Emergency Room Series:Be Grateful

Every day is a gift....................

Hello everyone, trust we are doing okay. The emergency unit has been a lot more busy than usual and I don’t know why oo, the rates of falls and trauma have suddenly come up. May God keep us safe.

All stories in the ER makes one thankful for life, no matter what the situation may be. I want to share the story of a lady that came to the emergency unit. She was in her late forties.


She walked in with her husband to complain of back pains that had been ongoing for about two weeks. She would take pain relief drugs but after a while, the pains would start again. She thought it was something that had to do with straining her back but she claimed not to have fallen or hurt herself. The pain was so intense. I initially thought she had gall stones or a poorly treated urine infection based on how she explained her symptoms. It was just the pain that was the symptom.


She was told to make some urine in a bottle. Her urine was dipped but was negative so urinary tract infection was ruled out. She went in for a CT scan of her abdomen, little did she know that the results would change her life.


After the CT scan, she sat patiently in the waiting area. Within 30 minutes, the radiologist at the CT unit called the ER and requested the doctor in charge of her case comes down immediately. That hasn’t happened before so there had to be something wrong. Shortly after, the doctor went back to the woman and requested she does an MRI. She was puzzled and asked why but the doctor only said it was to get to the root of her back pains. He didn’t want to conclude just yet. As the woman followed the doctor through the ER to the MRI suite I could see something was surprising to the doctor. When he got back, I asked what the update for the patient was as I needed to update her notes. He said the CT scan revealed tiny and numerous tumours on her kidney, liver, stomach and gall bladder. He felt they were malignant and spreading from a source. 

In other words, she might have cancer!

 The puzzling part is to how she would have those many growths on her organs and not lose weight, be nauseated often for no reason, have bladder problems or feel generally unwell. She looked so fit and radiant. Even the back pain didn’t stop her from walking.


Shortly after, an oncologist came to check the CT images on the system and discuss with the doctor. The woman went back to the waiting area.


The MRI results further showed that she had cancer of the gallbladder and it had spread to the surrounding organs. If you are in the medical field, you’ll understand why it is surprising to have multiple organ tumours and be asymptomatic. Medically, she should look pale and jaundiced, she would experience bloating and abdominal pains followed by intermittent fever at least. 

The doctor and oncologist called her into an office where they broke the news to her. I can’t imagine the devastation.


During my break, the doctor happened to be having his too so I asked how the patient took the news. He said it was the most difficult news he had to tell a patient. He said her husband even had prostate cancer and she has been his main carer since his treatment started.


These are people who claim to work out, eat right and sleep well. They have the money to give themselves the best of health care. It’s not like they are eating bad food that have them cancer.. Cases like this just make you question what this life is all about.

I keep saying it that it’s important to be grateful for what we have and even what we don’t.

See ehn, if you are healthy and on your feet, that’s the best gift of God to any human. I’ve seen more than enough. If you want to understand life, Come to the hospital, where you see people on oxygen or ventilators because they can’t breath on their own or People who can’t walk due to fractures and are in severe pain that they have to depend on morphine to feel better.

These people are even thankful that they are still alive despite their condition, they keep fighting death and hoping their health would be great again

In other words, give thanks to your God for life.