April 22, 2021
My son-in-law was in the hospital due to dengue. We initially thought it could be covid but thankfully his RT/PCR was negative. Edmund was right when he told me to have Derrick’s blood tested for dengue.
Oyen suspected that Derrick was bitten by a mosquito when they went out walking. It’s been raining intermittently recently and the foliages alongside the roads must have turned into mosquito breeding grounds. Oyen wears leggings while Derrick wears shorts when they go walking.
Hospitals have a limit as to the number of Covid patients they can accept but we’re glad Cardinal Santos Hospital was able to give Derrick a room. Oyen had to use all her negotiation skills to talk the admission staff into agreeing to give up a room for Derrick. Oyen was even the one who fixed the beddings. She was not allowed there because she didn’t have a PCR negative test yet but medyo naawa rin sila because they had seen how Derrick yelped and grimaced in pain while waiting to be admitted so they let Oyen accompany Derrick.
His troubles started on Friday morning. He felt sluggish, tired, feverish. He and Oyen immediately went to Cardinal for covid testing. His headaches became severe and his fever reached almost 40 degrees.
My daughter spent the day scrambling to find AB blood which we learned is a rare blood type. Only 4% of the population has this. Once word got around that Derrick needed blood donors, Oyen was deluged with offers but unfortunately in Derrick’s situation, an AB platelet from a male donor is what’s needed.
It’s hard for women to donate blood because we have some limitations that come with the territory. We cannot donate blood one week before, during, and one week after our menstruation period. Ilan na lang ang natira? How many weeks are left?
Oyen’s doctor friend contacted her colleagues and luckily, they found three bags of AB-type blood at the Margarito A. Duavit Memorial Hospital- Rizal Provincial Hospital System Binangonan Annex. We have employees at Ford Cainta that are from Binangonan so she instructed them to go get the blood ASAP so in two hours the three bags were at the hospital.
She also found one bag of AB-type in Red Cross Makati. Today, a male friend of Derrick donated blood enough for the 6 units of platelet needed in case his platelet count drops to a dangerous level.
You can get your platelet count from Complete Blood Count or CBC.
Platelets only stay in the body for 10 days that’s why our bone marrow continuously creates millions of platelets each day to replenish them. If one of your blood vessels gets damaged, like a cut, it sends out messages to your platelets. The platelets then bind together to create a clot and stop the bleeding. A normal platelet count is between 150,000 and 400,000.
It’s also best that you know your blood type and that of your family members. We will include the blood type in all our employees’ official files from now on.
I ordered TAWA TAWA tincture from Chit Juan, one of the founders of ECHOstore. Tawa tawa is a herbal concoction that is believed to be best in treating dengue fever. I also ordered turmeric tea which has many medicinal powers such as boosting the immune system. In less than two hours, the items were delivered, thanks to the speedy Echostore.
Derrick stayed in the hospital for 5 days and is now regaining his energy.
We were worried that Oyen got exposed to Covid while attending to Derrick’s needs at the hospital but thankfully her RT/PCR test result was negative.
#oneblood.org
#ECHOstore
#tawatawa
#denguefever
