Back at home

I’m back at home. Yifee! I have been discharged just this morning. Thank God. It was no fun staying at the hospital for that looooooonnnnngggggg (5 days, 4 nights).

The past week has been a roller coaster ride. I thought it was just another simple case of fever and flu, the one that I’ve been waiting for this year. You see, I get to be down with the flu at least once a year. This is the worst illness I have every year. So I was not surprised when I started feeling the symptoms Friday last week. True enough, I was sick all through Saturday and Sunday, which is still normal for me. By Monday, I was already feeling better. My fever went down though I still can’t eat normally. When my friends came to visit, they suggested that I better have myself checked in the hospital so off we went. Their findings were normal. So I went home expecting to be able to go to work already on Tuesday. But by Monday evening, my temperature went up and it continued until Wednesday, with the exception of a few hours a day where it went back to normal. By Wednesday, I’m feeling different about it already so I decided to have another round of check up. My friend has an aunt working for a doctor at St. Lukes so I went to him. I told him my story and he said I need to be checked again (x-ray, stool exam, urinalysys, CBC, etc.). I was given the option to be an out-patient while undergoing the tests but the doc finally made the call and had me admitted.

I had to wait for almost 6 hours before I was given a room. That was the longest wait in my life. I was just in the admission area sick and thus can’t think productively. After I was settled in a room, the nurses started to check on me. I had to be x-rayed so we needed to go the ground floor. To my surprise, a wheelchair was waiting outside my room wahahaha. My brother and I were laughing because I can still walk though it was slow but the nurse insisted that I use the wheelchair anyway. I guess it’s their protocol. Well, it’s a nice feeling to be pampered so who am I to complain right? J It was another 2 hours before I was left in peace on my first night. I was looking forward to sleeping the night and the next day away but I was off to another surprise. I think every 3 hours (even during the wee hours of the morning), nurses would visit me to check on my vital signs. Gah! So there, I had to wake up every now and then.

On Thursday, they still don’t know what’s happening to me. The doctor said it might be typhoid or it might be viral (hepa) so I was referred to an infectious specialist. They had to take more blood sample from me for blood culture. After a series of blood tests, the doctors noticed that my platelet count went way down so on Friday, they concluded that it was dengue. I was not given any medication. They just monitored my platelet count. Once it reaches 20K, I would need blood transfusion. Good thing, it didn’t drop that low so that on Saturday I was already allowed to go home but the doc advised that I stay for one more day just to make sure that my platelet count goes back to the normal level. Whew!

Thank you St. Luke’s for taking care of me. All of your staff has been very efficient and friendly. It’s nice to know that such a hospital exists. But much as I’ve enjoyed my stay, I’m not looking forward to going back again. Not in the near future, not even after many years. :)

Thanks to my team for the visits. Your stories, laughter and bullying of each other was a welcome change to the otherwise quiet and boring confines of my room.

Thanks as well to my company for taking care of my hospital bill. :) I think I’ve used more than half of my Medicard this year. :D

Thanks to my brothers for taking care of me. It was a little awkward for me at first because I’m used to taking care of myself but it was nice to have someone to take care of me for a change. I was afraid I would get used to it. Good thing I got well. :p

And simply, thank you, Lord for healing me.