Slight fever

We engaged Eleanor Medicar Ambulance Service (EMAS) to transport my dad to-and-fro Penang Adventist Hospital, for RM 250. As it was our first time doing this, we were a little nervous but fortunately it went ok for all the transitions (bed to ambulance's bed; wheeled into ambulance; wheeled out at hospital; ambulance's bed to hospital bed; and the reverse) except that it was rather bumpy during the ride which caused my dad some pain. Not sure why bumpy. Maybe it's normal for a van?

It was good that the driver used siren, although I'm not sure it's legally/morally right to do so. My dad's pain is sensitive to the slightest movement and so long journey is a torture for him.

Once at ER (when making appointment, we were asked to send dad there since we were using an ambulance; EMAS concurred based on experience), I was asked to register and to my surprise, Dr P arrived 15 minutes later. After talking with us and checking dad, he ordered blood test and xray.

Despite being told the results of the blood test woud be known 1.5 - 2 hours the earliest, Dr P appeared just barely over an hour later to inform us that it showed elevation in WBC, ESR and CRP i.e. indicating infection. Although he was earlier doubtful there was abscess in the left leg (the leg was hard, not soft), he tried to extract it but there was only blood. He ordere blood culture for this sample but ER nurse later told me that results would be know only in 3 days time. Xray showed nothing amiss.

He told me
  • that the elevation in those indicators could partially due to the body trying to fight the cancer cells,
  • that even if there was abscess in his legs, only needle extraction would be done as surgery at this point wasn't recommened,
  • that antibiotics would be prescribed for the indicative infection, and
  • that if the test on the blood culture identified the bacteria, antibiotics may need to be taken for a longer period.
Even after taking the antibiotics twice, my dad still experienced fever, ranging from 37.2 to 37.9. I was worried. Fortunately by the third night, it was gone. We didn't need to manually cool down his body by then: his maid had been doing so with wet handkerchief.

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