By Teah Mogae
Melissa had been a regular patient of mine since her late teens. We have walked the journey from finishing high school and transitioning to work as a hairdresser which, with hard work, she turned into a business. Three years ago she arrived with a pregnancy test, indicating her new and joyous, albeit unplanned pregnancy, announcing she had moved in with her partner Thomas. The pregnancy was complicated but led to the eventual early arrival of twins and a subsequent prolonged admission to hospital with each twin requiring ongoing specialist care. It had been about nine months since our last check up when I saw her name as my next patient and I excitedly walked out to call her in, looking forward to seeing the kids too.
The lady that stood up did not look like the Melissa of previous encounters. Her close shaved haircut and gaunt-like appearance made me repeat the name I had called out, lest someone else had stood up. As she slowly made her way towards me, smiling and nodding to herself, she said, “It is me Dr Teah, let’s go and talk about all that has happened since my last visit.” Picking my chin from the floor, I composed myself and walked with her to my consultation room, trying to decipher what could have occurred in the short time since our consultation.
“I guess I should get to it Dr Teah,” she said as we started our consultation. “I started feeling unwell a few weeks after our last consultation but as it was the festive season, I felt that I had to keep pushing through with pain relief as I could not afford to close the salon and attend to my medical needs. By the time Thomas had to call the ambulance for me in the middle of the night about a month into my illness, things had spiralled out of control and I required extensive surgery to manage what turned out to be complex pelvic inflammatory disease with multiple abscesses around my ovaries which required multiple surgeries.”
“My admission was prolonged and despite trying to manage, I had to give up the salon as I couldn’t work during the admission and recovery. Living on job seeker and Thomas’s income as a landscaper has meant we had to move out of our rental and in with his parents and this has been really tough on our relationship as we still try to manage the girls medical appointments as they need ongoing specialist care. I shaved my hair off as I did not want to have to deal with it whilst managing everything else and the stress of it all meant I lost a lot of weight hence my new look.’
I could not help but think of all that had transpired, which had started off with one domino.
“To top this all off and the main reason I am here is that I am about two weeks late for my period and my urine pregnancy test is positive and I cannot bring another baby into all this hence my request for a termination of pregnancy,” she exhaled as she looked at me for a response.
As I organised her paperwork for her medical termination of pregnancy, I could not help but think of all that had transpired, which had started off with one domino; delaying the management of her initial health issue.
