You see, the truth is, beyond the amount of time and money you spend each day choosing what to eat and drink to avoid triggering the pains

… those early mornings and evenings back, stomach and chest pains, go beyond any feeling on earth.

You know this:

The hardest thing about having an ulcer is not just the emotional and body torture.

No. 

The hardest part is that no one understands exactly how you feel.

And it is not like they don’t want to.

But then, when no one knows how:

• You find it very difficult to eat your favorite food and drink your favorite drink again, even though you really want to 
• When no one knows how embarrassingly uncomfortable it is for you to always fart beyond your control
• When no one knows how you belch up and down with that difficult tight-chest feeling of thinking you ate something that did not digest well.
• When no one believes you are always thinking that there is something stuck in your throat and upper chest with the heavy breathing after eating beans or taking caffeine, and there is nothing you can do to get it out
• Again, when no one can tell how those sharp pains in your back, stomach, and chest almost turn you into a mad person.
• When no one sees the hidden tears, frustration, depression, and the thousands of naira you spend every month trying to heal yourself without any permanent solution.

It can really be tiring.

But see…

I want to let you know that I am very proud of you.

Not because you allowed doctors to deceive you with the ‘there is no permanent cure nonsense’.

You should know by now that a ‘cured patient is a lost patient’- and that is their only office.

I am proud of you because you have fought so hard to live again.

You have continuously looked your enemies who wish you death in the eye and told them Not today.

You have, even in the face of trying times, continued to look for solutions to this because you believe that there is one.