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Thursday, March 29, 2007
To whom this might concern
Translation straight from Thai as you speak it
So the language might seem at little odd here and there
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Subject: What happened before the death of a G1 student of
the Krungthep Christian School, report by the Father of the child
Nong Fuy sun of Papa Mama grade 1 student at theKrungthep Christian
School, who passed away by the virus called Hand Feet and Mouth,
for sure but don’t know wether coxsaki or Entero virus 71 only.
At present day this is the most dangerous disease for which it
doesn’t have a medicine yet
My sun did not have symptoms like the wounds at mouth, hand or feet.
But the method of attack is absolutely similar to hand, mouth and
feet disease.
This diagnosis was absolutely confirmed by many doctors from
Bomruengrad and Chulalongkorn hospital.
Following a description of the symptoms as occurred in my son
Nong Fuy from the start untill the moment that he passed away,
which where only Ten days
Tuesday 5 Sep 2006 late afternoon after he came back from School,
Papa remembers; Nong Fuy walked to tell Papa that he’s got a headache
but we thought that the reason he had a headache was because he
did not sleep enough.
So we put Nong Fuy to bed early. Later that same night Nong Fuy had
high fever so we gave him some medicine, Thylinon(some kind of
paracetamol) and sent him to sleep again.
In the morning we found that the Fever did not fall, so wekept him at
home and gave him medicine to make the fever less at regular intervals.
Wednesday 6 Sep 2006 Nong Fuy sit and plays at home, looking at the
TV all day, he looked so happy, but the fever stayed high.
It has to take a medicine every four hours, after medicine Nong Fuy is very
strong, ran around making a lot of noise so much that we started to think
that he was pretending for sure.
Thursday 7 Sep 2006 Nong Fuy still has fever 38.5 C, Mama brought
Nong Fuy to Kruengthep Christian Hospital.
We went to his doctor named Doctor Wanee. She checked his fever as
usual and prescribed him a medicine to reduce the fever, antibiotics
and something for his coughing. We went back to take rest at home.
Friday 8 Sep 2006 Nong Fuy get strong as the boy should be (as normal)
so he took his medicine with him to the School, and studied as usual.
Saturday 9 Sep 2006 School closed, stay home. Nong Fuy takes his
medicine as prescribed but the fever stays high. Have to take more
medicine to make the fever low with regular intervals.
After the medicine intake he ran around making a lot of noise as usual,
looked at the TV, had a chat with his Grandma and could eat.
Sunday 10 Sep 2006 Half past two in the afternoon, Mama was sick, then
Papa brought Nong Fuy and his big Brother to the TK park at Central
world Plaza.
When we arrived Nong Fuy was the first to run to press the button of
the elevator, he did not gave his brother the chance to beat him to it.
We went for the internet games until five o clock, then we came out and
Nong Fuy told us that he felt hungry.
So we went to eat Japanese at Zen at that point Nong Fuy told us he felt
so very, very cold. Papa checked his temperature and realized that the
fever became very high, Papa immediately bought more fever suppressants
(Calpol) to give him for the time being, after administrating the drugs Nong
Fuy started to be better and had rice with shrimp tempura, he finished it all.
This was the first time that he finished it all, normally he very fuzzy about his
food and does not like to eat vegetables.
We hurried back home immediately after this meal.
Monday 11 Sep 2006 Mama brought Nong Fuy to see doctor Wanee at
Krungthep Christian Hospital for the second time.
The fever is 38.5 C, Nong Fuy is sprite and lively though, ran around in
front of the doctors examination room, andlooked much healthier than other
children who where waiting there. The doctor prescribed Zithromax (antibiotic)
and a fever medicine.
Arrived at home we administered the drugs as prescribed by Doctor Wanee.
After this he’s still lively and has fun, plays and talks loud all over the house
as usual.
Tuesday 12 Sep 2006 Nong Fuy went to School as usual, late afternoon he
came back home and took his medicine Zithromax (an antibiotic), as prescribed
one time a day.
Wednesday 13 Sep 2006 Nong Fuy went to School as usual.
Thursday 14 Sep 2006 Nong Fuy start to be abnormal, he doesn’t even have
at bit of fever. But Nong Fuy complained that he feels tired and powerless in the
muscles all over his body; we thought the child woke up early, twenty past
six, might be he’s still sleepy.
When we arrived at the School cantina he could not eat more then two / three
spoons, Mama carried Nong Fuy and let him have a nap in her arms.
When the bell rang Papa & Mama brought him to the class but in the middle of
the basketball field he told us that he could not walk any further.
If only I had known about this sickness among the children at that moment I
would not have been passive, thinking that my boy was pretending, in order
to skip his classes.
Until now I still regret that on that day we did not realized that something
was very wrong with my boy, we where afraid that he would fall behind at
School, because he had been absent for many day’s already.
The following week it would have an examination, so we carried him into the
class whit our own hands.
(Nong Fuy Papa apologizes, it is Papa’s fault that
on that day Papa brought you in that class disregarding the fact that
Nong Fuy told Papa that he could not, Papa’s heart hurts very, very
much until the point that I can not forgive myself. If only Papa had
known about this Hand foot mouth disease before, Papa would not
have sent Nong Fuy to School, Papa is haunted by thoughts about
this every day)
Why the Health Department tried to suppress the news?
No one knew about this disease before and it is very dangerous for the children
right now it is an epidemic.
Already fife or six children died because of this disease this year.
My sun’s case is the first to shop up in the news.
Late after noon the same day after we came back home, his cheeks right
under his eyes started to swell.
When asked about it Nong Fuy told the peoples to back of.
Papa thinks that at that day Nong Fuy sit and looks at the TV alone
quietly and doesn’t make his usual noise. He really does not talk at all.
At eight o’clock that evening I carried him to lay on his bed, and
discovered that his arms and legs where very cold but the rest of his
body was warm and he started to sweat at his head.
Now I realized that the symptoms of his real sickness showed it self.
Earlier that evening he did not show any of these symptoms (cold hand
& feet) even a bit.
I discussed with Mama, we thought that because it already is very late,
if we go to the Hospital at this time we could only see the night doctor.
At the other side he had no fever only wanted to sleep did not cry in
pain or because of headache as the first time that he got sickใ
So we thought that we could go to the Hospital at Friday morning.
This time should be able to cure because the symptoms showed clear.
Friday 15 Sep 2006 Mama brought Nong Fuy to the Hospital at Ten o’clock.
At Seven o’clock that morning Papa gave Nong Fuy a Leg and Arm massage,
because Nong Fuy’s arms hand and legs where so cold all the time, however
no wounds at hand nor feet (not even a bit) they where very clean.
When we arrived at the Hospital the Doctor tried to find a vain to give
Nong Fuy an urgent saline infusion, because the child went into shock but
he could not find a vain, had to try more than Ten times.
Nong Fuy cried all the time because he was in a lot of pain.
The Mother could not stand it, she cried because she felt so compassionate
with the child, but could not do anything to ease his pain.
The only way to get any liquid and nutricion into the child was by this
infusion.
At nine o’clock I arrived at the ICU room of the Hospital.
I saw Nong Fuy laying down with glazed eyes his face looked pale and
exhausted worse then when he arrived earlier.
Shortly after he vomited, he has thick green mucus in his throat.
They have to suck it out frequently but it’s not gone.
But there was no Doctor present at the ICU whatshowever.
I asked my wife if she knew where they where.
She told me that none of them where on duty at that time.
After a while the Doctor of duty arrived and checked Nong Fuy as it should
be, he noted that the situation of my Son was deteriorating.
We see the Doctor run in and out many times, calling the nurse to help and
said my Son is in critical shape.
But he still could not determine the cause of his illness.
After this they X-rayed Nong Fuy’s longs and the heart and made a CT-scan
of his brain.
The results where:
- Lungs normal, no signs of Pneumonia (They found signs of pneumonia
Saturday morning at the day he died) - The heart worked abnormal, he had an irregular pulse, this was a
point of concern (worrisome) - The brain scan revealed nothing out of the ordinary, but that night
the Doctor told us that they could see only layers of One CM every
other CM. We could not see any signs of blood cloths or abnormality’s
in the brainstem on this photo’s.
The Doctor of the nightshift called Doctor Wanee frequently to consult
her on this case, and took blood samples of our Son every hour.
At this time they’d given him a sleeping medicine our Sun did not cry
or react.
The Doctor called Nong Fuy and shouted, also used a hammer, as the one
they use to test muscle reactions, at his feet but no respond.
He used a torch to shine in his eyes with no result.
Again the Doctor tried calling his name for a long time (shouting).
In my heart I felt not comfortable with all of this, why the atmosphere
started to be worse and worse? What is happening to our Son?
I asked the Doctor, the Doctor said; this could be an acute diabetic shock.
Diagnosis of his blood work however gave no indication that this was the
case, his blood sugar level was 300 (higher than it should be) but other
indicators where normal meaning it could not be acute diabetic shock.
At that moment I started to ask my self, "where is the senior Doctor of
this Hospital".
Where did they all go? And why did they leave the nightshift to a young
Doctor all alone.
Does the Krungthep Christian Hospital not have any good Doctor?
I noticed the intention of this shift Doctor very clear.
H
e tried several ways to use all kind of tools available in this Hospital
including ECG to check the heart and Ct-scan to check the brain.
With inconclusive results. Then that same shift Doctor walked in to tell
us that thisHospital doesn’t have tools that give enough detail as necessary
to help find this disease or this virus. Have to sent him to Chulalongkorn or
Sirirad Hospital.
At that time my heart started to shiver and I started to think that our
Son’s chances to survive this where about fifty fifty, where should we
go, it is already half past Two? Where do they have an experienced Doctor?
Friday night contact to Chulalongkorn; they had no bed.
At last I choose Bomruengrad Hospital.
The chef Doctor coorperates well with the Bomruengrad Hospital, they
have an experienced children Doctor, specialist in respetorial diseases.
My Son’s breathing is very shallow right now, as if he had ran for many miles.
During the transport to Bomruengrad Hospital he was on respetorial support.
On the way I had seen a teardrop on Nong Fuy’s face, our heart started
to feel very heavy and cumbersome. I wiped his tear with my handkerchief
and prayed to the Gods to not let anything bad happen.
“Papa is on the way to bring Nong Fuy to the best Doctor, be patience,
Nong Fuy used to say that Nong Fuy is a very patience boy if you get
well Papa will bring you to see the MASK RIDER SHOW which is coming
soon, Nong Fuy you used to say that he want to see it, isn’t it? You
can see it as often as you like”
When we arrived the Doctor already prepared the ICU for Nong Fuy and started
to treat him immediately
They put Nong Fuy on a breathing machine, a saline infusion, Pulse monitor,
Heart monitor and many other things I do not know but altogether there where
Eight machines.
The Doctor told us that our son had been strongly infected, as a result of
that the heartbeat was irregular and did not sent enough blood to the brain
what affected the brain functions resulting in breathing problems among other
things, but he still did not know which virus he was dealing with.
He asked permission to take a blood sample,
I agreed.
The Doctor told us that he is very worried about our Son’s situation; he has
to investigate hour by hour.
This hour might be bad but after this it could be better, in the bad situation
there’s always hope.
When I listened to this my tears started to fall, the only thing I can do for my
son is pray and whatever I have to do to save him I am willing to do.
No matter how expensive the medicine just let Nong Fuy get better that’s the
only thing I ask for.
We have to wait three days to have result on the blood test, that’s the time
it takes to grow a culture.
The Bomruengrad Doctor told me that during this waiting period he will treat
Nong Fuy with all the antibacterial and antivirus medicine he has in stock.
If Nong Fuy is lucky one of those will possible cure him.
However the Doctor told me that 99% of the viruses have nothing to kill it,
it has to use the immune system of Nong Fuy to kill it.
If our Son is strong he will pass the bad time if not it is the end.
That night I could not sleep, sit and wait in front of the ICU all the time.
Until Five o’clock the Doctor went home and told me that the heart and the brain
Doctor would come in the morning.
We sat down and cried like mad waiting in front of that room.
Saturday morning 16 Sep 2006 Nong Fuy looks stable but his pulse is still
irregular, the children heart specialist read the report of the Krungthep
Christian Hospital and said that there’s still hope if the virus not reaches
the heart but after he used the heart scanner found that the virus was in
the heart and that it is the most dangerous one for which there is no
medicine to cure it.
The chances are very small. When my wife heard that this is the most dangerous
virus she cried and could not do anything.
After that the brain specialist came to check, by which machine I don’t know
because at that moment my brain did not work either at that moment.
The Doctor reported that the brainstem also was infected with the virus and
that is the most important part of the brain.
He also found the lungs to be infected, Yesterday it was not to be found,
why today?
The Doctor said that the last chance we still have is to use the serum
from another people whose immune system is very strong to inject to
Nong Fuy, this is really a last hope because the only way for Nong Fuy’s
immune system to fight this is to use other troops.
If it works it might kill some of the virus, so my side agrees to use
this serum. Even this serum is not a certified drug and is used in foreign
countries and effective in some cases only.
The Doctor informed us that the price is 60,000.- Bath per one shot.
We agree.
The Doctor asked permission to take a bone marrow sample, to try to determine
what kind of disease he is dealing with, first we hardly thought about it,
we where afraid that he could not stand the pain but finally we agreed because
this was our only alternative we had nobody else to relay on or trust in than
this Doctor.
Two hours after the administration of the serum Nong Fuy’s heart suddenly
stopped beating, the Doctor immediately started CPR and did this helped by
some of his colleges for One hour and Twenty minutes.
After this all three Doctors came to inform that Nong Fuy could not bear it
anymore, Me, my Wife, Grandpa and Grandpa everybody in tears, We could not
speak even one word.
After the Doctor looked at us he went back in the ICU room and continued the
CPR for another thirteen minutes however finally Nong Fuy left us.
My heart is broken, I blame my self.
Where we ignorant? Why didn’t we sent him to Bomruengrad Hospital in the first
place, my Sons medical history and everything was at Krungthep Christian
Hospital he was born there.
But they did not pay attention to my Son at all, Doctor Wanee only talked
by phone; even we always went to her.
Why my Son had to lay there for three four hours until the chef Doctor came
at Ten o’clock and found that the case of my Son was too severe.
Doctor Wanee did not pop by to look even once, did not talk with us even one word.
Only the young night shift Doctor was determined to help but not experienced
enough to really take care of my Son as it should have been.
From now on I will not let my child lie down and wait without a clear answer
anymore.
If you have doubts about how they treat your child do not feel bad to go
for a second opinion.
If necessary change the Doctor or change the Hospital.
Do not worry to much about the medical history because he may not survive
long enough to wait for curing, like our Son
Fuy Papa and Mama love Fuy so much and our heart hurt a lot.
Ask Fuy to be Son of Papa again, this time Papa and Mama will take car
in another way; we will not let you to go to School when you have a fever,
and will not force you when you cry out that you can not bear it anymore
What I reported to you is all truth, and I hope that these information is
useful for all parents to take care of your children.
Enterovirus 71 does not necessarily have to have wound’s at Hand,
Mouth or Feet; if it reaches the heart or brainstem the chances for survival
are very, very small.
If survived, the brain will never be the same again
Neither the Health Department nor the School ever informed us how to
recognize the early symptoms of this disease; all they did was give the results
from the lab.
Even I gave them all information in detail.
So I want to use this opportunity to tell all what had happened to our family
for everybody to learn.
The lost life of Nong Fuy, One person in Khrungthep Christian School will
benefit many others if everybody helps to spread this information
Thank You
The Father and Mother of Nong Fuy
25 september 2007
Translation straight from Thai as you speak it
So the language might seem at little odd here and there