January 1st found me asleep. For some reason on 31st, I had had a really bad day and I just wanted to sleep. Ideally I’m those people that are hyped up for crossover-keshas, just for the countdown, tbh. I don’t have the luxury of attending end-year concerts because I still live under my parents’ roof😂. Looking back, maybe that alone was a sign that 2020 would not be a typical year…or maybe not.

So on 6th, I started working at Meru Hospice, temporarily. A hospice is an institution offering palliative care to terminally ill patients and their families. Terminally ill patients are those suffering from diseases such as Cancer, HIV/AIDs, Diabetes – diseases whose cure has still not been found, and the patient might have to live with the disease, for the rest of their life.

Fun fact. As I type this, I still haven’t settled on the pronunciation to use for the word ‘hospice’. There are two pronunciations I know of; hos-pis and hos-pais. You’ll even hear me use both in one statement🤦🏿‍♀️.

Meru Hospice deals mainly with Cancer patients. Their care revolves around providing painkillers to the patients, at subsidized costs. Besides that, they offer foodstuffs, clothes and other essentials. And to top it all, they occasionally conduct home visits as well as offer counselling sessions to both the patients and their families. Basically, hospices work on offering these loved ones a comfortable life.

Now that you know a bit more about hospices, read my posts under “Cancer series” for the first time, or again😁.

The first lesson I picked in 2020 was to appreciate good physical, mental and emotional health.

I especially recall one late afternoon’s incidence. I was preparing to leave for home when patient Tee* and his brother walked in. Tee had a gastrotomy tube on and was emaciated. Normally, I would ask for the patient’s card, get their file and give it to the nurse-in-charge; that was my JD🤣. On giving Tee’s file to the nurse, I couldn’t help but feel sorry that he had to go through so much struggle at a very old age, say 70 thereabout. I was shocked to learn that he was way younger, younger than half the age I’d assumed he was. Cancer had stripped him of all the youthful energy and looks in him and that shattered my heart. That was just one scenario out of countless others that I had to deal with for close to three months. Going through a week without a headache or nausea is a huge blessing that we often overlook.

Dealing with cases such as Tee’s daily, might take an emotional toll on you as well. Therefore, since then I have found a new respect for health workers. Basically anyone who works in a hospital. These people have to handle such fragile cases and cannot expressly show they are emotionally drained because the patients are looking up to them. They have to hold back their emotions until they leave their workplace. There are a few cases of rude nurses or unbothered doctors, but you know what they say about a market. Don’t you? Cheers to all healthcare workers! Keep being the queens and kings you already are!!!

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Today I’m grateful for life. Just being alive and healthy, save for slight body pains because I recently started working out 💃🏿, is a huge blessing manze.

~Bible Vibes~

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

2 Peter 1:3