Hospital stay

There are 2 viruses in the air now. One of them is a microplasma bacteria and the other is stomach flu. It has become an epidemic in Singapore. Lots of people, especially kids are susceptible to them. A number of friends' kids are either down with cough and cold or vomiting and diarrhoea. So, to be safe, try to keep away from crowded places, especially since Chinese New Year is round the corner. Both are contagious.

Unfortunately, mine happened to be one of those unlucky ones. After almost a week of being sick, she became dehydrated and had to be admitted to the hospital. We took her to the Emergency Room on a Sunday as she threw up after a cup of water. I knew how she felt throughout, to throw up till nothing is left but gastric juice. It was what happened to me many times during my pregnancy, and it broke my heart to see her experiencing what I went through. She could even joke that lucky I didn't throw her up. Hahah!

She threw up on Sunday morning after gulping down half a bottle of water. I decided we should send her in to put her on the drip, but that too was my greatest fear... having an IV drip going into her hand. I think hubby wasn't too keen on the idea at first, but I reasoned that she was not getting any better, and by sending her to the hospital, professionals were around to give her proper care, but he still wanted to hold on to one last hope. He finally relented after some persuasion and also seeing how weak his daughter had become.

Knowing that she'd most likely be admitted, I packed a sleepover bag and took it along. A big box of tissue for her runny nose, which was just flowing non-stop. And her little pink kitty to accompany her. :)

We chose the hospital which her paed services, as we decided that he would be the best person to take care of her, the only doctor 'that she trusts' (in her own words). Therefore, when the doctor at the ER heard that princess was Dr S's patient, he offered to call him over to have a look at her. The girl also requested that her paed fix up the IV for her, something which the ER doc said was what these paeds are used to, as we felt bad that he had to come back personally just to set up the drip.

I was really nervous about it and was afraid that there'd be screams when the needle went in, so I was happy to make my disappearing act to the admissions desk to do the necessary paperwork. Alas, I was not let off easy, as the princess called for me to be there by her side. Daddy alone wasn't enough. I have to say I was extremely proud of her. She had asked to look while the doc was putting the needle in, but Dr S told her to look the other way instead, so we distracted her by chatting with her, and he did it so well and skilfully that she didn't even feel it go in. For that alone, I'm eternally grateful to him. Personally, I hate having that done to me, so can you imagine a child?

Due to her condition, she could only stay in a single room. And because they had a limited number of single rooms in the kiddies' ward, we had a converted double ward which they turned into a single. We got 2 beds, one for the parent (non-chargeable) as well as a meal for the accompanying parent. As the girl couldn't eat and wasn't allowed to, meals were only ordered for me. Knowing how horrible hospital food tastes, I opted for Malay food which usually comes with some form of chilli in it. The first meal that evening was a fried bee hoon dish that was mildly spicy. It wasn't too bad actually, although french fries and bee hoon seemed like a weird combination. The fries tasted awful of course, as it came with no salt at all. I left it all. Dessert was honeydew sago. The soup? I did not touch.

For the next day's lunch, I ordered seafood fried rice which was bland, and the rice grains weren't fully cooked.

Didn't manage to take a photo as we had visitors that afternoon.

The girl didn't sleep very well that first night due to her hand being uncomfortable and she had to sleep in a sitting up position. I, on the other hand, could hardly sleep. What with worrying about the girl accidentally dislodging her IV, the nurses coming in and out to check on her, the beeping from the IV drip to signal the need to change the glucose bag, to the little eerily irritating sounds in the corner of the room where the blinds met the control. I managed to dose off for about an hour or two, but I knew I'd suffer terribly in the day. When hubby went over in the afternoon to take over the shift, I went home and got 2hrs of sleep. That night, hubby stayed with her and I got to come home to sleep in my comfortable bed. It didn't help one bit. I tossed and turned in my bed all night. I can't remember when was the last time I had slept alone.

The paed was late in dropping in to check on her. He only managed to do so around noon time. Apologized that he was stuck in ICU, probably with a little baby, poor child. He said she was ready to go home, but princess protested and wanted to stay one more night. By that time, she was well enough and had gotten used to the call button for the nurses, people to wait on her hand and foot, giving in to her whims and fancies, and having many visitors to make her feel all special, she wasn't ready to give all that up. :)

The day that she was discharged, I had ordered mee siam for lunch, so here it is... it wasn't too bad actually. The best meal of all the other meals the two days before.

For the hubby, I prepared a quick bento which had more fruits than food. It was really quick and easy. I only really needed to make the tamago. I put his food in my newest Yoshinoya bento. It's a CNY promo that they have. You get it for $5 with any value meal purchase. Usual price is $12.90.

There's sausage wrapped in tamago, bak kwa and white rice with furikake.

In the top tier, there were little mandarin oranges, celery sticks with a Caesar salad dressing, slices of apples (turned brown due not enough salt to soak in), and some strawberries.

IV removed. Yay!! We could go home!

Thank you aunties, and uncles for visiting, and for the many gifts, stuffed toys etc.