Sherilyn and Baby are down with a cold. Yesterday over dinnner I reminded my helper to pop Vitamin C so that she does not get bitten by the bug too. I said this to my helper “Dyah, makan Vitamin C, I macam nak kena running nose, nanti you kena pun”. I then told Baby “mummy has running nose now”… to which Baby replied “wear mask mummy”… and pointed to the cabinet where we keep the face masks.
Each time I wear a face mask, memories of my 3-week stay in the hospital with Baby after her 2 surgeries in May last year would dance in my mind. The days in May 2009 would perhaps be one of the toughest and darkest days in my life. Baby was operated on the 5th of May last year. On the 4th of May, my hubby himself was hospitalized in the same hospital with high fever and suspected H1N1. On Baby’s surgery day, I was down with high fever, throat infection and a bad bout of flu…. I was another suspected H1N1 candidate. I still remember very vividly how terrible and sick I felt outside the OT… waiting for the surgeon to come out to tell me how the surgery went. I was shivering and trembling with fear and from my high fever. Though I felt like I was left naked in the Antarctic, my body was burning with heat. The 5 hours of wait outside the OT felt like forever. I am so sure the other people waiting outside the OT saw me shivering and praying fervently. Though I felt so weak and felt like doing nothing but to sleep, sleep was the last thing I could do. Baby had tubes all over her body and she was spewing out green stuff from her mouth and nose for 2 weeks.
As Baby was just out from a surgery with a weak body and immune system, my helper and I were advised by Baby’s surgeon to don on a face mask 24/7 for fear that Baby would catch the bug too. I tell yer, it ain’t a fun thing to wear a face mask even when you sleep…. breathing in your own CO2! Sleep? I did not get to sleep at all for the first 2 weeks after Baby’s surgeries. She puked every hour or so for 2 weeks and the surgeon only found out 2 weeks later (after the 1st surgery) that one of her guts was kinked, a result of a complication of the first surgery. Those days will forever be etched in my memory. Not a single goes by without me reminiscing about the cold, frightful, worrisome days in the hospital. And the sight of a face mask will forever remind me of the days where my helper and I had to wear face mask 24 hours a day for 2 weeks. The only time we were mask-free was during our meal times and bath times.
Baby, you better be real good to mummy when you grow up!
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