Been away for a while. No, make that a long time. After all, a week is already long in my standards. For some unexplainable reason, practically all of us in the family got sick.
It was Jeremy who was first to get sick. It only started with vomiting, followed by coughing and then fever. When this happens, I immediately know that this would be another bad case of asthma. A trip to the pedia confirmed our fears, and so a treatment plan was devised. While this was happening, Cassie started vomiting and coughing, too. After two days without Jeremy improving, we brought him and Cassie again to their pedia and this time, we were advised it would be best for Jeremy to be admitted to the hospital. Cassie already had a mild asthma attack but nothing that nebulizations and a few meds could not take care of. That was Monday, January 25. So Jeremy was admitted to MDI New Sinai Hospital in Sta. Rosa, Laguna. That day though, both Bong and I had a terrible headache, with me vomiting my dinner and Bong having a slight fever. But we both stayed in the hospital with Jeremy. Cassie was left with my sister Anne at my mom’s.
The day after, I was advised by my sister that Cassie had fever the whole night before, while one of the yayas already had diarrhea. I asked Bong to go home and take care of Cassie while I stayed with Jeremy, and to bring Cassie for a check up with the pulmo pedia that afternoon. While Jeremy was in the hospital, Cassie was given a new treatment plan. I decided to go home with her later that night as I had, at the time, already developed a slight fever. Bong was to remain in the hospital with Jeremy from that day on. Cassie needed me more at home as Jeremy was getting all the necessary care from his daddy and the medical staff of the hospital.
It proved to be a wise decision as that night, while staying with Cassie at my mom’s, it was my sister, Anne who would have countless trips to the comfort room because she was vomiting and having diarrhea at the same time. Needless to say, she spent practically the whole night inside the CR. (My mom was not spared, either. Earlier that day, she also vomited a few times.)
So while I was also sick myself, I had to single-handedly handle Cassie’s medications including her nebulizations. The next day, Wednesday, the yaya who had recovered from diarrhea was asked to join Bong in the hospital as Bong was also sick with diarrhea and a bit of a fever. And what do you know, that day, I also had a bout with diarrhea aside from the on-and-off fever and pounding headache. The remaining yaya also got sick, and you guessed it right, diarrhea again.
Following day, Thursday, it seemed as if we got our break. There was still the slight fever, but at least the diarrhea and pounding headache have stopped. Bong was much better, too. My sister, my mom and both yayas have fully recovered, too. Jeremy was also so much better, prancing around in his hospital room, pushing that movable pole where his dextrose was hanging, and being his makulit self again. He even ate his hospital food which consisted of rice and a small tilapia, which, again, he fully-consumed. (Prior to this, while in the hospital, his main diet consisted of lumpiang shanghai and a little rice.) We were told Jeremy was ready to be discharged the following day. He just needed to complete the last dose of the steroids injected intravenously. Final diagnosis was a bacterial infection which resulted to bronchopneumonia with asthmatic component. And what about Cassie? At home, she seemed worse. If, when her pedia first saw her on Monday, she was still ok, this time, she was coughing a lot. This, even with round-the-clock meds. It was a good thing that Ate Kara, who thankfully did not get infected with the bug, helped with Cassie’s medications.
On Friday, January 28, we brought Jeremy home from the hospital before lunch, but almost immediately after reaching home, we were rushing back to the hospital in time for Cassie’s pedia appointment. Their pedia, Dr. Lorelei Villado confirmed my worst fears: that she had gotten worse, and her breathing had become much laboured. She was given a second treatment plan, and we were advised to be in touch with the doctor as she had to determine if Cassie would have to be admitted to the hospital. So while Jeremy was recovering very well, it was Cassie who was now very sick. Again.
Saturday passed by quietly. Bong and I had planned on celebrating that day as it was our 6th anniversary as a married couple but how could we, when the kids have yet to fully recover? I just cooked seafood penne pasta for dinner, bought lumpiang shanghai from Max’s (Have I told you before that lumpiang shanghai is Jeremy’s favorite?), Bong bought a small cake from Red Ribbon, and we just ate a quiet dinner with the family. Unfortunately, Cassie was still coughing a lot. It also didn’t help that for a week already, she did not have the appetite for almost anything. I have to devise ways to encourage her to eat so she could take her antibiotics.
Yesterday, Sunday, while hearing mass, my prayers were for Jeremy to continue recovering, and for Cassie to please recover quickly. She’s been sick for a week now. Can’t say we neglected her. It’s just that she started out so well, only for her to get worse. Doc says the bug may have set in late but it was already there. Methinks it’s like that proverbial thief in the night, rearing its ugly head just when we thought everything was finally falling into place. L We changed her treatment plan yesterday, and it seems she is slightly responding. At least she was able to smile last night, eat a little, play a little, and sleep without the coughing bothering her. I am keeping my fingers crossed. Bong and I left them to the care of the two yayas. They’re staying at my mom’s because we believe they’d be better supervised there.
What now? I am still hopeful. More hopeful than ever, that this is just temporary, like a bad dream we’d wake up from in a while. Yesterday during Mass, the priest gave a very beautiful but simple homily. The Gospel was about the Beatitudes. It was, I believe, God’s way of talking to us and assuring us that there, truly, is light at the end of a long and dark tunnel. The Beatitudes talk about how, in our despair, our nothingness, our loneliness, God is there not just to give hope, but to take away those that are keeping us from appreciating the life that we have. I believe that all this is a blessing in disguise…that we will rise from this a stronger, more loving, and more spiritually-close family.
(Please excuse the grammar. I don’t have the time to edit this. I just felt the need to post this so I could update friends who ask how we have been. And while you’re at it, can you please, please, please, say a prayer for my little girl, Cassie. You don’t even have to say a lengthy one. Just a heartfelt wish for her to recover, because I believe in the power of prayer…that if there are more than one who pray, God will hear them and grant their most fervent wish. Thank you!)
