be patient, dear patient

Now I know why patients are called patients. It is because they have to wait, ever so patiently, for their illness to run its full course. Such course of illness can be derailed, can take expected or unexpected twists and turns, but it cannot be rushed.

Such was our experience when my nephew, Anton, was afflicted with dengue this past week. We could not do anything but wait and watch as the fever spiked then abated, as the hematocrit rose to alarming levels, as the platelet count steadily dropped. He did not have the classical dengue, which is milder, but he had the dreaded kind of dengue which merited admission to the pediatric ICU for four days and three nights. All those times his parents stayed by his side, attending to his needs, waiting for the med techs to come every six hours to take blood samples, sleeping only in snatches by hunching over the foot of his bed.

After four days in the ICU his platelet went up to a comfortable level and his hematocrit went down to normal. We were all so glad, relieved, jubilant, grateful.

After more than a week at the hospital, Anton was discharged this afternoon and is now back home. Oh, happy day!