Pneumonia!

Sze Yi's nearly 1 month-long-cough had finally been diagnosed to be due to pneumonia. Sometime during the CNY season, she had been coughing on and off. At times, she would throw out everything and ended up crying. The reflux was so bad that she was afraid to sleep after that (this always happened when she's sleeping). We brought her to see the doctor, and she was given Rhinathiol. When it didn't get better, we went again. A different paedatrician was on duty. This time, she was given polaramine. The paed thought that it could be due to her having flu, which caused the phelgm to irritate her throat.

We did not see any improvement at all. But it didn't happen every time she's sleeping, so we thought it was not that serious. Then, her fever came. We took her to see the doctor when the fever didn't go down after 2 days. This time, the paedatrician heard something in her right chest, so she was immediately sent for x-ray. The results confirmed the paed's suspicion - she's having pneumonia. Her right lung was badly infected, while the left one was partially infected. In other words, it's full of phelgm. We were told that it was rather bad, and she had to be admitted right away.

My poor girl went thru some tough time having her left hand injected so that the antibiotics can be administered thru the drip. Apart from that, she was given Nebulizer every 4 hours.
There were also the other medicine that she had to take orally - another type of antibiotics, vitamins and Rhinathiol. Today, she got another one added to the list - she had runny nose after staying in the air-conditioned room for 2 nights. It was so pitiful looking at her, but she's a brave girl. She cooperated very well with the nurses and doctors, and even put the syringe into her mouth on her own (for all the medicine). In fact, she adapted very fast into the new environment. Last time when she was hospitalized due to HFMD, she wouldn't want to sleep on the bed. She was very clingy and cried a lot. But not this time. She's indeed a big girl already.
Oh yes, she was also given the Mantoux test, or also known as the Tuberculosis Skin Test to check if she had the bacteria that caused TB. The result would only be available after 3 days. Luckily, it's negative. The reaction was minimal, there's no swelling on her hand (look at the area inside the big circle, the date this test was given was written beside the circle).

I was told that she needed to be admitted for at least 5 days. After that, she would need to come back for follow-up check-up, and another round of x-ray on her chest. I prayed that this would end soon. Right now, we've been taking turns to stay in the hospital with her - MIL, hubby and myself. And I can't spend the night with her because I have to nurse Sze Juin at night. So, my shift was usually the day shift - which means I need to take leave. Well, this was not how I wanted to use my 5 days forced leave for this quarter... Anyway, thank God that Sze Juin's fever had subsided, so there're less things to worry - well, at least for now.