After Madam Tina’s elaborate fiftieth birthday celebration, a strange visitor moved into her life. From having sleepless nights, to constant headache, to loss of weight and to the height of it all, rapid heartbeat. To find out what this visitor was, she head to the general hospital for the diagnosis.
Madam Tina felt relieved after her husband, Dawson gave her a whooping sum of money to treat herself and get some medications. After a blood test and MRI was done, her longtime doctor, Dr. Abubakar revealed the unknown visitor to her.
“Madam, you are suffering from hyperthyroidism. You will be given daily dose of carbimazole to make your hormones normal before a surgery,” Dr. Abubakar explains.
“Ha! Surgery? Why will I undergo a surgery?” At once, Madam Tina leaves the office and jams the door angrily.
She has never been as bothered as this. Almost every second while driving home, she exclaims. She never wants to undergo a surgery no matter how bad her condition seems.
On her way home, she branched a popular market of herbal treatments for any kind of ailment. She search the nook and cranny of the market to know if anyone has a cure for hyperthyroidism, but no one does.
“Madam, we are only trying our best here. It is advisable to undergo the surgery for your safety,” that was the best advise that one of the native doctors in the market gave to her but Madam Tina turned deaf ears to his advise.
Days went by and Madam Tina’s health deteriorated. Her hyperthyroidism condition got worse that she began to hear some noise ringing in her ear. And finally, after two years of battling with her life, she agreed to undergo the surgery.
On the day of her surgery, she asked Dr. Abubakar about twenty questions.
“Doctor, what’s the percentage of death during hyperthyroidism surgery? How fast do people recover? Is it deadly and is it a major or minor surgery?” Madam Tina loads the doctor different questions and expected him to answer them all.
“Madam Tina, you don’t have to worry about it. Everything will surely be alright,” Dr. Abubakar holds her hands and look into her eyes.
He passes on the blue surgical gown to her and leaves for the theater to get ready for the surgery. Then, a strange woman enters the ward and found Madam Tina sobbing.
“Hello madam, I am Mrs Lawanson, the lead doctor for your hyperthyroidism surgery. I will be doing a subtotal thyroidectomy. The surgery will last one to two hours and I’m sure you will be fine,” the more Mrs Lawanson explained the surgical procedure, the more Madam Tina’s heart rate increased.
“It’s good to meet you, Mrs Lawanson. Are you sure nothing will happen to me? Are you sure I won’t die in the process of the surgery? Also, I read about thyroid storm which sometimes happen to people during surgery and it leads to death. How sure are we that it won’t happen to me?,” in tears, Madam Tina asks various questions. She was eager to know if it will be a death sentence or if there will be a chance to live longer.
Mrs Lawanson smiles at all the questions asked by Madam Tina and she said; “You are the most inquisitive patient I’m ever going to treat. Also, I have heard a lot about you but just as Dr. Abubakar said, you don’t really have to worry about it” then, she smiles.
On taking Madam Tina to the theatre, her husband who has been acting all strong and brave burst into tears. He kissed her and wished her a chance of survival.
At last, the family could smile again. Dawson sat on the sick bed beside his wife. He kissed her hands so many times and they had the chance to be husband and wife again.
“Doctors, I didn’t know it was going to come this easy. I once heard about a man who had a brain tumor surgery and didn’t survive so I started to get scared of surgeries since then,” everyone present burst into laughter after Madam Tina explains why she dislikes surgeries.
“There are surgeries that gives you less chance to survive and brain tumor surgery is one of them. And yours isn’t such kind of surgery and that’s why you were told not to worry,” Dr. Abubakar explains and changes Madam Tina’s perspective.
Since then, she never got scared of surgeries again and instead of worrying, she rather asks questions.