THE DREADED DENGUE...

Wow. What a year this has been. In May I was struck down with the dreaded Dengue. I had managed to get away with nearly 6 years in Singapore without catching it, but now I’ve had it, I know for sure that I don’t ever want it again!

I’ve had a lot of people ask me what Dengue Fever is. Well, my personal experience wasn’t exactly textbook. I fell ill on a Friday night after spending a day feeling really well at a photoshoot. After finishing work, I realised I had a really bad headache, which I put down to the studio lights and tiredness as I was also suffering with Bronchitis at the time. I had an early night and took myself off to bed to rest. Throughout the night the fever kicked in and by the early hours of the morning, the bone breaking symptoms had developed. I found it hard to even put my feet on the ground or flush the toilet. I was weak and my headache had worsened.

As I lay in bed worried about what it could possibly be, I remembered Betsy telling me about her Dengue experience a few years back and realised that I was feeling the same as what she had described. I managed to wait until 7am to phone her to ask what I should do. I knew what she was about to say. Head straight to the hospital.

I’m really lucky to have such great friends in Singapore, as I had no clue how bad things would get, and without them I would have really struggled. Betsy and James met me at the hospital where I was questioned by the triage nurse. He told me Dengue takes three days to incubate and I would have to return in three days’ time for a blood test. Thankfully, Betsy wasn’t having any of it, and demanded they test me there and then. So they did! On returning to Betsy and James’ flat that afternoon I received a call from the hospital to say I had tested positive for dengue and that all I could do was to drink plenty of fluids, take Paracetemol for the pain and rest.

So I did. As best I could when your body is extremely uncomfortable and any which way you lie or sit, you are in constant pain. The headache persisted as did the fever. I was well looked after. But couldn’t eat anything. I had zero appetite, and realized that I actually hadn’t eaten since Friday lunchtime. My body was getting really tired and I had very little energy.

Monday morning came, and not to worry Betsy and James I sent them off to work. But little did they know, I had worsened through the night and was actually struggling to stand up straight or walk to the bathroom. My vision was blurry and my balance was terrible. So, I text Sarah and asked her if she would collect me and help me back to hospital. I really didn’t want to burden Betsy and James any more than I already had.

When I arrived at hospital I could barely stand up. I collapsed into a wheelchair, and was rushed into triage, this time taken straight through to the doctor who admitted me and put me straight onto a drip to try and rehydrate me. Despite drinking what felt like liters of fluid over the previous three days, my body just wasn’t hydrated enough. A few hours later, attached to a drip and monitor I was all settled in my own (very nice) private room.

A few hours later, I discovered that my parents were on a plane heading to look after me. I had told them I was ok, and being the independent person that I am, I didn’t want to worry them. But as soon as I knew they were on their way I felt so relieved that I would have them by my side. I have no words to describe how grateful I am to them for doing this.

Throughout my stay, I was being monitored closely to check my platelet count. A normal count is 150,000, and mine was dropping every few hours. The lowest it got was 47,000 which explains why I felt so horrific. If is had dropped below 40,000 they would have had to consider blood transfusion. Of course, I had managed to catch a very severe strain of Dengue! Those bloody mossies!

Because my platelets were so low, I was advised not to brush my teeth. Yuck! 7 days without brushing my teeth. Rancid! And unfortunately, as my blood thinned so much I started to bleed (which was possibly the scariest part for me!). I was so incredibly weak and struggled to get out of bed to use the bathroom. I spent the next week in hospital with constant monitoring of my platelets. Every few hours, even through the night when I was trying to get sleep they were jabbing me with the needle to take blood.

I still hadn’t eaten. A whole 7 days without any food whatsoever. I don’t know why this is, but every time I smelt food, it made me nauseas and on several occasions I started to vomit uncontrollably, despite there being absolutely nothing in my stomach! Even after I got discharged I still couldn’t eat. It was only after 13 days that my mum was able to get me to eat an apple. The road to recovery was about to begin and I was so glad that I had my folks there to help me. 

I managed to get home to bed, and stayed there for the best part of three weeks. Each day I would try and spend some time on the sofa, but the sickness and the lack of energy soon put me back to bed. Some days I was sleeping 13 hours straight.

All this time, my mum and dad never left my side. Constantly making sure I was comfy, that I had enough to drink and ensuring that I took all the medication that the hospital had provided me with. They stayed with me for the best part of three weeks. It was a tough road to recovery as I was very unsteady on my feet, and couldn’t walk very far. Even getting from the bed to the sofa was an effort. I’m not quite sure how I would have coped without them.

In between all of this I celebrated my birthday. Well, kind of. On the day I managed to get out of the flat to an Afternoon Tea with Kat and Jason but I pretty much wrote this year’s birthday off. Will have to celebrate extra hard next year!

When I finally returned to work, the days seemed super long. Each day around 4pm I’d start to feel extremely tired. But mentally I was all there, physically I was completely drained! No exercise, no yoga, no running, no nothing! 10kg lighter and desperate to get back to the gym or a relaxing yoga class!

It’s now seven months since I first fell sick and I am feeling so much better in myself. There are still some days when I get exhausted around 3pm in the afternoon. I nap a lot on the weekends and spend these recharging my batteries ready for the next week. It was a big wake up call for me. To look after myself more. To take the time to rest and relax and to make sure I put myself first. I also use a lot more mosquito repellent then before!

Thank you to all my wonderful Singapore friends who supported me through the ordeal. I'm very lucky to have you all!