Skip to main content

'LABISI: Chronicles of a Breast Cancer Warrior ♋

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 windows into the soul. You want to describe someone’s look perfectly? You’d scarcely do justice to that without looking into their eyes. While I lean across the pyre, taking long soulful glances at people as they go about their daily business- the girl with the red and blue pail balanced so effortlessly on her head, strolling down the street and caring less about the leering looks that trail her.
The 3-year-olds, who in the background, continue to chant ‘2 letter words are…’, the welder producing a shrill sound from his work tools a mild distance away.
I’ve had so much time away from work these couple of months, and besides the chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and now, mastectomy which I’ve had to ruminate over endlessly, there is one other thing I’ve had so much time for. My kids.
Being a mother is the one thing I have always appreciated, seen as a gift; more so during these trying times. Talk about the sheer amount of love and concern my 17-year-old son, ChukwuEmeka, has consistently shown, or the warmth which my 12 and 8-year-old daughters; Kachi and Oge, seem to have up their sleeves each time they return from school. If not for anything else, the way they snuggle up to me whenever they have the chance to- this is something I’d live over and over again to witness. I won’t leave them motherless; not even if there’s a slight chance.
And in those moments when I want to faint, to give up, to turn back, or run away from it all- it's them that I see.
Not only do I notice their acts, but I notice their eyes. The girl with the pail balanced upon her head may look nothing like my daughters’ but she reminds me of the need for my kids to lead their lives with so much effortlessless at joyful living. I have so much which I still need to impart into them, and although they might get burnt while trying to act like the ‘adults’ which they are yet to become, I want to be here every step of the way. Warring with them, crying- if need be, with them. Laughing with them!
This is why I still choose to remain in this fight.
I am ‘Labisi, and I’m still fighting!

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SALIENT LESSONS FROM THE CORONARY ARTERIES The coronary arteries provide blood supply to the heart, the blood pump. Some of its duties are outlined and deductions are saliently made from them. 1.       REPLENISHMENT: The first lesson to take from the coronary artery is that it replenishes the heart. While performing the work of pumping blood to other tissues, the cardiac muscle is replenished by means of its 2 coronary arteries. 2.       DIRECTLY SOURCED: The coronary arteries, unsurprisingly, take origin from the aorta, the main artery leaving the left ventricle, carrying oxygenated blood to all branch arteries of the human body. Thus, it originates from the principal source of maximally oxygenated blood; this points to the fact that it reveres impartation and not opinions. 3.       PERFUSION: The coronary arteries ensure that blood gets to every part of the heart by means of its several branches. Branc...
Post a Comment
Read more

#MONDAY’S PROSE THIS CHILD; ON THE ROAD

Through my myopic eyes, a fleeting image of a little boy is formed on my retina A little boy in a little suit, Treading the familiar bushy routes before him The boy had neither escort nor directives And surely, he needed none For a 4 yr old on the road possesses more maturity than a 10 year old in ‘comfort’ Swiftly, she navigated through cars held in traffic An adventurous smile tugging at her split lips Providing snacks for impatient car-owners And though panting from car-chasing, She had a visible life of passionate content She probably planned to get off the street, Forsake her hypothetical ‘street-urchin boyfriend’, Give up this demeaning way of living, But I feared she wouldn’t! She hadn’t been wired to get off the street And sadly, she was too content to stage a forced exit. Children on the road and teenagers of the road, Not choosing to be this vulnerable Yet hooded and shrouded in the cold, Filled with shreds of hope that the fut...
Post a Comment
Read more

DOKITA

 EPISODE 3 ‘Oya sorry now, we’re almost there.’ Felix kept saying as he partially carried his dear friend.  She wouldn’t hear the last of this episode once it was over, that much he knew! ‘Awww…you don’t know how painful awww… this is’ ‘Sorry, sorry’ ; he kept saying So they eventually got to the ER and after pulling out her card, used ‘medical student connection’ to see the resident that was on call in Internal Medicine unit. ‘Hello dear’ , Dr. Brown said, looking keenly at the girl that was almost doubled over in pain ‘I think you should lie down on that couch’ ‘What exactly is the problem?’ ‘She just started complaining about her abdomen about half an hour ago’ ‘Oh’. ‘Can you point to where exactly the pain started?’ he asked ‘Here’ . Linda pointed to the area around her umbilicus. ‘Have you had any episode of vomiting?’ ‘No sir’ Felix answered spontaneously. ‘You must be her boyfriend, right?’ Dr.Brown asked, with a mischievious grin ...
Post a Comment
Read more