Thursday, November 11, 2010

Get well soon Naufal..

Woke up this morning and immediately checked on Naufal.. Alhamdullilah, his rashes have gone down.. I hope this means that he is gradually getting better.. Last night his Aunty Fatin came for a visit, today his grandma and Aunty Nora is coming over to cheer him up.. they've both had chicken pox so I hope they are immune to the bug..

The redness have toned down, and he seems less itchy.

His face doesn't look so bad.. I just have to make sure that he doesn't start scratching. Good thing his nails are still short.
I noticed that the red spots also appears on his lips and inside his mouth like an ulcer. Fortunately he's not complaining of the pain, and I keep on lathering on the lotion from the clinic to stop him from feeling the itch.
It must be the chicken pox season, even people from different districts are getting it too. The doctor told us that sometimes even people who have had it could still catch the virus again if their immune system is not strong.. Chicken pox could last as long as two weeks in some cases.
We were adviced to get the anti-viral vaccination, the clinic we went didn't have any stock of the vaccine. I thought of going to the peaditrician but I didn't want to expose other kids to the virus.. so I haven't taken Naufal to get it.
When did you have your chicken pox?
My husband haven't had it yet.. which is why he is being extra careful. He's sleeping in a separate bedroom from me and Naufal for the time being. I don't want him to take the risk. Adult chicken pox could be quite bad..
I had my chicken pox when I was 8.. It was quite memorable cause my brother and younger sister also had it simultaneously, while our parents were both out in their pilgrimage!! So say it was "demam rindu".. maybe it is true, we have never been segregated for so long before that..
But it wasn't just that for me.. while my parents were away, my grandma and my dad's relatives came over to take care of us.. and instead of taking us to the clinic they gave us traditional medicine.. one of the cures for itchiness was to put mashed up leaves which was made into a paste with mixtures of some cold powder (bedak sejuk)... Unfortunately, I must've scratched one of the red spots, and it was bleeding. Somehow, it got infected and turned bigger and bigger..
It was so painful as it turned into a painful wound.. It was on my knee and it was so bad that I couldn't walk. My uncle took me to the clinic and the doctor cleaned my wounds.. soon I was ok.. or so we thought...
Weeks later my parents returned, and I guess I felt alright. But not long later, my parents realised that something was not right. I'm not exactly sure what it was, as I didn't realise that anything was or felt wrong. One day, after my father returned from the mosque he brought along one of his friends.. who happens to be our neighbour, and a doctor. He examined me there in the living room... and told dad to bring me to the clinic for a check-up..
The doctor referred me to the hospital, I remember thinking I was going to die.. I'm not sure if I was in pain, but I was just so scared. My urine is as black as coffee, it's contaminated with blood. My kidneys are not functioning, it is infected...
When we arrived in the hospital the next day, there were so many needles stuck in my arms. They took so many blood samples. During lunch my mum told me to eat green vegetables, and other things that could generate blood. I never liked greenies, but I remember eating them that day. So much as if my life depended on it.. Nonetheless, it was not enough.. At the end of the day I was still admitted.
I stayed in the children's ward for almost a month, a bed by the window overlooking the city. It was so strange, I felt so lonely... especially at night. My siblings were not allowed to visit me and I missed them terribly.

Even when I was discharged, I had to bring back my urine sample. We had frequent visits to the hospital to follow-up on my recovery. My veins on my arms and back hand looked like a drug addicts'.. there were marks from the needles where the nurses took my blood samples, not to mention the bruises.
Thankfully, it's all history now. It's over 20 years ago, I'm fortunate that my kidneys have recovered. I'm grateful for modern medicine, grateful for my parents' love and care. Alhamdullilah.. I'm grateful for every day that I am still alive.. Allah is all mighty..

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