Nairobi Woman Rep. Esther Passaris Admitted to Hospital with Spinal Cord Problem

Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris has been admitted to Aga Khan Hospital with a back problem.

In a post on social media on Monday, Passaris indicated she will undergo a procedure to address recurrent pain on her spinal cord.

“Admitted at the Aga Khan Hospital for a Medial Branch Block procedure plus Paraspinal L3 to S1 under the care of Dr. Thikra Shariff and Mr. Livingstone Olunya,” Passaris announced.

A medial branch nerve block is a procedure in which an anesthetic is injected near small medial nerves connected to a specific facet joint

The politician divulged that the pain she has been experiencing on her back started after she gave birth 20 years ago and became worse after she fell down the stairs.

“I can’t sleep. I look so exhausted. I don’t sleep at night. I just keep turning on the bed even with the painkillers. The horizontal position is terribly painful,” she noted.

“The problem with my back started 20 years ago when I was pregnant with my son but the pain went away. Later, I fell down a flight of stairs and the pain came back.”

She said she underwent a nerve block procedure in the United Kingdom but the problem did not go away after she ignored doctor’s advice to rest.

“I could not walk, I was in so much pain and so my doctor there recommended a nerve block procedure which was done and I was told to rest for 10 days. I did not listen to my doctor, I flew back to Kenya and the pain got worse,” she said, adding that she later went to India where a spinal injury specialist prescribed a regime of pain medication and physical exercise.

Passaris urged Kenyans to exercise regularly and called on the government to legalize the use of medical marijuana as it would be helpful in managing chronic pain.