Down with pneumonia

Wednesday (28th January 2009)

It started as a high fever… a real bad one. I was getting ready to fetch Shad from school when I started to feel pain all over my body. Sampai sekolah Shad, I started to feel feverish & cold. From his school, I drove back to hubby’s office. Hubby’s office is just 1 km away from home, but I just couldn’t drive straight to home. So hubby sent us back & before that tapau some porridge for me.


That night I couldn’t sleep. It was just too painful. Every inch of my body was in pain. 3rd day – my fever was still high so we decided to go to the clinic. Dr said it’s viral fever & gave me Paracetamol & antibiotic.

Day 4… Day 5…. Day 6…… Fever was still high, my temperature remained at 39 degree celcius. Hubby brought me to a medical centre in Taipan. Dr did an x-ray & confirmed that I had pneumonia. According to him, my x-ray looked really bad. Only a portion of my left lung was visible. He said I needed to be hospitalized immediately. So off we went to UMMC.
Sampai UMMC pukul 1 pm, but it was only after 4pm I finally got to see the Dr. The moment I got to see the Dr, I was already breathless. I just showed him the x-ray & they quickly wheelchaired me to the AMC (Acute Medical Care). My blood pressure was already too low, so they had to monitor me the whole night there.

On the second day, they moved me to an isolated ward because they suspected me to have TB!!!!!.. The ward (room) had two doors. Doctors, nurses & visitors had to wear mask whenever they were in the room. It felt like to be put in an asylum. It was just too depressing to be in that isolated room. It was too quiet. I lost count on how many times I broke to tears. I missed my hubby & babies. The food tasted like yucks. They did some tests, took out fluid from my lung, poked me here & there. It was only on the 5th day that they finally confirmed that I was TB-free & transferred me to a normal 2 bedded ward.

I was discharged on the 6th day. It was such a relief to finally be able to go home to my loved ones. At the time of writing, I feel better.. no more pain, but still a little bit breathless. My doctor sis Kak Ajin said, it will take some time before my lung is completely healed. The infection is no longer there but the damage is done. There’s nothing much I can do at the moment. Even nak habiskan solat pun boleh tercungap2 macam baru lepas swimming satu lap! So I guess I will have to take things easily & really slowly. I’m thinking of deferring one semester of my study. I need to get hold of myself back. At the moment, I think I’m losing my grip on everything.

But whatever it is, despite all those pain I felt & this feeling of helplessness that I’m feeling at the moment, I still feel very grateful to Allah. Allah has given me a reminder that He can take away whatever I had in a blink of an eye. But He was kind enough to give me a second chance… I was told that my lung was really deteriorating & nobody knows what could happen to me if I didn’t get to the hospital on time. I’m just so grateful to be alive, for still being able to watch my children grow. Thank you Allah, for this chance.

Mak is here to give me some assistance & support & will be here until the weekend. While I was at the hospital, MIL stayed over at my house & helped hubby taking care of the kids. I’m just so grateful for all the support I got from my family & in-laws. Only Allah can repay their kindness.