just 3 days into our holiday in the philippines, cayden got sick. we were at my parent’s house and around 5pm, we noticed that he’s got a bit of fever. took his temp and it was around 38degC. asked my brother to buy tempra and gave him his first dose. at around 9pm, we went back to the condo where we were staying.

i was monitoring his fever and it was just playing between 38-38.5. didnt go to sleep as i was waiting to give cayden his next dose of paracetamol. i also tried spongebathing him but he was complaining so didnt pursue. tantan went to bed and i surfed the net to pass the time. at around 12:45am, i noticed cayden’s eyes just rolled and i knew that he was having a fit (seizure/convulsion). i shouted at tantan and i carried cayden to the lounge. i noticed that he wasnt breathing and his mouth was turning black/blue. i didnt know that part of convulsing is the inability to breathe. kala ko nag stiffen up lang tapos nag roll ang eyes. so i gave my son mouth to mouth, which was what we were trained and told to do (if baby’s not breathing) back here in uk. he started breathing again after 2-3 minutes. tantan phoned the reception and asked the guard to hail a cab. we actually have my brother’s car with us, as we were planning to go somewhere the next 2 days but tantan didnt want to drive as he was too panicky and afraid that we might ran into further harm. went to the lobby and it’s taking a long time for the guard to get a cab so i asked tantan to get the car as i was afraid cayden might have another fit. he was moaning a little too. scary i tell you!!!

while tantan was getting the car, the guard was able to get a taxi. i told him im going ahead and tantan can just follow. fortunately, makati med is just 2 blocks away from where we were staying. i rushed cayden to the ER, asked the hospital guard to pay the taxi driver for me (gave the money, told him to pay driver 100 pero driver asked for 150 instead, kapal talaga! abuso!! sobra sobra na nga ung 100 e tsktsk). at the ER, we were met by the resident doctor who asked what happened. what annoyed me the most was when he laughed and gave me the stupid-naman-look when i told him i gave my son mouth to mouth. he said it’s not necessary as not breathing is expected when convulsing and they recover after a few minutes. but i didnt know that! im not a doctor nor a nurse! i told him that and he was a bit embarassed by his reactions.

they gave cayden a suppository to get his temp down and was given a spongebath. then the pedia residents came. they asked for cayden to be weighed (me first then the two of us). and they couldnt get the weight right! i told them cayden’s last weight from his last weigh-in a few days before we left uk. they were asking me if im sure im giving them the right weight. hanuba!!! in the end, they got it right.

we couldnt get a proper room (all the pedia private rooms are occupied). we were given a semi-private one (we have our own room with aircon and tv but we share the toilet and bath with 4 other rooms). we asked that once a private room becomes available, they inform us right away so we can transfer. ok lang sana the semi-private one kaya lang the aircon didnt seem to work. cayden was perspiring (we reported it several times and was only fixed the day before we were discharged). anyways, we got discharged na, we werent able to transfer as all the rooms were booked.

cayden didnt have fever na after we were admitted. they still kept us there to monitor. if temperature spikes, he might have another convulsion. since tantan had it when he was young, we were told we have to monitor cayden’s temp everytime he’ll have fever because seizure might happen again. scary!!!

ok, let’s talk about his doctors (pedia consultant and residents). OMG! i’ve worked in a hospital all my working life and was never treated like that nor heard of someone being treated like the way we were treated!
the residents:
- parang hindi pedia ang specialty. they dont know how to deal with kids. the way they talked to cayden, parang hindi baby ang kausap. ni halos hindi nga nila pansinin at laruin.
- cayden’s IV had to be inserted twice. the first time was done just in case he will need drips. so when he did need dextrose (he wasnt eating and drinking milk), the nurses found out that the needle (dont know what it’s called, not exactly a needle) is not inserted properly in the vein. wala sya sa vein! they had to do it again. and blood was splattered all over the floor, on my feet and on the resident’s legs. bad trip!!!!

the nurses covered his hand because he was tugging at the thingy

with the drip

- they were trying to be intimidating by saying medical terms, talking like they know-it-all. kainis! e hindi naman ako naintimidate. sorry!

consultant:
- we didnt choose him for his skills. we got him because we didnt know any doctors in mmc and he was the consultant of the month or something. he was more concerned that we’re wasting our holiday in hospital rather than telling us what’s wrong with cayden. he was only telling us cayden hasnt got fever anymore but will have to be monitored. we only knew of him having a slight ear infection and slight tonsilitis when he said, “ok na ear infection”… “ok na tonsils nya”… duh!!
- he kept calling cayden “SHE” e ang laki laki ng sign that cayden is a boy! i even corrected him but still persisted on calling cayden SHE

- on the day of our discharge, he came around 12pm. he said to just give the nurses 30minutes for them to process the discharge orders. 3pm na wala pa din. the nurse found out that doctor forgot to discharge us. tsktsk!
- we asked for a medical certificate and a fit to travel note as requested by our travel insurer, who paid for the medical expenses. oo daw. same day makukuha. iprepare lang daw and will be ready before we go home. as usual, he forgot! we had to request for it and wait 5 days (seperate payment pa tuloy bec we had to request from the medical records pa) before we got it. it took longer because he went on holiday and didnt bother telling us (not that he needs to pero if you’ll forget to do something, make sure you’re available to do it in the next possible time! and alam nya we’re not gonna be in manila for long!)
- para din syang hindi pedia the way he treated cayden. walang tlc! imagine, he knows cayden had problems sleeping (kasi mainit) and he knew kakatulog lang nung bata. he wants to look at his mouth and tonsils. you know what he did, he forcedly open cayden’s mouth and he was poking un-gently. my jaw just dropped for lack of words to say! nagising si cayden and syempre he cried and was grumpy for a while.

on the medical certificate it says, febrile convulsion secondary to viral infection. that’s where we learned of cayden’s diagnosis. we werent exactly told when we were in hospital. everytime we asked, they’ll just say cayden’s fine.

as for the nurses. we only have praises for them. super maalaga and magaling. the philippines will be sorry to lose them for greener pastures.

oh by the way, the pedia consultant’s name is dr. clemente (jose ata ang first name).

waiting to be discharged

my sister said we should have gone to asian hospital. i told her it’s an emergency. we’ll go somewhere near d b?

cayden recently had fever after contracting a cold bug from the nursery during his first week stay there. fortunately, he didnt have any convulsions. although we had to go to A&E (er here) because his temp rose to about 38.5 again and we’re scared he might have another fit. he was given ibuprofen with his paracetamol and that worked.

anyways, avoid that consultant if you can!