Son's illness panics everyone

I woke up on frantic shrieking of my wife early on Saturday morning. I was only able to understand two words – Shafay and light. I rushed to switch on the light. The power outage increased my confusion. I was unable to recall where I had placed my cell phone last night. Found the phone below the pillow on the second attempt.

I switched on the cell phone light and saw my 10-months old son in a shocking situation. His face was pale, lips swollen, mouth frothing, eyes semi-closed, body stiffened, and arms where shaking violently. The first thought that occurred to me was that something venomous has bitten my son. I rushed towards the adjoining room to wake up my doctor sister. She had heard the noise and was already awake. She inspected my son and at once figured out that Shafay’s body temperature has dangerously increased.

We removed his clothes and brought him downstairs. My parents and my younger twin brothers were awake. My mother took my son in her arms. After sometimes, Shafay’s body relaxed.

Meanwhile, it had dawned. We were waiting for the clinics to open, while praying that the situation didn’t worsen.

Shafay got his second fit at around 9:00 am. We rushed towards the city in our car, clueless about which doctor to visit. I was driving the car. I tossed my phone towards my sister, instructing her to inquire from a doctor, who is the brother of a lawyer colleague, about the availability of a child specialist at this time.

We were lucky that he picked the phone, recommended us to visit a particular child specialist, the child specialist was available, he had all the required facilities in his 12-bedroom hospital.

Shafay was admitted in the hospital for monitoring. He again got a third fit in the hospital. Everyone panicked, including my sister. We were waiting for the medicine to reduce his temperature. My mother-in-law who had arrived in the hospital by then suggested doing wet sponging. The idea clicked. We managed to bring down his temperature at normal level with excessive sponging. We would soak towels in cold water and spread it over already shivering Shafay.

By evening, his condition had improved significantly. The night was peaceful. Next day, Shafay again experienced high fever, but this time there were no fits. The doctor discharged him in afternoon, instructing us to continue the remaining treatment at home.

Shafay is recovering fast now.