BIOGRAPHICAL SERIES

A Visit To The Doctor

Thirteen Years #10: The story of a friend, and his fight with AIDS

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Seeing Annie’s concerned face and light panic, Isaac assured her the cramps would be over soon.

He knew he was lying.

When five minutes later, he still clutched his stomach, Annie took control of the situation. She resented the fact her husband had used the car of his parents to go to his work that morning, and she had agreed to go to Delft by public transport. The subway station was about a ten-minute walk from where they lived. The doctor’s offices were just two minutes closer.

“You have to see a doctor,” Annie said determined.

Isaac knew she was right. He had to. Isaac had already recognized the pain the day before.

“Can you make an appointment for today?” Isaac asked Annie.

“I think it’s better to call an ambulance,” Annie said. Isaac sat doubled over because of the pain.

“No. Please don’t. Just call your doctor for an appointment,” Isaac protested.

His pleading tone made Annie comply. She made the call. There were no more appointments available. Annie explained Isaac’s unrelenting pain, and the doctor’s assistant agreed to squeeze Isaac in between other appointments.

Annie ran upstairs and grabbed Isaac’s passport and wallet from his room.

“Would you be able to walk to the doctor, Isaac?” she asked, feeling terribly guilty.

“Hey, of course I will. I’m a strong boy, don’t you worry,” he laughed.

“I still think that I should call for an ambulance. This is not good,” Annie protested.

“I am not getting into an ambulance now or ever,” Isaac protested, “come on, let’s go.”

Annie helped Isaac to get in his coat. She put on her own, hooked her arm through his, and they left the house. Eight minutes later, they walked into the doctor’s waiting room.

“Wait here,” Annie said, and she walked down the corridor towards the counter of the doctor’s assistant.

She rang the bell, and the window opened. The lady promised again to squeeze them in between other appointments. Annie reminded her it was urgent. When she returned to the waiting room, Isaac was clutching his stomach again. He was now sweating even more than earlier. Sitting next to him, Annie felt the heat he radiated. She put her hand on his forehead. Isaac was running a fever.

Thankfully, only moments later, the doctor called them in.

By now, Isaac shivered, both from the pain and the fever. Even before they entered the doctor’s office, Annie quickly explained the situation. The doctor directed Isaac straight through to the examination room. He didn’t follow the normal procedure where he would first listen to the patient and only then decide whether an examination was necessary.

Isaac got onto the examination table and attempted to lie on his back. He couldn’t. He rolled over on his side and pulled his knees up.

The doctor pulled his shirt up and lightly palpated the upper part of Isaac’s abdomen. Isaac almost screamed in pain. While doing the examination, the doctor asked Isaac about his medical history, and if he recognized the pain. Isaac admitted the pain felt the same as when he had pancreatitis six months earlier. The doctor said nothing. He had his fingers on Isaac’s wrist.

“You need to be admitted to a hospital,” the doctor said. “You have acute pancreatitis.”

Isaac just nodded. He knew it. The doctor looked over at Annie.

“I’m calling an ambulance. Is there a hospital you prefer?” he asked.

Without hesitation, she mentioned the name of the hospital where her grandmother had received excellent care on her deathbed three years before.

The doctor immediately made the call. Isaac was still on the examination table. He could hardly move. Annie stood next to him, rubbing his back. She felt helpless. Several minutes later, the ambulance arrived. The doctor had called ahead to the hospital to warn them about the very ill patient on his way to them.

After a brief knock on the door, two ambulance attendants entered. They had a gurney with them and walked straight through to the examination room. Professionally and swiftly, they moved Isaac from the examination table to the gurney. He shivered with fever, feeling hot and cold at the same time.

The blankets one of the ambulance attendants wrapped around him didn’t help him feeling warmer, but somehow he felt safe. The two attendants rolled the gurney out of the doctor’s office and towards the ambulance.

“Annie, could you please bring a pajama and toiletries to hospital?” Isaac asked with a worried expression on his face.

“Of course, dear friend, you just concentrate on getting better and I will take care of the rest. See you soon!”

Isaac smiled at her and closed his eyes. Annie ran her fingers through his hair and impulsively kissed him on his cheek just before the ambulance attendants pushed the gurney into the back of the ambulance. With tears in her eyes, Annie watched the ambulance as it drove off with wailing sirens, then she rushed back home.

The first thing she did when she was inside the house was to call her mother. Whenever she needed support, Grace was always the first person she called. She never thought of calling her husband. All she wanted was to hear her mother’s voice, and when she did, she cried.

Through her sobs, she told her mom about Isaac. Grace — bless her — immediately dropped everything at work and told Annie she was on her way, and they could go to the hospital together.

Only after speaking to her mother, Annie called her husband. It shocked him to hear about their visit to the doctor. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as easy for him to leave his work. He promised to be at the hospital for visiting hours that evening.

Annie then went upstairs. She packed all Isaac’s toiletries and two pajamas. His dressing gown hung behind the door and she packed that too. Just as she wanted to leave the room, she noticed the slippers under his bed. She went downstairs, got a plastic bag, went back upstairs, put the slippers in it and added it to the rest of Isaac’s stuff. She closed his bedroom door behind her, not knowing when he would sleep in this room again.

Her mother arrived soon after, and as Annie hugged her, she fought her tears.

“What about the kids, mom?” Annie asked.

“They think you and Isaac went to Delft today, don’t they?” her mother asked a question in return. Annie nodded.

“Then we’ll tell them later. There’s no need to upset them too,” her mother decided, and Annie agreed.

Continued: Chapter 11

Find all chapters here.

Note: This series is a rework of a self-published book (2009), rewritten in loving memory of a dear friend who suffered from and passed because of AIDS. Keep in mind this story happens in the late eighties and throughout the nineties. Names of characters have been changed to protect their privacy.

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