After having almost a whole week of fun visiting and having friends over at our place, I sent Ash back to my in-laws when we got back to work on Monday. Come Monday early afternoon, I received a call from my MIL informing me that Ash is having low grade fever, which we thought nothing much of, except to give her some paracetamol to keep the fever down.
Day 2 (Tuesday)
Fever was kept down the previous night with 6-hourly paracetamol. However, once a dose is skipped (thinking her fever is gone), her fever will come back. As of Tue afternoon, her fever shot up to 38+ degrees. Went to SBCC and was told to administer neurofen (for high fever) in between her paracetamol doses and monitor Ash's behavior. Most important thing to note when a baby/child is having fever is to keep a look out for any change in behavior - lethargy, listlessness, restlessness, crankiness. As Ash did not exihibit any of the above, the doctor told us not to worry and to just continue monitoring Ash's condition and only bring her in should she become lethargic or if she's still having fever on Friday.
Around 8ish, we realised Ash is running temperature of 40 degrees. MIL panicked. I asked around (on FB and calling people up) and was told not to panic and to continue sponging her and giving her medication on time. Ash is still not exhibiting any unusual behavior so we decided to wait it out till next morning before we decide if we should bring her to the doctor's again.
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| Day 2 - cheery baby who doesn't seem to be having high fever |
Day 3 (Wednesday)
Fever hovered around 38-39 degrees previous night and this morning. Reached a peak of 40 degrees again. Called SBCC again and the nurse mentioned that we should just continue administering the combination of paracetamol and neurofen in addition to sponging her to keep her temperature down and it shouldn't be anything too worrying if she doesn't exhibit any unusual behaviour. But MIL and I got really worried when the temperature kept fluctuating between 38-40 degrees and wouldn't go back to normal. Even when it's back to 37.8 degrees, it would shoot straight up again once the medicine wore off.
Nurse said it might be a viral infection and did not provide additional diagnosis as she mentioned that the fever should go away butif it doesn't by end of the week, we should go for a blood test.
Weird thing so far is, Ash wasn't particularly cranky/lethargic/restless and was very much her usual self. Still playing, still active, still smiley and did not sleep much more than usual. So that set my mind at ease a little, since any change in her behaviour could indicate brain damage (as was told to me repeatedly by people around me).
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| Day 3 - braving the high fever |
Day 4 (Thursday)
Fever still hovering around 38 degrees but very much under control compared to the past 2 days so we decided to wait one more day to see if the fever is kept at bay. As per doctor's advice, we were supposed to wait till Friday as viral fever usually takes a few days to clear, so if Ash is still having fever, then we will bring her to the doctor's again.
Day 5 (Friday)
Fever shot up again and since I had to go to the office to clear backlog accumulated over the past few days, Hubs had to take the day off and bring Ash to the doctor's. Upon examination, doctor suggested bringing Ash to the polyclinic for a blood test to ensure there's no major infection going on. Upon learning that from Hubs, I immediately took 1/2 day again to be with Ash. When I met up with them, the blood test was over and results was out. No detection of anything. Phews. Doctor again said it could just be a viral/bacterial infection that will go away in a matter of days. There was nothing they could do as well.
Come evening, we realised Ash's fever seems to be stablising. Brought her home from the in-laws so we could let her have a change of environment and to see if everything can go uphill from there. Throughout the night, the fever seemed to be kept at bay and no more fluctuating temperatures anymore! Decided to monitor again tomorrow to see if we could say "YAY!" for sure.
Day 6 (Saturday)
Yay! Ash's fever is down and her temperature is back to normal without the help of any medication for the past 12 hours! My poor little baby was so afraid of taking the medication and my heart ached at the sight of her puffy eyes, eye bags - result of taking in so much medication over the past few days.
When I was bathing her as usual, I noticed angry rashes at her back. Thinking it to be heat rashes (something she is prone to since birth), I did not think too much of it. However, when she was napping, I noticed her eyes were unusually puffy, and she seemed to have rashes on her face, neck, arms and legs! Hubs didn't think anything much of it at first but when the rashes seemed to increase, we decided another trip to the doctor's is necessary.
Once the doctor examined Ash all over and took note of the past week's events, he finally was able to give us a diagnosis. Ash had Roseola. Nothing life-threatening, it's a childhood disease that affects around 90% of babies/toddlers between 6 months and 3 years old. It's contagious and doctor mentioned that Ash could have gotten it from someone. Will not go into details regarding the disease but you can find it
here. The good thing about the rashes is - they only appear when the child has recovered from the disease and the onset of the rashes also mean that the fever will be gone. No more treatment is required because the rashes will clear within the next 3-4 days. A wave of relief washed over me. That means the battle is over and my baby is well on the way to full recovery! A BIG YAY!
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| the mentioned rashes - did not take one of Ash's face because it looked rather scary |
Such an ordeal. I wouldn't put my worst enemy through this. There is no words to describe a parent's pain at seeing their child go through illnesses/diseases no matter how minor it is. We were lucky that Ash did not for once exhibit pain or extreme carnkiness (except when taking medication, she screamed like nobody's business) that would otherwise tear our hearts more. All she wanted was just more hugs and cuddles, which we were more than happy to give. She was very thankfully still very much her usual chirpy and smiley self. My brave little princess, she is.
