Juan Or was Down with High Fever

(Poor Juan Or with high fever)

On the early morning of last week Friday, when Mommy was preparing to go to work and Juan Or was still fast asleep in the spring cot, Brother-in-law asked Mommy whether Juan Or developed any fever following his most recent MMR (mumps, measles, rubella) vaccination. Mommy answered on the negative and went on to explain about the paediatrician mentioning that fever is most likely to occur only about 1 week after the vaccination. And a week or so later, Juan Or still did not experience any fever. However, on that evening itself (i.e., 16 days after his vaccination), when Mommy went to take Juan Or back from the babysitter, the babysitter reported to Mommy that Juan Or developed fever starting from about 9 am. Pure coincidence? Or is it pantang? Anyway, the babysitter took Juan Or's temperature from time to time and the highest reached so far was 38.2 degree C. The babysitter also fed him with fever medicine obtained from the same pediatrician. Juan Or also had occasional coughs and very mild tiny rashes on his skin.

Upon reaching home, Papa and Mommy decided to bring Juan Or to the pediatrician. Upon registration, Juan Or was weighed and the result was 8.6 kg. Mommy was happy with Juan Or's weight because 16 days ago, his weight was just 8.1 kg to which the pediatrician recommended PediaSure for catch-up growth. So looks like the PediaSure is working well for Juan Or - 500 g weight increment in just half a month!

During the waiting time for Juan Or's turn, Juan Or was cheerful at first, but later cried and cried non-stop. When facing the pediatrician, Juan Or even shoved the pediatrician's hand away (in anger and protest!) when he wanted to check Juan Or's throat. After checking his temperature (38.8 degree C now), the pediatrician shoved one bullet-shaped medicine (for high fever) into Juan Or's anus. Haha...call it ass-hole bullet!

After that, the pediatrician asked Papa to take Juan Or out of the consultation room so that he can communicate peacefully with Mommy (Juan Or was crying at the top of his voice!). The pediatrician explained that Juan Or apparently had tonsil infection because he felt a swollen left tonsil. The pediatrician also mentioned that the mild rash on Juan Or's skin was of no concern. After explaining about his prescription, Mommy had the opportunity to ask some questions to which Mommy will put here for the benefit of other parents who may be in the same situation as Mommy.

Q: Does putting a fever patch on the forehead actually help to lower the temperature?
A: No, because logically, a fever involves high temperature on the entire body. So how can a fever patch, which is only a small surface area, cause the fever (of an entire body of much bigger surface area) to go down?

Q: If let's say after pushing in the bullet-shaped high fever medicine into the anus, the child still has high fever after some time, when is a suitable duration before you can push in another bullet-shaped medicine?

A: Leave at least 6 hours before you introduce another bullet-shaped medicine. By the way, any unused bullet-shaped medicine can be stored for 3 years only.

Q: Some old folks say that babies should not be allowed to cry for too long for fear of getting fits. Is this true?

A: Untrue. Prolonged crying has not been associated with getting fits, but high fever does.

Q: Can taking bath at night cause a child to fall sick?

A: There is no clear association for this. But if there are different standards of childcare practice within a household, in this case, might as well abide by how old folks want it (i.e., not taking bath at night) so as not to strain the relationship. Although yes, the mother feels uncomfortable that the toddler has to sleep with sticky, sweaty (and possibly smelly) body after playing, might as well just let loose a bit and go along with how old folks want it to be. Merely wiping the toddler's body with wet cloth will do the job (although Mommy's heart feel it's not completely clean yet).

After the 'talk', Mommy paid for the doctor's fee (RM70, with antibiotic, cough and flu, phlegm medicine) and all of us went home. Then Papa reimbursed Mommy with RM50. Thankfully by 10.30 pm, Juan Or's fever had vanished (his hands and feet felt cold instead) and Mommy didn't hear any coughing sound that night itself. Although Juan Or was quite fretful throughout the night, but by the next morning, Juan Or appeared normal again with no more fever. By the way, this is the first time Juan Or experienced high fever. Before this, the only fever he experienced was a low-grade fever following his second pneumococccal jab.