Not wearing a Mask in Public is like drinking and driving.

 "Hello, Doc!" he greeted loudly as he stepped into the consulting room.

"You are welcome, and happy new year!" I responded.

"I wish you the same, my brother," he said as he pulled a seat and then started laughing.

I was hitherto busy trying to catch up with his medical details but I was distracted by his laughter. "What?" I asked fixing my gaze on him,

He laughed some more before he responded. "So, you still dey wear this thing?" 

I didn't need to ask what he was referring to. I knew what he was talking about. He wasn't the first to ask such question and he will definitely not be the last. In fact, I am so used to the question right now that most often I feel like not responding but I do because it is my duty to educate the ignorant on health matters. Besides, ignorant people in a pandemic are like drunk drivers, they will not die alone. In fact, sometimes, they come out without a scratch, meanwhile they have succeeded in snuffing off many lives. 

"Are you referring to my mask?" I asked rhetorically. "Why should I stop wearing it when COVID 19 is still very much with us?" I said to him. "Honestly speaking, I am tired of wearing it but I have to persevere in order to protect myself, my loved ones and people around me," I added gently.

"Forget that thing," he interjected. "There's nothing like corona virus. They are scamming you people."

I wasn't surprised at his comment. In fact, I was expecting it. Many people including the very educated think that COVID 19 is a scam.

"Who's scamming us and what makes you think it is a scam?" I asked him. I  maintained a high level of cordiality as I spoke to him, otherwise I wouldn't be able to convince him.

"I don't think, I know it is a scam," he insisted. "Government is just using it to steal money." He wanted me to believe him, yet he hadn't made a point to buttress his opinion.

"What is then killing people in Europe and America if you claim that COVID 19 is a scam?" I wanted to know.

"There is COVID 19 in those places. At least when you turn on your TV, you see people in European and American hospitals finding it difficult to breath but here you see people in isolation centres playing football and you want me to believe that COVID 19 exists here. Another thing is that someone will test positive today and before you know it, he tests negative, meanwhile, there is no cure. Doc, they are just using our brains. What we have here is malaria"

By the time he finished, I concluded that what is playing out in our society is the highest level of ignorance and we all are to blame. Both government officials and medical practitioners have not taken their time to enlighten the general public about COVID 19. We have not explained to them that there are three categories of the infected individuals. That there are (1) Asymptomatic people, who don't need any treatment (2) those with mild symptoms, who can recover whether treated or not, and (3) those that are critically ill, who must be treated otherwise they will die. 

We are yet to explain to them that the asymptomatic ones are not sick and that they should actually go about their normal daily businesses but are just isolated to prevent them from infecting others who might become critically ill and die from it. If they know this, they won't be surprised to see those in isolation centres playing football. We have not told them that those that have mild symptoms will recover even when they think it is malaria and take antimalarial drugs. We didn't tell them that it is only the critically ill that are admitted in the treatment centres and given intensive care.

We also didn't let them know that just like most viral infections, that COVID 19 can resolve after a while and that is why people test negative after some time even without any treatment. They also need to know that COVID 19 is mainly the disease of the elderly, the chronically ill  and the immunosuppressed; that just like that drunk driver who may kill many and not die, that carriers with strong immunity can infect many who will die and they (the carriers) won't die.

Even though my patient didn't acknowledge that COVID 19 was real before he left my office, I noticed a subtle change in his attitude after my lecture to him on COVID 19. 

When he came for check up a week later, ladies and gentlemen, he was wearing a mask.

Who sees a bush baby and lives?

 Bush babies also known as Galagoes or Nagapies( meaning 'little night monkeys' in Afrikaans) are small nocturnal primates native to continental Africa. The name 'bushbaby' comes from either the animal's cries or its appearance. The Afrikaans name 'nagapies' is because they are almost exclusively seen at night.

Bush babies have large eyes that give them good night vision in addition to acute hearing and long tail that help them balance. Their ears are bat-like and allow them to track insects in the dark. Their gestational period is 110 to 133 days and young are born with eyes half closed and unable to walk immediately. The newborn weighs less than half an ounce and is fed by mother for six weeks. Female maintains territory but shares it with offspring. Males leave their mothers' territories after puberty but females remain, forming social group consisting of closely related females and their young. Adult males maintain separate territories, which overlap with those of the female social groups, generally, one adult male mates with all the females in an area(Area commander). Males that have not established such territories sometime form small bachelor groups.

Bush babies can be used as pets but this is not commonly done as their diseases could be transmitted to man. Besides, their movement by humans attracts harassment from customs officials. Bush babies communicate by calling to each other and by marking their patches with urine. By following the scent of urine, they can land on exactly the same branch every time.

Myths:

Bush baby also refers to a myth that is used to scare children to stay indoors at night. Most likely arising from the baby-like cry, the unusual nature evolved into a myth about a powerful animal that can kidnap humans. Some believe that whoever sees the animal dies.

Is there any link between this animal and the novel titled 'Bushbaby'? Why not read?

See what a lady was delivered of after many years of pregnancy(Fiboid)

"Good morning, doc!

"Good morning, madam. How are you today?" I smiled at the beautiful lady as she walked into the consulting room. 

"I am fine, thanks," She smiled back at me and sat down, "and you?" 

"Very well, thanks. How may I help you?" 

"I am pregnant, so I came to register for antenatal care," she explained happily. "It's my first pregnancy and trust me, I'm very excited." 

"Congratulations!" That I was happy for her wasn't in question. Anyone that knows what young women with fertility problems go through in the society will be happy for her. 

"Thanks. My husband is so excited, too. He's a very rich and generous man. Rest assured that he'll reward you handsomely if you take good care of me and at the end of my pregnancy, his baby boy is delivered to him in good health," she said to me with a bold smile and my heart leapt for joy. This is the kind of patient I like taking care of, I said to myself. "Oh, I see that you have already done an ultrasound scan." 

"Not yet," she answered, "I hope to get it done today." 

I dropped my pen and focused my gaze on her. "So, how did you know that your baby is a boy?" 

"Because my pastor said so," she answered proudly. 

"Your pastor... told you... that your baby is... a boy?" I asked with disbelief. 

And she nodded. 

"I see," I said, scratched my head and decided to let that slide. Besides it was time to get down to business. I needed to take her history and examine her as quickly as possible. I had already spent so much time with her and soon other patients on the queue would start complaining. "So madam, when did you see your period last?" I asked as I retrieved my pen from the desk. 

"I am on it," she said casually. 

"You are?" I asked not believing her and she nodded. Things were getting complicated so I decided to straighten them out. "Madam, it's not possible to be menstruating while pregnant. Once you become pregnant, you stop menstruating till after your baby is born. If you are bleeding right now, then you're having threatened abortion or retained product of conception," I explained with regret. 

"But I never missed my periods. They always came at the expected time," she said and my jaw dropped. At this point, I needed to ask the basic question. "Did you do a pregnancy test?" I asked her. 

"Nope," she sounded jovial. 

"So how did you conclude that you are pregnant?" I asked with frustration. 

"My pastor said so," she emphasized the words and I got so angry that I felt like punching her in the face. In this age and time? Gosh! "Well, madam...," I started after a brief silence, "I'm not saying that your pastor is wrong but this is a hospital. We practice medicine not miracle. I would have requested a pregnancy test but your tommy is already big enough, we should get an ultrasound scan instead. We need to be sure that what is growing inside of you is truly a baby. It could be fibroid," I didn't voice out the last sentence. I would have been tagged a devil instantly. So I kept that thought to myself. She agreed to go for the scan and when the report came out, the impression was that she had multiple uterine fibroid. When I read the report to her, she shook her head and told me that it was a fine boy not a fibroid and promised to invite me for the baby's church dedication. I smiled and advised her for a myomectomy so that she could get pregnant and have her fine boy but she angrily walked out on me. She came back after more than a year not to show me her 'fine boy' but to agree to the myomectomy and the picture above is what we harvested.

Bube's birthday

Obi is no longer a boy but a man. Happiest birthday to you, 'uncle Bube'. May the Almighty God continue to bless and protect you. Amen! (from Kayzee and Zeeboy)

Ghost in the Neighbourhood

My King and Husband

PROLOGUE: Her name was on everyone’s lips. She was the most beautiful woman that ever walked the face of the earth. Her people regarded her as a goddess because according to them only an immortal could possess her kind of extraordinary beauty. Her statue was standing tall in the village square and her people made it a duty to visit and pay homage on daily basis. They practically worshipped and honoured her. She was every man’s dream, but by the ordinance of the gods, she was already betrothed to a crown prince. Her marriage to the prince was expected to restore the lost sglory of Umuezu Kingdom and everyone looked forward to the D-day. But funnily, Ugomma was yet to be born. In fact, she was yet to be conceived.