I could not understand how love could surpass logic when it came to emotions, as a Doctor, most would say I've lost touch with my emotions, but no, I became more logical, and it has given me the explicit insight of seeing beyond the blindfolds that comes with emotional judgments.
From day one, we were thought in med school that a patient should have the final say in the course of his or her health, but today, I felt like punching Abdul in the face and telling him that he was about the make the worst mistake of his life, still the way he looked at Aisha, held her hands and said, "Allah is the greatest, Allah always provides", turned my stomach in disgust.
Still, I held my cool, gave out a weak smile, and said to him again, Sir, if you go ahead with this marriage, you would forever regret it. Aisha smiled and said, "I read in a book that it's just a 25 percent chance that we would give birth to an SS baby, and with Allah by our side, we are willing to take the risk, besides, we just need a Child, just one child."
They could not understand that I had seen this same scenario play out a million times. How do I explain to them that sometimes, genes don't care about probability, the science of inheritance is so complex that the simple explanation given by Mendel can be so deceiving?
I stood up from my seat and sat next to Abdul, he was a man, he should be logical like me, "Listen, man, I know you are caught up in the Euphoria of love and you may not see it now, but believe me, this is a mistake. When it happens, when you stare at your child suffering and deep within you, you know it's all your fault and there is nothing you can do about it, you'll hate yourself, you'll hate your wife and you'll hate your very existence. You'll hate your guts and you'll curse the gods for not trying harder to convince you. Listen, Bro, this is the gods trying their best to convince you, it's not worth it. At that point, believe me, love won't matter."
I could see him begin to think logically, my heart suddenly leaped for Joy, "think bro, think, you are a man, use logic", but before he could process all I just said, Aisha held his hands and whispered that she loved him, immediately, all I said evaporated. I smiled and told myself, I tried.
Four years later, at exactly 3 am, my phone rang, I looked at the caller ID, it was Nurse Adanne, and she never calls unless it was necessary. Sleep left my eyes like thunder chasing after lightning, I sprang up, wore my ward coat, and ran to the hospital which was a few blocks from the call room.
What's the problem Adanne, her face was devoid of emotions, at this point, she had lost any pity she had on any of the patients. She pointed to the emergency unit and continued what she was doing. We always warn them, they never listen.
I ran to the emergency unit to see a beautiful little girl, barely 3 years old, all pale, skinny, and bleeding from all orifices. What's her PCV, I demanded, it's 12 percent doctor. My heart sank. I was scared to ask the provisional diagnosis, I was the best sickle cell specialist around, so any call from Adanne always correlates with sickle cell.
"She's a sickle cell patient", the House officer on call briefed me. My legs became weak, I knew there was nothing we could do at this point than to manage her symptoms and hope for the best. Begin blood transfusion immediately, I responded. But after 10 hours of endless transfusions, resuscitation, tests, and so on, we lost her.
I could not stop myself from shedding a year, it tore my heart to watch innocent children suffer from an avoidable incidence. As I walked down the ward corridor, I heard a familiar voice, "Doctor Shreds". I knew who it was immediately, I recognized his voice, anger sprang from the depths of my soul, I turned around and asked Abdul, "what have you done".
Aisha was on the floor sobbing, she looked like a ghost of herself. They weren't holding hands anymore. Abdul was like a leaking wind, he could barely stand, his voice was shaking, and he asked, "Is she gone?" I nodded in affirmation. I could swear that his shoulder dropped in Relief, and then he spoke...
"I watched her suffer every day for three years since she was born. She could barely smile, it didn't matter what we did, she was sick all day. But... But... The book said it was a 25 percent chance, why me Doc, why me. She was beautiful, she had a bright future and I took it from her, I never gave her a chance to live. I can't live with myself, I can't redeem myself... I can't..."
"You can redeem yourself, Abdul, you can... Come with me..."
Walking behind me was Abdul and his crying wife Aisha, and I pointed towards a couple holding hands and kissing themselves. "They both AS Abdul, save them."
Abdul immediately ran towards them and began to plead with the couples, "Believe me young blood, you should never get married, I know you caught up in the Euphoria of love and you may not see it now, but believe me, this is a mistake. When it happens, when you stare at your child suffering and deep within you, you know it's all your fault and there is nothing you can do about it again, you'll hate yourself, you'll hate your wife and you'll hate your very existence. You'll hate your guts and you'll curse the gods for not trying harder to convince you. Listen, Bro, this is the gods trying their best to convince you, it's not worth it. At that point, believe me, love won't matter."
The couple was confused, stood up, and was about to walk away when Aisha rushed the Lady, grabbed her by her hands, and slapped her as hard as she could, then said, "Her name was Gloria, don't bring another Gloria to this world". But it didn't matter, the couples walked out still holding each other's hands.
Three years later, my phone rings, I look up at the caller id, and you guessed right, it was Nurse Adrianne."
