1st time patient

Hi! One post per year...how pathetic. Anyway better to have an entry than nada! Recently, I got admitted in the hospital because of DHF (Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever). My first time after 29 years of existence to actually become an in-patient. It was bad, platelets almost dropped to 33, got bursted capillaries in my extremities, minimal pleural effusion, and very poor appetite. Back then, I find this sickness an overrated one. Being a doctor, and a medtech, I've seen so many cases. Dropping platelets, recurrent fever, watch out for signs of bleeding...hydrate hydrate hydrate. I know the pathophysiology, the treatment, all the works. It's different when a doctor becomes the patient. True as everyone says, doctors are indeed the most difficult patients. At the start of my fever, I knew it was a different one, not the ordinary SVI or URTI. After taking in broad spectrum antibiotics, the fever won't go away. My friend, who happens to be an IM resident kept on asking if maybe there are other focus of infection, I said none, except for dry cough which I already have few days back. After 4 days, fever resolved. I felt itchiness in my extremities, and to my awe, after scratching, I developed purple skin discoloration, a sign of bleeding, which by the way I ignored. I had things to do, work, MRI rotation, etc. I can't afford to get sick. I had chills, very poor appetite, nausea, even diaphoresis. Then came the confluent rashes in my lower extremities...the dengue rash. It was after my friend's reminder that platelets drop when you get afebrile and rashes come out...true enough, my platelets dropped, I was positive for Dengue IgG. Finally, I submitted myself for admission. I got admitted under the service of our in-house infectious medicine specialist. Series of blood works were done including blood culture. I stayed for the next two days for hydration and observation. The first night I got admitted, I shed tears. I prayed for complete recovery. It's different when you become the patient. It may be relatively a common illness, but that feeling of non-reassurance because you don't even know how the next CBC result will be makes you feel desperate. I have learned a lot by becoming a first-time patient (random): 1. I may be a doctor, but once sickness strikes, forget being a doctor and be a patient. Bias and denial are great enemies. 2. Do not abuse your body. (period) 3. Live healthy than be sorry. 4. Live to live :D 5. You will know who your real friends are when you are most in need. 6. It takes a nano second to cheat death. We don't know what's gonna happen so be a good person. 7. Listen to your body. Symptoms are clues, be sensitive. 8. Our body has limitations, no matter how willful the mind is. It was a very stressful experience, mentally, physically. Until I came to a point of submitting fully to my doctors. I stopped thinking of differentials (paranoia), I let the CBC and other results come out as it is (I used to request for copies every now and then), anyway, there is nothing I can do about it. I started to trust them, all of them 100 %. I behaved like a patient and stopped over thinking. This has been the turning point, I conditioned myself to relax, after all, I am a patient now. Thank God I was allowed to go home when my platelets reached 79. I continued to rest until now for next week is another beginning. I cannot thank my angels enough, Esther for her firm diagnosis (she literally saved my life), Dr. Engelbert who was on duty at the ER and accommodated me, Dr. Jennifer Chua, the rest of the IM residents, Chin for staying with me at the hospital, my nurses esp Sir Jimmy, ate Agnes, my friends who paid me a visit. Life is good :D