ILI: My personal experience- Part 1

In the second and third week of Ramadan, 6 of my children were down with ILI (influenza-like illness). Perhaps it is H1N1 as all the major symptoms were there. It started last Sunday, 30th August when my eldest son, Imran, 25, who shuttles daily to KL where he works, with his motorbike, was seen very quiet and spent the whole day sleeping. I only knew he was having high fever and body aches the next day when Habibi, my 13 year-old son told me about him. He was coughing profusely, and the buffooning noise of his dry cough was very deafening.
Three days later, on Tuesday night, my 8-year old son, Abdurrahman, or Tommy as we used to call him, complained of being very tired, and later at bed time, his body temperature begin to rise rapidly. His forehead and his entire body was on fire, and that made me very worried. He complained of having a bad headache and became very restless. I gave him a couple of paracetamol and my wife coaxed him to sleep. The next morning he was so weak, he could hardly walk. I had to carry him to the car and brought him to a clinic and the doctor routinely gave the usual concoction for flu; painkillers for fever, antihistamine for runny nose or cold, expectorant for cough and antibiotics. I was worried about Tommy as he is only 8, and his immune system is not well developed yet. Tommy as my youngest son is very close to me, and I love him dearly. He is vey naughty and mischievous whenever I’m around. My wife said if I were away, whether coming late from work or away outstation for a few days, Tommy would behave like what a good boy should be, he would do his school homework, no mischieves, and come to bed with her quietly to sleep. However as soon as I arrive home, he would get excited, and begin to do a lot of naughty mischievous things, sometimes annoying and sometimes rather cheeky and obscene. Perhaps just to attract my attention and to play with me. I would just play along and chase him across my 2-house home until he just gave up,... or I gave up, panting and out of breath...