Chickenpox Despite Vaccine

While waiting for the pedia

Three weeks ago, our nanny went on leave. She has been with us for only a little over a month. She initially said that she's allergic to chicken and it seems like she's getting some rashes on her back. We didn't mind it much. However, she said it was becoming more and more painful. It came to a point when she couldn't sleep lying down anymore. She'd She'd sleep sitting down. When we had her checked by the nearby clinic,  it was found out that she was suffering from herpes zoster, or a second bout of chickenpox. Too bad. Bea really liked this nanny. We liked her too, but we had no other choice but to let her go on leave. Berto, Bea and I have never had chickenpox before so we were all susceptible.

After a week, we noticed Bea developed some spots on her skin. I immediately thought it was chickenpox but she didn't have any fever and the spots didn't have liquid in them. Just to be sure we decided to go to St. Luke's to bring Bea to her pediatrician . Too bad daddy was out attending a workshop so it was just us girls. We took a cab to the hospital. Thankfully the driver knew the way thru Commonwealth. 

The doctor looked her over but even she was baffled. Apparently, Bea didn't manifest the typical symptoms of chickenpox and this was probably because of the vaccine she got when she was a baby. The doctor said that vaccines don't provide 100% protection. There is still a chance that she will be infected but the symptoms will be slightly different than the usual symptoms. If I didn't mention that Bea got exposed to her sick nanny, she wouldn't have even considered chickenpox.

I asked for the possibility of adult chickenpox vaccines for hubby and me, but the doctor said that if we were already infected by the virus, the vaccine will be useless. And since we all sleep on one bed, there is a very strong possibility that we already caught it. (Thankfully though we didn't manifest any symptoms.)

The pediatrician gave us a prescription for an antiviral medicine. Good thing, the spots that came out weren't that many. It was just less than 20 spots all over and Bea was able to go back to school after just 2 days.

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

Happy father's day Daddy Berns!  Thanks for being such a caring daddy to our Bea.  You have always wanted only the best for Bea and someday when she gets older and more mature I hope she appreciates that.  Kahit ngayon ay galit bati kayong dalawa...  Hahaha.  

We love you! 

Our Little Graduate

Last April 4, our precious Bea graduated from pre-school. Too bad that experience was sullied when my wallet got stolen from my bag but then, we just chose to focus on the good times. =)

Our Bea also got the Most Improved Award. Knowing that Bea did her best to improve her grades, especially in Reading made us so proud of our little princess. Last trime, her teacher talked to us and told us that she needed to practice reading more, that she was a bit behind compared to her other classmates. So we practiced. Bea really did her best, her interest to learn to read better is strong, and her efforts paid off.

It was also announced that in compliance to the K-12 Education System, Bea was going to be accelerated to Grade 2. Yes, she's skipping a year. She turned 7 last January, and according to the new system she's supposed to be in grade 2 already. Her daddy and I are ok with this, however some of her classmates parents were not. A lot of them are transferring their kids to some other school where they will not be forced to attend grade 2. 

Thankfully a window opened for us. The past school year, we have been looking for an academic tutor for Bea. We failed to find one with a schedule that will work. A few days after graduation, I received a text message from her previous teacher, offering to tutor Bea this summer. We grabbed the chance! Teacher L is a very good teacher, someone who is genuinely concerned for Bea. Her rates were a bit steep but I'm sure she's well worth it. =) Hopefully she'd be able to help prepare Bea take the big leap from Kinder to Grade 2.

So far so good...

Thank You Dear Friends!

I woke up this morning to great news... this blog is page ranked! woot woot! Sure it's ranked 1 but this is wonderful news to me! I've had this blog for years. Sure I have not been the most consistent blogger but still,  I put effort in the stuff I write here. Now that my Bea can read simple words, she gets pretty tickled when she sees that she has her own blog. She even gets annoyed when I take pictures of her, she'd say "Mommy don't upload that, my classmates will see!" Hahaha!

Again dear friends, thanks for dropping by our blog. I love sharing our adventures with you. Please continue reading, comments are welcome too!

Eye Check Up, Follow-up Treatment From Bea's Dog Bite

Almost a month ago, my daughter was bitten by a dog on the face. We were so distraught. We rushed her to the San Lazaro Hospital. After she was given her anti-rabies and tetanus shots, the doctor advised us to visit an ophthalmologist since Bea can barely open her eye. It kept on tearing up and she said it hurt. When we got out of the San Lazaro Hospital, we went straight to St. Luke’s Medical Center in E. Rodriguez Quezon City. Since it was a Sunday, we just went to the emergency room. While we were there, they tended to her wounds. We kept on asking for special bandages or stitches for her wound, to prevent or at least lessen scarring, but the doctors refused saying that they don’t stitch up dog bites.

We were then referred to the resident Ophthalmologist, Dra. Roque. She was very kind and Bea warmed up to her immediately. She peeked into Bea’s eye. Then the doctor put an orange-colored dye on Bea’s eye and shone a special light on it then there it was… a long gash right across her retina. My heart was broken. The doctor then proceeded to check Bea’s vision, sadly this further confirmed our fear, her right eye had considerable difficulty seeing the letters on the board. The left one had not problems.

The ophthalmologist gave us a prescription for an ointment to put in her eye, this ointment was also to be used on her wounds. Hopefully, her eyes will heal completely. There was a chance of retinal scarring and this will caused blurry vision that will not be corrected even by wearing glasses.  =( We were advised to visit a pediatric ophthalmologist after 7 days.

After a week we came back to SLMC and thankfully there was a pediatric ophthalmologist available. Dr. Marcial was very kind and eager to make Bea comfortable during our visit. He did the usual eye and vision tests. We almost jumped with joy when we heard the good news, the retina was fully healed, and there was no sign of scarring at all! We’ll have to go back in the future for some more tests, he thinks Bea might need glasses, but this was unrelated to her dog bite accident. Thank you Lord!

Family Bonding over Disney Pixar's Brave and Musicals

The best part of being a WAHM is the chance to spend quality time with my daughter. Recently hubby and I started watching movies with her. When she was younger, we didn’t do this because we felt she wasn’t ready yet. Her attention span was just too short and she would ask so many (irritating) questions. Who is that? Why is she doing that? Where does she go to school? What section is she in? Who are her playmates? Argh!  

Merida

One day, I decided to let her watch Pixar’s animated movie Brave. I read somewhere that this is a must-watch for mothers and daughters. 

Merida with mom Elinor

A few minutes into the movie, the questions started. I was beginning to be irritated again when I realized they were actually relevant questions. Why are they out? Is it her birthday? Why is the bear mad? Why is Brave (Merida) sad? That was when I realized that she understands the movie and can now follow the story flow. Happiness! One more activity we can bond over as a family!

Happy Family

I don’t think Bea has absorbed Brave’s life lessons, but that’s ok. Spending time and doing one of my most favorite things with her is enough for now. Maybe reading next? *wishing and hoping*

Since then, Berto, Bea and I have been watching more movies together. Lately, due to the Les Miserables mania, we have been into musicals. Bea loooves Phantom of the Opera, however instead of singing Christine’s parts she prefers to sing the Phantom’s songs. Oh well…

Phantom of the Opera

A Horrible Dog Bite and a Trip to the San Lazaro Hospital

It was a lazy Sunday morning. Hubby and I were still in bed but Bea was already outside having her breakfast. We suddenly heard shouts and crying coming from outside. Hubby went out to investigate then came back in our room with terrible news. Our friendly and cowardly pet dog bit Bea on the face! And there was blood. I felt my heart shoot up my throat then drop to my feet. I couldn’t move. I can handle a lot of things but I can’t handle blood. Thankfully, hubby stepped in and took care of it, making sure the wound was cleaned before I saw it.

When I finally came out of our room, I saw my Bea standing with a towel on her face. Afraid as I was, I looked at her wound. The blood has almost stopped but I could clearly see the shape of the dog’s teeth as it tore in her flesh. There was also a small wound on her lower eye lid and she can barely open her right eye. I hugged her tight, knowing that she must be so scared at that moment. The dog who has been a constant companion and playmate since her toddler days has betrayed her.

Bea and her dog bite wounds =(

I knew Bea had to get anti-rabies shots. Hubby and I rushed her to the emergency room of the nearest hospital but the nurses and doctor there wouldn’t accept us. They said that since Bea was bitten on the face, she was considered category C (animal bites from neck up) and only San Lazaro Hospital in Manila was authorized to receive and take care of such cases. I asked them if they could at least take a look at the wound but they said we had to rush there NOW, since the bite is near the brain. I felt the panic rise in my body once again.

Since it was a Sunday, it only took us thirty minutes from Marikina to San Lazaro. San Lazaro Hospital is found in Quiricada St., Sta. Cruz, Manila. It is a referral facility for Infectious/ Communicable Diseases. It is less than 10 minute-walk from the two nearest LRT stations along Avenida Rizal,(Bambang/Tayuman). For more detailed directions to San Lazaro Hospital click here.

San Lazaro Hospital usually won’t receive patients who were bitten or scratched by a dog or cat on Sundays except for emergency cases such as children below 2 years old or patients older than 60, people with disability and like Bea’s case, those considered category C.

San Lazaro Hospital Triage

 We were received in the Triage area. Hubby was asked to pay the emergency room fee first (P50). Then we were asked to wait at the waiting section A, section B was assigned for those with cough (TB patients?) After a while we were interviewed by a newbie doctor who wasn’t even sure of the info she needed to ask from us. (She kept on asking her colleagues). Then we wait. After some time, a resident doctor finally looked at Bea. There were 3 doctors on that Sunday. We were given a ½ cardboard paper where our vaccine schedule was written. All these time, no one even bothered to tape up Bea’s wounds. We just kept on wiping the blood with tissues. Her eye was almost completely shut by this time also. Only after hubby shouted at one of the nurses did she cover Bea's wounds.

Bandaged

Several looong lines and a lot of waiting, we finally got all the shots needed, and there were many! I was so proud of Bea, she was so brave! First we had the PVRV, the antirabies vaccine, given on each shoulder. Then the tetanus toxoid came next. The nurses also conducted a skin test, 2 pricks on Bea’s arm then we had to wait for another 30 minutes for the results. Next was 3 vials of ATS and last came the ERIG which was the most expensive medicine. They inject this on both cheeks of Bea’s butt. That emergency room trip cost us more or less P3,500. As a parting word, the doctor just said that we should also visit an ophthalmologist at the Jose Reyes Memorial Hospital nearby, another government hospital with loooong lines. Yes, this warning came from the doctor herself.

I laud the hospital’s staff, they seem to be professional except for neglecting Bea's wounds but I guess the sheer number of patients can get overwhelming.  They make do with whatever resources they have. Don’t look for sympathetic smiles or encouraging words though, I guess you go to private hospitals for that. They were all business there. Medicines were cheaper because they are subsidized by the government, however, be ready for long lines and impersonal personnel. Facilities were clean but incomplete. That Sunday, the emergency room had no electricity. Nurses who administered the meds kept on transferring from one side of the room to another, looking for brighter window light, so they can see their patients better. These are the guys who will stab the needle into your or your child’s arm. Waaah! Don’t forget to bring a facemask too, since this hospital also caters to other communicable diseases like tuberculosis, meningococcemia and others.

We were relieved when we were finally discharged. That trip to the San Lazaro Hospital was quite an experience.

UPDATE:

Bea has finished her 3 shots scheduled a few days apart.

Back in San Lazaro for Shot # 2

Eye is much better, Shot # 3

   Her next one is scheduled next month. Her wounds are slowly healing. I hope scarring will be minimal. Doctors refused to stitch them up because they came from a dog bite. As a doctor said, “mag-make up na lang sya paglaki”. =(