Blog piece
The year, i literally ate my feelings
March 2020 started like the previous month,uneventful. I was
living in Barcelona, Spain. Relatively fit and healthy, I walked
everywhere, and rode my bike often. I was 80 kg with a favourable
BMI, I was planning to lose more weight and gain some muscle in
order to be ready for my TTC (Time to conceive) journey!
I was 35 years old and well aware that my biological clock was
ticking away like an overworked Big Ben!.
Having already been diagnosed with fibroids, in 2018, for those of
you who have never heard of them, they are non cancerous
tumours, consisting of blood. They normally grow in the uterus,
and are literal invaders, that live rent free, happily gorging
themselves on excess Oestrogen, caffeine, alcohol and heredity in
my case.
In 2019, I had several large fibroids (10 cm) removed, although a
few small ones remained (could not be removed due to placement
on an artery). Within months I began to feel much better, periods
were not as heavy and the debilitating pain had dissipated.
In order to prevent further growth,I began researching the root
cause and discovered that being of African descent was a factor as
I am, having close female relatives who have had them (my
mother had them in her 40's) and being deficient in the sunshine
vitamin aka Vitamin D, were all stacked up against me.
Realising that a build up of inflammation in the body also posed a
problem I began to take vitamin D, which slowed the growth rate,
Folic acid (TTC)and drink freshly boiled ginger every morning,
replacing my MUCH needed and MUCH loved morning coffee.
The whispers began about a virus, kind of like a cold everyone
said, but much worse, some others added. I paid marginal
attention to the coveted comments that seemed to be on
everybody's lips, but still proceeded to go to work, teaching away.
Then one afternoon, whilst walking home i saw a man carrying
multi packs of toilet roll, the further down the street i walked, the
more people i came across carrying, more toilet paper! by the
third person i encompassed, it was a done deal in my mind, i knew
something was happening and whatever it was clearly was about
to stir up some shit, hence the toilet paper! The first supermarket
I came across, I went inside and grabbed a package of 12 toilet
rolls and headed to the checkout.
The next day all hell broke out, the streets were flooded with
people dashing to the supermarkets, chemists, fruit shops as
though a storm was looming and we all needed to stockpile for the
impending arrival.
My wife and I had decided to do the same and grab some
essentials before the shelves were completely emptied, all the
alcohol had gone! even the cheap nasty vodka, you know the stuff
that nobody touches except experimental teenagers, yes you
guessed it GONE! and all that remained were a few jars of olives,
anchovies and corn that clearly nobody thought much of!
The supermarket was filled to the rafters with confused and
bemused shoppers, out of a sea of people only one extremely tall
man was wearing a mask and he was filling a bag with tomatoes, i
have no idea why this is so transfixed in my mind, but now i think
about it, he knew something none of us seemed to.
A few days after this the Spanish Government plunged us all into
a lock down, something that was not even in my vocabulary before
March 2020. We ran out of food fairly quickly, and decided in
order to protect each other, it's best if we ordered food online,
making sure i cleaned each item with alcohol, before packing
them away.
I started to develop OOCD which stands for Overly obsessive
cleaning disorder, a term I coined for myself! Since i had become
so exasperated (and i am sure that i am not alone when i say this)
by the whole saga that was 2020. Obsessively cleaning the floor,
the doors, the handles, you name it, if it was there, it was cleaned!
Fortunately my wife and I were blessed enough to be able to work
from home.
As a result of being cooped up in the house like a Chicken, we
indulged our anxiety and fed our uncertainties,with an array of
home made, breads, cakes, curry patties and coco bread
(Jamaican snacks). As well as copious amounts of Netflix and
don’t stop chilling!
The house smelled like an Artisan bakery most days! but let me
tell you! All these baked goods and palate teasers made us gain
weight like you would not believe, in just 12 months I had gained
22 kg. Yes, do not adjust your vision, you read it correctly the first
time. And believe me with my 5"2 stature, it was not a good look!
Needless to say I didn't begin my TTC journey as the thought of
leaving the house for too long was not an option, I was afraid and
completely not in the frame of mind to begin to create life, in such
uncertain times.
2021 has been spent shedding the 22 kg gift that 2020 had
bestowed upon me as of writing this. I am 12 kg down.