Warning – not a light and airy post!
Martha’s skin condition got worse overnight and by the morning more skin had peeled from her face and torso with some areas crusting over. We were increasingly worried now at the rate of change and went straight to a pharmacist first thing as planned and then almost straight on to a doctors from there.
There are many doctor’s practices in Hong Kong and you can make an appointment on the day and pay per session. On arrival they found that Martha now had a temperature and the doctor definitely felt we should go straight to one of the hospitals for further tests.
We hopped in a taxi and went to the closest private hospital – St Paul’s Hospital – with a letter from the doctor. The set up is that you get a clinic appointment, and then the doctor will refer you on to specialists or admit you to the inpatient wards if you need to. Again, it is a pay per session system, but fairly easy to navigate.
We were seen very quickly by a generalist doctor and then by a paediatric specialist who both agreed that Martha needed to be seen at the public hospital – St Mary’s Hospital. Apparently this is a centre of excellence for skin infections so would be the best place for her to be treated. We were getting so worried about her, especially when they mentioned toxic shock syndrome as a possible diagnosis.
At this point we realised we should inform the insurance company about the medical situation and Mike was on the phone to them literally during the taxi ride over and when we were booking in at the A&E reception.
Martha’s skin was visibly worsening each hour so when we arrived at St Mary’s we were once again seen very quickly by numerous doctors, and then admitted to the paediatric ward for IV antibiotic treatment.
The thing I remember most from this day’s events was how quickly the infection progressed. By the evening Martha was in the isolation ward starting her treatment.
Only one parent was allowed in with her at once, and poor Sam wasn’t allowed in at all. I stayed the first 48 hours until there were signs of improvement and then Mike and I took it in turns to stay with her. I won’t post any photos of her but at her worst she couldn’t open her mouth or her eyes.
We passed the time by reading Harry Potter aloud to her, and that was the best thing we could have done. Once she’d had 48 hours of IV antibiotics and fluids she had definitely perked up but it would be another week of treatment before we got her home. The entire top layer of Martha’s skin had come off by the time she had completely recovered.
She’d had a bad streptococcus and staphylcoccus infection but overall Martha responded to treatment quickly – she was able to tolerate oral antibiotics after 4 days on the IV antibiotics and was moved to the general children’s ward. By then she had progressed to reading the 2nd Harry Potter by herself and was feeling much better. Martha coped amazingly well with being in hospital, in a different country, with different languages spoken.
We had been due to go to China two days after Martha was admitted but it wasn’t to be, so no Great Wall of China for us after all. In between all the worry Mike managed to find us a place to stay for two weeks instead in Causeway Bay, and our local travel agents at home (Destinations) managed to change our round the world ticket at the last moment – many thanks!
Sam was amazing throughout this time, very calm and patient. He had to sit for hours outside the ward, and never got to see Martha, though the last few days she was in she could get out of bed and wave to him from her 7th floor window when he got off the bus.
Whilst Martha was in hospital I was asked if I would help with the final year medical students exams which I was happy to do. I enjoy working with students and it took my mind off worrying. Five nervous students came in one after another and each was able to elicit pertinent case history information leading to a possible diagnosis.
They were all kind, respectful and professional, and all this in their 2nd or 3rd language – very impressive! Through discussing the case history so much I realised that we might never know exactly when the bugs got introduced into Martha’s system. It could have been an infected insect bite in her armpit or from the sea/beach into another open cut. It has made me a little bit paranoid about cuts and scrapes ever since, and we get through a lot of Germolene and plasters!
I was impressed with the Hong Kong health system, it certainly made Martha better again – but I did miss being home with the NHS.
After 10 days in hospital Martha was discharged with an oral antibiotic course to complete and a week’s worth of creams for her poor skin. I’m pleased to report that she is now fully recovered!
