ZEE BABY

Zainab (12) popularly known as Bibi is my 3rd daughter, a promising JSS 11 student at the Queen Anima College, Kaduna was first diagnosed to have juvenile arthritis about 8 months ago when she showed signs of joints pains.

She was placed on hydroxcloroquine by Dr. Umar a senior Consultant on Rheumatoid but before then she was taking as prescribed by Dr. Ibrahim the following pain killers - Feldene, Indocid, Ibrupen, asprin and almost all the known pain killers in our Patent Stores but all to no avail as none of the medication has produced the desired effect.

Arthritis is a disease that causes pain and swelling in the joints of the body, it has no definite medication as what ever is prescribed for the patient is just intended to bring the pain down, a palliative measure sort of. To manage arthritis patients you need to have great deal of patience as you will be having sleepless nights with the patients and more importantly you need to have a fat purse as lean purses will just lead to the proliferation of the sickness. You have to be ready to carry the patients to undergo different tests, x-rays and scanning, what makes managing arthritis cases even more poignant is the fact that the medication you are administering to the patient has several side effects, today you are with the Ear, Nose and Throat {E, N&T} department managing one side effect or the other, tomorrow you are in Radiology department, in short, the rate of complication in the medication of arthritis is very high.

As the name implies -Juvenile Arthritis, it is expected that by the time Zainab reaches adolescent age she would have out grown the signs and symptoms of arthritis and she would be free completely from it and of course she will stop taking hydroxchoroquine with all it’s attendant side effects. During one of our clinic days Dr. umar asked Zainab what she wanted to become after her studies, Arthritis Doctor she said. Umar uttered no word but just smiled at me.

I didn’t know Zainab is suffering from a more debilitating disease and I think none of her doctors knew until when I was away to Bauchi on an errand May, the 30^th. I received a call from my wife at about 10am informing me that they had a sleepless night and that Zainab is having difficulty in breathing (palpitation). It looks like Zainab is having a heart problem, she concluded. No, no, nobody has a heart problem. I quickly interjected and assured her.

I immediately left Bauchi for Kaduna and the following morning I took Zainab to Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria where the Doctor on call requested that we go for the following tests immediately – Chest X- ray, Electro Cardiogram (ECG) and Echocardiogram and exactly after one week the tests were conducted.

The result of the chest x-ray indicates cardiac failure with moderate cardiomegaly with pulmonary plethora.

• Electrocardiogram suggests left artrial enlargement.

• Echocardiogram showed severe mitral regurgitation with mild pulmonary hypertension. The image of the heart is attached showing mitral valve prolapse.

But one interesting episode worth mentioning was the way Professor Danbauchi the officer in charge of the Echo scan let the cat out of the bag during the scanning exercise that Zainab has a heart failure and she needs to be taken out of the country for operation immediately. He even suggested Egypt, India or Ghana. I was really astounded that no Hospital in Nigeria can conduct the surgical operation on my daughter. That is the level of development Nigeria has attained.

My wife could not control her emotions on hearing Danbauchi’s proclamation, she busted into tears and neither could my daughter.

I wanted to confront him for that; I felt he didn’t have to say that in the presence of the girl but may be he underestimated the intelligence of the little girl, I reasoned. We left the clinic in total confusion, how much time has she remaining? I was asking myself and I knew nobody could give me that answer, somebody who was neither looking pallid nor sickly a couple of months ago, now has a terminal disease. What a tragedy.

I quickly got in touch with some friends and other associates who advised that I should get in touch with some hospitals in India. I did and the result is that Zainab is billed to undergo Valve Replacement by Dr. Vikas Kohli a senior Consultant at the Apollo Hospital New Delhi, India. The flight is scheduled for Sunday, July the 19th.

The import of this rhapsody is therefore to request for your addu’a/ prayers for Zainab to make her dreams good and more importantly, for Journey mercies and a successful operation. This is so as the greatest of mankind (SAW) had requested his companions to pray for him in a particular instance.

I know each and every one of us is going through one tough time or the other but Allah (SWT) has promised to intercede and is ready to bless us in a way that only He can. So keep the faith.