ETK Talks: Life catchup

It’s 2026 and it’s been a hot minute since I last wrote a blog post – not because I haven’t had anything to write about because boy I sure have and you’ll see by the end of this post lol. I think I developed an inertia out of somewhere (haven’t done the deep reflection to figure that out yet), but as I’m unable to sleep at 4:30am on my second out of three psychiatry night shifts I figured it’s as good as a time as ever to break this non-writing streak.

February 2026 saw me make the big decision to take our son to Nigeria to live with his grandparents. It was a last resort, our initial childcare plans fell through due to visa denial twice in a row and the risk of continued denial on our relative’s passport was too high to keep trying in quick succession. I had thought, hey I can handle it and was actually doing so – but then the people who wrote the January edition of the exam I’m preparing to take came out in pieces. These were people who didn’t have primary childcare responsibilities and yet were thoroughly shaken and were advising we later takers to be MORE serious. I looked at my current life situation and had to make the hard decision to take him to live with my parents – booked the flight and took him less than a week later.

I cried so much on departure while he happily blew me kisses haha, but since then I’ve stopped crying as everytime I video call him or receive videos of him – he’s having a blast! He has started nursery and to my surprise they gave him a uniform haha, I never knew little 18 month olds would wear uniform to nursery so it was such a funny experience to witness. Felt like I was looking at a primary school child haha. He has now gotten to play with his paternal cousins who all live in the same city as him, and I think that’s the silver lining, the family/community experience that he wasn’t getting here in the UK as I don’t live near my family – he now has in abundance.

Our little boy at Hakuna Matata Park by Eko Atlantic, Lagos

In another chapter of my life – I’m now in a long distance marriage! Yep, that means there was another round of crying at departure for me o, two different airports have witnessed me weeping in short succession wow. My husband Samuel has moved to Australia ahead of us, the plan is to settle there as a family but he went ahead due to getting a great job in a lovely city right after training. He didn’t even apply for it, an agent reached out and when we assessed the UK GP situation (lots of wariness about job security) we decided to take the leap. At least if he went ahead and it didn’t work then he could simply come back since I was still based in the UK was how we reasoned it. God made the move so miraculously smooth, we were able to get accommodation that’s a 2 minute walk from his workplace, the team are supportive and he’s established himself pretty quickly. I admire how much of a good man he is; he was really okay in the UK but for us to have a much better quality of life he made this sacrifice – without ever having been to the country beforehand.

We went sandboarding on Valentine’s Day at a beach near our home

From one of our dinner dates: becoming long distance means making the most of when we are together

I’ve gone to visit him once and wow, Australia is stunning. It’s like the perfect blend between the UK and US in my opinion – UK type legislation ie no guns, parliamentary system but US in terms of LARGE houses, proper remuneration for doctors, warm weather and much more. Truly can’t wait to join him with our son!

On my professional front I’ve been progressing seamlessly in my GP Training – it’s the only reason I haven’t joined him yet – we did consider me moving with him and starting my GP training all over again, but decided against it when we found out that I may be posted to another area from him, and my rotations may not be as nice as my current ones here in the UK. Since I’ve already started and I like the rotations I have, we decided to go long distance temporarily.

Outside of GP training, I’ve been active in medical education research and I am preparing to present a paper in the British Journal of General Practice Research and Publication conference next month! I have another paper in the works and I hope to get that published too. I have been keeping my links to public health academia alive and will be delivering a lecture for the university of Nottingham’s public health masters program once again this academic year. I really enjoy providing the insights to data systems that my experiences have afforded me, and it makes me proud knowing it’s enriching someone else’s understanding of public health beyond the theory learnt in textbooks.

On another angle I am trying my hands at being more active with social media once again – there was a time when I used to collaborate with brands long before the advent of the term “influencer” and so I want to get back into it! Trying to build back getting used to posting on my IG feed and regularly on TikTok is a job in itself but I hope the cringe period will eventually result in future success! I mean I’ve done it to an extent before, I should be able to get back on the wave!

Photo taken by my lovely seatmate during a 14 hour flight after she woke up to my face and had a jumpscare loool

In the gym I am trying to be stronger – I can now do 5 unassisted pull ups – which means I can do a movie montage where the main character shows how they prepare to beat the bad guys looool. On a serious note I am happier being stronger and I feel healthier and more alive!