Demam

It started last week, with my brother who was here on a business trip. Unfortunately, for him it was more like a lie-down trip than a real business trip. He arrived in Tokyo from Korea on a Tuesday, already with somewhat high temperature. He and his consultant friend, Encik Aziz (who is almost double my brother’s age) was supposed to form part of Kekkwa’s delegation to Korea and Japan. As it happened, my brother was down with high fever. We even had to take him for an emergency treatment at San Iku Kai Hospital on Wednesday night because by then he was shivering and the thermometer read 39.1 degree Celsius.

He was literally down the next day. He thought he felt better on Thursday evening, so he joined hubby and Encik Aziz for a souvenir shopping trip in Asakusa.

Hubby decided to introduce my brother to Brother Harun in Matsudo (of Taj Mahal restaurant), since it might be an opening for a joint-venture or some trading in the future. As it is, Brother Harun is not only a restaurant owner, but also a trader. My brother too is not limiting his business to merely animation and TV programs production. Anyway – just as they were about to exit the train at Matsudo eki, Encik Aziz noticed that my brother was already numb although his eyes were opened, they were almost lifeless. Hubby and Encik Aziz had to quickly push my brother out of the train, after struggling to release his tight grip on the train handrail. For a while, he was laid down on the floor. When he became conscious again, the station officer asked him to rest for a while at the station’s office, which they all did.

My brother and Encik Aziz at "tempat jatuh lagi dikenang"...

They did had a meeting with Brother Harun after that - treated to a nice dinner and Brother Harun even made some cheese nan and tandoori for hubby to bring back for me and Mak.

Mak prayed that my brother wouldn’t had to extend his stay because it’s quite difficult and very costly for him to receive due medical treatment here since records on his tonsil removal operation recently are all in Malaysia. Alhamdulillah, by Friday morning, the day my brother and Encik Aziz were scheduled to return to KL, he seemed a lot better.

We checked on him a few days after that – just to confirm that he did not get measles. Well, the thing was – when he came, there was a measles outbreak in Tokyo. So bad that many universities and schools were closed, including Waseda which were closed for 9 days. Other leading universities that cancelled classes included Tokyo Nihon, Chuo, Sophia and Hosei. With measles being highly contagious, I was really hoping that he was spared from it – and alhamdulillah he was.

But the rest of us were not spared from catching the virus he left though. Last Tuesday, a day before Mak went back, I was down with fever. Took Panadol Actifast and rested a lot, but by the night I was shivering like nobody’s business.

Wednesday morning, I woke up feeling awful and the bleak weather did not make it any better. But I forced myself to wake up anyway because although we already asked a friend to drive us to the airport, I am sure Mak would feel better being sent by us rather than just a stranger.

Bye-bye Ibu, Ujai balik Mesia dengan Embah, ok? Ibu jaga adik dalam kain batik tu baik-baik ok?

I felt okay when we sent Mak to the airport, but when we returned I was once again shivering. Took Panadol soluble, and while it helped reduced my temperature for a while, I was again shivering later that night. When my temperature raised up to 40 degree Celsius, I quickly called hubby who was teaching in Ichikawa Ono to come back. To make matters worse, Huzaifah too was beginning to show symptoms of being unwell. His temperature was over 38 degrees and he also vomited that night.

Thursday morning saw both Ibu dan Anak seeking treatment at a local clinic.

Our temperatures are ok now, if you ask me, but both Huzaifah and I are still not feeling well. Huzaifah – who normally does not know how to stay still- is for once rather quiet. It was heartbreaking to see him refusing food he normally enjoyed, to see his reddened cheek when he vomited last night and to console his merengek last night while I persistently did the jelum thingy (using cold wet face towel to wipe his head and forehead) despite his refusal, before he could finally went to sleep.

We might have gotten the virus from Huzaifah’s Ayah Ngah–
but I think we got the demam because we both miss his Embah…