Adenovirus

This marks the 3rd time kiddo got hospitalized. The first 2 were due to influenza while this time around it was adenovirus.

When he was <3yo, we seldom brought him out due to fear of infection but at the price of him suffering from delayed speech.

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) December 21, 2018

After we got him enrolled into nursery - apart from him at 3yo - he has ended each year in hospital.

I believed I was pretty prepared when people told me to get ready for illnesses to spread among kids but no one warned me about the scenario of accompanying a hospitalized kid. pic.twitter.com/7djI8NKY73

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) December 21, 2018

Being hospitalized myself is totally not the same as taking care a kid who got hospitalized.

There's this sense of dread & isolation after being in the same room as kiddo for a few days. pic.twitter.com/viQEdBYeUe

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) December 21, 2018

You have the mobility to move around the room & yet, the window is literally the only thing that connects you to the world out there. pic.twitter.com/xl4t2G1hmC

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) December 21, 2018

All those people out there are totally oblivious to what you're going through & it's just another day to them while to you, it's hopefully another day nearer to recovery.

You can't help but notice mundane stuffs like the daily cycle of sunsets & clouds floating by. pic.twitter.com/1BMGyKsuAR

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) December 21, 2018

Finding ways to entertain a cranky kid is no easy feat either.

Pleas of going home are heard every few hours but those are music compared to witnessing him coughing out thick phlegm & throwing up after each meal. pic.twitter.com/Tuh87r7ftE

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) December 21, 2018

Paediatricians stopped by twice a day to follow up while nurses were basically messengers who only appeared when called or sent.

Funny how this is their turf but I felt that the burden fell the heaviest on my shoulders. pic.twitter.com/dAaoNJzLXo

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) December 21, 2018

Anticipating for the arrival of my wife after she is done with her work is akin to waiting for your bus to appear around the corner; they both come with big relief.

I sometimes wonder if that's exactly the same feeling a housewife felt when her husband came home from work. pic.twitter.com/0osDIoGXsS

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) December 21, 2018

I guess that's part & parcel of being a parent these days; get a good insurance & hopefully you don't ever need to use it.

AT ALL.

And oh, it certainly helps if you have unlimited mobile data or get ready for hell to break loose when kiddo's iPad can't load his favourite apps.

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) December 21, 2018

Mobile data boosters are useless. It took kiddo <2 hours to use up the 1½GB-for-RM10 additional data that I just subscribed.

Else I wouldn't be here tweeting with NBTD while he's taking his nap.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a lot kindier to us all. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/5W7srrDIIw

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) December 21, 2018

Amnesia

1st basketball game after resting for >1 month due to appendicitis surgery + acute pulmonary oedema, I knocked my head against the floor hard & had short term memory loss now. #FML #BlackKidKing

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) January 7, 2018

Needless to day, my wife is seething with anger & worry now. Pretty sure she's asking herself why can't her husband just be like an ordinary father who just laze at home & grow a tummy.

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) January 7, 2018

It's like the benevolent being up there wants me to stop sports altogether.

Appendicitis after a marathon? Checked.

Knocked my head silly with memory loss during a basketball game? Why not?

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) January 7, 2018

It's all a strange twist of events; I've been playing basketball for >20 years now & you would think that I would have suffered the worst injury in the early years. Furthermore, it wasn't like I was playing with experienced adults, they were all lower secondary school kids.

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) January 7, 2018

There were 9 of us so we played 3v3. My team won the first game comfortably though I was a lil' rusty. It was in the middle of second game when I was knocked down & next thing I knew, I was writhing on the floor in fetal position, great pain emanating from the back of my head.

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) January 7, 2018

Kids were pointing fingers at each other, retelling the chronology from their POV. Some blaming, some defending but 1 thing is for sure, they were at a loss on what to do. After I managed to get myself into sitting position, I rested a while & then it dawned upon me.

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) January 7, 2018

I have no freaking idea on what I did earlier in the day & how I got here. I have no memory of myself walking all the way to this basketball court. Panicked, I kept recalling my own name, my wife's & my son's. At least I remember these. I knew I had to get home fast.

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) January 7, 2018

Up to this point in time, I still failed to recall how I got myself home in one piece. Good thing was that I didn't leave any of my stuffs behind at the court.

Wife said I took a bath but I have no recollection of it. I even candidly told her that I wasn't sure if I shampoo'd.

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) January 7, 2018

Anyway, told her what happened, I did. That I fell down & hit my head & that I was having difficulty recalling what took place earlier in the day. She broke out in tears but after she helped to fill me in on what we did, the memories started coming back.

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) January 7, 2018

So, apparently I had both retrograde & anterograde amnesia. She kept asking me how I fell but as hard as I tried to recall, I couldn't make out the episode. I went back to the court to talk to the kids but none of them could jolt my memory back on what took place.

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) January 7, 2018

A part of me kept telling myself that it was just an ordinary fall & there was nothing to worry about. My mind kept replaying the few times my kid fell & hit his head hard & him bawling his eyes out.

Actually, that got me thinking if he suffered any memory loss back then. Hmm...

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) January 7, 2018

Another part of me reminded myself that it wasn't normal since this was a concussion of which I've never had.

Wife insisted that I visit a clinic as a start so off I went. Doctor advised to monitor myself for the next 24 hours.

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) January 7, 2018

If I were to experience confusion, giddiness or vomit, I need to get myself to the hospital. The last time I was given such an advice, I ended up with perforated appendicitis so this was definitely not a welcomed déjà vu.

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) January 7, 2018

Bedtime became a horror to me again. It wasn't easy for me to accept sleep after the previous episode where I almost kicked the bucket & now the dread crept in again.

"Will I still be able to wake up?"

No thanks to this, I had a rough night with constant waking.

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) January 7, 2018

The swelling at the back of my head didn't make it any easier for me to sleep either.

It's more or less 13 hours post concussion now & hopefully the fact that I can tweet all these out is a positive sign that the worst is over.

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) January 7, 2018

Compared to the appendicitis incident where 2 doctors misdiagnosed me, this time around I was better prepared by asking for a referral letter from the doctor just in case I needed to seek further help at a hospital.

Touch wood, not looking to use it at all.

— (e+ho)ng (@talexeh) January 8, 2018