Recovering from Dengue

Recovering From Dengue

So after 5 days of "enjoyable" stay at the hospital, the doctor came to me one morning and told me, we will see the blood test results, if everything is okay, you can be discharged. You did hear about my appetite which wasn't present, but that day, I must have recovered abit, I was caught eating some fruits when the doctor came in. Whatever it was, the hospital food didn't help me very much with the appetite, I was wacking the grapes, Jambu Air which was brought over by parents and relatives.

When I got discharged that, day, I remembered the doctor telling me, eat anything you want to eat. My body was still bloated, I looked fat, had a lot of water in my body. I got discharged on a Wednesday and got a two day MC, for Thursday and Friday. I slept most of the time, with my appetite still recovering. No more fevers to say the least.

Sayang was nice enough to come over every day, hence her disappearance from gym.

On Thursday and Friday, my sleeping patterns were still abit weird. I'd sleep at 10pm the latest, and wake up at 2 - 3 am and stay awake till 5am. I had time to think, during these two days of staying awake in the morning. I was thinking about things I wanted to eat, do, as well as gym.

I know my workout patterns will have to change. Less BC, perhaps more weights training, and little bit more RPM for myself. As I lay there in the middle of the night, I somehow had the time to not only think, but to visualize what I was going to do in gym as part of my recovery program. While I was thinking, more like visualizing, I was getting cramps just walking up the stairs back into my room.



Saturday afternoon, I was ready to drive out on my own. We went watch Wild Hogs at TGV @ KLCC. Just the right kind of movie to get you going again after being bed ridden for so many days. You somehow had to go somewhere, do something, and also to eat something. Hence the pic, at Chilli's, I needed my beef. The movie was great, no doubt about it, and so was the food. Yummy !!



So come Sunday, I was well rested ( relatively), recovering very well from dengue and all, I got tempted to go to gym. I walked into BC class, after 3 tracks, I punctured liao. During the warmup track, my legs almost cramped. So I paced myself through 3 tracks before moving out to the weights area to do some circuit training. 2 sets of Circuit Training, and I was exhausted. Phew !! I had to come to terms with myself then, my recovery wasn't that fast, I am probably old liao, the amount of muscle lost, my body still have to readjust to the condition.

Circuit training is probably the best way to recover for now. The programme was simple, a little bit of something for the whole body to recondition it back.

Hack Squats, Leg Extension, Lunges
Upper Back Row, Low Rows, Pulldowns
Chest Press, Flyes
Shoulder Press, Upright Rows
Bicep Curls, Tricep Extensions
Abs

Sayang did a little bit more than me in terms of resistance and reps. By the end of the 2 sets, I was already sweating buckets ( thanks to 3 BC tracks), and exhausted.

I did the same thing on Tuesday. We went to MJH, Sayang went for her BC Class, while I could not attend, I stayed downstairs to re-condition my body. This time it began with 10 minutes of warmup on the bike, followed by:

Leg Extensions, Leg Curls, 2 Sets each
Pulldowns, Upper Back Row, Low Back Rows
Incline Chest Press, Flyes,
Shoulder Presses, Bicep 21's, Tricep Presses, Tricep Extension
Abs

This time around, I increased the resistance by a little bit. Also did 2 sets of it, and by the end of it, I was again exhausted, and sweating buckets. Skipped Wednesday, for recovery, and Thursday since I was off, we went to Curve to attend BC. I proudly lasted all ten tracks, without doing many options. My legs didn't feel like cramping. I told myself, if I can last 10 tracks, I will attempt to do a RPM class.

Today was great, my body still aching from Thursday's class, I attempted to do BC again. I was okay until track 8, that was when my body suddenly didn't have enough energy to continue punching, and scissoring. Its like that stupid KFC advertisment, the idiot asks, Never Eat Rice ah ? My reserves went zelo, conditioning also cannot tahan.

I think the circuit training helped quite abit, so next week I will attempt to do 3 sets instead of two, with 2 minutes of cardio in between sets(just to keep up the heart rate abit). Time to up the tempo abit and see how I recover from this.

I found one website which has got a range of circuit training programmes for different types of atheletes.

Now my next challenge is to finish one RPM class without cheating.

FatboykenaDengueFever.Blogspot.com Part 4

They came and took my blood every morning. There was a period of 2 - 3 days which I remembered those nurses kept coming in on the hour to monitor my bp and temperature. I experienced a suppository for the first time in my life.

They stuffed fever, gastric and anti vomitting medicine up my ass. I gotta say, suppositories worked really well for me, especially for the fever meds. The reason why they had to stuff meds up my ass is as according to them, I kept throwing up meds they put in through my mouth. Not true, about my meds getting vomitted, but I did involuntarilly vomit quite often before meals and sometimes after meals.

My appetite was not there at all, and of course the hospital food did not help much. Coupled with the fact that I haven't had curry ( fever not supposed to take curry or something like that), the food I consumed during that period were like, white bread, milo O, fish porridge ( with no fish ), chicken porridge ( where the chicken smelt like they didn't wash it), we get cream crackers for tea time ( not bad but too dry for me to swallow).

Mom will always ask me, what can she cook for me? She tried Mee Suah with fish. That was a lot easier to swallow, because mee suah is thin noodles, with soup. Luckilly I had mom to cook stuff for me, but once she knew I could eat those, she just repeated it. Yucks !

She also brought double boiled bitter gourd and frog soup. Supposed to have the cooling effect on my body.

I'd moved rooms, the doctor put me next to another dengue patient. That young fler seem to recover much faster and easier than me. I spent two nights there and the fler was out liao. I had another Indian fler who had kidney stone problem he, also got discharged. And also another old chinese fler whom I did not know what his problem was, also got discharged on my second night.

Saturday afternoon was a quiet one. I was the only patient in the ward of four. I hate ward visitors, they are fucking noisy and they come in numbers. This is supposed to be a fucking ward, where patients are usually feeling fucked up and wish to rest. But they allow visitors to come in flocks, and make a lot of noise. Talk on their handphones and shout across the room , etc.

Sunday I had a new room mate, some mamak fler. He had a crowd too, but at least they were much quieter. I totally hate it when they bring kids to the hospital. They run around, make a whole lot of noise and disturb the patients, who were already feeling fucked up. I am sure after the kids run around and make all those noise, the patients felt more fucked up.

You know what? I got a theory. The hospital people know that by having visitors around they will make noise and disturb other patients, it won't make you die, but instead they make you feel more fucked up so you'd stay an extra 2 or 3 more nights. That way they make more money.... coz they got two or more days to feed you their medicines, you sleep on their uncomfy beds and utilize their room for a few more days.

People who visit should just come, say hello , wish them well, give them their flowers, fruits , whatever and leave. If they want to catch up, they should do it at the cafeteria downstairs. Its like when their friends / family members are not sick they don't come visit....

My time I had dengue, was never pleasant, not even one second of it. The vomitting helped me feel a little better. The nurses were just doing their job , except for one fat nurse, who abused me while I was bed ridden.

I had no idea why she did try to inflict pain onto a helpless dengue patient like me, but she did. She inserted the digital thermometer into my mouth, when inserting you should do it gently, but instead she'd poke the thermometer in my mouth, ouch !! Then for dunno what reason, the thermometer took an extra long time to stabilize, so she turned the thermometer while it was still in my mouth. It felt like fuck, I had no energy to fuck her , otherwise I might have slapped that Bitch ! So we know , that there are cases where the nurses would let off steam on helpless patients. Why they do it , only they know.....

Sayang brought the traditional remedy of Papaya Leaf Herb drink, tasted very bitter , but it was said to help a lot of dengue patients overcome their fever. So I took it obediently. My fever subsided for that night and I was able to sleep much better. The papaya leaf was pounded and the juice was squeezed out. Look I found a website of similar testimony about papaya leaf juice. Her daddy pounded them for me. :D

USJ FORUM
SJMC EXAMPLE
BLOG ENTRY

So Sayang and I had this debate, of whether it was the Papaya Leaf Juice or was it the blood transfusion that helped cure my dengue. I'd say a little of both. My body wasn't really responding very well to Panadol, in fact I never have been very friendly with Panadols. It doesn't work for me most of the time. Mom had tried to make Lin Yong , that made my fever worst.

Luckilly the Doctor moved me next to this dengue patient. Western medicine will not approve of administering Papaya Leaf juice as a cure in their hospitals, but instead, they put you next to the patient who has had similiar success with Papapya Leaf Juice. Smart right this doctor.

So when I was first given this remedy, my platelet count was down to 9. Earlier in the day, the had already given me 4 packs of blood. Two days later you could see my platelet count had risen to 167. By the third day I was discharged.

I had lost 10kgs after the 9 days of fever, mostly muscle mass. My body fat percentage is 28%. It didn't change much, but since my weight has gone down, I assume now my muscle mass has dropped tremendously.

My liver is enlarged, and the hospital actually tells me that I owe them 4 packets of blood. When asked whether I could give them blood back, they said no, not in a year or two will I have enough blood for myself. So now I am on a quest to look for 4 blood donors to give blood back to Pantai Cheras. The damage on my liver is quite bad la, so it seems.

Until today I am getting my blood taken to continuously monitor my liver condition. My doctor wanted to be sure that my liver is recovering at a good rate.

I looked up Medline Plus Medical Encyclopedia and it lists liver damage as one of the complications caused by dengue fever:

Complications

• Shock
• Encephalopathy
• Residual brain damage
• Seizures
• Liver damage

Hopefully I didn't get any brain damage from the fever.


to be continued

FatboykenaDengueFever.Blogspot.com Part 3

That is theorectically how my fever started, for those who asked. I got bitten by that aedes mozzie. Where did I get bitten ? Seriously it could have beeen anywhere. Doctors were telling me it takes the virus 7-10 days of incubation before the host shows the first signs of fever. But on countback, I was probably still in Korea at that time. Maybe less time, then I could be in Pahang, in Kuala Lipis when I was bitten.

Thursday 1130am, 19th April 2007.

I was already home after the trip to the clinic, already in bed trying to sleep. The phone rang and minutes later, my dad came into the room. Pack some clothes, you are getting admitted to the Hospital. The blood test results showed your platelet levels dropping alarmingly.

Tiu !! Can't sleep have to go hospital somemore.

Packed clothes for 2 days, and of we went. Sayang who happened to be on a half day was already here when we were ready to go to the hospital. We were both seated calmly in the living room waiting for dad to send us to the hospital. We had already decided Pantai Cheras since it was only a stone's throw away from the house.

My face did not show any emotions, I was too tired to emote. We went to see the admitting Doctor, then got admitted.

Day 1 in the Hospital.

Doc: There is no cure for dengue fever. So it is up to your own body to fight the virus. We can only monitor and provide symptomatic treatment. So enjoy your stay with us, and please eat as much as you can, and eat what you like.

Very nice welcoming speech I thought, but if i wanted to enjoy my stay here I'd have gone on a holiday. Some doctors are full of shit. Some are just being nice, but I think this fella will try to help me.

I got admitted, and the first thing they gave me was an IV ... a mix of Saline and Saline/Glucose liquids. My fever wasn't subsiding , and not long after, it was time for dinner already. I ordered something with porridge. I ate it up, but it tasted like shit. First impression , the food here tasted like shit. Probably shit tasted better.

My mouth was dry, smelly and dry ( not salivating). Even when food arrived, your mouth supposed to salivate right, mine remained dry. How to eat ? Take two spoons of anything, and I feel like vomitting. Drink also feel like vomitting.

That night everyone stayed until 930 ( end of visiting hours). I pity Sayang, tired yet stay until so late. I was trying to sleep with everyone around me trying to take care of me. My Fever never subsided even when after they gave me the meds. I did not remember much about my stay in the hospital , except that I had a lot of time looking at the ceiling.

It doesn't get easier to sleep at night, because the nurses would come in and check your temperature every hour. Blood pressure also check. My temp did go up to 40.5 C. I never remembered ever having a fever that high, or ever touching 40C before. This must be my first time. It felt like shit, and nobody was around to sponge me, neither did I ask the nurses to give me a wet cloth to put over my forehead. * Now I am wondering why *

Day 2: In the Same bloody hospital

I must have been up since 6am, I woke up and laid on the hospital bed and stare at the ceiling. I put my hand across my forehead, hmm... still got fever. I was feeling abit hungry but had no food to eat, so I poured myself some water and drank it up. My mouth was dry, got to have some water to wet it abit. My lips were dry too, in fact, my lips were cracking.

Just a little over 8am , someone from the Pathology Department came in with a lab coat, took my blood sample and went off.

I couldn't adjust my body so i could sleep sideways, because in that position I feel like vomitting. So it was just one position, lying on my back looking straight up. Breakfast was served at about 830am, the medicine was already placed on the overbed table. 2 Panadols, 1 Pharmaton Caplet, 1 Anti Gastric Pill or something like that. What's for breakfast ? Breakthru Bed by Gardenia , Milo O, jam and butter. I took half a piece of bread only, drank 2 sips of the Milo. I was already ready to vomit, so I told myself, take it easy on the food la.... don't eat wont die wan, got IV mah.

9:00am, I was thirsty , so I drank some water. Next thing I know, my stomache voluntarilly reversed everything I did earlier. Nice I saw only water coming out, apparently the bread didn't come out.

Strangely enough I do not have much recollection of my roommates during my first night's stay at the hospital. Oh ya there was this Malay guy who had gastric, he borrowed my phone charger. Then there was this Indian guy next to me, who'd... I don remember what his problem was, but also borrowed my phone charger too. Mom and Dad came by just before lunch was served. I think some kinda porridge I think. The food was fucked up ... nothing much to promote.

It felt like I was eating the prison food or something like that. Oh well at least, prisoners there have curry and rice right ? I only get porridge, chicken which smells and fish porridge which only has ginger strips in them. Yucks !!!!

So take a look at their website : Pantai Cheras Website
So impressive, in my opinion that is more like over selling and over pricing of your services.

FatboykenaDengueFever.Blogspot.com Part 2

So my first fever came about on Saturday night 14th April 2007, although I remembered only vaguely, I think it was the same night Sayang's mom got discharged from UH. I was at her place when I began to feel aches all over, a niggling migraine and of course that mild fever. Just normal flu symptoms, nothing I couldn't handle. So I drove home that night , and tried to sleep off the fever. I remembered Sayang telling me months ago when I was doing an installation at a construction site, any fever go get your blood tested for dengue ( in my mind, a ya rite was playing around)....... this can't be the dengue la, if I kena means , I would have gotten it when I was working at the construction site. my boss and the appointment.

Sunday 15th April 2007.

The fever did not subside. Since I had been spending most of my time in and out of of Pahang, and when I rushed back I was at the hospital, my parents were getting used to not having me around. I zombied around in my feverish state ( nobody noticed anything). OK, so I drove myself down to a nearby clinic to get some meds. Doc, I got fever, no sore throat, a bit of phelgm. He stuck his stethoscope into my chest, then my back. Took my bp, then asked me, are you working tomorrow ?

" Doc, I need to work tomorrow (in fact I needed to be in Pahang tomorrow) so you better give me meds that can cure me fast !!"

He wrote something in his notes and said, ok that will be it.

Minutes later, the same doctor came to the dispensary window and started packing my meds. This one panadol, 2 tablets 4 times a day. For your pain, 1 tablet 3 times a day, and this one...for Phlegm ( scibbled something on the packet) 1 tablet 3 times a day.

So I religiously went home, ate my bread, drank loads of water. Tried to sleep, did not go to gym. Sayang spent time at home too with her mom, since she just got discharged. It was a miserable fever, one that had to befall on me on a Sunday. Just my luck !!!!

That evening I began to loose my appetite, the fever just wouldn't go away, it was mildly nagging you, telling you its there. The weather was rather humid, it drizzled abit and I began to sweat. Ahh !! Fever's gone.......

I went to bed early that night. Trying to get ready for a long drive to Pahang the next day. The fever came back at night and it got stronger. It felt like it was in its 39-40C range. Whatever it was, the migraine, and the joint aches did not help me sleep a single bit. I took my meds, the pain killers, everything just as the doc told me to... I couldn't sleep.

I was counting cows, sheeps, clocks, but the pain was just unbearable. I drank so much water, I kept waking up every 1 hour to pee.

By 4am, I was so fucking tired, I think I passed out. Woke up at 6am and the cycle of pain ( head, knees, ankles, thighs, neck, elbows, shoulders) continued where I last passed out.

Monday 915am , 16th April 2007.

My phone woke me up. I must have passed out sometime during the 6-7am period. Some work acquaintance called up to make an appointment with me. So I said, ok I will be in the office. By that time my body was already soaked with sweat. I had used 4 T shirts , all soaked as my sweat towel throughout the night. No wonder I managed to sleep.

Drove down to the office like a zombie, and told my guys I am not going down to Pahang with them, instead just passed all the instructions as to who to meet, what to do, and the expectations of the installation and such. I laboured on in office, with much luck, during the day I sweat easilly. So the fever if it existed was only mild at the most. I did not have much to sleep, my joints were aching, still thinking this was just a normal FEVER, I rushed back as soon as I saw

First stop on the way home, Clinic. Oi Doc, your meds are not effective at all man !!!! I couldn't sleep last night and the fever did not go down. I was feeling headaches and joint aches all over man. He looked at me for awhile.

Took my temperature, and said, there you got no fever what.

Of coursela doc, can't you see I am sweating. I am suppose to be in a tender meeting tomorrow la, so how .. you giving me better meds ?

Ok I give you something better.
Dynamol Prescription ( this one looks just like Panadaol, not yellow color wan) for two days.
Generic Ponstan
and Fenadium 25.

The fucker gave me 3 pain killers.... :D smart sonofabitch, and he gave me two days MC.
If you still got fever after 2 days, comeback, I will take your blood for dengue testing.

That night I still couldn't sleep. But my headaches were gone .

Still I fell asleep much earlier, I thought by about 1030pm, after trying for 2 hours I think. Two days later my condition grew worst, by that time everyone was worried. By night when the fever came back to haunt, I was feverish and shiverring. Everyone, was worried, and it worries me that everyone is worrying.

I haven't been eating well,the past 2 days. drinking mostly fluids, like milo and water. If I wasn't trying to sleep upstairs I was trying to do it downstairs. Because the nights were just terrible. Everytime I closed my eyes, the fucking migraine come pound me at the back of my head. Imagine someone smacking you with a rifle butt from inside your head. It goes left... 10 seconds later right...... and it continues on until I faint or something like that.

Wednesday 18th April 2007.

The only smart decision was to go find another doctor to attend to. He took my blood, but found the Dengue antibody's to be negative, Typhoid also negative. Everyone was thinking this has got to be typhoid fever, Sayang told me the story of Typhoid Mary. So I imagined myself spitting at everyone's face infecting them with typhoid, thus calling myself Typhoid Berns... wakakakakaa... but negative la, so that fantasy won't happen. I went back to him Thursday morning to do another blood test. My platelet count was dropping rapidly, Wednesday it was 107, by Thursday it dropped to 67. He advised my parents to admit me to a nearby hospital.

Pantai Cheras lo wa kena. ---- to be continued....

FatboykenaDengueFever.Blogspot.com

I know I have not been updating this blog for quite a while, there are lots of shit that happened to me in that time. I also don't know where to begin writing..... Ok, lets begin by looking at my picture when I first arrived in Korea, first images, @ Incheon International Airport. Remember that fat face !!!

I was in Korea for a week, on official business and in the after hours, we went on to see as much Seoul as possible, eat as much Seoul and to enjoy Seoul's outdoor weather as much as possible. That face got much fatter by the time I returned home to KL. In that one week I came back to KL, I ate more Korean food, but unfortunately, the eating spree did not continue for very long. A fucking Aedes Mosquito bit me, and I got dengue ( aiyah !!!! got bitten)...... as a result..


I am now, half the man I used to be........ almost everything.... :D

During the time I was admitted in the hospital, 5.5 days of it, I had a lot of time to do some thinking. All in all I was feverish for 8 days, before my last fever symptoms were cast away, and discharged, but those 8 days really took the toll on my body. Today I am still recovering from it all.


To be continued....