Blessing's Dimming World

Um! This one is not your usual piece. It is actually, an interview we were having on the phone.

For those of you who read 70km/h, you'll notice I mentioned a buddy and a big brother, Mr. Thomas Shelby, [not his real name] who also goes by Msee. The guy who saved the day.

Tom is one of those people who will do something for you without expecting anything in return. He's that good-hearted. For instance, even after making rounds in his car, from hospital to hospital burning precious fuel, he still refused some reimbursement to cover the costs.

So, in the last week of October, he read Yada yada and in-boxed me on WhatsApp while on the SGR from Nairobi to Mombasa. With 3 laughing emojis.. the article made his day, which I'm highly honored. The comments, compliments, likes, and followers are my motivation to do this even more. I can't thank you'll enough.

Tom was heading home, from Lions Sight First Eye Hospital in Loresho where his daughter Blessing had an eye surgery and was scheduled for a checkup from what I gathered from our conversation. I had no idea, he did not even utter a word of what he was going through since last year until I made him.

So, how it all began..

Last year around September he noticed some odd characteristics while he was helping her with homework. Blessing was 12 then, just at the age of turning into a young lady and a teenager. Sitting in some funny postures. Tom was puzzled. He at first thought it was teenage idiosyncrasies.

One morning as they were preparing for school, Tom noticed some funny discoloration on her left eye. He did a quick eye test by telling her to close one eye and walk toward him. She covered the eye with her palm and walked, then the next eye. This is when he noticed his little girl was going blind, as she tripped over the table and chairs almost falling.

Later in the day, Tom excused himself from work and went to pick up Blessing from school to have an eye checkup. Upon close examination, a scan was required. Of course, we never tend to go to the extreme, Msee (allow me to call him that, Tom sounds too official) thought it would have been a quick checkup, get some eye drops, and head home.

The scan was done at Lighthouse hospital specialists for Eyes in Mombasa, quite an expensive venture, the doctors would look at the scan results and call another doctor. Like they were not sure of the scan. They resulted in telling him some of their machines aren't working. So he was referred to Pandya where he met a friend who is a practitioner. Blessing was nervous and would not stay still for the scan, many attempts later they finally had a useable not ideal, useable scan to work with. The doctor reported some white strands and some unusual growth in her retina. Murphy's law been what it is, whatever was happening to this one eye was also starting to develop on the other.

As we are having this conversation, I can hear him ask the kids what else they want. They were shopping for back to school, and he was complaining that the pencils were expensive at Ksh. 25 each. Yeah! He is that cheap.

Upon referral, the same thing. Until the last resort was Loresho Lions Sight First Eye Hospital. Before going there, some of his friends recommend some hospital in Moshi, Tanzania, msee being the Kikuyu he is and Loresho is in his home county, he opted to kill two birds with one stone.

He made the journey. The doctor there wanted some blood work tests and new scans from their labs to rule out possible illnesses that could have similar symptoms. On a closer look at the lab results, the doctor told him he was late, and they needed intervention yesterday. But then Blessing was not in pain, she wasn't complaining about anything.

The ophthalmologist Dr. Manish [also not his real name], recommended a series of surgeries. Of course, it's human nature, especially with loved ones we never want to go to extreme measures. Msee was not in any way prepared for such a drastic act. He walked out after a disagreement with the doc since he had done his consultation with Dr. "Google". He challenged everything Dr. Manish recommended. After gasping for some air, a call to the Mrs., and counting the number of second opinions he'd had, he swallowed his pride and walked back into the doctor's office.

"Oh! you're back?", Dr. Manish asked sarcastically.

"Yes, I'm back", Msee mumbled, with a bruised ego.

Finally, he recommended, some medication and eye drops, and Blessing was scheduled for surgery by the end of the month. It was major surgery, and Thanks to God, a success. they discovered a torn retina during the procedure.

Three weeks later, she was scheduled for post checkup on the healing process. The doctors realized she had slow healing and was put on steroids to boost her recovery. She's on medication, raw carrots, and being hopeful.

Three months later in January this year, she was scheduled for a second surgery to replace the silicon oil that was inserted during the first operation, and she'd started developing cataracts, as a side effect of the vitrectomy.

During the operation, the cataract was removed and the silicon oil was replaced. For the first time in a while after the second surgery, her vision was increasing. Some good news for once. But now, the oil was supposed to be a temporal solution. So, a third surgery was due in a few months to remove the oil completely and insert some special gas bubble into the eye it's called Pneumatic retinopexy.

March 2022. She was scheduled for a third and hopefully the last surgery. All this while, since September 2021, they had made countless trips back and forth for checkups, and medication. She was missing school for most of this period. During this operation, in the process of replacing the silicone for the gas, the eye collapsed. So they had to abort the process and give it more time.

The steroids did a number on her body, she's gained weight, upwards of 15 kilos. They had to cut down on it gradually. She is now scheduled for another checkup next month in November to set dates for the next surgery. We are hopeful that this one will be the last procedure and that she make a full recovery. Indulge him with supportive comments below, and keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Msee is the kind of guy that will pull a joke from the air, at the end of our conversation he is telling me about the steroids they had stocked for her and he doesn't know what to do with them. He made a point of letting me know whenever I'll be in Mombasa to inform him to pack a few for me, and not to blame him for whatever body parts will grow.

Not only that, he's now digressing into another elder brother of his who went on a drinking spree with a bottle in his back pocket and sits on it, sliced his behind to a third butt cheek, and literally tore him a new one. Maybe he'll tell us more about that.

******

Shoot-out to La-crew (our new subscribers). Njoro Denis, Leah Lito, Stageconfidence, Turner, Mkanjalaf, and Linzybeldine. Gracias, señoras y señores.