DOKITA

EPISODE 9

Today was a Tuesday; and the Diabetic Clinic was as busy as ever.

Were more people becoming diabetic? Bunmi wondered

Or maybe it was her tiredness and apprehension speaking.

She had heard, by word of mouth about the fight between her erstwhile lovers- Fola and Kenny and bewilderment was an understatement as she watched in shock, the youtube video posted by an eager onlooker, detailing the punches they exchanged. Especially Fola’s. They had seemed so intense and laden with soaring bits of emotion.

She had almost cried. Her Fola!

That had happened on Friday.

She hadn’t seen either of them, surprisingly, since then but had heard, also by word of mouth that they had bought for themselves, 3 months of housejob extension. And without pay!

If the ruckus hadn’t been about her, she would definitely be rolling on the floor in laughter right about now.

The patient in front of the endocrinologist in the diabetic clinic today was a 55 year old obese patient who had being diabetic for over 7 years. He had complained of body itching, nausea and vomiting. Bunmi had just rushed in with his urine test results, which showed elevated urea levels, with protein present in the urine. His blood pressure was also significantly elevated. The consultant endocrinologist penned down her diagnosis: ‘Diabetic Nephropathy.’

‘Dr Phillips’, she motioned to Bunmi, who was still standing and thinking of how much she wanted to vomit.

‘Yes ma!’

‘You’ve heard of Kimmelsteil-Wilson’s disease, yeah?’

‘Errhm…it sounds familiar ma. But I’m not too sure…’

The consultant’s face contorted into a frown.

‘What do you mean by you are not sure? You should have learnt that in medical school. By the way, what school did you finish from?’

‘Here…here ma!’

‘Then you should be sounder than this. Please, when next you come to my clinic, freshen up your knowledge on common endocrinological diseases like Diabetes.’

‘Ok ma.’

Bunmi actually felt like strangling this woman. She hated eponyms and never stored any in her brain. ‘Those things aren’t practical’, she’d always told Fola who knew almost all the syndromes in the book. Funny thing it never rubbed off on her. She was way more practical than he was though, she thought as she consoled herself.

Her heart sank as memories of Fola came up once again.

Another Diabetic patient was seated.

This one seemed to be having some form of eye problem and was referred to the Ophthalmologist. She carried the case note and led the patient to the Ophthalmology clinic. She sincerely hoped that she wouldn’t faint today. What with all the referrals and running after test results.

She caught a side view of Kenny and her heart sank even further. She almost recoiled.

She really couldn’t believe she was going to marry this man, who even now was still annoying to her.

‘Babes’, he said as he tried to hold her hand.

‘Leave me! I’m busy now.’

‘Seriously?’ His eyes flashed with a mixture of curiosity and anger.

Fola passed by, seemingly in a rush to wherever it was he was going to.

Bunmi’s face melted instantly.

Kenny shook his head.

‘I can’t believe this, I just can’t. You’re still in love with him?’

****************************************************************************

Linda’s phone was buzzing , but she was in class.

‘This class has been on for over 2 hours, taking a 5 minutes break wouldn’t be so bad’. She rationalized. So she stepped out to receive the weird call from her brother, Chukwuma.

‘Sister, sister can you hear me?’

‘Hello, Chukwuma, what is the problem? You sound distressed.’

‘Sister, hmmn…it is Papa o!’

Linda’s head began to throb.

‘What…what is wrong with Papa?’

She knew he was hypertensive, but he had consistently used his medications, yet she thought about the million and one things that could be wrong with the health of her aged father.

Chukwuma was sobbing.

Linda placed her sweaty palms against the wall

‘Chuks, stop it! What happened to Papa?’

‘He was working on the farm when he just…he just slumped! We took him to the hospital but he is still unconscious. Mama has been crying…I just had to call you.’

Linda braced herself. She had to be strong.

‘Chuks, listen to me. You have to calm Mama down. Stop crying, okay? First thing tomorrow morning, I’d pack my bag and start coming home’

‘Ok.’ Chukwuma was still sniffing as he dropped the call.

‘GOD!’ Linda exhaled softly.

Why were so many things happening to her at the same time? Papa’s health was even more crucial to her than her Pathology posting.

She stepped back into the class and with every ounce of normalcy she had left, managed to get through the class in one piece.

Still lost in thought after the class, she placed her head on the table. Everything seemed so unfair. She prayed under her breath for Papa’s health. That man had toiled too much for him to die now.

She felt a pen thrown at her back. Felix and all his silly jokes!

She couldn’t put her head up, her eyes had welled with tears.

‘Hey stranger!’ Felix stopped in his tracks when he saw her tears.

‘Linda, what is wrong?’

She looked up and with misty eyes, said: ‘My dad is in the hospital. He’s unconscious. I’ll be going home tomorrow.’

‘Oh my God…I’m so sorry dear.’ Felix said as he gave her a hug.

For the next 2 hours, Felix did all he could to cheer her up. It didn’t work.

‘Linda’, he said for the last time, ‘let us pray.’

He uttered a short prayer with her.

The next morning, Linda got to the park and boarded a bus.

As she took her seat near the window, she prayed earnestly.

Prayed that Papa wouldn’t have a stroke, or worse still, die. Prayed desperately that somehow, everything would work out.

Prayed that once again, God would indeed, offer her a bail-out.