..

“Ruptured ectopic pregnancy.”

Blinks, eyes open.

“3 amps of Pentazocine.”

Blinks, eyes close.

“Go test for PCV.”

Drifts off yet again…

---

Yeah, that was me at some point today. You may be wondering how I got into this situation or what the situation really was. Well, it all began this morning, before the sun was ready to wake up, and neither was I. But I had barely slept the night before, so we were up, myself and my household.

I was running around, trying to sort out transportation to take my sister to the hospital, ensuring everything was going well and she was being attended to.

I was supposed to be on my way back to school today, but I guess the universe had other plans.

The long and short of it is that today was honestly a lot. And because my response to stress is crying, I first found a corner and cried before facing everything else the day had in store for me.

Here's the interesting part of today. At some point, my sister needed blood. I was an obvious match and decided to donate. Now, I hadn't eaten anything all day, so I quickly grabbed a bite, and before I knew it, I was having a pint of blood taken from me.

Initially, it wasn't a big deal. Aside from my fear of needles, I was essentially calm and all. I was brave, abeg. Moreover, it's just one pint, you get?

Anyways, the moment I got on my feet and started making my way back to my sister with the blood, it all began. The world around me started spinning, my eyes were doing their own thing, and really badly too. My chest felt tight, breathing became difficult, and my eyes started closing on their own.

But I had one mission: get the blood to her. And I did.

Then I collapsed on a nearby bed.

The hilarious part was that I had been going on and on about how it wasn't a big deal and how I could handle it without getting dizzy. Even the lab scientist who took my blood was hyping me up because it was my first time donating, yet I was so calm and showed no signs of dizziness. Only if he knew how hard I had struggled to walk back!

Lol.

It was interesting to me because one minute, I was Superwoman, giving a pint of blood as though I was drinking Bobo, and the next, I was praying to make it back to the emergency ward before collapsing.

Another highlight of my crazy day was kindness.

Government hospitals and angry staff members who seem ready to yell before explaining anything were giving me hell. Everyone seemed to be making an already difficult day much worse, until I went to the pharmacy.

The pharmacy guys were genuinely so nice. They were the only people who asked how I was doing, explained things to me without yelling, and gave directions without insulting me. And that simple act of kindness made me feel so warm and so much better.

They were the real VVIPs of the day.

Dearest reader, there will be times when you feel like you're absolutely killing it, like you're Merlin or something, only to make one move and realise that perhaps you weren't all that after all. And it's fine, it's okay to discover that you aren't the first person who can donate blood without getting dizzy. It's okay to need a bed after insisting that you're perfectly fine. Sometimes, our bodies remind us that being brave doesn't mean we're invincible.

There's also something beautiful about learning not to beat ourselves up over things we cannot always control, and learning to appreciate the little good things that happen to us, even when everything else seems to be going wrong.

A shout-out to those pharmacy guys. They didn't just make me smile; they made an almost awful day bearable. And honestly, I think we should try to leave people with more of these experiences. You never really know what someone is dealing with or how much a little kindness could mean to them.

After all, sometimes, you may not be able to fix someone's day, but you can make it a little less difficult to get through.

Don't you think?

@favvy_Okwans🖤.