MEDICO

Hey guys! November is here already. Here's wishing you a great month, with lots of love; Peju.

EPISODE FIVE ‘Mum, who called you this time again?’ I finally asked. ‘Oh… Charles, that’s what matters to you now right. What matters to you is if it’s Prophet Jabesh or Prophet Judas that called me?’ Then I burst into laughter. I can’t help but wonder why these prophets must bear names as Judas, Jabesh…if you know, you know. Then she changed it for me straight up. ‘Charles, why exactly are you laughing? You know I get scared anytime you get close to that girl and you know that I am at the risk of having stroke with the way my blood pressure rises in little situations.’ There she goes again. My mum gets little information on health precautions and that’s the end. We hear nothing else save what she has learnt in the house for about at least a month. She subscribes to all sorts of health tips on her network and then tries to confirm her newly found information from me. She has several facts on why eating eba, using an onion bulb that has been cut once and use

                                                                                  EPISODE FOUR ‘Ose! Where is daddy ?’ Ituah asked, throwing both arms apart. ‘Sister, I wonder why you seem to do everything late these days. Anyways, they’ve left!’ ‘Left; left to where?’ I quickly cut in before Ituah could respond as I had become suspicious from his tone. ‘Well, I think Uncle Stanley mentioned Kaduna.’ Ituah jumped up and sat on the floor; her arms folded assuming the position of someone mourning a loss. ‘Ose, Uncle Stanley? What are you talking about; I seem to be the only one in the dark here. You know you can tell me anything, right. I’m only here to help.’ I confessed my confusion. ‘Well, Uncle Stanley came earlier this morning and said that there is a man who cures stroke in Kaduna; he said the results are usually faster than that seen in the hospital but sister refused even when mummy begged her to agree with Uncle Stanley. Then, she said…’ ‘Shut up

EPISODE THREE Sometimes, we think we know how we’ll act in certain situations but everyone above the age of fifteen would certainly agree with me that some situations bring out who we truly are. Well, that’s not supposed to be; our characters are meant to dictate what a situation would and not the other way round. Does anyone understand me? Okay, if you don’t; scrap that! That’s a motivational speech for another day. The sight of Ituah made me quick to turn from the treadmill (on which Teju was doing her low-intensity resistance exercise; under my supervision of course) to the back of the cybex machine and luckily for me; there was a door with the tag ‘gents’ just in front of me and I shouted ‘goal ball jor!’ (Well, in my mind). God had certainly made an escape route for me even before the problem arrived. Now, don’t get me wrong… I’m dating just one girl and I’m not the type that does the whole infidelity stuff; it’s damn too stressful and time consuming too. If ther

If you enjoyed the first post, then you need to read this...why not relax, get a drink and read this beautiful piece of fiction. Don't forget to make comments and subscribe. Thank you. ------------------------------------------------------------------- EPISODE TWO Okay! Now I’m back in Lagos; for the weekend and hopefully to work my re-deployment somehow. Well, I have a solid reason and hopefully it will be good enough to fetch what I want. I need redeployment to Lagos on the basis of emotional stress. Does that look like a joke to you? Yes! I mean it—emotional stress. The emotional stress was due to the fact that my social health had suffered severely and I was on the verge of social dysfunction. I mean, I could not function as I should in the society around me. The hospital setting was always busy due to the number of patients we see, the lack of manpower and as expected, all other health practitioners always looked too stressed or too serious to have any fun convers

Hi guys!  This is what happens when you have a sister that writes beautifully... We'd be featuring a new series on the blog by Bola Abioye. This is the first episode. Enjoy, leave your comments and don't forget to subscribe! -------------------------------------------------------------------                            EPISODE 1 ‘Dokita! Fatai’s leg is moving.’ The woman exclaimed in wonder. ‘He has not walked ever since I gave birth to him and this is about the third time I’m bringing him to you, his leg moved! It moved!’ I smiled and said nothing. ‘It’s like you don’t understand. I have been taking him to Baba Faniran since he was two when that witch of a nurse who wanted to initiate my only son gave him an injection that took away his malaria but left him unable to walk.’ The woman continued with her apparent Yoruba tongue struggling to pronounce the English words at each instance. I changed the electrode placement; still along the course of the sciatic nerve, looked u

                           EPISODE 1 ‘Dokita! Fatai’s leg is moving.’ The woman exclaimed in wonder. ‘He has not walked ever since I gave birth to him and this is about the third time I’m bringing him to you, his leg moved! It moved!’ I smiled and said nothing. ‘It’s like you don’t understand. I have been taking him to Baba Faniran since he was two when that witch of a nurse who wanted to initiate my only son gave him an injection that took away his malaria but left him unable to walk.’ The woman continued with her apparent Yoruba tongue struggling to pronounce the English words at each instance. I changed the electrode placement; still along the course of the sciatic nerve, looked up and smiled and before I could call Jack Robinson, she had started to sing: ‘emi la o ni yosi Emi la o ni yosi Ba se fe kori Bee na lori Emi la oni yosi’ I opened my mouth wide agape. I thought this only happened in Nigerian Yoruba movies but coming to serve as the first Physiotherapist ever in

Chapter 8 Journal entry by Karen Delgado — 9/10/2010 One year anniversary of my surgery date--the date they removed the tumor.  It seems so long ago...so many blessing throughout this past year!!!  (Although much of year beyond school/treatment is a big blur!!) To the girl with her bucket of water placed elegantly on her head, strutting what I considered to be to and fro the street, to the young guy in sunglasses, who had a look- a defining look which I couldn’t define; life seemed to go on at its own pace, me regardless. The doctor’s visit where I was confirmed to have breast cancer remains etched in my memory. I wore a blue shirt. The date of my mastectomy was the 15 th of April, and on this day, it rained cats and dogs. The rain could have been un-related to my mastectomy but it remains as a marker in my mind. I remembered how marshy the roads were, how terribly difficult it was to leave home that morning as I contemplated my fate. The truth is, I migh

Chapter 8 Journal entry by Karen Delgado — 9/10/2010 One year anniversary of my surgery date--the date they removed the tumor.  It seems so long ago...so many blessing throughout this past year!!!  (Although much of year beyond school/treatment is a big blur!!) To the girl with her bucket of water placed elegantly on her head, strutting what I considered to be to and fro the street, to the young guy in sunglasses, who had a look- a defining look which I couldn’t define; life seemed to go on at its own pace, me regardless. The doctor’s visit where I was confirmed to have breast cancer remains etched in my memory. I wore a blue shirt. The date of my mastectomy was the 15 th of April, and on this day, it rained cats and dogs. The rain could have been un-related to my mastectomy but it remains as a marker in my mind. I remembered how marshy the roads were, how terribly difficult it was to leave home that morning as I contemplated my fate. The truth is, I migh

CHAPTER 7 Journal Entry by Karen Delgado- 6/21/2010 'My new picture is of the middle school students, dressed in pink. They are in a 'breast cancer awareness' formation. In another shot, they are in the formation of 2010...the picture was used as the front cover of this year's yearbook.' Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned- Peter Marshall Have you ever felt so indebted to someone that you couldn't say 'thank you', because those two words couldnt adequately capture the magnitude of your indebtedness? Have you ever willed yourself to like something beneath your taste, something otherwise tasteless to you- a bland shirt which you never would have bought if you had enough cash reserve, 'healthy' fish rather than 'unhealthy' chicken- not because you were considering the health implications but simply because you were short on cash? Sometimes, we learn to live in situations and be thankful for them, not beca

CHAPTER 7 'LABISI: Chronicles of a Breast Cancer Warrior Journal Entry by Karen Delgado- 6/21/2010 'My new picture is of the middle school students, dressed in pink. They are in a 'breast cancer awareness' formation. In another shot, they are in the formation of 2010...the picture was used as the front cover of this year's yearbook.' Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned- Peter Marshall Have you ever felt so indebted to someone that you couldn't say 'thank you', because those two words couldnt adequately capture the magnitude of your indebtedness? Have you ever willed yourself to like something beneath your taste, something otherwise tasteless to you- a bland shirt which you never would have bought if you had enough cash reserve, 'healthy' fish rather than 'unhealthy' chicken- not because you were considering the health implications but simply because you were short on cash? Sometimes, we learn to live

CHAPTER 6 Journal entry by Karen Delgado — 6/2/2010 ‘Years ago, when I first started teaching middle school, people responded to my new job as if I had accepted the worst possible position.  The truth is, I love teaching this age group!  (I will admit, it wasn't my favorite age group to parent...but working with this age at school is great!) Unfortunately, what so many people see is what is most noticeable--loud, seemingly rude, young adults who "haven't grown up, yet".  The truth is...they have not grown up!  Although they may look like adults...and will grow into lovely, responsible young adults someday...they still have at least one foot in childhood--no matter how tall they may appear!... Although they may not have learned to handle their new-found deep voices...and their awkwardness may come across as rude... they really can be as sweet as most younger children!!!' --------------------------------- ---------------------------------- The eyes are massive

Chapter 5 Journal entry by Karen Delgado — 6/11/2011 ‘Just being who they are was enough to keep me going...but they went beyond that---from being "good" for the subs to all types of gifts and acts of kindness… I hope that they learn at least one lesson from all this--that a kind word or being nice to someone may be just the gift that person needs.  When someone isn't as nice as you think they should be...think about how you can be kind--you never know what type of situation that the person may be going through!’ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We sleep and wake up, we do not know how. Have you ever wondered, why sometimes we like to stay in the dark? As technology has advanced, so many of those things which were attributed to God’s secrecy were unraveled and with a simple click on your phone, you can find out various things which you didn’t even know in times past. But some

CHAPTER 4 Journal entry by Karen Delgado-5/7/2010 ‘On my way to school, I was listening to 99.1FM and I heard this song (and yes, it made me cry). I’ll highlight the lyrics that were especially meaningful. Also…last week at my church, the sermon was about healing. It is part of an ongoing series, ‘God, why?’ This message was, ‘God, why are some people healed and not others? (Luke 13:1-5) and it was preached by Jeremy Moore…. I can honestly say that I’m glad to have gone through this journey…I’ve learned so much…and continued to experience just how faithful and trust worthy God is. If a miraculous healing would have happened, I would have lost out on experiencing the truth of God’s word- that he is aware of all that is happening…that He will be there…that He will provide for our every need…that he is a God of Comfort…but I would have also missed out on learning just how wonderful it is to experience the love of the people around me.'   -------------------------------------------

CHAPTER 3 Journal entry by Karen Delgado- 6/1/2010 ‘I had my first opportunity to use a GPS this past weekend…WOW…how comforting to be able to have someone see the ‘big picture’ and point you in the right direction…with such a calm comforting tone. Just enjoy the drive, trust in the technology, and arrive safely at your destination.    As I was thinking it was so nice to have this device- especially when I had no idea of where I was…and absolutely no idea of how to get where I needed to go…I thought about how this was such a good analogy for the kind of trust we need to put in God’s word/His wisdom. Just knowing that God sees the ‘big picture’…He knows the end of our destination…and best of all, He knows how to get us there . ' ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ MOTHER went to church. All too frequently; I often thought- and when she would go, I would mumble some words, along t

CHAPTER 2 Journal entry by Karen Delgado — 2/24/2010 'I had an unusual reaction to being at the cancer center, today.  I started crying when I got into the infusion section!--first time I did that. As many of you know...last week, a father of one of my student's died of cancer.  I wasn't able to attend the viewing or the service b/c I was sick.  The reality of all this just hit me.  For some reason, there seemed to be a larger group of people in the infusion rooms that looked more sickly.  Usually, most of us are pretty healthy looking...cheerful...talkative, etc.  Maybe it was b/c I was thinking about the death of this man that I noticed this.  I prayed for this family as I was there.  My heart goes out to them...  It also makes me realize that there is another side to what I am going through...and that is those of you who are concerned for me.  I guess the impact of someone's death hits all of us at different times.  I didn't know this man, personally...

' LABISI : Chronicles of a Breast Cancer Warrior Chapter 1 I had always desired to marry an Ibo man. I like to make categorical statements, so forgive me if I sound pretty blunt. In a way, I am everything but blunt- but I guess blunt is the way I sound on paper. Blunt. I sort of like how that sounds. Do you? As I fiddle with my paper and pen this afternoon, I am reminded of why I am here; and what on earth led to my internally heated discussion. I was in the hospital, and on my second round of chemotherapy; with 5-fluorouracil and…I don’t know what else, actually. I was able to get the name 5-fluorouracil because of the ‘uracil’ in the name. It sounds an awful lot like one of those baby powders I had used for my first two kids(old time mamas should remember this😁) My name, is ‘Labisi. I’m married to Nicholas Okonkwo; so allow me do a re-introduction; seeing as I am quite chatty this afternoon. I, am ‘Labisi Okonkwo; and I have three kids, aged 17, 12, and 8. I had alwa

‘You cannot serve both God and worldly riches.’ Luke 16:13 There is a certain attraction, a certain sway which money can hold over us. Wait, do you think you’re immune? Money tests the hearts of the best of us. I believe that is one of the reasons Jesus felt it necessary to spell it in clear terms: You CANNOT, absolutely CANNOT serve God if the love of mammon is in you. The spirit of mammon is different from those of other things that can distract us from God. Mammon is a master, in its own right but we must never forget, however tempting that God is THE master and money is meant to be just a tool. Would I compromise my walk with God for worldly riches? Wouldn’t I skip (or fast-forward) being in God’s presence for a chance at better payment? Would I choose my Godly routine over my ‘money routine’? Daily pruning of our hearts is needed, if indeed, we would serve God- and not mammon. For if one thing is sure, it is that we cannot serve both!