Dengue Incident

Last week was stressful for me. My sister had dengue. She started having high fever and was vomiting on 30Nov. The following day, my mom brought her to MMC's ER. She was already dehydrated. First diagnosis was UTI but it seems she wasn't responding to the antibiotics. She started having diarrhea too and it seems she was having symptoms for dengue or typhoid according to the doctors. They couldn't test her for dengue yet since they said that it was too early. On Monday, they confirmed that it was dengue. On Tuesday morning, the side of her mouth bled and her platelet count dropped to 60,000 (normal is 150,000). The doctors said that if her platelet count drops to a certain number then blood transfusion would be required. They continously monitored her platelet count. The result on Tuesday night was that it dropped to 23,000. She had to undergo blood transfusion. She needed 5 bags of blood but there were only 3 bags available. They had a hard time looking for 2 more from the Red Cross and other hospitals. She underwent the blood transfusion but on the 3rd bag they had to stop since she developed red spots on her face.

My sister and I have the same blood type, B+. Since she might need another blood transfusion, I had to go home on the first flight that I could get. I tried to take a chance on the last flight out of Singapore on Tuesday night but flights are all fully booked. Went back to the airport at 4am on Wednesday to take a chance again but still no luck. Was able to book a flight for Thursday morning. Kept on calling my mom to check on my sister's progress.

On Wednesday, her platelet count went up to 27,000. We hoped that it would continue its climb. However, when my plane landed on Thursday, it went down to 21,000. The doctors did not want to transfuse at once. Another blood test and if the result showed a lower count then another transfusion was definitely needed. Good thing it went up and the following morning it was at 40,000.

When I arrived, my sister's extremities were so red. They said it was the dengue rash. It's normal but for her case it was severe. She said it was super itchy and painful even when it came in contact with a pillow or a blanket, she would complain. The rashes were very red and those on her arms and hands even became swollen.

She was finally discharged from the hospital on Sunday when her platelet count became 105,000. She's at home now. Her rashes are not totally gone, still red but better. She's eating more and feeling a lot better.

After this incident, I have gone more OC especially on how to prevent dengue. I think it's better to overreact and be "praning" when it comes to dengue.