It has been Sick Season at our home these last weeks.
First affected was Namrata. She developed cholera. We still do not know how or where she managed to pick this bug up, but with her uncanny ability to zero in on anything 'interesting' and put it straight in the mouth, this was a disaster waiting to happen.
We watched as her intake of fluids became progressively inadequate to compensate for the amount of fluid she was losing, and she became dehydrated, dull and drowsy. We knew that if she was not able to drink enough fluid, we would perhaps have to admit her for IV fluids, but we also knew the trauma associated with repeated pokes to get an IV access in a small, dehydrated child, and the further difficulty in trying to keep this line going. Invariably, she would have been kept restrained and yet, an IV line would have had to be restarted in a few hours....all in all, an unhappy option.
And so, we decided to rehydrate her by passing a fine naso-gastric tube directly into her stomach (you can hardly see the tube in the picture!) through which we fed her about 30 ml of Oral rehydrating solution (ORS) every half an hour through the night, while she slept.
I'm happy to tell you that by morning she was well hydrated, passing enough urine, and generally more cheerful. By evening, her diarrhoea had settled, and she has now completely recovered.
(Important disclaimer: Arpita and I can afford to do this sort of thing, and take these 'apparent' risks because
1. We are doctors and know how the system works, what to look for, and signs of danger developing
2. We are surrounded by other doctors, and have other safeguards in place to ensure we are not doing something abjectly stupid. Vinod (my cousin, a paediatrician) dropped in from time to time to see her, and we also spoke on the phone with Dr Puliyel in Delhi
3. The hospital is always only 2 minutes away.
Even so, I will confess that I was very scared, and a lot of prayer went up that night for this little helpless baby girl.
Please do not try doing something like this unsupervised!)
Next down was Anand. His peculiar sickness was a single episode of fever (about 101F) that lasted about an hour, before coming down and lingering for some more time. However, during this fever (about 3am to 4am) he was wide awake, happy, exuberant, bursting with creativity, and, wait for it, talking in rhyme! We were amused and yet wondered whether this was some vague manifestation of delirium, or something else! By the next day he was perfectly well.
And then it has been my turn. Since Monday I have been having high fever and severe body aches. From Wednesday onwards, I have been on sick leave, and I feel totally drained and run down. From Thursday, I began vomiting. Yesterday, briefly, my temperatures reached normal, but were up again by night. Today, finally, I have started feeling better. All in all, it looks like a severe viral infection, though I am being treated for typhoid.
But let me say, it has been such a privilege to stay at home, and be entertained by the three cutest people you could imagine! I wish I could record the various things that keep going on all through the day.
Please do pray for Arpita. With all the stress she is under, she cannot afford to fall sick. And continue to pray for the rest of us as well.
First affected was Namrata. She developed cholera. We still do not know how or where she managed to pick this bug up, but with her uncanny ability to zero in on anything 'interesting' and put it straight in the mouth, this was a disaster waiting to happen.
We watched as her intake of fluids became progressively inadequate to compensate for the amount of fluid she was losing, and she became dehydrated, dull and drowsy. We knew that if she was not able to drink enough fluid, we would perhaps have to admit her for IV fluids, but we also knew the trauma associated with repeated pokes to get an IV access in a small, dehydrated child, and the further difficulty in trying to keep this line going. Invariably, she would have been kept restrained and yet, an IV line would have had to be restarted in a few hours....all in all, an unhappy option.
And so, we decided to rehydrate her by passing a fine naso-gastric tube directly into her stomach (you can hardly see the tube in the picture!) through which we fed her about 30 ml of Oral rehydrating solution (ORS) every half an hour through the night, while she slept.
I'm happy to tell you that by morning she was well hydrated, passing enough urine, and generally more cheerful. By evening, her diarrhoea had settled, and she has now completely recovered.
(Important disclaimer: Arpita and I can afford to do this sort of thing, and take these 'apparent' risks because
1. We are doctors and know how the system works, what to look for, and signs of danger developing
2. We are surrounded by other doctors, and have other safeguards in place to ensure we are not doing something abjectly stupid. Vinod (my cousin, a paediatrician) dropped in from time to time to see her, and we also spoke on the phone with Dr Puliyel in Delhi
3. The hospital is always only 2 minutes away.
Even so, I will confess that I was very scared, and a lot of prayer went up that night for this little helpless baby girl.
Please do not try doing something like this unsupervised!)
Next down was Anand. His peculiar sickness was a single episode of fever (about 101F) that lasted about an hour, before coming down and lingering for some more time. However, during this fever (about 3am to 4am) he was wide awake, happy, exuberant, bursting with creativity, and, wait for it, talking in rhyme! We were amused and yet wondered whether this was some vague manifestation of delirium, or something else! By the next day he was perfectly well.
And then it has been my turn. Since Monday I have been having high fever and severe body aches. From Wednesday onwards, I have been on sick leave, and I feel totally drained and run down. From Thursday, I began vomiting. Yesterday, briefly, my temperatures reached normal, but were up again by night. Today, finally, I have started feeling better. All in all, it looks like a severe viral infection, though I am being treated for typhoid.
But let me say, it has been such a privilege to stay at home, and be entertained by the three cutest people you could imagine! I wish I could record the various things that keep going on all through the day.
Please do pray for Arpita. With all the stress she is under, she cannot afford to fall sick. And continue to pray for the rest of us as well.
3 comments:
My goodness! What a difficult last few days it seems you've all had. We love you and are praying so much for all of you! Sweets - Praying especially that you don't fall sick!
Ashish, Jules, Safina and Serena.
We're continuing to pray for you! Please keep us posted on your recovery. We can so identify with all of the fear and trembling that goes into praying for our children, especially when they are sick!
You've had quite a momentous few weeks. I hope you enjoy this time home, Pradeep. I wouldn't wish Cholera on anyone, but maybe this is a little blessing in disguise! These are precious, precious moments and I'm grateful you all have each other.
love,
juliana
Thanks, Juliana, and all the rest of you, who have been praying and calling to express your love and concern.
We are all much better. I returned to work on Monday, and have been quickly swamped with work, as usual. All of us seem to have recovered well, though we are still quite tired.
Thanks again for your concern.
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