Happy 24th! :) (And dengue-stricken)

BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!!!! :D

Well, it has been exactly a week since I turned 24.

My friend surprised me when he delivered this exclusively to my house! Yummmm.

Thank you, Dave, for the cake! :D Though I hadn't eaten much of it (Continue reading to know why).

After Dave dropped by, I met two of my friends from high school for dinner. Quite unfortunate for me, they were the only ones available on the day of my birthday. :l Nevertheless, I was still able to spend my birthday with two of my friends so it was all good. :) We ate at Bulgogi Brothers and talked over dinner.

It was my first time to eat at a Korean restaurant and I must say it was a good experience. :) I enjoyed cooking, err, more like frying, the meat right in front of me, on top of our table. It was something different and new compared to where me and my friends usually eat at. For a change. :) We're usually American and Italian food kind of people.

Damn, I missed these two boys. I missed everyone who weren't present on my birthday. :(

My birthday dates. :)

The next day was a time to celebrate with my family. Since my birthday and my brother's birthday are 3 days apart only, our parents decided to celebrate it in between.

We had lunch at Army Navy.

The burger which I had difficulty biting on.

The sun is on my side and takes me for a ride. I smile up to the sky, I know I'll be alright. :)

AND THE HIGHLIGHT OF IT ALL?

Two days after that lunch and on the day of my brother's birthday, I was confined.

I had dengue.

Nice. Haha!

First hospital confinement since I was born.

Three days before my birthday, my head was throbbing painfully and I started to have fever late in the afternoon. I thought it was just the usual fever that I normally have on days when my immune system is down. The weirdest part was my head was unusually painful that day but I didn't see it as an alarming sign. I was starting to feel weak. Thank God, I was able to commute and go home safe without any fainting episode or whatsoever. When I came home, my mom said I looked really pale. I slept it off and woke up an hour later to eat dinner and take a shower. I felt better.

I woke up feeling better the next day. I even went to work since we had a scheduled advocacy in Taguig. Again, later in the afternoon, I started to have fever and headache again. I felt hotter than the day before but less pain in my head. I took a shower and slept as soon as I came home.

Again, I woke up feeling better but I know something is really wrong with me. I didn't go to work and I was having chills. I had no energy to eat, my head was throbbing and I just wanted to sleep. I started to have very minute rashes that intermittently appeared and disappeared on my skin. I had a hunch that I probably have dengue. I looked back and remember the dengue patient I had when I was still a student, his rashes did not look like the one I had. I was sort of in denial because I was starting to get scared. 

I still came to my fashion class the next day. I decided to go to the hospital to have myself checked after. I immediately headed to the Laboratory Department and inquired about the blood test for dengue. Then I realized I had to have a request from the doctor! Silly. So I just went home and waited until late in the afternoon since I scheduled a dinner with my friends (the two boys that you saw above). Now, scroll back to my photo with them. I looked really sickly, right? I looked like I cried buckets! But then again, I just wanted to celebrate my birthday so I really didn't care if I feel really sick or not.

The next day after we had our family lunch, I texted my friend who was on duty at UERM. I asked her to give me a blood test request since I thought I might have dengue. Her mom gave me the request and she accompanied me to the laboratory. She asked me to come back the next day so I can have my blood test again and we can monitor my platelet count to see if it really was dengue or just a systemic viral infection. I headed to work and later in the afternoon, I felt weak again and looked really sicker than the photo you saw above. My workmates told me to go home early. It was my friend who claimed the blood test result for me. So when I got home, I got a text from her that my platelet was already at the minimum of the normal range.

I went back to the hospital the next day to have my blood test again. I waited for the result and my platelet count dropped even more. Oh, geez. This was really it. I texted my friend and she talked to one of her Medicine residents to give me a referral. My mom and I headed to UST (after I dropped by PRC to claim my renewed license. Haha! I was feeling fine so I thought I stopped by and claim it.) since it's the hospital near our house. Unfortunately, there were no vacant rooms anymore. We headed to another hospital nearby, Mary Chiles General Hospital, the hospital where I was born. 

A day before I got discharged. My post-dengue AKA soon-to-be-back-to-normal face. Haha!

I had always wanted to experience what it feels like to be confined in a hospital. Finally, it had materialized. Minus the visitors and well-wishers. Haha! And I tell you, it's not fun at all. I was confined for 3 days. I had 3 or 4 punctures on my right antecubital fossa alone for my platelet monitoring. I consumed 6 1/2 plastic bottles of IV. I was bored and was watching cable TV the whole time. It was hard to take a bath and do your thing in the bathroom. I had no one with me in the room until night time and until the last day. None of my closest friends knew about my dengue situation until after I got discharged. Only my workmates knew about it, but they were in Ilocos for an advocacy so they weren't able to visit. I had a cute nurse and I don't know why I had to meet him early in the morning on the last day of my confinement. Yeah, I hadn't even taken a bath at that time. HAHA! I was a bit sad that he didn't even bother to visit me. Well, he was checking me through texts though (I found out later that he too was sick at the time I was confined). I learned that Omeprazole being pushed to your vein is painful. I almost forgot that stomach pain is normal when you're on IV, hence the Omeprazole medication. Oh, what a memorable post-birthday experience, isn't it?