The Joy of Not Needing Medicine

By Pedro Pablo Morejon

HAVANA TIMES – One morning towards the end of 2021, I woke up surprised by a prickling in my legs. By that afternoon, a rash had erupted on my thighs, that made me think of scabies. However, then I remembered that in 2015, I had something similar, and a dermatologist had diagnosed me with a very common fungus, which was treated with tolnaftate or ketoconazole.

On that occasion, I solved the problem with the Tolnaftate, since it was the only thing I could find in the pharmacies.

This time, I met again with the doctor, and again received the same diagnosis. The difficulty was that now I couldn’t find either of the two medications in the pharmacies.

I then began to ask my friends and acquaintances, until I was able to obtain a very well-used tube of ketoconazole, which only lasted for two days.

The problem got worse, and the rash advanced into my buttocks and my arms.

Then, miraculously, the rash and the itching began to go away, and by the end of February of this year my skin had recovered completely. That situation has lasted right through until now, with no further need for those medications. That was cause for celebration.

But then, another problem arose – the presence of foam in my urine.

I set out to investigate the issue and discovered that among the principal causes of this are: dehydration, urinary infection, diabetes, kidney stones and kidney disease, which is the most common cause.

I maintain a healthy lifestyle; I know my body, and because of that the possibility of kidney failure concerned me. My mind filled with images of dialysis, kidney transplants, death, and more. I was worried.

I’m not afraid of death, but neither do I wish to leave this life while I’m still young. I contacted a nurse who’s a very good friend, and who in turn recommended me to a doctor. Since it was all “under the table”, I had to slip into the hospital, wait for the morning handover of medical rounds, and then approach him.

He was very kind and prescribed a ton of laboratory tests that aren’t worth detailing here. I was able to get them all done, except for an ultrasound to rule out possible kidney stones, since I’d mentioned to him that years ago, I suffered from renal colic.

As it turned out, on the day of my ultrasound appointment, there was no gel. Like all the people who were there, I had to go home without getting the exam.

When the results of the other tests came in, I got the good news that my kidneys were efficiently filtering the blood that carries my waste products, and that the problem was due to the presence of kidney sand, which are tiny kidney stones.

This doesn’t represent a big problem, since I can eliminate them easily by simply drinking a lot of liquid.

And I don’t need any medications.

Isn’t that the happiest news ever?

Read more from Pedro Pablo Morejon here.