The Dengue Misadventure

I was on my last post, chronicling our New York escape when tragedy struck. A single bite changed what's supposed to be a routine weekend to a start of something no person deserves to endure.

Telemetry

Saturday, November 25


We were in QC paying our last respects to a colleague's father. On the way, Irene was already feeling under the weather, turning the A/C on and off throughout the trip. When we stopped for lunch at Vertis North, the air-conditioning plus the lack of warm bodies in the mall made things worse that we immediately went home to have some rest. By evening, she already had fever.

Sunday, November 26

Fever reaching more than 39 degrees celsius. Not panicking yet. Paracetamol and the occasional wet towel on the forehead seems to lower down the temperature from time to time. Severe headache was experienced once the temperature shot up again.

Monday, November 27 

More of the same. By evening we decided to rush to the emergency room of a hospital in Paranaque only to receive a service that seemed to have doomed Irene's recovery.

from Google's Street View

It was our first time in an emergency room and didn't know what to expect. We were received by a nurse who asked what brought us to the hospital. When Irene said that she had fever for three days, the nurse checked her temperature which was normal since she just took paracetamol less than an hour before. An intern then said that fever for three days is not for the emergency room and instead directed us to go a few floors up the hospital to find a specialist. In that instance I felt that the emergency room did not deserve the "EMERGENCY" sign it holds. I felt sorry for the other patients inside who were feeling worse than Irene, not receiving proper care.

We had no choice but to go up the second floor, check with the HMO, then go two floors up to line up for a check-up. This for a patient having fever for three days, feeling very weak, and experiencing intermittent severe headaches. We were in a hospital but far from getting better.

Next: The Dengue Misadventure - Paranaque's Dysfunctional Hospital