After becoming aware of myself and learning to set goals, I’ve created over a hundred. The first has always been about being rich and wealthy, no matter how the YouTube guys try to define it. I would never have believed anything was more important. I was active and healthy for the first thirty-two years of my life.
A hospital has never admitted me for an illness. I felt the worst when Manchester United lost to Liverpool in 2008. The doctor said I showed signs of depression.
Most other medical conditions are abnormal and isolated cases that have some explanation. I went to hospital after breaking my shoulder due to a sports injury. I went to hospital for a minor surgery due to some nerve compression in my right hand. I went to hospital for some pain and cramps in my neck. All these times I was never admitted; it was a half-day thing, and I was out.
The most time I have spent in the hospital has been when visiting my close relatives or friends or taking care of them. That lasted until last year. I faced serious health issues that forced me to rethink my life goals and purpose. It was the first time I had been in the hospital in a crisis.
It all started one evening when I came out of the shower and faced the mirror. While applying lotion to my back, I felt as if I had touched something abnormal. So I turned my back to the mirror and tried to look, and there it was, a large lump or bump that was only on the right side.
Like everyone nowadays, I rushed to Google so much about it. The results were scary; almost everything about it led to cancer. I’m an optimistic and happy person. But the thought of cancer scared me. A few hours later, I went to a nearby hospital for a check-up.
They did some scanning and asked some questions, then took some blood samples. Waiting for the results felt like the longest time of my life. It even beat the forty-five minutes I waited in 2008 for Manchester United to come back against Liverpool.
The results came back fine; they said the lump was a normal thing called lipoma. They described it to me as a bunch of fat accumulating below the skin, nothing scary. It was so normal that there was no need to remove it or get any medication. If I want to remove it, the procedure will take thirty minutes and cost less than a hundred dollars. I felt relieved and left.
A few days after my scary experience, I started having some intense back pains. The kind of pains that made standing up at times a struggle. Then it escalated with some chest pains and a challenge in breathing. A day later, I noticed a tiny lump on the right side of my chest. Lying in bed caused intense pain, making it nearly impossible to fall asleep.
Those two days I thought that was the worst that I could get; I was wrong. I started having some stomach pain from all directions. It was too painful to stand, and even horrible to lie down. I made another mistake of going to Google. Everything said it was cancer.
I rushed to the hospital again, a different one. This time I wanted to get an intensive and total body check-up. I wanted them to check everything that they could do within the limits of a human body. They asked me for all the samples from my body. From urine, stool, and blood, as well as the x-rays, CT scans, and ultrasound. They asked me detailed questions about my health background, eating habits, and pain history.
As that was happening, I thought about the medical reports and information I found online about my possible condition, cancer. I started imagining my life changing after the diagnosis. How I should live my life, what mattered and what didn’t. What I would want to focus on and what to stop. What I would start caring about and what not.
“You can see the doctor now,” I heard the nurse say, pulling me from my deepest thoughts. I was ready to hear the worst news from the doctor, so I went with a heavy heart. “You seem to be fine; the only thing we noticed is you have got ulcers caused by H. pylori bacteria that…..”
I don’t remember what else he said after that; I was so grateful and went back into contemplation. The doctor gave me the gastric kit, which had more than fifty capsules and other stuff to take. He advised a list of dozens of things to avoid and others to start taking. He recommended some lifestyle changes and more.
When I reached home that evening, the first thing was pulling out my diary that I wrote the goals in. On top of that goal was being rich or wealthy, motivated by the YouTube guys. I cancelled that goal and wrote “to do my best to be healthy.”
The hospital experience taught me that time is our biggest treasure, and good health comes next. Everything else will fall into place if you have time and you are healthy. I can’t control the amount of time I have here, but I can control the healthiness of my lifestyle.
I promised to work harder at staying active, exercising often, and eating healthy. I committed to doing routine check-ups and consulting the professional more. I committed to doing my best to adapt habits that would put me in better health conditions.
Most of us take a lot of things for granted because we are healthy. And we abuse our bodies and minds with everything. Poor diets, inactive lifestyles, toxic substances, and ignoring professional help and advice. That seems cool until the health crisis comes to visit; we realise nothing matters.
Yes, many health issues are out of your control. Yet, you can avoid many problems by changing your lifestyle and focusing more on your health.
I am glad I had the awakening while still young, with time to change and get better. Health crises are the worst to go through. They cause physical pain, financial stress, and trauma for your family. They bring uncertainty, and worst of all, they make time feel frozen.
When you feel healthy, you want to go on vacation, work, attend parties, buy a new car, build a house, and have fun. When you are sick and admitted to the hospital, you only want to be fine and get back home.
I don’t wish for you to fall ill for an awakening. I want you to sit and picture yourself in a hospital bed, getting a terrible medical report. You have to adjust your life to fit the circumstances. You don’t need to be a sick man to learn what sick people figure out.
If you are healthy, then you are wealthy.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be free from suffering.
May you find peace and joy.
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#iThinkSo
Rogers Katuma
Financial Artist, Senior Adventurer, Occasional Storyteller and an Amateur Golfer
