it was all began when hadif's been feeling unwell for the past 2 weeks- typical runny nose and cough which then worsen when we saw greenish discharge from his eyes.
we then brought him to see several general health practitioners, including child specialist and all of them gave us different possible diagnoses until the results came out from the lab (after the blood sample, nasal swab and xray were taken) that he's positive with Adenovirus Pneumonia with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrom, together with immunocompromised (impaired immune system) due to his allergic reaction towards Clarithromycin antibiotic which then led to having Candidiasis infection in his mouth.
Chronological order of his diagnoses:
1. sinus infection
2. mycoplasma
3. influenza
4. mouth infection
5. allergic reaction
6. pneumonia
7. candidiasis infection
he was actually on medication (antibiotic clarithromycin) before been admitted to the hospital and managed to get 3 doses of it. but then, it was all started with a 3am woke up call (18th sept) when i heard a soft whining voice from him beside me. that time we both were shocked to see his lips turned bright red and he was showing signs of pain with lotsss of drool coming out of his mouth, together with high temperature (fever) and he seemed gasping for air, trying to catch his breath. i was shivering to witness that and asked my husband to give me a torchlight to see what was inside his mouth. i was about to faint when we both saw, his tongue swelled so big and almost blocked his airways.
we rushed him to emergency department of Hospital Serdang, then sought for 2nd opinion at CY Child Specialist before referred him to Pantai Ampang Hospital, before finally been referred to Prince Court Medical Centre.
after almost 16 hours with all the efforts of going to these health centres for further tests and lab runs, he's finally warded at 6.30pm (18th sept) at Prince Court Medical Centre. hadif was referred to one of the great paeds there and everything went smooth, under controlled.
from the lab tests obtained, mummy & daddy came to understand that sufian's allergic to 2 groups of antibiotics (Penicillins & Macrolides) and that can cause an impaired immune system. to make it easier for the book, whenever hadif encounters these 2 antibiotics, his body will reject the substances because they kill the good agents in his body. since at first we did not know he's allergic to clarithromycin, that explained the white patches occurred in his mouth (oral fungal infection/ thrush). flashback to a year ago, we experienced almost the same situation back in the UK when hadif was prescribed with amoxicillin & he showed reaction to it by vomiting white fluids every 20-30mins for 6 hours non stop. however, it is such a relief to hear that he's reacting fine with 1 group of antibiotic from the group of cephalosporins, only if taken together with anti-allergic medication.
sufian's antibiotics history:
1. Penicillins- penicillin, amoxicillin❌
2. Cephalosporins- cephalexin, cefuroxime✔ (consumed together with anti-allergic drugs)
3. Macrolides- erythromycin, clarithromycin, azithromycin❌
4. Fluoroquinolones- ciprofolxacin, levofloxacin, ofloxacin❔
5. Sulfonamides- cotrimoxazole, trimethoprim❔
6. Tetracyclines- tetracycline, doxycycline❔
7. Aminoglycosides- gentamicin, tobramycin❔
so from now on, to the knowledge of both daddy and mummy we can see when he starts to react to certain antibiotics, since he reacts differently to different kinds of antibiotics. as for penicillin group, he will only shows reaction by vomiting and has upset tummy. that's how his body will react to family of penicillins. for cephalosporin group, he will scratch all over his body as soon as he consumes it without the anti-allergens. kesian dia, rasa gatal kot. but for macrolides group especially clarithromycin and eryhromycin, this is the most terrifying for us all because hadif's body totally rejects the fluid by getting swelling all over his body. tell me about it, i've seen his eyes get puffy, lips get so huge resulted from the swelling reaction, face gets swollen, his tongue was as big as idontknowhowtodescribe but it was very horrific to see. we were lucky when it happened, his tongue only swollen half side and he could still breathed some air through his nose. couldn't imagine what could have happen if his tongue blocked the entire airways :(
nevertheless, everything is fine now. we genuinely hope that he's fine with the other 4 groups of antibiotics (don't know how's his reaction to them, never tried them yet. wish we don't need to for now) it was such a helpless experience for both of us seeing our sonshine weakened by his own immune system and tell you what, there was nothing that we could do for him rather than praying and spoke only words of comfort.
we also received information from his paed, that there are 3 responsible pathogens which caused the pneumonia: mycoplasma, adenovirus and haemophilus influenzae :( i wonder where did he get all these nasty viruses and bacteria from. sigh
well, he's under close monitoring now and being quarantine from meeting crowd since both of his lungs are still weak. please pray for his speedy recovery and better health condition, everybody. we highly appreciate that❤
ps. clearly, all this was a totally new experience for us both and we pray that we will never again encounter this situation in the future. Amin ya Allah.