Life’s Gentle Reminders: I Didn’t See This Coming

There is something about my current situation that I didn’t see coming. Let me say, I saw it coming but didn’t really pay attention to the subtle gentle reminders. My body was talking to me all this while. I’ll tell you how it started.

On seeing me, the doctor greeted me with a very piercing smile as he flipped through the leaflets of my hospital folder. My attention was immediately taken off the mild aches in my abdominal flanks. He started… “Sir, you will soon be fine, OK! Your scan and lab tests revealed a case of pyelonephritis; a slight inflammation of your kidney. However, I’ve spoken to a friend and a neurologist in Cuba and would refer you for further diagnosis and possible surgery.”

I really didn’t see this coming.

Tears naturally started flowing down my cheeks. I wasn’t shedding tears because I didn’t have money for the surgery; I came to the realisation that Life is only a gift for a moment.

In The Beginning

I am an adorable manager privileged to steer the affairs of Verisack Inc, a multi-million dollar Consortium flooded with black and white employees. With this uniquely confident aura, I gait into my office daily to meet all calibre of people queueing to meet me. I am only 35 with so much influence and power. My 5-bedroom apartment at Trassaco, a 2018 Nissan Rogue, designer suits on suits and every luxurious item you can think of were all paid for by the company. My life was simply refreshing.

On that seemingly unlikely day, the multitude at the reception greeted me with a standing ovation; some of whom were scheduled for employment interview in the Verisack Oil Refinery- a subsidiary of the Verisack Inc. Also present were two receptionists, other employees, and some business partners who were waiting to present their proposals. I couldn’t respond to their greetings as I had to bend over like a 90-year old man with a waist problem. I finally made it to my office with the sudden sharp abdominal pains.

Rennie Ursula, the senior receptionist realising the change in my countenance followed me to my office and dropped my coffee as was her custom. She moved to the door, held the knob, turned and started staring at me. I ignored her and pretended to be looking for a document on the table. She was determined to ask a question but was caught up in a state of trance. I could believe she was contemplating my reaction before she asked anything.

Related: Mother’s Silent Pleas for Help

The Gentle Reminders Intensified

A few seconds later, she asked “Can I help? Is there anything you are looking for?”

I nodded in agreement and she got closer. There, Rennie realised something was really wrong with me. A guess of a severe abdominal pain was a hit right on the head of the nail. It all started when I was alighting from my blue-black NISSAN ROGUE SUV in front of my office. I suddenly felt a sharp prick in my right flank and in a blink of an eye, the pains became unbearable.

“Can you call Nat for me?” I whispered.

Nathan, my official driver for over a decade, handles my transport and movement with so much care and passion.

A knock on the door revealed my two trusted employees – Rennie and Nat. They entered without any response. Rennie might have informed Nat about my sudden ailment. He only greeted and picked my car ignition keys. “Massa, let’s go to the hospital” Nat commanded.

The Hospital Encounter

Like a fallen soldier with hands stretched on both shoulders, they whisked me through the back door into my car. I stayed in the hospital until the third day when the medical superintendent sent for me. I was wheeled from the male ward into his office – “consulting room 4” where the news was broken to me. The doctor advised I sought medical support outside Ghana. I flew outside almost immediately to Cuba for an emergency surgery.

The surgery went successfully by God’s grace. On my return, I run into a man whose name I do not know. For now, let’s just think of him as an angel. He held my hand and whispered in my ears; “You are very powerful and rich yet a human being like every other. Think on these gentle reminders.”

The few words shook me. This is a man who doesn’t know me from Adam yet could tell me something even my conscience dared not imagine. I was burdened by the words I had heard.

From that day, my outlook on life changed. I saw everything and everyone with a renewed outlook on life. In my short stay on earth, I had seen life and money on hand and sickness and death on another. No one told me I needed to change.