STAGE TWO: TREATMENT
By Peter Wahome
I walked to the gate very slowly and opened it. I got out and closed it but that was too much activity for my frail body. I therefore sat on the verandah of the offices that are adjacent to our home. The funny thing is my one year old niece had been observing me and when she saw me sit on the floor she came peeping through the gate rails. She started smiling and laughing while looking at me. I thought she was laughing at my misfortunes.
My ego could not handle that so I mastered every ounce of strength I had and rose up. I could still feel her corny eyes looking at me. Probably she was just thinking “What kind of guy wears flip flops and socks while going out?” I honestly looked like a total joke. A guy from shagz probably looked classier than me. However when it is a matter of life and death who cares what they look like more than if they will live to see another day. Probably “mayengs” would.
By God’s grace I arrived at the clinic to find a kind Muslim lady in a hijab. Having explained that I desperately need to see a doctor she asked me for 200 shillings which I paid via MPesa. As a kikuyu, I was still worried about the cost of treatment so I asked the short, dark slim doctor how much it would cost. He said he could only evaluate once a proper diagnosis was conducted and treatment prescribed.
Luckily there was no queue so the doctor attended to me ASAP.
With my weak voice I told the doctor everything I was feeling as he was jotting down in a pink A4 card. I even told him the embarrassing severe diarrhea that had plagued my gut. That’s when I learnt that the euphemistic word for diarrhea is loose stool.
“Doc naendesha sana,”
“Oh so you are also experiencing loose stool?”
“Yeah a lot.”
Then came the hard part. Tests.
Freaky stool test and the one I dread most, blood test. Ladies and gentlemen, in 7 years no injection had ever entered my veins ever. For whatever purpose. I hate it because it stings. I don’t fear it. I am a man daah! But the stinging sharp shooting pain that it causes is just annoying.
I did the tests, they were sent to the lab and the results came back positive for H Pylori, negative for Typhoid and Malaria.
Is there a H Pylori epidemic because every single person who I know has gone for tests in regular hospitals for stomach upset ends up testing positive for H Pylori. In simple terms H Pylori is a bacteria that causes ulcers.
The doctor started asking me uncomfortable questions like “Are you having issues with your girlfriend? Who was the last person you kissed and when?” He was trying to understand where I got H Pylori from. I answered in the negative for all his questions. Boss, treat me I go home.
He charged me 6k for the whole treatment. An unfortunate shot of injection to my back and IV drip dosage because apparently the bacteria had multiplied in my system exponentially. I carried that IV injection at the back of my wrist for three days because every day I had to go for an injection. This thing made my life very unbearable.
Having taken my medicines I dragged myself home holding onto walls because of intense Kizunguzungu (what is the English word for this feeling? Anyone?) which was a side effect of the heavy medication. I went straight to bed.
Next, the recovery process.