My Gracious Life

Chinese New Year Gift – Getting Dengue For The Third Time

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dengue-3rd
I’m looking forward to the day this dengue virus can be gone. I am reminded how horrible the experience is when I’ve come across this news:

Sep 23, 2015 – MANILA, Philippines
Dengue cases up by 16.5 % – According to DOH
Cavite is in state of calamity after it had a total of 3,904 cases with 16 fatalities from January to Sept. 12.

8 months ago, for the third time, I had dengue.
It happened on one of the most festive Chinese days – the lunar new year.

Getting dengue once is already life threatening, getting it the second time after 12 years felt worse and me surviving a third time dengue, 3 years after my second is nothing than a miracle.

Deja vu – missing a family gathering again
2 weeks after coming back from Malaysia, I experienced a high fever reaching between 38-40 degrees Celsius. Thinking it was just an ordinary fever and getting a few days of rest, fluids and supplements would help me recover, it still remained at 39 degrees making me miss a family gathering scheduled just like the last time.

 

Interestingly last week, my brother had the same symptoms as me and the doctor diagnosed it as German measles even though it seemed like dengue.  Strong as he is, he was able to recover at home.

Hoping it wasn’t dengue, I continued to rest and suddenly felt the familiar dizzy feeling from my second dengue fever – the day I took a blood test.

I felt an urgency to have my blood checked in the afternoon instead of the next day, and that night, I was confined at the hospital.

I had no energy, just wanted to sleep.  I didn’t even have the energy to even tell anyone but I had to.  I informed a coworker telling them I won’t be able to work next week, and one friend.

My platelets dropped to 32k – almost at the border for transfusion level.  Doctors and nurses were on alert and kept asking me if I experienced bleeding because they were expecting I would need a transfusion very soon.  They also did a blood type check aside from the blood test of every 12 hours.

I was not to eat dark colored food to make it easier to identify traces of blood.

I felt scared.  I didn’t want to experience transfusion.

I prayed, I made bargains.  Strangely, I have never felt scared in my previous dengue encounters

Answered prayer

On the third day, in the morning, Sister Nora from Christian Gospel Center visited and prayed over me.  The only thing I remembered or understand was healing and washing me through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Within the day, I felt better and had more energy.  I was able to take a shower by myself (even with an IV still attached) and slept through the night alone.

The good news came the next morning, my platelets were finally up at a miraculous rate.  It even surpassed the amount of platelets when I was initially confined.

My doctor was amazed at the rate I’m recovering.  That midnight, I finally went home.

This was my bed at the hospital.  A ‘home’ feel from the usual white sheets.

NKTI national kidney institute

Thoughts after

I am thankful to God for healing me, sparing me from blood transfusions.  Even though I missed the family gathering, I am touched that every relative visited me and it felt like a gathering in my room.

Everyone showed their care through either staying with me and giving things that will help me recover faster.

I spent the next two weeks resting and recovering.

Getting sick is draining – physically and financially.

Just a wake up call what or who really matters when you’re in trouble.

More info about the dengue fever epidemic and symptom of aedes, Dengue fever immunization


Dengue fever symptoms in infants and toddlers


Dengue fever symptoms from netizens

Grace Tu