What a Recent Illness Taught Me

Last Wednesday after I came home from my one-hour evening walk, I felt a slight discomfort in my throat. As I always do whenever an issue arises in my day-to-day living, I turned to God in prayer and asked Him to heal whatever was wrong with my throat. And I promised to thank Him once the discomfort went away.

When I woke up on Thursday morning with my throat still unwell, I drank three cups of hot water in a span of three hours, hoping that the hot water would work wonders on my throat. But guess what! Instead of getting better, I began feeling chilly after eating lunch in the afternoon. It was like I had a fever.

Knowing the value of health, I skipped playing the piano on Thursday afternoon and went to bask in the sun, again hoping that the heat from the sun would dispel my fever. As I sat outside feeling the heat of the sun penetrate into my skin, I felt an immense sense of gratitude for the hot weather.

But the hot rays of sunshine did little to restore my health. Not only did I continue feeling chilly after I went back indoors, I also felt a weakness in my muscles. That muscle weakness made me contemplate skipping my one-hour evening walk. On second thought, I decided to go for the walk when the clock hit 4.55pm.

Walking, too, didn't make me feel better. Instead, I grew sicker after I came back home. In addition to feeling chilly and weak, I started having a headache. That prompted me to retire to bed early, thus missing a chance to check my social media accounts at night as it has been my habit.

I did inform my father on Thursday night that I was feeling unwell. In these times of Covid-19 pandemic, Dad was alarmed to hear I was sick. He interrogated me further on what exactly was wrong with me. And then he quickly contacted my brother Paddy, who is a doctor, to apprise him about my illness.

Paddy phoned me an hour or two later to check on me. When he asked me the symptoms of my illness, I told him that I was having a fever and feeling weak. Fearing that I could have contracted the dreaded Covid-19 disease, Paddy urged me to drink plenty of water and eat lots of vegetables to ward off the virus.

Come Friday morning, my health deteriorated further because I woke up without having an appetite for food. I ate only two apples for breakfast and then hopped back into bed - not to sleep but to rest. As I lay in bed feeling weak, sick and restless, I thought of the athletes and soccer players who display great energy on the field during competitions. And then I wondered whether they ever thank God for their verve and vitality.

Because of my lack of appetite, I didn't feast on anything for lunch on Friday afternoon. The mere sight of food just disgusted me. And when supper time reached, I only munched on a juicy mango. And guess what again! Ten minutes or so after munching on the mango, I felt sick to my stomach which forced me to rush to the toilet where I threw up the mango I had eaten.

Paddy phoned me again on Friday night to inquire how I was faring. And he again urged me to drink plenty of water even if it would make me urinate a lot. Dad, on his part, cajoled me to swallow two tablets of Panadol and see whether they would cure me. I followed Dad's advice, then jumped into bed and slept soundly for the next eight hours.

When I woke up on Saturday morning (that's yesterday), I was feeling much better. My appetite for food was back. For breakfast, I drank tea and sawed energetically at four slices of bread. I also had an appetite for lunch. And when evening reached, I went for my one-hour walk which I sort of enjoyed. Thankfully, I have been getting my groove back since yesterday.

But I am still not out of the woods yet. As I pen this story on a Sunday afternoon, I am having a dry cough - a remnant of the discomfort I felt on my throat on Wednesday evening. I am however grateful that the fever, the headache, the restlessness, the muscle weakness and the lack of appetite I felt on Thursday and Friday are now gone.

To be honest, I have never been as ill for the past eleven years as I was on Friday. That illness disrupted my praying, reading, writing and exercising routines. And it has taught me to value my health. From now on, I will be more grateful for such simple blessings as having an appetite for food, feeling energized during the day and sleeping soundly at night. I urge you to do likewise, my beloved reader.

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed this story on what a recent illness taught me, you might also enjoy another one I wrote some time back on "Appreciating Good Health". Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the story.