Healthy Living

Living Test Tubes…

Published

6 months ago

January 29, 2019

Ovundah

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By Ovundah Nyeche.

And so one day I was seated with a patient, who came for a particular complaint…

And boom the discussion turned to fibroids…

And boom I hear…

I am taking a herbal remedy for my fibroids…

And here was I sweating…

Madam, do you know what the herbal remedy you are taking contains? Nooooooooooo!

Madam, can you explain to me what fibroids are? The look changed to “if I had the chance, I will beat”… You can you explain to me what strength of material is? or explain to me the theory of relativity?…

Okay Madam, please do not be annoyed, “na play I dey play”…

Okay, jokes apart, how does this herbal remedy work? Erm how am I supposed to know?

Madam, you know you are on other drugs, does this herbal remedy interact with other drugs you are taking? And there was this “come young man you better behave yourself”… Well you know that look…

Erm Madam lest I forget, what are the side effects of this herbal remedy? “Haba” Doctor… These drugs are organic and have no side effect whatsoever…

Madam is beans you eat not organic? Shebi it has side effects… Which can range from firing, rumbling, peppering to praaaaaaaaa…

You say your medicine does not have any side effects at all? Yes oh…

Ironically, if a real doctor tells this patient anything, the patient will likely Google it… But when a wannabe is playing with the patient’s life…They will likely look the other way…

Don’t kill yourself for nothing…

#hearword #OvdSpeaks #hearwordseries

Features

Apologies My Dear Melanin Umbrella.

Published

8 months ago

November 24, 2018

Ovundah

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By Belema Omuso Abbey.

I need to say I am sorry dear melanin. Can you ever forgive me? Can I ever undo this wrong? Is there a way I can make this better? How come I was never told I despised you with my actions. I was unknowingly telling you to get lost, literally!!! How come my brain never actually registered the counselling and all the caution I heard? Repeatedly heard.

A deep groan escaped Fabby’s lips as she clutched at her head, sobbing quietly. Then, she pressed send, delivering her message. She got up from the toilet seat and stood in front of the bathroom mirror. She looked at her once “glowing, very fair” skin, scattered in patches of red, black and yellow discoloration. Her skin was shriveled, she could see very tiny and large blue-green veins literally making a map all over her skin. It is a map indeed.

Her doctor says it shows the way the superficial blood vessels course through her body. Her left arm had a long scar, a lasting memory of the surgery she had 4 weeks earlier. The wound took 4 weeks to heal. Dr Regina said it was because her skin has lost all its protective, healing and regenerative functions. Fabby listened as her husband opened the door for the team comprising of doctors and nurses. Her husband called out to her, she is needed he said.

You see, she begins chemotherapy today for melanoma, a skin cancer. That was the outcome of the surgery on her left arm. Melanin stood rigidly against Dr Tan’s consulting room walls. Fabby’s message overwhelmed him as her words echoed all around him. He remembered reading Dr Regina’s notes a few months ago. “Mrs Fabby Dema, a 38 year old female, manager at a bank, who presented with an ulcer on the left arm. She was said to have previously developed an itchy black spot (before the ulcer started) that bled occasionally. She had been using over the counter whitening creams and soaps for 10 years, including a whitening cream following which she would pluck and pull out her skin after a few hours, revealing supposedly new skin. She is married, has just gotten to the peak of her career, her 3 kids are in secondary school. She does not smoke nor take alcohol.”

An angry loud thump drew melanin’s attention back to Dr Tan’s consulting room. It was the angry female patient. She is quite furious because Dr Tan is insisting that she has developed an addiction to steroid creams as she refused to stop applying them 5 months ago. He had prescribed it for an acute flare of her eczema but was surprised to see her much lighter in complexion during the clinic visit. She explained that the steroid cream made her skin fairer and more beautiful. She stomped out of the consulting room as the young dermatologist refused to prescribe some more for her. Melanin pitied Dr Tan. He had particularly had a bad day at the dermatology clinic.

He reminisced about his previous patients. He wondered whether he was complicit in 45 year old Mrs Owuna’s addiction to hydroquinone. He had prepped her skin for a chemical peel with 2% hydroquinone after counselling her on the benefits of the controlled procedure. Following sessions of chemical peels with glycolic acid, he withdrew hydroquinone, placing her on sunscreen.

Despite pre procedure counselling, Mrs A has refused to go off hydroquinone. Today, she informed Dr Tan that her 23 year old daughter’s skin is doing very well with a hydroquinone cream. Dr Tan felt some warmth on his shoulders as Melanin wrapped his arm around him. “No” Melanin said, the patient chose to continue the use of hydroquinone, you did not. He thought of Ms A. Ms A’s ebony skinned friend had accompanied her to her follow up clinic visit today. She needed to consult Dr Tan for a cream that could get her fair. Her group of friends had all started using naturally mixed soap and cream that made their skin luminous. She was rightly worried about the contents of those products, so she came to consult Dr Tan for safer options.

Melanin then screamed through the doctor. “Do not be tempted madam”. Do you know what the different shades of “black” you see on different skin do for us? It protects us from the damaging effects of the ultraviolet rays of the sun. It actually forms an umbrella shield around our skin’s DNA preventing damage and leading to skin cancer. It helps us not to photo age as fast as the white race. Ever heard of the phrase “black don’t crack”?

Bleaching agents with toxic contents like mercury and hydroquinone can give you kidney failure, steroids can cause growth retardation in children and cause a disease called Cushing’s disease. In the long run, when compared to your peers, your skin will look older, is prone to rashes, prone to skin infections, looks more wrinkled, does not heal properly and looks transparent. “I am Melanin, I live in your skin, I protect you, please do not hurt me” the doctor heard himself plead loudly. Those words sliced through Fabby as she dropped the cup of cream.

You see, she is now in remission, her skin cancer treatment had resulted in a very good prognosis. Fabby was about applying whitening/bleaching cream because she noticed her ankles and knuckles look really dark she needed to even up the complexion one more time. Just one more week of use she thought, then I am done with toning my skin forever. So she planned, until melanin replied her long forgotten message.

Belema Omuso Abbey is a consultant dermatologist and physician of the West African College of Physicians. She trained at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital and The University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu state. She is presently into private practise. She loves to dance, read and allow her imaginations run wild.

Healthy Living

Ticktock says the breast…

Published

9 months ago

October 13, 2018

Ovundah

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By Ovundah Nyeche.

In medicine, time is everything…

And many times the difference between life and death is time…and not necessarily money…

Husbands please do a lot of night watch and EFCC on your wife’s breasts…

Ladies be vigilant about your breasts…

Don’t dismiss casually…

Breast pain…

Nipple deviation…

Sunken Nipple…

Dimple on the breast…

Skin changes on the breast…

Swelling on the breast…

Wound on the breasts… ( leave village people, bluetooth and staphylococcus alone)…

Strange Nipple discharge…

Swelling under your armpits…

Please see a doctor urgently… As in immediately with all alacrity…

TIME is EVERYTHING…

And breast cancer is beatable many times, if fought on time…

Many times when caught late… Even your money… may mean nothing…

Do not just play with your breast… Watch and take care of it…

Do not just flaunt it… Inspect it…

And present to a doctor once you notice any foul play…

You are needed…

Your life matter…

Ladies your life matter…

#hearword #OvdSpeaks #hearwordseries #Ovdiasis

Healthy Living

I have just been raped…

Published

11 months ago

August 15, 2018

Ovundah

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By Ovundah Nyeche

Adaobi is the first and only daughter of Deacon Emeka, her ears were drawn when she was about the go to school. She was told everything there was to tell and told not to join bad friends.

Well bad friends were not part of her routine, she had planned to be so committed in fellowship and she had made a vow not to allow any man not her husband to be the Chairman of her local government.

And so it happened, advances came but she turned them down.

And then it happened, fellowship ended late that night and she decided to take the lonely path home… Something kept telling her to stay back at the fellowship Secretariate or ask for brothers to escort her, but she felt there was no need for this and besides there was nothing to worry about.

Just at the middle of the lonely path, she heard footsteps, she felt the struggle and all she remembers was the struggle and a hot pain as well as bleeding.

She knew she had been raped and cried, but was too ashamed to tell anyone, for one week she kept praying for the heavenly father to uproot what he never planted.

She felt bitter and dejected and told no one about that dark night.

Prisca also was very committed in fellowship and she was beautiful and it was no surprise a lot of people hung around her. She liked Collins who was a Prayo and who liked her too and so it happened, she had gone to visit him one night in his room off campus and as though the darkness wanted to trap her, it started raining seriously and that was how it all started. She went closer, kissed him and like a fire an inferno started.

She told him to stop when his hands hit and grabbed her bosom, but his eyes were red, he would pin her down, unbuckle his trousers and exert himself on her amidst her tears and wails, but the thunderstorm and loud music seemed to drown her voice.

Sandra was not similar, it was a department party, all she could remember was the drink and like a paralyzed game, she could feel the guys take turns, but she could not remember who or remember their faces…

Katie still has nightmares, she remembers how the robbers broke down her door and not only stole her things, but stole her privacy…

Curiously they did nothing and wished this sad event away…

Adaobi is 3 months pregnant and does not know the father of her baby…

Prisca was buried last month, she died of complications from abortion…

Sandra was just discharged from the hospital, she was rushed in with tetanus…

Katie was HIV positive before the rape, she now has Hepatitis B as well.

No one prays for a rape, and by the way, males can also be raped.

But when rape happens…It is important to know there is life after rape and if you are raped you will need medical help immediately or within 72 hours (3 days), also it would be in your best interest to let trusted people know and get the police and lawyers involved.

In Nigeria it is important you visit a Government hospital immediately, here doctors would document your complaints, examine you and give you some medications, and these documentations will be very useful especially when you get the police and lawyers involved.

Here in Port Harcourt the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) /Doctors Without Borders, an International Emergency Medical Organization run a free sexual and gender based violence clinic.

If survivors seek medical care within the first three days, they will benefit from free post exposure prophylaxis for HIV, prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and booster shots for tetanus and Hepatitis B Virus. Including treatment of local wounds if any as well as psychological support.

You can Call 09033555455, 07058890060 or visit the Orogbum Health Centre, Ogbunabali by Garrison Bus Stop, Port Harcourt, Rivers State 24 hours a day, 7 days in a week or Eliozu Primary Health Center which runs from 7am-7pm, 7 days a week.

Disclaimer: The story above is purely a work of fiction.

Any similarity between any character in this story and any one living, dead or in between is definitely a miracle.

Again what do I know?

#HearWord #HearWordseries