My TB Story- A Self-Diagnosis gone wrong!

Today is March 24,  The World Tuberculosis Day.
TB is an ongoing epidemic that causes 9 million infections and 1.5 million deaths every year.
I am a TB survivor, and this is my story:

It started as a common cold in early July last year,coincidentally,at the onset of the July cold weather in Nairobi, fondly, or otherwise called the Nairobi Winter!
As usual,like with all other bouts of Flu, I, the Self-made Flu remedy expert got dowm to the business of 'treating' the cold,downing endless glasses of Warm lemon water,laced with honey,garlic and sometimes Cinnamon or Rosemary leaves.
A week of this taditional remedy didnt work, so I got myself to a pharmacy and asked for 'Dawa ya Homa'. A bottle of foul tasting cough syrup in hand and a few throat lozenges later, i managed to supress the cold,but just for a week.
Then the Coughing started.
I would spend my day in perfect health, but as the darkness crept over the City's skyline, so did the Bull dog on the inside of my lungs came alive.
The sheer sight of food would sent me into a coughing frenzy,so bad that I slowly developed a phobia for the kitchen,and plates for the next two weeks.
The once cold nights turned into nights of horror: hot as hell. That coupled with fevers that left me gasping for breath.
To say the least, sometimes I got so scared because I though I was fighting death.
And all this while, after trying all kinds of antibiotics and remedies, I never suspected TB to be the cause of my woes.
By the time I decided to go for TB screening, I had lost more than 25 pounds in three weeks, and I could not walk for a minute without being out of breath.
An X-ray to my lungs and two sputum tests confirmed the worst, I had contracted Pulmonary Tuberculosis.
As I sat in the doctor's office trying to come to terms  with the fact that I was a carrier of a highly infectious disease that could put my family at risk,and that my X-ray showed the lower part of my left lung as a blur, I was in full panic mode.
I was fresh out of Campus, ready to conquer the world: look for a job, or become a Volunteer,Graduate from the University ,become indipendent,save money, and start Graduate school.
But my dreams had to be put on hold.
For the next six months, I was to be under medication, reporting to the Clinic on a weekly basis to replenish my supply of TB drugs.
The Six months of Hell started in August.
Long Sweaty nights, Joint  pains that made me dread visiting the toilet and Cramps from hell!
All this,plus a crazy craving for food with a zero appetite was just the perfect combination.
I would spend my mornings walking around the house like a zombie,literally, trying to get my joints moving because I had this fear if I didn't move as much,I would wake up the following morning and my limbs would refuse to move!

Now, on this march day,
As I mark days 46 Days of being Disease free,
It has not been an easy journey.
I have developed a phobia for people with coughs,
And I am still vulnerable to Reinfection.
Yet,
I am so grateful to be not among the 1.5 million who unlike me,are not so lucky.

So many sacrifices have been made,
So many sleepless nights,
So many people have had to keep worrying ,
So many prayers said,
So many tears shed in the silent of the night when the pain was unbearable.
But with all of that,
I have experienced a Love that I did not know existed,
And learned to bend in the winds of life, with the wind,
Just like a blade of grass.
I have learened to take life one day at a time, and never take granted the gift of being healthy and strong.

Most impotantly, I have learnt an important lesson,
To let go of my Self-Diagnosis,Self-Treating Syndome, and let Professionals do their stuff!

So, the next time Your Cold persists,
Do the wise thing,
Go Get TESTED!

LESSONS FROM MY DAD :My Childhood Memories -#1

Growing up as an only girl is not easy as many of you would think. Especially if your Dad is a Teacher!
I might have thought of myself as the apple of his eye,and that I could get away with alot of mischief,
but not under my dad's watch
See, I have been and still I'm a bully, always getting my brothers  to do as I say, then watch them get roasted all alone.
Being a tomboy helped much, I could do all the mischief a boy could do, well,even better, and use the "I am a girl" card to get away with it.
Surely, who in their right mind would think of me as a Catapult weilding hunter, in the quest for killing or was it hunting down birds,lizards and the occassional squirel that infested a bush(as the wazungus call them) behind the Ploti we used to stay in while i was barely a teenager.
To say the least, this hunts ended up with stones "straying" and cracking a glass window at the Mission Hospital adjacent to the Bush, or better yet, hitting the unsuspecting passersby,going home to the village after a long trip up the dusty road to the market place.
In all this, my brothers,and the other boys from the hood got blamed,and took a couple of beatings while I smiled all the way into my Dad's good books.
Until  the one day I got way  too ahead of myself in this mischief  business and got my behind whooped by my Old man's Famous leather belt.
See, in our routine weekend visit to my grandparents ,we used to take a short -cut through a forest that had numerous bee hives hoisted up on the trees that lined the leafy dirty path we used to walk on.
On that fine Saturday morning,my brain was working overtime and the fact that someone had accidentally spilled maize on their wayto the poshomill got my creatinve juices up and overflowing...
You should have heard me,in a very nice voice ask my brothers to use the maize grains and try hit the hives, and see who got the most hits.
Like always my brothers took the bait,after all they they were born with the Competitive Gene that infests all the male species!
You even should have seen me go to Report their "Game' to my dad, hoping as always they would all get a beating and I would stand there, watching, my insides doing a happy dance!
Well not on this day,....
Long story short,
I got the first taste of My dads prowess in beating the headlights out of a cheeky,bratty girl!
That beating was so good that I never again dreamt of getting my brothers and I in a position that would warrant a trip of that leather belt on our behinds.

Years later, I got to understand this,
That no matter how much My Dad loved me, He would never in the world let me get down that road that brattiness leads to. He would do everything ,to make sure he raised me up, proper and disciplined.
 At the look of things, HE DID GOOD!!!!!!

CROSSroads- The SunSET!!

Pearly, clear, and salty,

The lone teardrop makes its way down the once silky flawless skin,

Now roughened and concocted with pain.
The long ,slow journey ends up on the once luscious, sensual lips, now dry and chapped,parched...
Breath comes slowly as a sigh, 

The heartbeat slows, 

SUDDENLY, 

Eyes droop, eyelids close,

 Arms drop to the side... The Battle is lost!

No more sweet smiles,

The heart cannot dance..
No more warm, comforting embraces..
No heat to rekindle the fire in your soul,

The flame is doused forever,the remaining embers now glowing dimly.
No static to electrify your heart to dance..
No more whispers in the night...
What is left is the stench of death, tears n loneliness.
No memories to hold..

Our lifes are left so meaningless and empty...
If we could learn to live the Moment, and leave the future to its own cares..
Then we would never have regrets... 
BECAUSE
We would do the things we ought to do and say the words we out to say right..

We would learn to Love absolutely,

 Forgive unconditionally,

 Smile more, 

Frown not,

Laugh heartily ,

Cry Never, and Hate not.
To do good,

 Change lives.

 Most Importantly,

Leave Heart prints along our way...
For Our Destiny is One,

No one is going to Be here forever...
We are ever at
Cross-roads..
The SuNseT!!

Dreams, the Mystical madness.

Lying down on the couch,

It is just another hot mid March Afternoon.

 The heat is searing..
The strum of a guitar so far away...I’m drowsy..the ballad keeps replaying in my subconscious...
SUDDENLY, i can't feel the heat ,

I’m held aloof,like i just stepped on a Magic Carpet.. 
Hey! LOOK OUT! , I'm waving my Magic wand... 

Everything is at standstill,

all except for the wind.

I feel light as pollen, graceful like a gazelle,swifter than the Eagle..
Trudging my world is an awesome feeling.

I Got The Midas Touch,

Everything is Gold.

 Don't need light, a string of Pearls will do,  because i am Bedecked in Diamonds...

Fluid motions.......

Grains of sands seemingly immobile in the fluted hour glass.....

Geysers fizzling....
And then ,suddenly a gust of wind......

Then birds shatter the serenity with beautiful tunes, then the drone of a plane flyin too low..

Bang! 

The spell is broken...

 Hey, I’m Falling,....

Wish i had wings...
Then i realise an Eternity has just Passed...
The Storm is breaking..
The heat's rushing In...
SOMEONE GET ME some Ice CreeeaaaaMM..
This is INSANITY.... 

Lets get Loud.. 

DAMN! 

.....WISH  I A Was A fish... 
I'd swim..
To the Ends of the world..lol
Wonder if a Sphere got ends..
 This is Pure........
MADNESS!!!