I only ate half of it. I was really hungry, but that was all I could eat. And then I was discharged. Yes. Discharged.
Went to the pharmacy and took the painkillers and oral rehydration powder they prescribed to me and waited in the emergency area until my mom came in from the airport. The homies Jacq, RY and Shun Yu all came down to the A&E a short while after. They were really great moral support, and I'm super thankful for these loves here, especially to Jacq and Shun Yu who woke up super early (you don't know how rare this is), and RY for driving all of them all the way down after only a short while of sleep. Thank you guys, I love you. We've said this before, and we all know that we know each other wayyyyy too well to be cheesy, but you guys know how much I love you lah. Hahaha *awww*
My parents wanted me to be admitted into the hospital, but the nurses at NUH gave me another queue number because they couldn't even be bothered to check my records that I was just there at their emergency ward half an hour earlier. My mom was very worried and pretty frustrated after several miscommunication. In the end, my dad told her to call one of his friends who knew many good doctors, and soon enough he came and drove us to Mount Elizabeth at Novena.
I was still in high fever when I was admitted to the hospital. I was tired and my joints started aching as the effect of the painkiller slowly wears off. For my entire stay at the hospital, the doctor instructed the nurses to give me 2 panadols every 5 to 6 hours to keep the temperature down and to kill my joint pains. They said that there were no medicine to dengue. I had to do a blood test every single day for 10 days straight and the nurses who took my blood were kind enough to always ask me if the bruises on my arms hurt (I started bruising really bad). It didn't hurt. But I was scared. I had to take Controloc, Losec and Motilium pills before and after every meal (which I barely eat) because of my gastric problems. I couldn't eat even if I was really hungry, and sometimes, I wouldn't have any appetite. They started giving me glucose and the basic brine drip because I needed energy. But the drip they gave me and the lack of platelets and every other God knows what chemicals in my body made me very swollen. I couldn't even clench my fist at one point of time. My body and my joints still ached like mad. My skin broke out with spots and it hurt me even when I was slightly touched. A visited me at the hospital for the first few times before I finally told him to stop visiting me. I started bleeding. I was in a terrible state and I didn't want anyone to come see me. In the beginning there was only a little blood, and then there was more bleeding. It was really scary and it was definitely unsightful. I had fever every night, and for the first few nights the fever went as high as 39 degrees. There was even a night when my mom accompanied me to the toilet and I passed out for an instant, my eyes couldn't see and my legs suddenly failed on me. My blood platelets dropped from 144 on the first day, to 107, then 85, and then it went downhill to a mere count of 40 on the 9th of October. They went to match my blood to some blood donors' and I was given blood platelets transfusion (A bag of yellow lifesaver liquid). I cried that night when my mom was taking a shower. I prayed, and I knew that many people prayed for me as well, yet, at that instant, I felt so helpless. I was in so much pain. Then, I looked at the image that Alvin sent me earlier that day. It was a short yet powerful message :)
"Don't worry, God is never blind to your tears, never deaf to your prayers and never silent to your pains. He sees, He hears and He will deliver."
It was a tough night that night.
The next day, my platelets raised to 67, my mom, dad and I were all happy of course. Which then the doctor said might just be a temporary sign due to the platelets transfusion the day before.
But it was hope after all.
Good news! For the next few days, my platelets started raising even more. My white blood cells count also shoot up to even higher than before I got admitted to the hospital. After a few days, on the 14th of October, my platelets went up to 160 and I was finally discharged! :D I was SO HAPPY when I reached home! No more "Angkak" and "Jambu merah" drink which my sister (THANK YOU BRO <3 muahaha ) and dad prepared all the way with love from Indonesia. No more chinese herbal medicine my mom forced me to drink. No more waking up every 2 hours because the nurses had to take my blood pressure and temperature. No more extra holes near my arms from all the blood tests! and finally, no more dengue fever! ouwh yeahh!
The dengue fever caused me to lose a total of 4 kgs over the 10 days, though I gained 2 kg back almost immediately after. Haha. I gained my appetite again and I ate a lot after being discharged. Although I am still bruised all over (still hurts a bit when you touch my legs) and a little weak right now, I'm healing well :D
After this incident, I'm more appreciative of my health and I'm very thankful for all my loved ones, my mom who slept at the hospital with me for 9 good nights (and is still cooking good food for me as I heal and rest at home), my sis (for forcing me to drink all my medicine even though it all tasted bad), my Dad who took the time to fly in to Singapore despite being so so so busy (and buying me good nom nom and blending jambu merah juice using the blender just for me. I have an awesome dad), and those who stayed by my side and those who sent me encouraging texts. I'm sorry if I haven't been responsive. Hey! In my defense, I was sick! haha. Special thanks to James for taking time to visit me as well! :) No more tasteless food and more Bakwa for me. yeahh!
Thank you all <3
With this, I am going to end this blogpost abruptly. haha. Because I am great at spoiling moods :P
