Fever

Last Thursday morning, the day we flew back to Hong Kong from Phuket, Dean woke up with a fever of 101. He was cranky and a bit lethargic, with a slight red rash. We were nervous traveling back since the customs process in both Hong Kong and Shenzhen require a temperature reading.

We gave him Motrin and hoped for the best. Either the medicine worked or the customs agents didn't care or notice, but we made it through fine. That night, the fever spiked. I started panicking when Dean woke at midnight with a temp of 104.

Matt kept a clear head and called the hotline for the international clinic we joined. He couldn't get through to the Beijing after hours center, so he called the U.S. extension, which routed him to Hong Kong, which eventually forwarded his call to an on-call Hong Kong Dr. traveling for business in Beijing. The whole process took about 15 minutes, during which I kept telling myself to remain calm and not call my mom. I knew tears would be inevitable, and would only cause her to fret and worry something terrible on the other side of the world!

Thankfully the nurse instructed us to start alternating Tylenol and Motrin every 3 hours, and it worked to bring the fever down to under 101 for the rest of the night.

The next morning we took him to the local clinic and the Dr. said it is probably a passing virus. Or Malaria or Dingo Fever caused by a mosquito bite in Thailand... but probably just a virus he picked up somewhere along the way that will run its course over a few days.

Thankfully this morning he is nearly fever-free at 99.2 degrees Fahrenheit, and based on his perkiness we can tell he's feeling much better. Also, we learned that we can dial the local clinic after hours and they will automatically put us through to the on call Hong Kong Dr. rather than play skype phone tag around the world. This could make a big difference if we have a real emergency in the future (anything involving blood is what I consider a "real" emergency!) I still hope we never have to experience a hospital visit in Hong Kong.