Tapioca and Dengue Fever

Last week, Tapioca fought with dengue fever. It was hell.

. . .  spot Tapioca

It started with him complaining about some itchy insect bite around his arm. He didn’t know and couldn’t tell where he got it from. Not even sure if it’s mosquito bites. I mean, it could be bed bugs or something. All he could say, it was damn itchy.

Sunday morning, he started to have a fever. Despite feeling feverish he was able to go to the market, prepared and cooked food for the supposed drinking party with his officemates at home.

By lunchtime, he could not bear to stand let alone sit and accommodate his friends. He was in bed all day running with a very high fever (39 degrees which never went down even when he took paracetamol). Munchkin and I entertained his guests. We didn’t even know Taal Volcano erupted while we partied.

Monday and his fever was still up. He was having diarrhea and having difficulty eating. All he wanted was to lay down in bed. He went to a nearby clinic and was prescribed some antibiotics. The doctor advised him to get CBC if the fever never goes down by Wednesday.

I took his temperature again as soon as I got home from work. It was at 40 degrees. I wanted to give him some water bath to help lower down the fever but then I noticed the rashes. He insisted those are his freckles and not rashes.

It was night time so I wasn't sure. I went online and checked again. I read all the signs of dengue fever. He had all the signs except for vomiting and bleeding. I told him we will not wait till Wednesday for the CBC. We will get one in the morning.

Tuesday morning came and he woke me up saying he needed to go to the hospital as he was feeling really bad and having hallucinations.

We rushed to Makati Medical Center’s ER and got confirmation that he was indeed having dengue fever. Since it’s his 2nd time (he previously had dengue fever when he was younger), the symptoms were more severe.

He was very weak and helpless. Getting up was such a pain. I couldn’t stand all the blood extractions. I imagine how difficult it could have been for very young children if they got infected. 

I thought of our kids, Munchkin and Pumpkin. I prayed and asked for protection so that they may be spared. I prayed Tapioca will get better soon and avoid all complications. It was all I could do. PRAY.