H1N1 Or Common Flu

Hi,

Upon arrival from Penang on Wed morning, I found Jason sleeping on the couch instead of being school.

I was told that he is sick so I took him to a nearby clinic. Since he has fever, I asked him to wear a surgical mask and I wore a N95 mask. We walked to the clinic instead of taking a bus since it is just one stop away.

Jas was given some medication and 2 days MC.

But his fever did not subside and went up to 39+C in the evening so I called the H1N1 hotline and asked for advice. I was told to go to a clinic that has been certified H1N1 readiness (PPC) or call for an ambulance to go the hospital to test for H1N1.

Since he has no contact with known H1N1 patient or returned from those high risk countries, I decided to go to Raffles 24 Hours clinic since we went to their Bedok clinic earlier.

We got a taxi and wore our masks but we also asked the taxi driver to wind down the windows and told him of our situation.

In short, the doctor asked us to continue with the given medicine + one more tablet to fight the fever. No mention of H1N1 test.

Jason took a few cold showers and then we have him wrapped up with 3 towels; one around his forehead, neck and across his chest and armpits. See the photo below, he looked like a ninja.

The fever finally subsided on Thu night and we were so relieved but Jason was still weak and still has a slight cough and stuffy nose, so I did not let him go to school.

But on Sat 5am, Jason woke up with the urge to vomit and felt terrible. Unable to vomit, he told me that it looked like gastric so I managed to find some gastric medicine and gave him a tablet. Thanks God! It helped and he felt better and slept till noon.

We decided to return the the Bedok clinic to seek further help with the latest problem.

The GP told us the gastric was likely due to the additional medicine + the antibiotic. So she gave us some medicine for gastric and continue with the antibiotic this weekend.

We were a bit scare as Jason has never had fever above 39+C and for 2 days. We wanted to go to test for H1N1 virus but then thought it may not be wise unless necessary.

This will be the challenge we will be facing whenever we fall sick; H1N1 or just a common flu..?

I was scared too as I have to fly back to Penang to take my Mum for her hospital appointment next Tue so that was why I wore a N95 mask and it was not comfortable to breath in it.

I was also comforted by an article I read in the New Paper this morning regarding how a family handled the a similar situation when their daughter fell ill.

So key to it is not to be bugged by the bug but stay health to fight it.

Take care!

David