From Clinic to Cassava: How I Spent My Day

Good morning friends! Today, I’ll be sharing how I spent my day yesterday being Monday. It was quite a different one from my usual routine. First, I didn’t wake up as early as I normally do because I had slept late the previous night. This made me wake up later than usual and rush to prepare for my clinical posting.

As soon as I woke up, I did my morning devotion which is very important to me, then I hurried to get ready for the day. Since I was already running late, I quickly had breakfast, dressed up, and headed to the motor park to find a bus going to the hospital. Thankfully, I found one, and the driver drove quite fast, which helped me reach on time—or at least not too late, and I thank god for that.

When I arrived at UNTH, it was already past 9:30 AM. So I quickly joined my colleagues, who were already engaged in discussions with the interns. Since they had arrived earlier and were talking about different topics, including cancer. Although we didn’t go into much detail, the chief of the unit assigned us to read up on the topic and prepare for a presentation the next day.

The session was so engaging, I must confess, as we exchanged ideas, brainstormed on clinical cases, and answered various questions. Later on, we had an outpatient brought in. From my observation, she was in distress when she came in. She had undergone a mastectomy and thoracotomy, and you can only imagine the pain and discomfort she was experiencing already. She complained of severe pain around the surgical site and also mentioned feeling an abnormal sensation in that particular area.

Actually, her pain was so intense that she didn’t even allow us to touch her, let alone manage her condition. We allowed her to rest in the most comfortable position on the examination table. And after a while, she felt some relief, but unfortunately, it didn’t last long before she became uncomfortable again. I feel like because of the severity of her symptoms, we referred her to the medical team for further evaluation.
Once she left with her caregivers, we resumed our discussions with the interns and chief and wrapped up the session since we were already concluding. After a few more hours, we signed out and departed. I took the picture above while I was walking toward the hospital gate.

When I got to the hospital gate to get a bus home, I didn’t find one immediately. My goodness, I had to wait for almost 30 minutes before a bus could finally show up. I was relieved when I saw the bus anyway.

When I reached home, I helped my family with some work that was already in progress—processing cassava to make garri. Since garri is a common staple food here, we are very familiar with its long production process.
This was my me, peeling the cassava
It is such a long process that it normally takes two days to get it done.

Afterwards, I spent a few hours working before I decided to study for the evening. According to my timetable, I was supposed to read renal pathology, so I settled down with my books. However, before I could finish studying, sleepiness started creeping in. Eventually, I closed my books and went to bed, bringing my day to an end.

That was how I spent my day yesterday. Thank you for taking the time to read!