Survivor Tales

I started a series last year, in which I shared real-life #SurvivorTales from real people across the world. The point of this is to cheer people up and help them get through whatever seemingly bleak situations they may be passing through. So if you know any such people, feel free to share and encourage them. And if you know are a True Survivor or know one, please send me your story to bukiotuyemi@gmail.com so that others can be inspired by it.

Here we go.........

#SurvivorTales

I had an ear infection for several days about two weeks ago. I couldn't get time off work at the time so I decided to see the doctor at the weekend. Last Sunday, I went to see one and upon examining the ear and seeing the intense pains I was in, she prescribed some antibiotics and an injection for the pain. The shot was one of the most painful injections I've ever had (the spot is still sore as I type) and since the doctor had said it would make me drowsy, I hurried home. Unfortunately, my body reacted badly to the injection. Less than an hour after I left the hospital, I started throwing up and my stomach felt like someone lit a bonfire in there. After throwing up over thirty times (yes, you read that right! 30) I had to be rushed back to the hospital around midnight due to excruciating tummy pains and exhaustion from the nausea. 

I almost passed out when we arrived at the hospital, but something told me to stay awake at all costs.  It was a soft, soothing but firm voice in my head telling me I needed to be awake when I got into the hospital. Boy, did I struggle to remain conscious. I was utterly exhausted. After being wheeled into the emergency room and transferred to a bed, I managed to tell them what happened then I burst into uncontrollable tears. Between deep sobs that racked through my body, I weakly but assertively insisted on knowing what sort of injection I had been given earlier in the day because I was fine prior to the shot. A few minutes later, I heard them preparing an injection and I recalled it was the same way the one I was given in the afternoon was prepared. The bottle holding the liquid was so thick that it has to be sawed before being broken open. The sound of that injection bottle being sawed open was one I wouldn't forget in a hurry, so I started screaming that I didn't want what ever the nurse was preparing and that I needed to know what the first doctor prescribed to me. 

The nurse had broken the seal of the injection and was about sticking the syringe in when suddenly, the night doctor rushed back in frantically asking her to stand down. It was the same injection that messed me up in the afternoon they had wanted to give me again!!!!!! How would I have survived that? I later learnt that people react differently to the injection and there had been cases of seized breathing and resuscitation upon receipt of the injection in some patients. O_o 

Then, it suddenly hit me why we have so many cases of "he/she died after a brief illness" in Nigeria. I was mighty grateful I was awake and coherent when I got into the ER that night. I try not to imagine what could have happened if I got there in the amount of pains I was in and then passed out shortly afterwards. 

I've since been discharged and feeling much better. Thanks for the prayers and thank God Almighty. I guess my work here on earth isn't done yet. :)

Buki O.

Twitter: @Survivor17