MEDICO

Week 2 Message to the Pre-Intern: don’t lose hope! Week 2, for me, was 2 months post-induction. This was when the wait began to sink in. You mean I’ve been home for two whole months? By now, I was literally chewing on my fingernails. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t scared of getting a space, but I certainly wasn’t confident about any place anymore. That is when I began to write this book. Today is the 12th of September and I sit at the dining table in my parents’ house, typing at 11:27pm (because well, I have an editing job to finish up, but mostly because I don’t have to go anywhere tomorrow morning). If I don’t want to, I don’t even have to take a bath tomorrow morning because well, I can stay indoors all day! (I most likely will stay indoors, except for those few minutes when I step out to buy hot akara for my akamu). I am spent. You know, I have applied to a couple of places now. Let me start with the first: LS Health Service Commission At the State Health servic...

Week 1 It is neither the beginning nor the end; but rather, it’s the beginning of the end and the end of the beginning. You thought it was over? Nope, it just started. I left medical school! On the 7th of July, 2017; I was inducted into the medical profession with so much finesse. You know that feeling you get when you are finally able to accomplish something, great right? Although the celebration seemed larger than life to me (I mean, who are all these people eating my rice?), I managed to get through it- because my kind of celebration is really in a quiet place, by a beach or you know, some really somber place with chocolate and ice cream, and maybe one or two Netflix series (ah ah). I could smell so many opportunities in the air, you know. I was sure that I would have started housemanship by September- dead sure. In fact, I already had a couple of leads and I was simply waiting to get my ‘papers’ ready- my MDCN documents. Getting space wasn’t something I pondered over; I...

                                                                                  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 any...

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...

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 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 e...

II. My names, given to me by Papa and Mama Rolz; are Omowunmi Morolake Elizabeth Shodiya. Professional competence sets me as a lawyer of the Federal High Court of Nigeria. I, haven’t seen the 4 walls of a law court in over 2 years. It seems as fresh, as this moment, when it’d all happened. I was called to bar 4 years ago; a budding lawyer of about 26 years of age. I had high prospects- which I do not know if I’d ever regain; for all that consumes me is this experience, that left my heart shattered. It recurs in my dreams; and so sleep is not my lot. 30 minutes into sleep, like an alarm clock, I wake up wailing. My psychiatrist helps me understand, that staying away from the court of law is an avoidance symptom. It sure is. Who, wants to visit, the place of their pain? I remember my dream from 2 nights ago. This time, he waswielding a knife in one hand, a shotgun in the other. With the shotgun pointed at my wig, he’d slashed my wrist in one swift mot...

Hi guys! So, a new series starts today-and its a fictional piece on post-traumatic stress disorder. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks. ------------------------------------------------------------ I. ‘How do you feel, today?’ The silence, was attenuated by the cranking sound of the fan blades as they creaked and cranked, in defiance to the power outage; in the consulting room. The doctor, I noticed, was beginning to perspire. I, on the other hand, felt more secure, less exposed in the presence of heat. He, I mean, the doctor, stood up to open the windows. Reflexively, I cry out ‘Please don’t.’ I think he must have seen something in my eyes, for he opened his mouth as if he was going to explain the details to me. Then, he stopped. He came back to his seat, directly opposite mine. ‘Rolake, its been two and a half years.’ Tears glistened in my eyes, and ran down my cheeks till I was soaked in my ocular fluids. ‘Dr. Phillip…I k...