Please, face it!

The story about the actor that died in a prayer house from the heart and kidney-related diseases points to the PHOBIA of an average person, here…towards HOSPITALS.

Recently, I found myself goading a friend to at least GO TO THE HOSPITAL, FIRST…following her complaints about pains in the stomach.

… “you sure say nor be cancer be this?’’ was an SMS from her, one night.

That’s from someone who hugged “google diagnosis” so tightly but dreaded going to the hospital. I remember saying to her (we communicate in pidgin) “anything wey e want be make e be. E nor pass God. Face it.’’

By the way, the medical prognosis showed she has an ulcer!

A former boss had a growth in the stomach and surgical removal was advised. If that thing could be prayed away, it would have been…thanks to the arsenal of Praying Pastors at her disposal.

She resorted to gulping very costly herbal supplements. The peddlers beat their chest that whatever was in her stomach would dissolve within three months of taking those.

Some even claimed that the flat stomach they “parade” used to be bigger than hers… until they met their “miracle” in those supplements. Today, the ordeal is behind her. The surgery has come and gone!

By the time a friend admitted grappling with a severe form of hemorrhoids, he had lived with it for over a decade and guzzled all manner of concoction that was introduced to him. As the hemorrhoids became severe, so did his discomfort.

He said that it was out of no choice that he finally dragged himself to the hospital. Now, he tells me that his regret was having to endure all that discomfort and anxiety for YEARS when he could have easily done away with it.

No! He is not an illiterate. He is actually in the academics, but then, FEAR is no respecter of anybody’s status. Those who should know better are even more in its grips.

Imagine what he has had to live with for years when the solution isn’t as complicated. He even described guzzling a certain concoction that smelled like rot.

We don’t yet know the extent of the damage these concoctions do to the organs. If unwell, please go to the hospital first.
FACE THE SITUATION! Early attention is everything in medical care. Miracle is also when you seek medical attention and emerge with a clean bill of health!

When FEAR cripples a life, rationality flies out of the window and anxiety becomes a constant companion.

It’s not always the medical condition or the system (with all her inadequacies) that undermine lives here …the disposition of FEAR is a huge factor! The expression of some friends I informed that I was undergoing incisional biopsy (in my armpit) were like…

“A growth? Near the breast? Ha!’’

We have unblended gifting in impacting FEAR (into even healthy minds), here. However, with a clean bill of health, what I did was to get back to these friends with my FEEDBACK…on the journey. And I think the feedback’ fueled my friend’s resolve to FACE IT.

The feedback…
If one can get past the “lack of packaging’’, our teaching/general hospitals (which I patronise by the way) are good.

While awaiting my discharge a few hours after the surgery, I observed a young doctor arguing with a nurse, as the drugs prescription was handed over to me. Perturbed, I approached the surgeon to help crosscheck the prescription.

And that’s when he let out a shout! The young doctor had prescribed 500mg (instead of 50) of the analgesics that the surgeon recommended.

Such EXPENSIVE MISTAKES are enough to shake one’s faith in the system but it taught me that your healthcare journey is not what you leave to the doctors alone. It is often “the mistakes” that colour the narratives badly. Not their competence.

Admittedly, the nurses in most general hospitals can do better, empathy-wise! It’s just that there is something about the human spirit when it witnesses more “suffering’’ than it should…it gets consumed by insensitivity.

Ideally, the more ‘’suffering’’ one encounters, the higher the milk of compassion stirred in them. But the human spirit is UNPREDICTABLE and a lot affects it, differently.

I have always known that when life jerks me off my comfort zone, there’s a lesson or an assignment in the horizon. It’s on this journey that I met a little girl with a cancerous tumour in the eye, whom friends have helped me to give a new lease of life.

Frankly, everyone needs to experience a major SHAKE-UP once in a while…if only to appreciate life/humanity more.

The narratives could be ugly but you will also be helping someone to FACE IT by speaking up when the experience is good!