40°Celsius

A sponge bath of tap or lukewarm water and an (Opigesic) anal suppository (a paracetamol) are all it takes to manage a very high fever to a kid says the on-duty ER (Pedia) doctor when we rushed my baby girl to the hospital on early dawn last Sunday. You would not let to spike up its fever or else it will lead to convulsion which is very dangerous to the brain cells. I had this fear the day after Chinese New Year after my 1-year old daughter experience 2 days of very hot body temperature. I gave her paracetamol Tempra but still it won't go down to 37°C since Friday. (My mom, a retired nurse, believed on the accuracy of a mercury thermometer over the digital ones because digital thermometers, if the battery is weak or not very new, cannot read the exact reading. We wouldn't want to miscalculate body temperature, right? Though mercury thermometers is not recommended anymore due to safety reasons of the mercury in it (e.g. accidental dropping of it is dangerous to health because of exposure to mercury), one should handle it with utmost care if your are using it. Experience wise, I rely on the readings of the mercury thermometer. Though I want to have the ones used by doctors to get the temperature on the ear (Braun is a recommended brand), it's much expensive and don't have budget for that yet. I discovered somebody blogged about thermometers here and I find it very informative and useful for us mommies who have a toddler or infant babies.) Anyway, after I had my daughter checked-up yesterday, it is found she had Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) as ruled by my kid's pediatrician after getting the laboratory results. Her urine had pus cells and red blood cells which read from 6-8 compared to the usual 0-1 result. I'm not happy with the outcome of the result but I'm thankful that it's not Dengue since her blood platelet is between the normal values. 

For those who are not familiar what suppository is, this is what it looks like (photo below). One capsule is equivalent to 125mg which was given to my 1-year old baby as first aid in the emergency room (ER). I bought this around 18 pesos/each in the hospital where we went to.  

Photo source

Its texture and appearance looks like a hardened glue. It's smooth and jell-like in texture so it's easy to insert and push inside the anus of the baby using the tip first. Just push it slowly until you can't see any white thing peeping at the opening of the anus. But before putting it, we were told to give her a sponge bath first in tap or lukewarm water. By sponge bath, the doctor told us not to rub the cloth on the body but by patting or just wrapping the cloth on the baby's skin especially on the head part, the armpits and the "singit" area. Rubbing would cause redness if rubbed too hard and during fever the skin is sensitive and is painful if done the wrong way. Even if I rubbed it gently, the doctor executed it for me to just wrapped it at my baby's skin is enough.

Photo source

I'm just too anxious about fever on kids nowadays. Before, in my time, my mother would just give us Naprex, or a Royal Tru Orange softdrinks mixed with fresh egg (I still don't know what's the reason behind this) and we will be okay. But now, a simple fever should not be taken for granted because it might lead to something worst (e.g. Dengue, Measles, Chikungunya, or any viral infection that could lead to Pneumonia) and it might be too late. I will spend for my kids health rather than just shrugging and guessing that she/he looks fine naman kaya no need to go to the doctor. I had another experience of this when my almost 3-year old kid when she was still a year and 3 months, she was hit by Pneumonia without any signs of her coughing. She just had the same high fever and I was crying already. I had to bring her to the hospital because she was just calm and her skin color is pale already. She was just sleeping the whole time.

This time, I won't take any chances. No need to wait for worst thing to happen. I'll just use my mothering instinct and it will give me peace of mind. #sickkid