Fever

I have been absent from blogging for a couple days for one single reason: T was hospitalized. Well, yesterday he was discharged from the hospital and now he is fine and resting at home.

T admitted himself to the hospital after vomiting a few times in his office on Saturday afternoon while I was in the middle of a photography seminar. And he chose the hospital close to my residence to make it convenient for me to go and visit him. Couldn’t believe he still had a very clear mind in the midst of all the discomfort and illness. He was diagnosed of having intestine infection that later at midnight led into high fever. 39.5 degree Celsius and no doctor was available to attend to him because it was a weekend.



I was worried that his body temperature might rise even higher and whether this was H1N1 cause apparently he was having headache, fever, and vomiting. Ice pack, bed bath and body scrub didn’t seem to help much. The temperature was still above 38.5C. He lost his appetite and any smell of meat, no matter how subtle it was made him want to vomit.



Nurse informed us that only the next morning (if we were lucky) the doctor might come early or else normally he would come late on Sunday morning. I didn’t want to take that chance. Emergency department was contacted and I managed to get the Emergency nurse to pressurize the nurse in charge of T to make a serious phone call to the responsible doctor or anybody else who could replace him. I was very upset.



At 6 am in the doctor came. He confirmed then a blood test and H1N1 test were necessary and an hour later the result came okay and H1N1 was negative, so he said that the fever could be due to other reasons, if not just intestine infection alone. T needed to stay in the hospital for a few days until his body temperature went back to normal and stayed stable for 24 hours. In the meantime he was taking pills for both fever and infection. Bought a handy battery thermometer to monitor T’s body temperature constantly and stopped getting annoyed by the fact that the nurse was not measuring as much as what I thought she should be doing...



After staying there for 3 nights and 4 days his condition improved and finally was allowed to go home. This was our first experience staying together in the hospital as I was on work leave to be with him. At the end of it, I could say that no matter how much a hospital was upgraded to be much patient friendly and more-like-a-resort, a hospital was still a terrifying and boring place.



Being in the hospital environment made me realize how much I want to be at home and have a home cooked meal. And this was just what I had in mind…..



LOTUS ROOT SOUP
Serves 4

Ingredients:
- Water > 2 litres
- Chicken carcasses – remove skin > 2
- Big carrots – slice coarsely > 2
- Lotus roots – slice to thickness of 1cm > 300 grams
- Salt > 1 teaspoon



- Granulated sugar > 2.5 teaspoons
- Pepper > 1/2 teaspoon
- Water chestnuts – peel, boil > 100 grams
- Spring onion – chop > 1 stalk
- Coriander leaf > 1 stalk



Method:
- Whack hard the chicken carcasses through the bones to get sections about 3" big. The more bone that is exposed, the more marrow that gets in the soup which will make it richer and more flavorful. Whack several places along the bone just to expose more marrow. Leave aside.
- In a large pot, fill with water and bring to boil. Add chicken carcass sections and boil for 5 minutes. Lots of foam and fats will float on the surface. Remove from stove, drain and rinse chicken carcass sections of the scum and wash the pot thoroughly too. Refill pot with 2 liters of clean, cold water.



- Add chicken carcasses and carrots in the pot. Boil. With a large spoon, skim the surface of any fats and impurities. Fold in salt, sugar, and pepper.
- When carrots are cooked, add in water chestnuts and lotus roots.
- Cook for 20 minutes more.
- Remove chicken bones. Place soup on serving bowl and garnish with chopped spring onion and coriander.