100% Healthy!!!
I met a woman today in church. This wasn’t the first time I was meeting her, so I recognized her. During mass, I observed how active she was, moving about, smiling as usual, and going about her duty. When the mass was over, we exchanged pleasantries, and I talked about how she hadn’t been present last Sunday. And that was when she told me that she had been seriously ill.
Not a small illness, something major that had basically made her bedridden. For days, she could barely speak due to how sick she was. She was on a drip for long hours at a time. She spent over a week at the hospital, and even when she was allowed to return home, doctors came to the house for regular check-ups. The last check-up was actually last night.
It turned out that she wasn’t feeling 100% yet, but she had still managed to drag herself to church. Her children had complained bitterly; they wanted her to stay home and rest, but she believed that she could do it. So she left, and she was able to get through the mass and do her duties. Even though she was still feeling a bit down, she made it work.
When I heard her story, I was actually impressed. For me, falling sick is always a dramatic event. Being sick is always an excuse for me not to do things, and I always take advantage of that. When I’m ill, I’m the kind of person who will wrap myself up in bed, shivering like a leaf caught in the wind. Needing someone to check up on me every two minutes. Sometimes, even leaving my home to get to the pharmacy to get drugs would be like an uphill battle.
I always use such periods to rest properly. Unless I believe I’m back to full health, it would be hard for me to leave the house. Hell, I won’t even touch water if I think it’ll make my condition worse. The slightest sign of illness, I’ll treat it and make sure I don’t do anything to aggravate it. And that’s why when I see people go about their duties even when they don’t feel alright, I’m always amazed.
My Mom used to do that as well, until all of us nagged her to stop. There are people who will tell you that they’ve had malaria for weeks, but you’ll see them still working hard and going about their duties. They have splitting headaches, but they’re moving on with life regardless. These things don’t go away; they get worse.
But then, I know that there could be many reasons why people would act in such a manner. Some times, there may not be money for treatment, and people will just have to suck it up, hoping God will take control. And for some, even though they have the money, they just can’t take time from their busy schedule to get drugs. They keep postponing it. And then, there are those that, even with treatment, you can’t pin down. They’ll be moving around, doing chores, even when they’re not back to full health.
Honestly, I don’t really know why exactly people do what they do. But then, such is life. It could just be that the level of responsibilities I have today allows me the freedom to take time off from everything when I fall sick. But then, when a family comes in, or when little kids are involved, it all changes. A hungry child wouldn’t care that the mother isn’t feeling alright, or that the father has a splitting headache. They’re hungry, and they must eat!
I guess that’s why we see mothers doing chores, regardless of the illness brewing in their bodies. Or fathers, steadily working even though they know their bodies are failing them. Sadly, such a lifestyle is not ideal. Because the longer these illnesses stay in your body without being treated, the worse it gets, and that’s why we end up having cases of malaria killing the patients. When people hear it, they wonder how something as minor as malaria can kill, but they would have no idea how long it had been in the person’s body.
So, is this the sacrifice we have to make as we grow? If this is the kind of life we get to live because we have kids, or we don’t want to lose our jobs, or something along those lines… I just hope that we all will take the time to actually take care of ourselves. We should do our best to be 100% at all times, and when we’re not, take care of it at once. Because with the state of the world right now, falling ill would just be a terrible idea.
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STOPThank you for this.
Awesome work @bruno-kema! You're truly dedicated to Hive and making an impact with your daily posts.
You are right. Most of the time we use our sickness as an excuse and we want to stay in bed but in my case it's not. I don't do it unless it's harmful to me because in my eyes I must accomplish all the task I decided as long as I am capable to do it. But in that case I know my limits also because if I tries to do too much I need to bear the consequences also.
Hehe... I do my best not to ignore any symptom, because letting it simmer for too long will always be a bad idea in my books.