En

This post is solely about En.

Before I could get over her adenoid issue, we had another "drama" yesterday and it totally freaked me out. I finally broke down because I really thought I was going to lose her forever...

En had been down with diarrhea and vomiting for the past few days. As she had just started a course of Claripen (an antibiotic) last weekend, I figured its normal because the side effects of the drug clearly indicated diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, headache, taste alteration, etc.

Her diarrhea became more severe by Tuesday, after our visit to the ENT specialist. In order not to further traumatise her, I called the clinic instead of bringing her back to the doctor. Her usual doctor was off duty, so I consulted the locum instead, and was told to continue with Claripen as diarrhea is normal under such condition. Her last meal taken to date was a slice of hash brown during lunch on Tuesday.

We went on to administer the drug and even send her to school on Wednesday. Big mistake!!! Although she survived school on Wednesday, she was too weak to even move around by Thursday morning. She was seen lying around on the floor, couch and everywhere at home in the morning. As we had already decided not to send her to school, we just let her rest as much as her heart desires.

By 9am plus, she fell asleep, and Ya-Ya thought she's getting an early nap because she didn't sleep well the night before. She woke up at 12:15pm, sat there quietly and refused all the yummy food I bought to cheer her up. 15 minutes later, she dozed off again!!! That was when the siren went off in my head!

I called the clinic only to realised its lunch break and no one's around to answer my call. Out of desperation, I called an ex-colleague who is a nurse. Her words struck me like lightning! "She could die of dehydration! She's still so young! Send her to KKH. Don't wait for the clinic to open!"

I decided to wake En up, to see if she's alright. Once, twice, thrice... I tried hitting her cheeks harder. There was no response!!! Yes, she's still breathing but she wasn't responding!!! I panicked. I asked Ya-Ya to quickly finished up her lunch while I proceed to pack some of En's stuff and get ready the necessary documents. After I booked a cab, I called my dad and Di. I was already in tears when I told them "I don't know what happened but she just won't wake up!!!" With no questions asked, both the men showed up at the KKH A&E Department's taxi stand before our arrival.

At the A&E, on and off, En does open her eyes. She doesn't give much response but she is conscious, and that is great consolation to me. Primary diagnosis for her case is Gastrointestinal infection, whose symptoms are exactly the same as the sides effects of the antibiotics. No hospitalisation required but we will continue to see diarrhea, vomiting, fever, etc. for the next few days.

Since midnight till now, she's had 3 rounds of diarrhea and yet there hasn't been much fluid intake as she refuses everything... She hasn't had food for more than 3 days! I couldn't bear to take a second look at her now as she is so weak and skinny. Helplessness is exactly how I am feeling this moment and I can only pray...

Would you please pray with me?