September 23, 2019

I woke up. I felt a bit better now. The fever is gone, but the cough, runny nose, and loss of appetite are still there. So I ate a pan de sal, drank tea, and watched some news (finally). All that before I went to a clinic near a highway with my mom.

The clinic had a lot of patients when we came. That's weird. It's Monday and 10:00 pm. We waited for like 1 hour before we were able to get a doctor to diagnose my condition. After checking my breathing, my tongue, and my history, she sent me to the laboratory to extract blood for CBC. I remembered how scared I was of needles when I was very young. The worst case was that I would scream really loud. But that was the past. I also had to take a sample of my urine. While I and my mom waited for the result, we ate some fastfood at a McDonalds restaurant nearby. Surprisingly, my appetite came back. If it didn't, I would have to waste that precious fried chicken and rice. I also needed to eat anyway, because I haven't ate much since yesterday.

Fast forward to the result. All was normal, except for the hemoglobin count, which is 6 counts off from normal. Am I deficient in iron? The urine analysis result showed that I haven't drank enough water. The doctor also said that while my platelet count is normal (186), the average really is 200+, so I should check for dengue to be sure, since there is an ongoing dengue outbreak in CALABARZON. "Wait what?" My mom thought. "We're going to return to this clinic again tomorrow to check my son for dengue?" And I thought, "Why didn't she tell us that earlier so that a CBC and dengue test can be done in one blood sample? Saves time and blood."

So I had another blood extraction again, this time from the other arm. "I think I just donated blood to the Red Cross," I said after the extraction, being the natural comedian I am. And then we waited for 2 hours. Cough there, cough here. My mom would be lucky if she doesn't get ill after all those sick patients coughed all their viruses and bacteria. Fast forward again, and we got the result. Thankfully, it was negative. Yay. All the doctor could recommend to me is to drink enough water, take Neozep (for runny nose) every 6 hours, and gargle a 20 ml Bactidol (for the cough and sore throat) every night. I got the medical certificate I needed to be excused for my absence in school, and we went home.