Hey everyone. O man have I
missed sharing with you guys. It’s been such an insane time away. I have laughed
myself breathless and cried myself to sleep all in this beautiful month of
October. My beautiful mom was born in October so October is a true blessing but
I have to share something that’s weighing heavy on my heart right now.
I am not studying medicine or
nursing but I believe that one can use whatever degree or skill to bring change
to the world, even if it’s only a tiny piece of the world. I cannot tell you
how emotional I have been the past week or so. First I was sick for a week. I thought
it was good old flu so I hooked myself up with some over the counter stuff.
Next thing, there’s a weird looking pimple close to my belly-button. So I
continue on my self-diagnosis streak and decided it has to be a spider bite
because something about it just didn’t look like your ordinary pimple. That
night my little spider bite showed me flames, literally, an insane burn all night long. So after 2 hours of my head spinning like mad doing an assessment
test the next morning, I went straight to the doctor. I asked for an
appointment and the symptoms of chicken pox. To cut a long story short, I went
back and turns out my self-diagnosis isn’t too shabby after all, coz I would spend
the next couple of days dealing with all the heat and itch of chicken pox.
Now the pox got me acting all kinds of crazy. First came the thoughts of pain to come, that followed by the actual pain, and this brought about tons of self-pity and eventually lead to thoughts about my
life, what had gone wrong, what is right and just life in general. So much to think about, with so little energy. On Day 2 of my chicken pox diaries I MAY have played Fergie’s Big Girls Don’t Cry while I cried my eyes red (you
have to feel sorry for me and I said MAY have). I am going to blame the combination of exam stress
and my immune system for all the drama. I actually have to mention that my little sister is
in matric this year. We have always supported each other through academic
stress in our own strange ways but the other day I am fighting the urge to
scratch myself with every muscle in my body when she sends me a message saying, ”Sis,
three mosquitoes just bit the life outta my face.” O how the desire to scratch my pox
took a sharp turn to wanting to slap Awo for complaining about 3 mosquito bites
when I felt like 30 mosquitoes were tap dancing in the strangest corners of my
body. I would never slap my sister. She was trying to make me feel like someone was in the same boat, except she was on a yacht. Now this situation reminded me that of course chicken pox got my spirits
seriously down, but there are people going through worse, much worse... all you
need to do is read the news lately and your heart just breaks at the number of
deaths and other tragic things happening in the world. Chicken pox was my
challenge. I’m feeling a whole lot better now, I can stay awake longer than a
few hours and I’m no longer itching everywhere, all the time. But I am now
faced with a new challenge, getting rid of the scars.
I went to see my doctor yesterday because I really feel that I am taking long to heal (apparently I am not) but the
main reason for my visit was advice on best solutions for minimal scarring. After my weekend of research I actually know a whole lot about treating chicken pox, I’m talking anti-viral, the best antihistamines and
all the oils that people have tried. But I guess it’s always good to get advice from a
professional. So my doctor said I could use my Bactroban as I have
been but once all the blisters are dry she strongly recommends that I get
Kelocote. She said,”It’s a little pricey but it works wonders with scars.”
I came home and gave my mom a ring. She told me her neighbour’s daughter has chicken pox and after a
visit to the clinic, the little girl received some calamine and Panado in
liquid form. Chicken pox is less severe the younger you are so I’m sure the little
girl will be spotless in no time (I sure hope so). But what about adult victims of chicken pox
like myself. When I heard how much I have to pay for the cream I literally
said, “I don’t wanna have the poxes forever.” Which is true. So I guess I would
pay regardless of the price because the cream is said to work wonders. But what
about people who depend solely on what the government has to offer. This post
is obviously focused on chicken pox but it got me thinking of our public health
system in general. Clinics running out of pain killers. It is so sad and so
wrong. A lot of progress has definitely been made but there is still huge room
for improvement and this is the stuff that makes me want to study. The problems
that help me out of bed when I would love to extend my nap.
We hear this quote over and
over again. "Be the change you want to see in the world". But I really hope that no
matter what you’re doing, that you take the time to think of your contribution
to earth and what you will leave behind, otherwise... What on earth are you
doing here...
Sending love and light
Xx
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