Home, At Last!

I’m so glad to be back home. I’m so glad to be out of the hospital. Actually, I was discharged as early as Sunday morning. It’s only now that I had the energy to resume blogging and catch up on the running scene.

Flashback to Mar. 20, Friday. Looking back, the feverish feeling started Friday afternoon. I had a lot of work that day so I didn’t mind the uncomfotable feeling. As the day wore on, I felt worse. I did feel that fever was indeed brewing. I still had enough energy to attend the Takbo.ph Carbo Loading Party but when I got home, I checked and I indeed had fever, measuring 38.5C. I slept through it and drank paracetamol every 4 hours hoping that the fever would subside the following day.

Flashback to Mar. 21, Saturday. When I woke up the following day, the fever was gone. I thought that it was probably due to colds, which worsened overnight. I was happy as it meant that I can still run at the Condura Run. Brought my son to The Podium for a haircut and went back home. I had my afternoon nap and when I woke up, the fever was there again. I rested a bit more and even went to my grandmother’s house that night for dinner. It was at this point when I started to text my brother (he is a doctor at Medical Center Manila). After telling him of the on-and-off fever and of the joint pains, he advised me to go to the hospital to have my blood checked. The symptoms, he said, were consistent with Dengue Fever.

I went to MCM for the blood test. After several minutes of waiting, the unthinkable happened. My brother told me that I had to be confined as my platelet count was below the minimum (it was 146k at that time — below the minimum of 150k). I had no choice. I had to be confined.

A tough week of waiting, Mar. 22 to Mar. 29. From then on, it was a tough 1 week. It was indeed Dengue Fever. At first, the doctor was looking at the possibility of a viral infection since my fever only lasted 2 days. He also looked at the possibility of Typhoid Fever, but the blood test showed that it was negative.

I was now under serial monitoring of platelet count. This meant  twice a day blood extraction. My platelet count fluctuated for the entire week. We were encouraged when it increased to 124k, only to see it dropped again to as low as 74k (on Thursday night). We were actually looking at the possibility of blood transfusion if the platelet count dropped even further. Fortunately, on Friday morning, the platelet count started to increase again. It was 84k on Friday morning and 13ok on Friday afternoon. Then, on Saturday morning it was 132k and it was 184k on Saturday afternoon — finally breaching the minimum of 150k. The doctor gave me the discharge notice on Saturday night and I was finally able to go home on Sunday morning.

Relief. It was such a relief to have gotten over this ordeal. In a way, I was lucky enough that my case was confined to stage 1 where I did not exhibit bleeding. Furthermore, I was fortunate that I did not need blood transfusion. 

Many Thanks are in order. Through thig blog, I would like to sincerely thank a lot of people:

• Thanks to the nurses and staff of Medical Center Manila who were very accommodating and friendly
• Thanks to my officemates, friends and relatives who prayed for me and also volunteered to donate blood in case it was needed
• Thanks to my family — my parents Henry & Malou, my brother Justin, my sister Nica, my lola Nena. They were with me everyday of my confinement. Thank you for sleeping at the hospital and for bringing food.
• Thanks to my in-laws and the family of my wife. Their prayers and support were with me everyday.
• Thanks to my brother, Dr. Jetz. Even in his busy schedule he always tried to stop by the room to see how I was doing.
• Thanks to my wife for being there for me. Thank you for being there everyday as well. Thank you for taking a vacation leave to be at the hospital.
• Thanks to Tita Becky, our ninang at our wedding. She created a prayer group for my speedy recovery.
• Thanks to the sisters of Canossa who also prayed everyday for my safe and speedy recovery
• Thanks to the Lord, our saviour. The one week of waiting was easier with faith and prayers.

I hope I did not forget to thank anybody. If I did, I’m sorry. I’ll continue resting for now. Istill feel weak but I’m getting there. It’ll take another 2 weeks for me to get back into running and other strenuous activities. Thanks again and Happy Running!