I wrote a post a little while ago called BODY. I haven’t learnt how to link posts on this blog yet, please bear with me, excercise your finger muscles and look for said post in the archives. :-). In the BODY post, I mentioned a friend who is undergoing some avant-garde medical testing in order to cure him of sickle cell anemia. He is honestly amazing and so inspiring! I love reading his blog, Day 100 (day100.tumblr.com). I read a post from a few days ago and it really touched me. He had received some not so great news from his doctors and I guess he was just at that point where you’re struggling to stay positive and suddenly little victories matter so much more.

Random aside, truly we never understand how lucky and blessed we are; how great our bodies are to us, until we fall sick and are unable to control our healing or even do the smallest things with relative ease. Any one that reads this blog, please do me a favour; KEEP BISADE IN YOUR PRAYERS!

Day 65. Cereal Victories by Bisade

THIS MORNING I WOKE UP TIRED. TIRED OF UNDERPERFORMING. SO I PUT ON MY HEADPHONES, PUT SOME DRAKE ON BLAST AND STARTED CUTTING UP FRUITS.

THEY SHOW US THESE PICTURE PERFECT IMAGES ON THE CEREAL BOX. PICTURES OF THE MILK DANCING IN THE BOWL ALREADY FULL OF FRUITS, HONEY AND EVERY GREAT THING THE GREEN EARTH HAS TO OFFER. JUST LIKE MODELS IN MAGAZINES, THEY MAKE US ASPIRE FOR SOMETHING WE ARE NOT AND WILL NEVER BE. THEY SAY TO US: THIS IS THE DAILY STANDARD WE EXPECT YOUR BREAKFAST TO LIVE UP TO. REGARDLESS, MOST OF US ARE RESIGNED. SO EVERY MORNING WE STUMBLE MINDLESSLY INTO THE KITCHEN AND PICK OUT WHATEVER BREAKFAST CEREAL TICKLED OUR FANCY ON OUR LAST GROCERY ESCAPADE. SO PER ROUTINE, IN GO THE MILK AND SUGAR (FOR THE LESS DISCERNING) AND ITS ALL DOWN THE CHUTE IN THE TIME IT TAKES US TO ACTUALLY WAKE UP. IN THIS WAY, WE START EVERYDAY BELOW THE STANDARDS THAT HAVE BEEN SET BY THE KELLOGG’S COMPANY. TODAY WOULD BE DIFFERENT!

SO I CUT THE HELL OUT OF THE FRUITS. BY FRUITS, I MEAN BANANAS AND STRAWBERRIES. I WOULD HAVE THROWN IN GRAPES BUT I WAS OUT OF GOOD ONES. THIS MORNING WAS ABOUT ABSOLUTES. THERE WOULD BE NO HALF MEASURES. THE BANANAS WERE PERFECTLY SLICED. EVERY SLICE EXPERIENCING EQUAL OPPORTUNITY MILK DISPLACEMENT. THE STRAWBERRIES WERE A LITTLE TRICKIER BUT AFTER A QUICK CEREAL BOX REFERENCE, I SAW THE BEST APPROACH WAS TO CUT OFF THE CROWN AND SLICE DOWN THE MIDDLE. SIMPLE ENOUGH. AFTER THIS, I POURED THE MILK IN SLOW MOTION LIKE THEY DO ON TV. HOW DID I POUR THE MILK IN SLOW MO? IT WAS ONE OF THOSE HAD-TO-BE -THERE MOMENTS. IT WAS JUST AWESOME AS CAN BE REASONABLY EXPECTED FROM ANY MILK FLOWING SLOWLY INTO A ANY BOWL. EVERYTHING WAS IN ORDER. IT WAS TIME FOR THE CEREAL.

I AM FIRMLY IN THE ‘POUR-MILK-BEFORE-CEREAL’ CAMP. THE CEREAL NEEDS ITS BEST CHANCE AT CRISPINESS. IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THEREFORE TO POUR IT LAST. OTHERWISE, THE CEREAL WILL BE QUICKLY OVERWHELMED BY THE MILK. THEN IT’S JUST SOGGY AND SUDDENLY COMMITMENT ISSUES START SURFACING. I HAVE NOTHING TO SAY TO THE ‘POUR-CEREAL-BEFORE-MILK’ CAMP. IT JUST MAKES NO SENSE. I DON’T MEAN TO SOUND IRRATIONAL OR SINGLE MINDED IN MY VIEW. I DO APPRECIATE THAT THERE ARE PEOPLE IN THAT CAMP. I ACKNOWLEDGE THEM. I REALIZE THEY MAY NOT KNOW BETTER; BUT NOT KNOWING HOW TO EAT CEREAL CALLS INTO QUESTION OTHER POSSIBLE KNOWLEDGE GAPS THAT THEY MIGHT HAVE. I DON’T JUDGE THEM THOUGH. IF YOU ARE READING THIS AND YOU ARE A CEREAL-BEFORE-MILK PERSON, FEEL FREE TO CONSIDER THAT YOUR ACTIONS ARE KILLING BLIND BABY DOLPHINS. THE GOOD NEWS IS, THERE IS TIME FOR CHANGE AND GUESS WHAT, IT’S EASY.

I HAVE NOT QUITE FIGURED OUT HOW TO MAKE THE SLICES OF BANANA FLOAT IN THE MILK LIKE THEY DO ON THE BOX (SMALL MATTER IF RESEARCH. WHERE THERE IS A WILL…). FOR NOW IT SEEMS, BANANA SLICES JUST DON’T FLOAT IN MILK. AT THE END, I HAD A CEREAL BOWL THAT COULD WIN AN OSCAR AND BE ALL THE NOMINEES AT THE SAME TIME. THE FIRST SPOON WAS AWKWARD. THERE WERE ALL KINDS OF QUESTIONS: WHAT RATIO WOULD BRING THE PERFECT BALANCE OF BREAKFAST GOODNESS TO MY MOUTH? ONE BANANA SLICE WITH A TWO CUTS OF STRAWBERRY AND THREE CEREAL THINGS? OR THREE CEREAL THINGS, TWO BANANA SLICES AND HALF A STRAWBERRY. I CHOSE THE FIRST. THE SECOND WOULD NOT FIT IN MY MOUTH ANYWAY. PLUS IT WAS NOT SUSTAINABLE. I WOULD RUN OUT OF CEREAL WAY BEFORE THE END, THEN WHAT WOULD I BE LEFT WITH?

WHAT ENSUED FOR THE NEXT 15 MINUTES WAS A CONSTANTLY EVOLVING SMOOTHIE BLUR OF PLEASURE IN MY MOUTH. “ALL I DO IS WIN WIN WIN NO MATTER WHAT…” WAS BLASTING THROUGH MY HEADPHONES AND FOR THE FIRST TIME DJ KHALED MADE SOME SENSE. I HAD EXPERIENCED A DEFINITE VICTORY THIS MORNING. IT WAS A SLIGHTLY EMOTIONAL MOMENT. SOMETIMES IT’S SO CRUCIAL TO CLAIM THOSE SMALL VICTORIES.

SO WHY SUDDENLY WAS THIS VICTORY SO IMPORTANT? YESTERDAY I WOKE UP TO FEELING LIKE I HAD SWALLOWED A HEDGEHOG. IT STARTED WITH THE TONSILS. THEY, SOMETIME OVER THE COURSE OF THE NIGHT, DECIDED TO FLARE UP. SO I WOKE UP WORRIED THAT I WAS HAVING SOME ALLERGY THAT WAS SHUTTING MY WIND PIPE. OF COURSE AS WITH ALL THINGS MEDICAL AND RELATED TO ME, I WAS WRONG. MY TONSILS WERE JUST EXCITED THAT MY IMMUNE SYSTEM IS OUT OF TOWN. SO THEY DECIDED TO THROW A RAGER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. I DON’T BLAME THEM. I WOULD HAVE THROWN A PARTY TOO.

I EMAILED THE MEDICAL TEAM AND VOLUNTEERED PICTURES OF MY THROAT. THEY RESPONDED. I HAD TO GO IN TO DO A THROAT SWAB WHICH I FOUND OUT LATER IS JUST A PURE GAG FEST. THEN THEY SAID “OH YOU ARE NEUTROPENIC AGAIN BY THE WAY. SO BE CAREFUL. IF YOU HAVE A FEVER OVER THE WEEKEND JUST COME IN. KEEP CHECKING YOUR TEMPERATURE.” HOW DISCOURAGING! I THOUGHT BEING NEUTROPENIC WAS BEHIND ME. SO I WENT IN AND DID THE THROAT SWAB. THEY PRESCRIBED SOME ANTIBIOTICS FOR THE TONSILS AND SENT ME ON MY WAY. I GOT HOME AND WENT STRAIGHT TO BED. IT JUST SEEMED LIKE A SERIES OF BAD NEWS THAT KEPT GETTING WORSE.

I WAS LOSING MY POSITIVITY. TO STAY WARM,WE COVER OUR IMMEDIATE EXTREMITIES BY WEARING WARM BOOTS AND PUTTING OUR HANDS IN OUR POCKETS. THEN WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS AND THE CORE TEMPERATURE STARTS TO DROP,THE BODY TAKES OVER AND STARTS TO SHAKE UNCONTROLLABLY. I COULD FEEL IT. I WAS GETTING COLD. SO FAR I HAD BEEN SUCCESSFUL FINDING WAYS TO STAY POSITIVE AND KEEP WARM BUT TONIGHT, I WAS SHIVERING(METAPHORICALLY OF COURSE). I WAS AWAKE THROUGH THE NIGHT THINKING SUB-QUALITY THOUGHTS. I WAS ALSO FEELING PHYSICALLY UNCOMFORTABLE BECAUSE THE TONSIL PARTY WAS STILL IN FULL SWING DESPITE THE MEDICINE I HAD SENT DOWN TO BREAK IT UP.

BY MORNING, I HAD COME TO RESOLUTION. IF LIFE WAS NOT BEING PARTICULARLY GENEROUS, I WOULD CREATE MY OWN SMALL VICTORY. HENCE THE EPIC CEREAL.