Fever in children – HEALTH FREAK MOMMY

Sick Week

This week has been a rough week for me. It first started with Alycia falling sick on Tuesday. She hardly gets fever these days but this time the temperature shot up to 41.3C with chills, a chesty cough and a throbbingly painful migraine that came in waves. The hubs and mil were pressing me (again!) to bring her to the doctor to rule out dengue fever. Each time the girls are down with fever, I get harassed to bring them to the doctor but I stuck to my guns. I told them that a dengue test would only be effective more than 4 days after the symptoms appear. But to quell their worries as well as mine since her temperature was above 41C, I bought a pack of Panadol and gave Alycia two capsules on the first day and one capsule on the second day.

On the second day when the fever did not subside and Alycia had migraine attacks that came in waves causing her so much discomfort (she was crouching on her bed in pain), I whipped out my Young Living essential oils and did a Raindrop Technique massage on her feet and back (spine). I used peppermint and Thieves. I did this thrice a day. Alycia also drank many packets of Izumio hydrogen water and chewed on raw Indian Borage (good for relieving cough and phlegm) and mint leaves from our little balcony garden. Alycia was reluctant to chew on the leaves but I gave her the choice of ‘leaves or antibiotics’? She obediently chewed on the leaves twice a day.

On the third day, the day that I was supposed to bring Alycia to the hospital should the fever and migraine persisted, she woke up at 7 a.m. and happily announced that she’s all well already. Praise God!!

My signature ‘ice cap’ on Alycia’s head. Cass swears by the ‘ice cap’ to bring down fever. It’s a frozen wet hanky that I put on her head whenever she has fever.

But the bug seemed to have bitten Sherilyn on the day that Alycia got well.

Sherilyn had similar symptoms of fever, headache and felt nauseous the whole day. She slept on the daybed the whole day and wrapped her body with a thick sweater and blanket. I had to force her to drink liquid (water, Izumio and barley) and even had to drag her up from the couch to eat some fruits and take her shower. It’s such a different experience nursing Alycia and Sherilyn. Alycia listened to everything that I said like a patient to a nurse while the Drama Queen just lay on the daybed in such ‘dramatic’ fashion the entire day.

I administered the Raindrop Technique on Sherilyn too, with Peppermint, Oregano and Thieves essential oil from Young Living. Thankfully she got better just the next day. Today (day 3) she even went for tuition in the morning and Taekwondo in the afternoon, albeit feeling less energetic than usual with a mild headache.

Cass and I are worried that we may be the next to be down with fever and we’ve been popping 3 caps of Super Lutein everyday to prep our body to fight off the bugs.

When it rains, it pours hard. In the midst of nursing two sick kittens back to good health, I banged my head hard on our marble dining table while squatting down to mop the floor and pick up the food crumbs that some people dropped on the floor conveniently! There’s a bump on my head now. 🤕

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First Sunday In 2018 (7 January 2018)

After church, I took Uber with the girls to Pavillion to meet the hubs. Our lunch on the first Sunday of this year was at Din Tai Fung, the hubs’ favorite Taiwanese restaurant of all times.

In an article published on January 17, 1993, the New York Times rated Din Tai Fung as one of the top ten gourmet restaurants in the world (Din Tai Fung was the only Chinese-run restaurant to receive this accolade). We have always been very satisfied with the food at Din Tai Fung.

The first Sunday of 2018 did not start well for Cass and me.

After Sunday School, Cass flexed her biceps at the monkey bar at the church playground while waiting for me. She spent a good 20 minutes hanging like a monkey in the merciless hot sun. After service ended, we walked back to the car under the sizzling hot sun. It was exceptionally hot that day, easily at 38~40C. Puteri Lilin (Candle Princess) me suffered first-degree burn on the cheeks, which made me looked like I had just returned from a tropical beach holiday that lasted for 2 days.

In the car on the drive back home, Cass complained of headache, stomach pain and leg pain. The headache continued until the next morning when I woke her up for school. Her body felt like burning charcoal. I checked her temperature and it was a burning 40.4C! I quickly gave her a packet of Izumio and a suppository to bring the temperature down pronto.

Then I remembered that Cass is exactly like me, a Puteri Lilin with fair skin and with a propensity to have fevers whenever exposed to the hot afternoon sun for prolonged periods. Even 5 minutes of exposure to the hot sun would cause me a throbbing headache.

Cass with an ‘ice cap’ on her forehead. The ‘ice cap’ is a frozen wet hanky that Cass swears by in bringing her fever down. She would prepare the ‘ice cap’ whenever she feels feverish or hot. When she has fevers, I would diligently ensure that an’ice cap’ is on her head / forehead throughout the day and night. The last time that Cass had a fever was in February last year, after the first day of CoCo activity in school after running in the field in the unforgiving afternoon sun.

Today is the second day that Cass is on sick leave and thank God the temperature has made a descent. But after an entire night of checking on Cass, I am now beginning to experience chills and a back-breaking back pain. I am always at the mercy of sleep deprivation.

After a horrendous 11-hour bumper-to-bumper crawl from Singapore back to KL on a van during the school holidays recently, I have developed a bad backache.

On Sunday after we returned from Pavillion, Cass and I experienced a spell of insatiable thirst. We were gulping down packets of Izumio and plain water but no amount of water that we drank could quench our deep thirst. Our lips were scarlet red and our cheeks were flushed.

I Googled to find out what the symptoms of a heat stroke are and realized that we may have suffered from a mild case of heat stroke.

Symptoms of heat stroke:
Heat stroke results from prolonged exposure to high temperatures — usually in combination with dehydration — which leads to failure of the body’s temperature control system. The medical definition of heat stroke is a core body temperature greater than 40C, with complications involving the central nervous system that occur after exposure to high temperatures.

Other symptoms may include:

Throbbing headache
Dizziness and light-headedness
Lack of sweating despite the heat
Red, hot, and dry skin
Muscle weakness or cramps
Nausea and vomiting
Rapid heartbeat, which may be either strong or weak
Rapid, shallow breathing
Behavioral changes such as confusion, disorientation, or staggering
Seizures
Unconsciousness

Breakfast for everyone this morning : pork ribs + carrot + millet + quinoa + rice porridge slow cooked in the crockpot for 12 hours.

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Working From Home And Nursing My Sick Baby Back To Good Health

On days when I feel like I a minnow at home caring for 3 kids who are unappreciative and disobedient, I could feel myself corroding with regret – for quitting the job that I loved 10 years ago. The job paid me very well, complete with enviable perks and status.

It was only when Cass fell sick last Monday that I realized how lucky I am that I could be with her 24 hours a day, caring for her and nursing her back to the pink of health. For mothers who hold a full-time job, they will need to apply for emergency leave. If their application for leave gets rejected, they will have no choice but to take no-pay-leave to tend to their kids. I had gone through all these when I was working full-time. As I have the advantage to stay home to monitor Cass’ fever and to self-treat her last week, I have saved a lot of money from expensive pediatrician fees and medication.

When Cass’ temperature hovered above 40 degrees Celsius for 2 days early last week, I told the hubby that if the fever did not subside, he had to be prepared to fork out another RM200-RM300 to our pediatrician at Pantai Medical Center. This hospital is well-known for exorbitant charges (thus it’s called ‘tai park sar‘ in Cantonese. Or big shark – translated into English. A shark eats you up and having to pay exorbitant bills is akin to being eaten up by a shark!) but we have no choice. My most trusted pediatrician whom Cass has been seeing since she was an infant is now attached to this hospital.

Thank God I managed to self-treat Cass with hydrogen water and some home remedies and her high fever was brought down on the 3rd day. Thanks to Izumio, it has not failed me again!

It Was Influenza!

When Cass was burning with fever last week, I was worried sick and wondered what was wrong with her as she had NO symptoms of cough, flu, sore throat or UTI pain. What worried me the most was that she was listless, slept all day and had zilch appetite. Many things crossed my mind, including dengue and cancer. It was only later, after receiving Whatsapp messages from Cass’ classmates’ mothers and checking with Google that I realized that Cass had Influenza. I am still not sure if she had Influenza A or B as both the ailments have similar symptoms.

On another note, there have been Whatsapp messages circulating that a few schools in the Klang Valley have outbreaks of Influenza A and Influenza B. The affected students have been quarantined.

These are the symptoms that Cass displayed when she had high fever last week:

High fever hovering at 40.3 degrees Celsius for the first 2 days.
On the 3rd day, fever was hovering between 39 – 40 degrees Celsius
Pain on head, chest, eye balls and body on first two days.
Loss of appetite and stomach discomfort. Thank God no nausea.
Diarrhea when fever subsided (around 4th day).
Stomach pain when fever was almost subsiding (around 3-4th day)
Blood shot eyes resulting from the fever
When the fever subsided completely, the flu came! She had runny nose with thick goo, dry throat and mucous for 3 days.

I am so glad that Alycia and Sherilyn did not succumb to the virulent bugs responsible for Cass and the hubby’s ailments. It must be the carotenoids supplement that they are popping (and occasional Izumio) that’s guarding their body. Sherilyn and Alycia who both have history of never ending throat problems with phlegm have not had any bad breakouts of throat infection and flu ever since they started consuming Super Lutein.

Both Cass and hubby fell sick at the same time. And they swapped sleeping places at night. Poor hubby had to sleep on a mattress in the living room and Cass slept next to me so that I could sponge her throughout the night.

Super Lutein is essentially the extract of vegetable essence encapsulated in a sealed soft gel capsule completely safe for babies. It has more than 11 ingredients from top quality Lutein (best in the world) to other carotenoids from tons of fruits and vegetables that one could never eat in a day.

I have tried umpteen times to coax Cass to swallow or chew Super Lutein but this girl just can’t seem to do it. After puking the last time she tried to swallow the capsule, I gave up. It is time for me to get her to try again, to strengthen her immune system.

I noticed that since November last year, Cass’ immune system is slightly weakened. In November last year, she was hospitalized for 1 week for UTI. She was given 1 week of strong antibiotics via IV and another 1 week of oral antibiotics. I try not to resort to antibiotics unless the ailment is life threatening and my daughter is in great pain. Antibiotics are known to have negative side effects on one’s body. It kills the bad and good bacteria altogether and wrecks havoc internally. Bacteria eventually become resistant to it. Your body becomes weakened and you succumb to bugs easily, thus fall sick easily.

In addition to Izumio, I am also giving Cass unsweetened yoghurt with life probiotics to replenish the good bacteria in her guts.

Today is exactly a week since the high fever and Cass is 100% healed. Even the thick mucous /phlegm that came along with the post-fever flu is gone! Thank God!!

If you are a full-time working mother and are considering working from home to be closer to your children, you can seriously consider this business that I am doing from home. Depending on how ambitious you are, you can be earning RM60,000 a month within a short 1 year (like my upline). Or several thousands of Ringgit a month in less than a year, working at snail’s pace, like yours truly 🙂

Do drop me an email me at shireenyong@gmail.com if you would like to know more.

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No More Fever, YAY!!

Cass’ high fever has finally subsided today, Praise The Lord! 🙂

Just now…

Cass – mummy, I am going to be so left behind in class.

Me – it’s ok. I can revise with you at home.

And so here she is, sipping Izumio while doing some test papers that I printed for her.

Just last night, I was contemplating if I should give her just one last suppository so that we could both have a restful night. My sleep has been interrupted every night and I feel terribly frazzled. Last night, Cass still had a fever of 38.5 – 39 degrees Celsius. Thankfully I trusted my motherly instinct. And my confidence and trust that the hydrogen infused water would help to bring the fever down. Again, it has not failed me.

Yesterday Cass downed 5 packets of Izumio. She had very little appetite and didn’t eat much. This morning, Cass had an explosive poo poo (watery) and thereafter, her temperature slowly glided down from 38+C and now it’s a good reading at 37C. Her body does not feel like burning coal anymore. It was as though the explosive poo poo was some kind of major detoxing of all the nasties from her body. Just 2 days ago, it was hovering at 40+C which distressed me more than her.

Cass’ appetite is still lame today. That’s uncharacteristic of her. She always has a ravenous appetite and eats more than all of us. But after 2 days of being ‘burnt’, her innards need time to heal and spring back into action. I asked Cass what she felt like eating today and guess what her request was? Bitter gourd pork noodles from our favorite stall! Of all things, she requested for something bitter! She enjoyed her bowl of bitter gourd vermicelli thoroughly, which she split into two servings with a rest in between the 2 meals. Ironically, the only food that I could stomach when I was pregnant with Alycia (with really awful all-day sickness) was bitter gourd soup! Talk about freaky taste buds!

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High Fever (Above 40 Degrees Celsius)

As I pulled Cass up from bed yesterday morning, I felt like I was holding a burning log on my bare hands. I asked her if she felt unwell but she said no. She was really looking forward to going to school as she was to receive her trophy for a drawing contest that she won in school recently.

When I went to school to check on her at 10am, she told me that she felt freezing cold in her classroom, which is air-conditioned. She told me that she also had slight head pain, slight calf pain and ankle pain and oh, she also pooped in school. I asked my school-loving girl whether she wanted to go home and she said “yes”. She would never tell me that she prefers to stay home vs being in school. She hates school holidays and would do anything to be in school! Anyway, the trophy giving ceremony has been postponed yet again to don’t know when. She was so disappointed. Poor baby girl.

When we reached home, Cass shivered after a warm shower. She demanded to put on a cardigan. With a sizzling temperature of 36 degrees Celsius outside, she wore a cardigan, GAWD!!. The past few days have been scorching hot. I could feel my own sweat trickling down my head just by looking at her all curled up on the couch, with no fan or air-cond turned on. Anyone would develop a fever being dressed up in a woolen cardigan on such a sweltering and humid afternoon. Her temperature was 40.3C. Never had Cass, Alycia or Sherilyn have such high fever before. It was definitely made higher by her wrapped up in her woolen cardigan in the afternoon heat. I had to discreetly turn on the fan to blow at her when she was fast asleep on the couch. I also used a frozen hanky to place it on her head to cool down her head. I am super paranoid when it comes to high fevers and brain damage.

I kept giving Izumio hydrogen water to Cass. She had not much appetite and only wanted to sleep. If her fever wasn’t above 40 degrees C, I would not have resorted to suppository. I am never in favour of drugs, not even fever meds. But it’s the first time in her life that Cass had such a high fever. As a result of the high body temp, Cass’ eyes turned red (bloodshot eyes) slightly. I wanted the temp to come down fast to relieve her of the discomfort. Coaxing her to allow me to insert the ‘magic bullet’ into her butt was another story. I had to resort to all sorts of bribes. Now I owe her something on her bucket list! No choice. Her health comes first. I was only afraid of the consequences of a high fever – brain damage and febrile seizure. I have heard too many stories of friends’ kids with febrile seizures and brain damage resulting from high fever.

Within half an hour of insertion of the suppository, Cass’ temp came down. During this few hours window of feeling good, I gave her a slice of bread and pumped her with more Izumio and barley water. She also felt well enough to do her homework. Dinner was rice with soup. Yesterday was meat-free for Cass.

Though Cass still has a temperature ranging from 38.5 – 39 degrees Celsius today, I am glad that she is quite her usual self again. It’s good to see her jumping around, singing and being mischievous again 🙂 It is only when your child falls ill that you wish that she is naughty again. I have not given her a suppository today and hope that I don’t have to resort to it. Appetite isn’t ravenous yet. Today is another Izumio pumping day, along with Manuka honey + bee propolis, fruits smoothie and sliced cool cucumber. I have given her 10 packets of Izumio since yesterday morning.

What is causing the fever? I have no frigging idea but it is not a UTI (urinary tract infection) as there are no symptoms of it. I think it must be the tonsillitis bug from the hubby. He’s currently down with inflamed tonsils and a strep throat. Her body must be fighting hard against the bug, thus the fever. I’m hoping that this is the cause and nothing else.

To be continued…

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Lunch For The Kids Today – 16 April 2013

After 3 days of vomiting and retching with zilch appetite, Alycia’s appetite is slowly returning today. For 3 days, everyone at home has been eating porridge and vermicelli cooked with minimal oil and meat. According to the paed’s suspicion, Alycia has been attacked by some kind of virus. You know doctors, when they cannot be certain as to what is wrong with their patients, they will usually diagnose them as suffering from viral fever – the ‘cannot be ascertained sickness’ — you agree with me? I thank God that her body temperature is now back to normal after hovering at 39.4 – 39.9 degrees Celsius for the past 3 days. All kinds of thoughts on what could be wrong with Alycia ran through my mind — from Dengue fever to bird flu, chicken pox to the latest H7N9 virus. The paed told us to bring Alycia back to this office should the fever not subside by today (Tuesday) and she will then be prescribed with antibiotics – the medication that I dread the most as I had seen the ugly side effects antibiotics had caused to my kids — which made them sicker!! The ultimate horror of antibiotics is when the bacteria in your body becomes resistant to it. That was what happened to Cass when she was on long-term prophylactic antibiotics and that is another long story to be told.

Anyway, according to the girls’ BM tutor, more than 30 people from a school in KL had been down with the same sickness with similar symptoms. So I guess that this strain of virulent virus is now in the air. So parents, please keep your child hydrated, ensure that they pop their vitamins, eat healthily and stay away from crowded places, if possible.

Today, I asked Alycia what she’d like to have for lunch and we spent more than an hour to finally think of something that she felt like eating! Instead of going to a nearby Japanese restaurant to have ramen or soba as suggested by the mil, Alycia told me that she wanted to eat Maggie mee, of all things! So the mil and I came up with our healthy version of instant noodles for Alycia, without any MSG.

Our healthy maggie mee, minus the sachet of powdered junk. The soup base is chicken breast fillet with tomatoes and squids, a dash of salt and bonito flakes. Made some scrambled eggs too.

Starting from tonight, I can have my restful and uninterrupted sleep again after having to wake up several times at ungoldly hours in my groggy state of mind for the past 4 nights to sponge my 10-year old girl and to feed her with water and fever meds. Oh well, that’s the fun of being a mother!

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Someone is Under The Weather

….which spells trouble for any mummy!

Alycia has been running a high temperature (up to 39.4 degrees Celsius) since Friday evening. What’s worrying this quack doctor mummy is that she shows almost no symptoms, except for a slight phlegmy throat. Alycia is also complaining of dizziness, headache and generally feeling malaise with not much appetite. I am highly suspecting dengue fever or a problematic throat (this girl is very susceptible to throat infections and phlegm). I am planning to wait for another day for her body to self heal BUT I am getting too much pressure from people surrounding me, urging me to bring her to the doctor. From my 10 years of experience handling fevers with my 3 girls, I know what the doctors will say, do and prescribe. I know that the doctor will probably prescribe Alycia with kids dosage of paracetamol, which I am already giving to her since yesterday. And I do NOT want the doctor to conveniently prescribe my kid with antibiotics, which can cause more harm than good. Blood test to rule out dengue fever is best done from the 5th day of the onset of a fever. I also have experience caring for 2 dengue patients before (hubs and the mil). So to placate the people dear to Alycia, I will bring her to the doctor’s office today, so that everyone gets peace of mind.

On a side note, let me show you a canvas poster color painting of the portrait of Vincent Van Gouh, which Alycia painted at her art class on Friday….

After 10 months of attending art enrichment classes, Alycia has made giant strides in her painting skill 🙂

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