Ralph’s brush with Dengue
I have not seen my husband so worried than when he was diagnosed of having Dengue fever! A few days prior to our visit to the doctor, he was already feeling too sick to move and felt muscular weakness all throughout his body. He was bed-bound for about two days and decided on the third day, finally giving in to my constant push, to go see Dr. Jimenez at Garrison Diagnostic Clinic. I was actually suspecting it was Dengue because he constantly complained of on and off fevers. He didn’t even consider it at first because he was under the impression that the said sickness was only for children.
After the ocular inspection and getting all the necessary vital signs, the doctor suggested to having him get his Complete Blood Count (CBC). Luckily for us, it was the very day that the clinic made their facility for laboratory available! God was definitely watching over us! As far as I know, it normally takes an hour to get the CBC result, but Dr. Jimenez’s laboratory only made us wait for a couple of minutes.
And as suspected, Ralph’s platelet count was very low than normal. His platelet count only read 145! The normal values range from 150 to 450. The doctor said to come back the next day to repeat the CBC and to see if Ralph’s fever would go down as well, coz if Ralph’s fever persists along with a further decrease in his platelet count, then he would have to send us to Bacolod to have him admitted in the hospital.
When we got home, Ralph was so worried that I saw tears forming in his eyes every once in a while. I kept hugging him and assuring him that he’s going to be fine! He said he never even felt he was bitten by a mosquito! He jokingly theorized that perhaps because he has gotten the habit of tearing down a lot of the ant colonies since he lived here in the Philippines, that maybe the ants befriended the mosquitoes and asked them to bite him in their behalf while he sleeps!
Anyway, he had a series of CBC tests until the fourth result showed 165! While he was bed bound, we just spent the entire time watching Justin TV particularly the horror and vampire channels.
I would like to give credit where it is due. Word of advice, never take herbal medicine for granted, particularly the plants along the road that goes in the name Tawa-Tawa. Most of the people that we bumped into who know that Ralph has Degue, they all practically recommended the same thing: TAWA-TAWA. Just cook this in boiling water. After boiling, get the water and you may mix it with milk. The first time Ralph had it, he just took it plainly as it was. But a good man that we didn’t personally know from Barangay Hall suggested that he combined it with milk or sugar. When he did, he said he loved it even better! I am happy that we have something within our reach to beat this life-threatening Dengue Fever!
Last night however, I got so paranoid because when we were in bed, Ralph surprisingly kissed me on the forehead and said “Thank you so much for marrying me. I am just so happy”. My heart did a flip-flop but I couldn’t help but get the feeling as if he was saying goodbye to me! I was actually scared that he was going to sleep coz he might not wake up the next day! Isn’t that what we see in the movies… like a particular character would say something really moving to the girl, just to be found dead in the next scene? Ralph said I was being ridiculous! I know that it is actually in his character to say “I love you” often, but there was just about the way he said it that kind of made me worry.
