Scary hospital time in Manila, Philippines 1-18-2010

I felt alright on the plane ride to the Philippines and luckily for me they did not have a heat sensor. When I arrived it was 8pm and it felt really nice to see Cameron after four months apart. He was the Australian I had met in Seville, Spain and met up with again for La Tomatina in Valencia and Oktoberfest in Munich. We spent the first evening catching up on all of the travels we had both done in the past few months and started to make plans to get out of Manila and see the rest of the Philippines.

Our dorm room had 12 beds in it, 6 tiny bunk-beds, and the mattresses were so thin I could feel the wood underneath me. Blankets, sheets, and towels were not included in the deal, but Cam and I were veteran backpackers by now and each had our own sleeping sacks and traveler towels to use.

I tossed and turned during the night and at one point, around 3am, I felt like little bugs were biting me everywhere. I asked Cam in the top bunk next to me if he felt anything, but he shook his head, no. Back to sleep…

We jumped to our feet in the morning, ready to explore this bustling city while searching for a place to grab breakfast. Motorbikes, Taxis, Tricycles, and Jeepneys are everywhere here and it’s a fun leap-frog type game to try to cross the street. I loved admiring the decorations and flare on the tricycles and jeepneys in town. The tricycles are motorbikes with a covered sidecar attached. The sidecar has a little cushion to sit on but is so small that you have to hunch over and duck your head the whole time you ride in one. It’s worth it though, because tricycle rides cost next to nothing. The jeepneys are U.S. army jeeps that were left behind after World War II and are now used by locals to transport people, livestock, food, and anything else you can think of. The outsides of both the tricycles and jeepneys are graffitied and painted nicely; each a different color and style depending on the drivers’ tastes.

Cam and I couldn’t find any local street food to eat, so we ate at a diner near the water. My omelet and smoothie cost me almost $10 and I suddenly became aware that I was splurging. My appetite was pretty minimal and I took my smoothie to go as we left. My arms and legs were itching like they had been last night and when I looked at them I noticed they were red, covered in a blotchy rash, and my hands and toes were swollen and red too. I started to freak out a bit because this has never happened to me before. I don’t have any food allergies and have never had a rash before.

We found a doctor nearby and she accessed my condition. She said it was either a food allergy or dengue fever (“what’s that?” I thought). She took a blood sample and said to wait for the results she’d have back from the lab in an hour. The results came back “normal”, which meant that my white blood cells and platelet cells were within the normal range. She gave me a prescription for an antihistamine for my rash and said to come back at 6:00pm for another check-up. If it was just a rash, the pills would work within 30 minutes and my skin wouldn’t feel like it was trying to burn off me.

At 6:00pm we went back to the hospital and I think my rash was worse. She told me that she thinks it is dengue fever, a mosquito carried disease, and thought I should go to the hospital. “Why?” I said, “Can’t I just rest and beat this?” “I’m starting to get my energy back and feel better now”. “Well” she said, “The way dengue fever reacts with your body is that first you get flu-like symptoms, then you start to feel better, but as you start to feel better, your body is attacking the virus and losing platelet and white blood cells”. “It is best for you to be monitored, hydrated by an IV, and watched all night so you don’t have internal bleeding or mouth and gum bleeding which could happen instantaneously”. She said I may need to be in the hospital for a few days.

I thanked the doctor and left with a note from her to the hospital as well as a sheet of paper with my last blood test results. Cam and I talked about what I should do as we walked back to the dorm. I hated hospitals and didn’t really want to spend any time in one. I felt better and thought I would be alright, the doctor just said I needed to stay hydrated, right? Couldn’t I just drink a lot of water for the next several days? Plus, we didn’t really know if it was Dengue fever, maybe it is something else and I’ll be just fine by tomorrow.

The more I thought about my situation though, the more I realized how foolish I was thinking. The sensible thing would be to go to the hospital, get a more in-depth blood test, and figure out what’s going on with me. Cam and I left an hour later and made it to the hospital around 9:00pm.

They took a blood sample, injected me with a huge syringe in my arm to eliminate the itching I was still constantly feeling all over my body, and I drifted off into a dream-like state from the tranquilizer. An hour later the blood-test results were back and since my 11am blood test, my platelet cell count had dropped from 200 to 124 (between 150-400 is normal). I was really scared and didn’t know how this was possible. I felt okay, had been drinking water and resting all day… how did I lose so many platelet cells?

The nurses started poking me with needles and attached an IV in me, twice because the first time it was placed in wrong. When the IV fluid from the first attempt wasn’t flowing into me, another nurse tried to force the fluids in and I could see a bubble of fluid under my skin near the needle. The nurse said, “I don’t want to force it anymore, your vein might explode”. “WHAT?!” He took out that IV and thankfully it wasn’t my vein that was about to erupt, just a misplaced needle.

In a daze from my tranquilizer, I was wheeled into a private hospital room and Cam and I spent the night there (he had a cushioned cot to sleep on… which we both thought was nicer than the dorms we were paying for). At 6:00am more blood was drawn and I was feeling better… hydrated and ready to leave. The results came back an hour later that my platelet count had dropped even further to 106. I was devastated.

A doctor came in to brief me on what was going on with my body and she suspected that it was Dengue Fever. She was very happy I was in the hospital and able to be monitored. She said with enough IV hydration and IV administered vitamins, I should be released in a few days. “A FEW DAYS?!” I said. “Yes, we have to wait for your platelet cell count to return to normal and for two consecutive count increases. I looked over at Cam and we both thought the same thing… well, guess our next few nights will be spent at this hospital.

He left to grab our bags from our hostel and I phoned my parents to update them. They were relieved I was in a hospital and being watched. My mom spent a good hour telling me all about Dengue Fever, how if I get bit again by a mosquito I could die, have internal bleeding, brain hemorrhaging, and how each time someone gets Dengue Fever it is harder to fight off and worse on your body. I was freaking out and my mom was starting to convince me that I should just leave Asia as soon as I was released from my hospital bed.

Every few hours nurses came in to check my temperature, blood pressure, and pulse. “100 over 80” they would say and then ask about my toilet activity and how much water I drank since the last time they came in.

Cameron was the best person I could have ever asked to be in a hospital with me. He left every day to get food (the hospital food was really bad) and he didn’t seem to be too upset about staying in a hospital. I was really unhappy that it was my fault we had to spend so many days in the hospital, but he said, “the most important thing is for you to get healthy again so we can start having fun!”

The following day my platelet count rose to 127 and I was starting to feel better. Cameron picked up sushi and miso soup and we watched American Idol, Ellen Degeneres, and MTV music videos on TV (oddly enough, the only three US shows). I was excited my platelet count had risen and prayed that it would continue, so I could leave the next day. The results came back that day from the Dengue Fever test; surprise surprise- it was positive.

In the morning my platelet count was 154 and I was mentally jumping for joy, although I still felt pretty tired and my legs and feet were still red and swollen. The doctor came in and said I was free to leave the hospital. I asked about all of the concerns my mom had mentioned and the doctor said that I didn’t have to worry or leave Asia. Usually, one strand of dengue fever circulates around Asia at one time for a year or so. She said since I’ve already beaten this strand and am now immune to it, it would be very unlikely to get a different strand of dengue fever during my next month in Asia. “Maybe if you come back in a few years it will be more likely”. She sent me off with the instructions to “take it easy for the next couple weeks, no extremely physical sports where you could get hit and injured internally, and stay hydrated… lots of water”.

Cam asked what I wanted as my last meal in the hospital and with a huge smile said, “McDonalds French fries and an ice cream sundae!” It was the best meal I’ve ever had and couldn’t tell if my euphoria was from the sugar rush or because I was released from the hospital… probably both!

We had to decide where to go next. The main reason why I came to the Philippines was to swim with whale sharks, but I felt I should rest up a bit first before doing that. We decided it would be best to see some rice terraces in the north before heading south to Donsol, where the whale sharks frequent almost year round.

Our plan was to get on an overnight bus and make our way to Banaue, a small mountain village known for its vast rice terraces. We had a 6 hour wait before our night bus left, so we took a taxi to the mall, booked flights online, and saw the movie Avatar in the movie theater there.

Just a 10 hour bus ride and we’ll be in Banaue!