My last holiday experience was not a pleasant one at all. I learnt a lot from that experience. Our 2023/2024 third term holiday was scheduled for 21st day of july, 2024 and ran till September 11, 2024. We had almost two months holiday.
I was to spend one month of the holiday with my paternal grandmother. My mother had earlier arranged that she would take me to the village a week after our closing date. The last time I visited our village was about four years ago so I was looking forward to visiting our village with much enthusiasm. Immediately after one week of our closure, I travelled to the village along with my mother. My mother went back to the city after two days and I was left alone with my grandma.
My first week in the village was an interesting one; I enjoyed the village as I anticipated especially grandma's delicacies. I had the opportunity to play with some of my friends and relations. I had spent one week in the village when on that faithful day, I went out as usual with other children to fetch firewood. We came back in the evening because we actually spent much time swimming in the stream before we went for the firewood. At the night I began to shiver with cold, my body temperature was very high and I also, had a severe headache.
It was difficult to contact our family doctor there and then my condition was going critical, so my grandma took me to a nearby pharmacist. Unfortunately the available drugs in the pharmacy could only serve as first aid to ease my bad condition for the night
In the morning, my condition deteriorated and my grandma took me to a nearby clinic. There Dr. Ibekwe examined my pulse and eyes and told my grandma that my condition needed special treatment. He gave us a letter of referral to take to the teaching hospital where we could see a consultant and where there were necessary equipment and drugs that would be needed in handling my case. The doctor also gave us an ambulance and a staff nurse to make our journey and other things successful. My father came to the hospital by 10am. The staff nurse that accompanied us to the teaching hospital registered me at the emergency ward, the place where accident victims are rushed for urgent attention. They were about to bring a stretcher with which to wheel me into the hospital when my father arrived.
Inside the emergency ward, I was transferred to a bed. The staff nurse on duty checked my pulse to know my heart beat before she went for the doctor. In the process of diagnosing my problem, the doctor brought out his Stethoscope and pressed it on my chest to know my heart beat. He also used a blood pressure gauge to check my blood pressure. He then refered me to the lab technician who conducted a blood test immediately. After all tests, it was observed that I had lost a lot of blood and that it was as a result of fever caused by malaria. Quickly, they put me on drip and another staff nurse on duty took over the administration of drugs prescribed by the doctor. I was discharged after one week from the hospital and was driven back to the city from the hospital. I spent the rest of my holiday in the city with my mother taking care of me till we reopened on the 11th of September.
