A dreadful time to be down with fever

I was at home today, on Child MC, spending my day nursing Junior who was done with fever and flu. With the dengue pandemic, I wasn't taking any chance and brought Junior to a doctor who assessed that the fever was probably viral in nature. There was a small ulcer at the back of Junior's throat even though Junior complained of no pain. That probably caused the fever. There were also no rashes on Junior's body. According to the doc, a person who is inflicted with the dengue virus is often lethargic and with mild temperature, quite unlike Junior who is active as ever and whose temperature was high at about 38.2. The doc also said flu and cough do not usually precede dengue fever.

It started with a runny nose on Tuesday night. The Slim Lady thinks this was because he refused to wear the sweater while he was at his Maths tuition at one of the shopping malls. She reprimanded Junior, while at the same time blaming her mum in law, my mother, Junior's caregiver, for not ensuring that Junior put on his sweater. But then again, Junior could have picked up the virus anywhere - in school, at the playground, etc. You simply can' talk sense to someone who don't see eye to eye with their in-laws ....

Then last night, Junior started coughing. It always follows the same pattern - you get a runny nose, then the mucus flows from the nose to the back of the throat, and that's how the cough begins. At least that's how my nurse wife the Slim Lady explained it to me. And at about mid-night, came the fever. It's dreadful having a fever at this time, what with the dengue pandemic in Singapore.

But one can never by 100% sure. Happily, his temperature has gone down to about 37.4 last taken at 9 PM. But we'd need to monitor him for the next few days. Let's hope the doc is right.