Tears Of Farida

One

Farida Jalal had left her house quite early to go to the clinic. She arrived at the clinic. and walked in quietly to the waiting-room. There was a queue at the table of the clinic's clerk waiting to be registered. Farida joined the queue and waited for her turn. It was her turn, she paid her registration fee to the clerk, collected a receipt, a hospital card, and a card with a written number indicating when it was her turn to see the doctor. This, she was used to as it wasn't her first time visiting a new clinic.

She put the items in her handbag and walked down the row of seats occupied by other patients until she got to two empty seats at the far end corner.

The waiting room of the clinic was neat. The painted walls of the room were decorated with different health posters, there was a poster that showed the symptoms of HIV, another that showed the stages of pregnancy and some others.

She got lost in thoughts, oblivious of what went on in the waiting room. It was becoming hard for her, especially when alone to keep her mind off her predicament.

As Farida sat there, her mind plunged deep into the past. She remembered vividly all the doctors she had been to. The series of tests and the minor operations she had.

When at the brink of losing all hopes, she learnt of Dr Khan who had opened a clinic in town and was good at treating such cases. At first she was a bit sceptical about seeing another doctor as her optimism was at the lowest having visited so many doctors and ending up with fruitless results.

The shrill sound of her phone brought her out of her thoughts. It was a message from her husband. They had discussed about her visit to the clinic last night on phone. He had wanted to be with her but work wouldn't let him as he had travelled to Lagos for some work.

'Excuse me ma'am, you're next to see the doctor', an errand boy said.

'Oh thank you', she said. She quickly typed and sent a reply to her husband putting her phone back in her handbag.

She stood up and walked into the the doctor's consulting room after a brief knock on the door.

Dr Khan, a handsome man in his late thirties, was busy typing something into his desktop when Farida entered the room. Absentmindedly, he replied to Farida's greeting and motioned her to a chair opposite him. Farida sat down and waited patiently for him to finish whatever he was typing.

'Yes, Mrs Jalal, what's your problem?' Dr Khan inquired briefly raising his head up to look at her. While he waited for her response he went through her file.

Tears welled up in her eyes. Farida always felt emotional whenever she had to talk about her misfortune. The tears refused to be kept in and quickly dabbed her eyes again and again with her handkerchief.

'I want a baby, doctor.' She sniffed.

Dr Khan looked at her sympathetically. 'How long have you been married, Mrs Jalal?'

'I've been married for ten years, doctor.'

Dr Khan looked at her file again. 'You're only thirty-one Mrs Jalal,' he said, studying her face. 'There's still plenty of time for you to have all the babies you want. Now cheer up'.

'After I got married, doctor, my husband and I did not want a baby, but since I... I.... I....' she stopped speaking for if she continued her words would only come out as muffles because she felt her eyes well up with tears.

'It's alright' he said kindly. 'Why did you not want to start a family immediately you were married?'

'My husband was working in another state and I was yet to finish my course at the University. We decided it would be better if we defer starting a family then until he had secured his transfer back here and I had completed my course'.

'Which birth control method were you using?'

'Withdrawal method'

'Did you have any accidents?'

She shook her head at this.

His choice of word for unwanted pregnancies. She remembered how she had dreaded any accidents in the past and how happy she had felt at the end of every month when it was clear to her that she was free. But these days she approached the end of each month with apprehension and hope and became miserable as the months came and went fruitless.

'Do you live with your husband now?' Dr Khan broke into her thoughts.

'Yes, doctor.'

'What is his job?'

Farida wondered what this had to do with her problem then she remembered that it was said that some jobs lower the fertility, especially in men.

'He is an architect', she said.

'Had any kidney trouble?'

'No, doctor'

'Any miscarriages?'

She shook her head and said 'None, I've never conceived.'

Dr khan kept his eyes fixed on the screen of his desktop as he typed.

'Any operations?' Dr khan asked looking at her.

'Yes. Many of them,' Farida said and listed them. She had had her appendix out; and also had an operation for fibroids.

'You said you've had an operation for fibroids?'

'Yes, doctor,' Farida reaffirmed. That was about a year ago.

She remembered how the doctor had said that the diagnosis result was wrong and that it was mixed up with someone else's. He only realized his mistake after he had opened her in the theatre. Her husband had been extremely mad about it and even wanted to sue the doctor and the entire hospital. But she had calmed him down saying it had been done and she was okay so there was not a need for that.

'Go in there and undress, Mrs Jalal,' he said pointing towards the changing room 'A nurse will be there to assist you. I'll like to examine you'.

Farida got up and walked into the room. A few minutes later, she came back and took her seat in the consulting room as she waited for Dr Khan to finish scrubbing his hands.

Later, he sat down and typed into his desktop.

'Okay then, Mrs Jalal, ' he said after he had finished typing. 'I have prescribed some medicines for you which you'll collect at the Pharmacy. I'll like you to have some tests, a scan and X-rays done. Your next appointment will be next week. Your results will be ready by then. When you come next week you don't have to wait up with the other patients. Come right in and I'll see you at once. You can make the payment to my secretary before leaving', he said giving her the bill slip.

Farida thanked him and walked out of the room.

Out in the car park she looked at her watch. It was some minutes to twelve. She decided to do some shopping before heading home.

As Farida drove out of the clinic, she had her hopes high and prayed silently to Allah to grant her her wish and make this her last visit seeking for help with her situation.

So, this is my second book on here. I unpublished my first because I read through it and decided to make a whole lot of changes to it. I don't know how soon I'll be putting it back on.

I hope you enjoy reading this and stick with me to the very last of it, in shaa Allah this will be worth your time.

Do vote, comment(constructive criticisms especially) and recommend please🥺 it'll mean alot, thank you.

And yes, I try as much as I can to go through each chapter for errors before publishing. So, if you come across any you can point it out to me.