RECOVERY

(Part II): Recovery time

The environment, not necessarily physical, that you spend a lot of time in can be a powerful modifier of your development, habits and/or behaviors. There are some things we do now as adults that result from how we see things being done in the environment that we are either currently live in, or the one we lived in before. I am finding it easy, as I get older, to note habits I developed from the environment I lived in as a child and teenager that have molded how I approach things. I lived in a children's home (HHFL) for some years and I think there are things I do to date that I picked from that environment. Until about 3 years ago I used to say that HHFL was situated in a ghetto but now that I know what a real ghetto looks like,  Lenana in general isn't even a ghetto ghetto if you ask me, hehe. 

When an orphaned kid in a children's home gets into trouble while playing and maybe breaks a bone, her first instinct is to hide the injury and let it heal in secret. In her mind, there's too many things caregivers are handling, she wouldn't want to add her 'issue' to the already existing daily tasks of running a home. Her mind tells her that there are far much more important things happening for specialized attention to be given to her. She then just keeps things to herself until it worsens, then tells her friend who goes ahead to inform the management. HHFL has an open-door policy that encourages free and open communication between the beneficiaries, caregivers and founders. The office was and still is open to anyone of us and that makes it easy for us to report any ailments. Proper medical care is (and was - in our days) at the top of the food chain in its structures and it was required that we report any health related issues as and when they occurred. Despite constantly being encouraged to be open, some of us still held back. You'd hear some say, "They've given me an education, food and a roof over my head - I cannot then bring something like this to them. I will just handle this alone. I will survive 😬 ." 

To date, I still find it hard to ask for help. I try to 'survive' solo first before I reveal to anyone that I need a hand. I picked that from living at HHFL. They say ghetto children are survivors 😂. We survive through anything. When I got into that accident my first instinct was to 'wait it out', and I did. I thought it was just a minor thing that would go back to normal haraka and so I bought some massaging creams to help quicken the process. Two weeks went by and the pain and swelling wasn't going away, that's when I finally decided to go see a doctor. I had an x-ray done, kumbe there was a small fracture on the second metatarsal bone of my right leg. The best way to heal it, as advised, was to have the right foot plastered. I said yes to the plastering but in my head I thought that they would put the cast on it in such a way that I would still be able to step down and walk normally (blonde moment right there 😆)! What made the whole situation worse was when they said I had to walk on crutches; not one but two!!

I bought the crutches at some orthopedic shop at Luthuli on the day of the plastering and later realized hao watu walinigonga sana. I could've gotten them at a cheaper price elsewhere but ni sawa tu, that's the extra cost I paid for ignorance. My first wish was to get the walking boot but after asking it's price the shop attendant implied that I had to sell my kidney to afford it, nikasema wacha ikae. The physician came over to my place and did her thing which took less than twenty minutes. After she was done, I sat down and bawled for a good minute then did some practice with the crutches. It was so hard! My left leg would get stiff from carrying the weight and the right one would get really heavy from just hanging. I did a lot of straining in the month that followed, most times my movement was restricted to the house and the balcony. I really missed 'outsiding'. I missed boarding a matatu, something I'd never thought I'd miss.😂 I had to work from home for that month. Taking a bath was the hardest, some days I would not even shower😝. Staying home is great and even as I write this I wish I was in my room catching up on series and eating some left over food directly from the sufuria but I didn't like it. I was sad a lot, I tried to come up with a routine to run my days but I always steered off those. I didn't understand how such a small injury could take up so much space in my head. Walking on crutches didn't make it any easy - every time I would step out with them neighbors would look at me like I was gonna die the next minute 😂. 

There are good things that came out of being home like that though. I was surrounded by some amazing people (the few I had the guts to tell) who came over to take care of me and visit. As much as I wanted to be alone in my misery, some stubborn people still came around to check up on me💖. Nilikuwa nakula vizuri...waah 😂, napikiwa, matunda mgonjwa alikuwa analetewa kila saa, flowers ndio hizo 😍😂 ..I was enjoying myselefu. My emotional and mental state were really in good shape because of these people even when the physical wasn't. In case any of you read this, I'd like to thank you so much for deeming me worthy of your time and care. You came through for me in various ways that meant so much to me. The ones who called and texted, I am indebted to y'all. 

How I'm I doing now? I'm so grateful to God that I'm here, all healthy and active (as usual). I'm doing way better than I was when I removed the cast. There's no pain on my leg particularly on the section where the fracture was. I have few weeks to go to be able to get back into my workouts and adventures though. I can confidently say that generally my recovery was made easy by allowing people to be there for me. After all,  'surviving alone' isn't always the best option, right?

In other news, in two days we'll be done with the first half of the year? How insane is that? Where's your head at? Are you okay? No, really - are you? Still going strong on those 2021 resolutions? Some of mine kunywad maji just like that but you know what? We locomote regardless 😂. In case you're reading this and there's stuff you're going through that you can't talk about all I'm gonna tell you is to not forget to breathe, and take it a day at a time. You're gonna be okay 💝💝

Here's to good health, happiness and restored bones! 💐🍹🍸

PS: Anyone in need of crutches can contact me. Hatutakosana bei 😎