Fever

Isabel's been running a temperature hovering around 40 deg C for two days now. Of course thoughts of dengue crossed our minds but I can hear the congestion in her voice. She is also coughing, so I figure it must be the flu or something like it. I would make her wear repellent but that we've been sponging her frequently. I just hope it's not dengue.

Mainly because I can't imagine how she'd put up with having her blood taken every day. She's already mortally afraid of swallowing medicine, which is odd considering how easy going she was as a baby. It was always Alexis who had to be held down and forcibly fed her medication (which would then come up again along with the contents of her stomach, leading to another round of syringing it into her mouth, followed by more throwing up and so on until the whole block could hear her wails). Isabel on the other hand would swallow whatever was given her good-naturedly. But it's now reversed, with Alexis making much less of a fuss now whereas Isabel is this overwrought hysterical wreck.

It took her half an hour tonight to drink a teaspoon of neurofen, mixed in with an inch of orange squash plus a squirt of orange juice. Thirty minutes to sip it by millimetres with a glass of water next to her that she could gulp after each sip. Furthermore she would take close her eyes and take a deep calming breath before putting her lips to it. That one should be an actress when she grows up.