Fighting roseola infantum

lets start at where we ended on the previous post. after we thought that we had sarah's fever under control on monday afternoon. we were shocked when we saw her temperature shooting up to at high of 39.3 at around 9pm. we immediately decided to bring her to the hospital as all the pd clinics were already closed.

so we made our way down to kk as they have a children emergency ward. upon reaching the hospital, we sat down to wait after grabbing a queue number. we were quite happy that we were only behind 10 in the queue. after a while, we realised that although we were the 11th, it was only the queue to get into the triage room. After tirage, there were still over a hundred other kids waiting for treatment and consultation.

the whole experience of waiting at kk was actually quite traumatic as we were surrounded by many very sickly children. there were uncleaned vomit at the walkway of the waiting area, the nurse was too busy so she just covered it with toilet paper. there was one boy who had a cut in his face, he was constantly screaming and crying in pain.

in the end, we decided to give up after getting through the triage area. i had made a call to mt alvernia and realised that they only had a queue of 6. so we decided not to wait indefinitely at kk and headed down there. by the time we got to mt alvernia, it was already 10 plus and sarah was getting grumpy, as it was way past her bed time. surprisingly, her temperature went down to 37.6, its was around 38.5 while we were at kk.

at the consultation, the doctor recommended a blood test and a urine test, to determine the cause of her fever. poor sarah, she kept falling asleep in between waiting and cried every time we had to wake her up to see the doctor, to insert the urine bag and she wailed the loudest when its was time to do the finger prick to get the blood sample. its was a rather painful experience for her as the the lab tech had to squeeze her tiny finger for quite a few drops of her blood in order to have a sizeable sample for the test. while waiting for the blood test result, waiting to check whether there was urine sample, waiting to analyse the blood test result with the doctor, she was sleeping again, and had to be woken up again and again.

in the end, there was nothing wrong with her blood sample, but we couldnt determine if her fever was caused by urinary tract infection as she didnt have a urine sample. the doctor ordered us to increase her paracetamol dosage from 1.6ml (stipulated by our pd) to 2.5ml every 4 hourly (which later our pd said was too strong a dosage for a 7.5kg baby!).

by the time we reached home, it was already midnight. mama flo was very tired, because despite her strained wrist, she carried sarah all through the 3 hours. what a great mama! i had, in my hasty departure from home to the hospital, left my common sense and the pram at home.

the next day, tuesday, mama flo took leave to take care of sarah at home. her temperature had for the first time, managed to return to below 37 and we were relieved for a moment. but by late afternoon, it shot up to 38.6. this time we went back to our pd. so we told the pd, the whole incident that unfolded since we last saw him on monday morning. he raised an eyebrow when he learned about the increased dosage of paracetamol. again we tried to get urine sample, and after waiting for an hour, we still failed. so we were still left wondering whether the cause of sarah's fever is UTI. pd suggested admitting sarah to the hospital in order to monitor her fluctuating temperature as well as getting her urine sample there. after much deliberations, and calling friends for advices (especially eddery, who has been a great source for informations and advices), we decided to bring her home and observe her for another day.

on wednesday, her temperature in the morning was in the low 37 region. while feeding her breakfast, i heard splattering noises. it seemed like she was having very watery stools. all her other 2 poos later that day had the same sound too. upon changing her diaper, her stool was found to be normal, she was just letting out alot of air/gases in trapped her stomach. after the 3 rounds of pooing, her stomach looked visibly less bloated and she was gradually getting back to her cheeky self.

by evening, her fever was gone for good!

so we took her out for some fresh air at the playground.





on thursday evening, while changing her diapers, we discovered rashes on her stomach and torso area. we remembered the constant reminders from the pd to watch out for rashes. so we made a mad dash down to the clinic again. upon examining her rashes, he said he could now determine the cause of her fever, it is a form of viral infection, roseola infantum. according to him, the rashes are the next stage of infection, it will worsen and spread to other parts of her body, her face and legs and then finally they will disappear. when that happenes, she will have recovered from the virus. luckily for her, the rashes are not known to be itchy or discomforting.

we really cant wait for her to be fully recovered, it has really been an emotional roller coaster for us. happy + relieved when her temperature is down and she is cheekily playing with us. stressed + anxious whenever the fever is back up and seeing her so uncomfortable but yet helpless to do anything. on one night, mama flo stayed up constantly apply wet towel to sarah when her temperature was 39.



some info on this virus

roseola infantum is generally harmless and is most common in children 6 months to 2 years of age. It is an air borned virus that is spread through tiny droplets of fluid from the nose and throat of infected people when they laugh, talk, sneeze, or cough. It is thought that the viruses are spread by someone who has not yet developed the symptoms of roseola. There is no known way to prevent the spread of roseola.

roseola often starts with a sudden high fever 39.4° to 40.6° that lasts 2 to 3 days, although it can last up to 8 days. The rapid increase in temperature may be the first sign of roseola and often occurs before you realize that your child has a fever. The fever ends suddenly.

After the fever ends, a rosy-pink rash may appear over your child's entire body, starting on the torso and spreading to the face, neck, and arms. The rash is not itchy and may last 1 to 2 days. The rash may appear without the fever.

On rare occasions, a sore throat, stomach ache, vomiting, and diarrhea occur. A child with roseola may appear fussy or irritable and may have a decreased appetite, but most children behave almost normally.