[Living Abroad] Manila Rite of Passage: My Son's Gastroenteritis

I update my relocation destination to match my life stage. Following Melbourne and Singapore, I am currently staying in the Philippines.

The visa I applied for last week has been approved, and the passport I had left with the relevant agency is safely back in my hands.

These past few weeks have been a whirlwind of intense ups and downs.

There have been happy moments, but also some 'scary' experiences. The 'scary' experience was caused by my son's sudden illness.

At dawn one day, I heard my son going to the bathroom. It is not unusual for him to wake up early to use the toilet.

As I listened closely, something felt off.

Following a mother's intuition, I headed to the bathroom and found my son vomiting. And then, diarrhea.

When he stood up a while later, he seemed unsteady, his eyes unfocused. I supported him as I helped him back to bed, where he seemed a little more comfortable.

Even his 'thank you' sounded painful.

After that, his body temperature began to rise rapidly.

As I watched my son in distress, I mentally raced through our activities from the previous day.

What did we do? What did we eat? Oh, the burger!

I had asked for it to be cooked well-done, but I didn't check the inside. Was the burger undercooked!?

Only my son got sick...

What was the only thing he did... oh, he went to the pool! Could the pool water be the cause?

Even with my brain working at full capacity, I couldn't determine the clear cause.

Until now, when we traveled as a family in Southeast Asia, our stays were two weeks or less. My son never had any stomach issues.

It has been over a month since we arrived in Manila.

The longer you stay, the higher the chance of getting sick in that region. It is also around the time when fatigue starts to accumulate.

My son vomits whenever he has a high fever.

Our temporary Airbnb home.
An emergency basin for sudden vomiting—we don't have one here! Despite all our heavy luggage, I didn't bring a basin.

The moment I decided, 'For future long-term trips, I must bring a basin.'

I take my time giving him the fever reducer we brought from Singapore.

Patiently, little by little.
If I give it to him all at once, he'll throw it up.

He finally managed to take the necessary dose of medicine, and though he looked exhausted from the high fever, he began to fall asleep.

In the meantime, it seems I caught the bug from my son and developed the same symptoms. However, mine were milder than his.

We couldn't afford for my husband to fall ill too, so he was kept in isolation.

As I was drifting in and out of sleep, a few hours later, there was a sudden loud voice.

I stumbled into the room where my son was sleeping. He was saying things that didn't make any sense.

He was hallucinating from the high fever.

What should I do...

Suppressing my anxiety, I kept responding to my son as he continued to say random things.

He was listing random Japanese words that didn't make much sense.

Looking back now, it seems like a comedy, but he was saying things like 'lips' and 'eyelids.' He was terrified and screaming.

What happened to his brain function?

While rubbing his back, I kept asking him questions.

He knew who I was and recognized me as his mother, but,

'What is your name?'

Even when I asked, he wouldn't say his own name.
He kept screaming incomprehensible Japanese words in fear.

The moments when he wouldn't answer that question were truly terrifying.

I think it lasted for less than a minute.

He gradually calmed down, and his consciousness became clear.

'Where are you now?'

'We're in Manila, aren't we?'

Thank goodness. ...He's back.

This is febrile delirium.

It is said to be a symptom that often occurs in children between the ages of one and ten.

This is the first time my son has reacted this way. (Though when he was a baby, he would giggle in his sleep while running a fever.)

You see articles about this during times when influenza cases increase.

I have read articles stating that there are cases where children, influenced by hallucinations and auditory hallucinations from high fevers, try to jump out of windows.

When the environment changes, the bacteria change too.

Falling ill in an unfamiliar land only fuels the fear.

"Children grow with every illness." These are words my mother used to say.

At the time, I understood it as "the child grows bigger."

Now that I am a parent, I am still accumulating first-time experiences as a parent.

I feel that with every illness my child has, my courage as a parent is tested, and my depth as a human being is greatly expanded.

A rite of passage for life in Manila. Both visas and gastroenteritis.

I bought a washbasin at Daiso.