Could it be any worse.
So I guess it’s time to share why I had mentioned that you should take note of how I sprained my right ankle at the NYSC camp. If you recollect in one of my previous posts, I shared how I had sutured my hips at an early age as a result of Sickle cell anaemia. Apparently the hips that were sutured due to my medical condition turned out to be my right hips.
Overtime I started to understand that the enemy was out on a rampage to destroy. You want to know how? Well, sometime later in the future after I had sprained my right ankle, I was living all alone and had stepped out of the bathroom to get ready for work when I slipped and twisted my right knee. To say the truth it was one of the most excruciating pains I ever had to bear. I remember weeping so much on my bedroom floor and in the midst of my tears thanking the lord (in between my tears) for sparing me a situation that might have been worse. Yes the devil had failed this time, if his plan was to cause me to murmur against my Maker, it had ended in praise instead to him.
I picked myself up from that floor in pain, called my folks to explain what had happened, struggled to get dressed and went to work. Lol. I’m laughing because I look back now and think ‘Ah Onuoma! sometimes you can stress yourself out. Proper medical attention was what you required right then and not work’. Anyhow when I got to the office limping, I quickly explained to my boss what had happened and asked for his permission to be off work to get the required medical attention I needed. You will never believe what the outcome was when I got to the hospital. The orthopedic informed me that I had to wear a cast on my right knee from below my hips down to near my ankle for the next six weeks. All I could think of at that instant was, how do I cope? owing to the fact that I stay all by myself. How do I commute out of the hospital? because I had driven even with the painful knee and the list of questions went on. Anyhow, they put the cast on my leg and I slowly made my way to answering the questions. My sister sent her driver to drive me back to my house and I made a few calls to colleagues living nearby that could pick me up on my way to work.
However this didn’t last very long because I didn’t like the fact that I was kind of a burden to any of my colleagues so just when I was thinking of the orthopedic’s advice that I would still be able to drive with the leg, a friend of mine came to cheer me up by taking me out and whilst sitting in the passenger seat of her car, it dawned on me that I would be able to drive with the leg. Eventually my major challenge was solved. It wasn’t as if the option of taking a taxi wasn’t there but most times the inconvenience that came with it as a result of rush hours to/from the office and emergencies at home (as apps like Uber and Taxify had not yet started in our society to make commuting to the office easy). This was the third instance.
On the fourth instance, it was my right wrist. I had been admitted at the hospital because of another relapse and whilst sleeping due to the heavy sedation, I rolled off the bed and fell on the floor directly on my right wrist. Since this hospital did not practice general medicine, I was given mild pain relievers (mostly Panadol) for the pain. I was in no frame of mind to argue due to the sedatives. When I eventually got out of the hospital because the I wasn’t given the necessary medical attention, I suffered with the pain on my right wrist for another three months, wearing wrist braces and going to see the physiotherapist for treatment. For me it was obvious that the adversary wanted to maim the right side of body but God was indeed faithful.
Anyhow the pain did stop only to come back on my left wrist for no just cause. This time I wore braces for as long as I could and kept going to see the physiotherapist hoping that the pain would dissipate but it didn’t. Eventually I was referred to an orthopedic who diagnosed the issue as De- Quervain’s. See below the link to shed more light on what I experienced.
The orthopedic stated that a long term solution would be to perform a minor surgery on the wrist to bypass the tendons that were causing pain. How I coped after the surgery was the grace of God. Another excruciating pain I had to bear for 24hours before it finally dissipated. In fact, I have different braces as proof of the various times I went through these different situations on my knee and wrists.
So I’ll just pause here and ask this question – what’s the purpose for my sharing all these aspects of my life with you? My answer, is to encourage you. See me as living up to my name which I translate as ‘encourager’. I may not be the best of persons but I’ve gone through a whole lot and I’ve chosen not to let it break me. Please don’t let your situation break you. Whatever you need to do to keep you moving, if it means weeping, lamenting to God, yelling out your frustration, do so. The bible says that “ He collects our tears in a bottle” Psalm 56v8. Just don’t let that situation break you or cause you to murmur against your Maker because that is what the enemy wants you to do.
If there is any consolation let these words bring you comfort as you read through them that he knows and bears your afflictions. It says in Isaiah 63v9 “In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them”.
There’s a whole lot I still have to share, from the different hallucinations I went through, the various medications, blood transfusions and the one thing that would have made me call it quits but didn’t. Remember that your trials can only make you stronger if you let it flow like water over your back. So be resolute and God will ensure that your situation turns around for your good.
I may not have mastered it yet, but I’ve chosen to remain resolute that the God I serve will show up for me and he will for you too.
God Bless.
