12 April 2019

Alex Fights Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) at 3-Months-Old.

So, I thought it is time to talk and post on when RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) decided to attack a three-months-old baby boy, named Alex Koay.

It all started with coughing and flu and then it got worse with phlegm building up and he was just not sleeping and breathing rightly.

We went to see the doctor and he was given some medicine and his very first session of going through the nebulizer. He took like a champ please. He was so curious with the smoke coming out but did not fuss at all - though feeling super uncomfortable.

Then, few days later, his body started showing red marks and slowly over the next few days, his entire body would be in red - like tomato red. He was not in pain though. He was just struggling to breathe properly because of the flu and cough (becoming worse).

It was a scary time for Adrian and myself because we were just clueless on what was happening. Dahlah Alex had to deal with having thick phlegm on his throat and coughing his lungs out and having fever every now and then, he still had this tomato-redness going on.

Adrian was panicking and that made me panicked because it was just insane. Like I have never seen that on Sha Lynn or Daryl so this is new and alien to me.

I remembered we rushed him to Adventist's Emergency because it was just too scary.

Doctor Mary (on-call) checked him and let him go home to be monitored. But he was not getting better. We returned to the hospital the next day (I think) and decided to see Dr Pong instead. He checked his breathing and immediately asked for Alex to be given an oxygen tube because his oxygen level was dropping and abnormal.

Turns out the redness was an allergy reaction to don't know what. Doctor initially thought it was Ventolin but when the redness was gone, we tried again and he never turned red again. So, it shouldn't be the Ventolin. Or anything that he was drinking because he was fine with Similac.

Till today, it remained a mystery to what causes the redness on his entire body.


At that moment, I thought the inner-me crashed. Of course I still held it together because if I panic, Adrian sure also panic. Hah. But we were in good hands so we know all will only get better. It was heartbreaking nevertheless to see Alex being poked (first time) with needles and put on an oxygen tube. He was crying the entire time because it must have been too scary for him to be surrounded by people wearing masks and gloves. I would too please. Heh.


Thinking back right, it was quite drama la to be honest. They put him on a big roller-bed and rolled him out using the main entrance where everyone was at, and it felt like everyone was probably thinking, "Wah this is serious wei. This baby gotoxygen tube all"

Then, we went to the main lifts because the staff-lifts were all under maintenance and the bed could not fit inside. Even with the main lifts, we had to lift one side of the bed up and everyone was squeezed up real bad.

I was just staring at Alex who by then had fallen asleep with all the pushing around. I should have slept on the bed with him and have them push us around la. I was beyond exhausted at that point of time - physically and emotionally drained.


Adrian went to do all the admission paperwork thing so he met us upstairs when we checked-into the Isolation Ward.

They had removed the curtain (or it was already missing I don't know) to monitor Alex's oxygen level throughout the night. And that means zero privacy for us.

Felt like we were animals in a zoo because other parents and children would walked pass our room and stopped at the window and just stared at us on the inside. It was the most awkward thing ever.

And we were not allowed to bring Alex out of the room because RSV can spread okay so stay in the room nia. No fresh air whatsoever for 5-days.


We stayed every night with him (of course) and because he was only 3-months old, he still needed to be rocked to sleep and also because he was feeling really bleh - which we didn't mind really but it was tiring to the max.

The hospital bill came up to about RM6000 (I think - averagely RM1000 per night) but Prudential covered it all so yay.

So, this was it.

His very first hospitalization story at 3-months old.

What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger okay.

Stronger and better. All of us :)