https://twitter.com/bimbo_cash/status/1556336069125316609?s=20&t=AXo2dQtiq18vi5PfZJrhgQ
- bimbo_cash
A few days ago, I saw a post on @ebingo's status talking about an orphan who had chronic kidney disease. I wrote about her in one of my posts.
She needed a transplant and didn't have funds for it as he was an orphan.
Somehow somewhere a Twitter influencer helped her raise 11 million naira (16k USD) to get a transplant. I didn't know how she got an influencer to help her, al I knew at the time was that she was sourcing for funds from TV stations.
Interestingly, the twitter influencer posted 2 days ago that she went to Christ embassy's healing school and after series of prayers and faith sessions she was told she was healed.
I was very angry at the church for doing that.
I then found out the money had reduced from 11million naira to 7 million naira. I wanted to add my voice to slander her but I stepped back for a moment and decided to forward the pictures and the tweet to my Senior registrar.
Before now, I knew she had a bad heart- meaning her heart was not able to carry out the function of a normal heart. Her heart could not pump blood effectively. The fraction of blood pumped out of the heart is called ejection fraction. The normal ejection fraction is between 50-75%. Her ejection fraction was 27%.
She was in heart failure.
Now, there are two hospitals I knw that handles kidney transplant. One of them is Zenit hopital in Abuja. Zenith hospital abuja will not conduct surgery for a person whose ejecion fraction is below 40%. Borderline ejection fraction ranges between 41% and 50%. So this means she can't do anything.
University College hospital where she is currently being managed has the hands but however they rarely do kidney transplant surgeries. I am not sure of the availability of the facilities. wont take her for surgery with that ejection fraction.
After thinking of all this, I told myself that there was no way the 11 million naira was not going to eventually reduce.
Since the kidneys are not good, she will be getting fluid overload and pulmonary oedema- a condition where the lungs are filled with fluids. The kidneys can't excrete the fluid so it's going to build up.
The kidneys also function in creating red blood cells alongside some major organs like the bone marrow. With CKD, this function reduces and so she will come down with anaemia- a condition where the blood level is low.
With these complications, she will require sessions of dialysis. A session of dialysis costs about thirty thousand Naira(50$). She has to do a test to check her blood level.
Anytime she checks her blood level and it is below 20%, she would require transfusion.
Before transfusion, her blood needs to be screened against the blood she will be transfused with to ensure that it matches.
1 pint of blood plus cross matching might cost her close to fifteen thousand naira.
Remember, her kidney disease is still progressing and so frequency of her treatment is going to rise.
Finally, after doing some investigations, I discovered some influencers ask for commission from these people with health problems. From what I gathered, one influencer asked her to pay a thousand dollars.
This was really sad but what's the point of this post.
Take home pints
The church is partly a problem in Nigeria
https://twitter.com/bimbo_cash/status/1556338414273941506?s=20&t=AXo2dQtiq18vi5PfZJrhgQ
- bimbo_cash
I don't know how to say this but the doctor isn't the enemy.
I have seen patients who claim that their pastor said that they no longer have a disease and then go ahead to stop taking their drugs only to come back worse.
In this case, the person in question has chronic kidney disease and she was told she was fine.
How?
I am not saying miracles don't exists but I can't seem to wrap my head around it.
Chronic kidney disease is a condition that has only one definitive treatment. The treatment is transplant. If you dont get a transplant, you cant be cured.
Same with other conditions, like HIV, hypertension and heart failure will also say things like my pastor said the hypertesion has gone and so I shoud stop taking the drugs.
I have heard a patients say that they stopped taking their anti retroviral drugs because of one so called pastor. Ten tthey go on to say things like I went to do a test and they couldnt detect it. The reason why it was not detectable at the point is as a result of the effect of the drug on the replication of the virus.
By Mikael Häggström - File:Main complications of persistent high blood pressure.svg, CC0, Wikimedia
Chronic conditions usually require treatment for life
A lot of people don't know that once you have a chronic illness like HIV, diabetes or hypertension, you would require treatment for life.
Just to put it out there chronic disease require life long treatment and don't get deceived.
Finally to round it up, most chronic diseases affect the vital organs of the body. So, using your drugs will go a long way in halting the progression.
For example, Chronic kidney disease can go on to cause hypertension. Tis hypertension can lead to heart failure. The hypertension can also lead to stroke.
So my advice for you out there is to listen to your doctor, check your major organs and live healthily.