K came down with a fever all of a sudden on Sunday evening. One moment, she was running around happy happy, the next she looked dull, listless, and was red hot. Temperature at 38.2. we put her to bed early, at about 7pm, with a netsu-sama sheet 
(what a great invention these things are!!)
on her little forehead, and she fell fast asleep...for about an hour. When she woke up she was sporting a temperature of 38.7 degrees. Another netsu-sama sheet, and another sleep later and her temperature was getting higher.
At about 10pm, it hit 40degrees, so we decided to take her to the doctors. Of course, we couldnt find the phone book (or the netsu-sama sheets for that matter, so J had to go out to buy some) in the mess that is our post-moving apartment. but thanks to the wonders of technology(a.k.a the internet, my best friend!), J found the closest emergency doctors and we headed in to the hospital at about 11pm. A quick check (we surprisingly didn't have to wait too long. J was told on the phone that if there is someone with a life-threatening problem come in, then we may have to wait, and just as we pulled into the hospital carpark, an ambulance came screaming up behind us, so J is like "great, we will be here all night", but the kiddies doctor is separate to the others so it didn't affect us at all) and the doctors gave us some of those capsual looking things that you shove up the butt to bring your temperature down (I had never seen them before, mum was v. surprised when I told her about them too) and sent us on our way.
The butt-thing worked, and K's temperature was down to about 37.7 the monday morning. We had to cancel our proposed trip to Kamakura with H to see the azaleas. turned out for the best as it rained Monday afternoon anyway! K was pretty much back to normal from by Monday night, temperature not much higher than 37.2. By Tuesday morning, it was already in the 36-es, but we stayed home from playgroup just in case. Tuesday night in the bath, I noticed that her back was red, and looked like a heat rash all over her back. After she went to bed, I checked the internet, fearing chicken pox, but the rash didn't look like the pictures. Wednesday morning the rash was on her chest too, so we consulted our friend the internet again for a local kiddies doctor (I always get pediatrician and podiatrist mixed up, so call them a kiddies doctor to avoid my own confusion). The closest doctor actually got the best write up on the Benesse site, so we went there, a 10 min walk away, and K was diagnosed with Roseola,（突発) I skyped mum to tell her:
Me: The doctor says K has Roseola
Mum: never heard of it
Me: It is a type of herpes
Mum: HERPES!!?!?!? How did she get that? I thought that was a, you know, uuuh,
Me: a what?
Mum: a, uh, a, uh, transmitted disease
Me: you mean sexually transmitted disease
Mum: uh, yeaaaaaaah.
I had to laugh!
Apparently Roseola is very common, and babies get it sometime between 6months and 2yo. K got an atypical case, with only one day of high fever - usually the fever last 3 days!! The rash is not itchy or sore or anything, but she did have a red red throat, so the doc gave us some nice smelly syrup to take and that is it! Hope the spots/rash will be gone in the next few days.
Thursday, 5 June 2008
not so rosey Roseola
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i just call the pediatrician 'shonika' and i have to remember not to use that word when i talk to my mom! lol
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I have never heard of it. But I do hope K is feeling better soon! I have stored it away for future reference though!
ReplyDeleteMy kids have gotten the same thing before after high fevers.
ReplyDeleteYou can buy the suppositories for bringing down fevers at any drugstore. They come in really handy if a fever suddenly spikes. Once Misaki (my second) had a fever but I was out of Infant's Tylenol (from the US). When her fever spiked she had a febrile seizure. It was the scariest thing ever. Fortunately it was short and the doctor said she was fine but that was the first time I saw those suppositories in action and now I keep a box in my medicine chest at all times. Of course the kids hate them but they do feel better quickly. Also, I usually give them ice cream after to balance everything out!
I hope K feels better soon.
Illahee - I know what you mean! I have a whole list of words that I have to stop and think about the English word for it! Sometimes the Japanese word just "fits" better too.
ReplyDeleteNay - It's funny how now one at home has heard of it (my mum said it "must be a Japanese sickness", lol!) but EVERYONE here, all my mother friends at playgroup etc know it , and their kids have had it, hmm.
sarah@mummyinjapan- aaah, "suppositories", thanks for the correct word there! I must try to be more, ahem, eloquent in my word choice, lol. I am sure that the seizures would have been so scary. When I was little(younger than 3yo), I used to have fits a lot, my mum is always telling me how they used to hold me down, and cool me down. At least here in Japan with the netsu-sama sheets and suppositories it makes things easier to control the fever.
Luckily the rash has cleared up today, and K is back to her usual self, so all in all the damage this time wasn't too bad. But I have a feeling that there is a tooth trying to make it's way through (it will be K's 8th tooth), so I am expecting some clinginess and overall crankiness in the very near future!