SAPPHIRE XI

Click here to read Sapphire X

Dr James studied Sapphire’s case note as he waited for The Andersons’ to make their appearance.

Megan had been discharged that morning as she was feeling better.

As soon as he resumed that morning, the Chief Nursing Officer on duty had told him that Sapphire had woken up that morning.

The good news was the fact that the girl had requested for a warm bath, had a light breakfast and went back to sleep. All that was left to do was to discuss details with her parents’, then her treatment would commence in earnest. If he had to wake her up to administer her first dose, so be it.

There was a knock on the door at that moment and he knowing that would be the girl’s parents’ told them to come in.

The door squeaked silently as it was pushed open and he watched as John assisted his wife into the office. He pulled a seat out for her to sit on while he also helped himself into another chair.

“Thank you very much, Doctor; for everything.” Megan said as soon as she was seated.

The doctor smiled; “It’s my job. Plus I have been Sapphire’s medical physician since her birth so it’s just natural that I make sure she is hale and hearty.”

The couple nodded in agreement.

“Okay;” Dr James started, “I know you might have Goggled up what the infection is all about…”

“We haven’t.” Megan cut in.

“We haven’t had time to think about that.” John explained with a thin smile.

Dr James nodded; “Oh! Okay. I understand. A lot happened yesterday.”

John looked at his wife briefly; “Yeah!”

“Anyway, let me just give you a brief overview of the infection we are dealing with.” He looked from husband to wife as he said that.

Megan sat back comfortably as he began; “Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted infection as you might have known.”

John nodded in agreement while Megan just folded her hands.

The Doctor relaxed into his chair before speaking on; “It’s actually common in sexually active teenagers and young adults. It is a bacterial infection which can be transmitted through unprotected sex, sharing of sex toys that are not washed, one’s genitals coming in contact with the genital of someone who has been infected and so on.”

“The shocking truth is even without penetration or ejaculation it can be transmitted.”

He sighed deeply; “Well, some of its symptoms are pain in the belly or pelvis, eye discharge, inflammation or redness of the eye, genital pain and some other symptoms. Some people don’t notice the symptoms or sometimes the symptoms might disappear which doesn’t actually mean the infection is gone. If left untreated it can spread to the womb and cause Pelvic Inflammatory disease. (PID)”

“Do you have questions from what I just explained?” Dr James asked.

John looked at his wife; “No Sir.” Megan replied quietly.

“Great. I’m sorry but I have been wondering…” The doctor began, using his pen to tap the surface of the case note nervously.

Megan looked at her husband’s face briefly with a sigh in preparation for the question she had feared the doctor would ask. John gave her a thin encouraging smile.

“Do you perhaps have an idea of how Sapphire got infected?”

“I mean your daughter is a wonderful girl so it has actually left me thoughtful and confused.” He kept silent then and looked from husband to wife; “If you don’t want to talk about it, we can…”

“No. There is nothing to hide.” John said quietly.

“Okay.” The doctor nodded.

“Doctor, the thing is Sapphire made friends with a wrong girl: a girl who had been sexually active with the family’s chauffeur without her parents’ knowledge. Our daughter made a visit to their house and the girl got her involved in some things.” John explained gloomily.

“That’s sad. So I’m taking it the man infected the girl?”

“Yes. He didn’t make it.” Megan answered.

“That’s terrible then. He probably didn’t take note of the symptoms.”

“That or the symptoms reflected late.” Megan said.

“Well, God will take control.” Dr James prayed.

“Amen.” The couple replied.

“Alright, let us talk about the treatment.” The doctor spoke on again; “Chlamydia can be effectively treated with antibiotics. 95% of infected people get cured if they take their antibiotics correctly.”

“As soon as we are done with this discussion, Sapphire will start her first dosage of Azithromycin or doxycycline; whichever one I feel looks right for her.”

“For how long is the treatment going to be?” Megan asked.

“The truth is there is no special treatment for chlamydia and the tablets might be taken for about 2 weeks. After treatment is completed, we redo the test again and hopefully by that time the infection will be gone.”

“Hopefully!” Megan muttered under her breath.

“Yeah.” The doctor said with a reassuring smile.

“It’s alright. It is well.” John said.

“So let’s make a trip to her room together.” Dr James said as he stood up and led the couple out of his office. He walked ahead of them to Sapphire’s room. They met the girl fully awake but lying down quietly.

“Mum;” She called as soon as they walked in. She struggled to sit up but Megan rushed to her side to give her a hand; “Steady, girl; let me assist you.”

“But I don’t really feel sick.” Sapphire frowned looking round at their faces.

Dr James smiled as he looked at the monitoring machine beside her bed to check her vitals; “That is very possible my young patient but your system isn’t feeling so strong, so you have to abide by my instructions; Alright?”

She nodded silently.

“Good of you. A nurse will be here real soon with a sachet and you are going to take two of it for now with some other drugs until I say otherwise.”

She nodded again.

A knock sounded on the door just then and a nurse opened the door and entered.

“Here is a Packet of azithromycin tablet Sir?” She said as she stretched the drug towards the doctor.

He collected it and in turn stretched it towards Megan.

“Excuse me Sir?” The nurse stammered.

“Yes?”

She blinked; “I’m thinking that four tablet at once will be too much for her.”

“Definitely, she’ll be taking two.” He heard her sigh in relief and smiled at her thoughtfulness; “I pray she doesn’t have any form of allergy. She doesn’t really react to drugs, but we can’t conclude for sure since she hasn’t taken strong antibiotics like this before. That’s one of the reasons she’s still here: To observe her reaction to the drug.”

“Okay Sir.” She nodded as she helped Megan discharge water from the water dispenser into a cup while the mother removed the tablets for her daughter.

“Thanks.” Megan said as she collected the cup with water in it and assisted her daughter in taking the pills.

“Sapphire, you are going be alright soon. Okay?” The doctor said.

Sapphire nodded with a wide smile. Megan felt a flicker of pain.

“I’ll be going for my rounds now. I will check on you guys later.”

“Thank you very much Doctor.” John said.

“My pleasure.” He replied with a grin and left the room with the nurse walking briskly behind him. John and Megan fell into various thoughts then.

“I will be fine right? Mum?” Sapphire asked jolting them back.

Megan gave her a heartening smile; “Baby, God is in control.”

Sapphire nodded as she looked at her parents quiet features.

“Mum, I want to go back to sleep.” She mumbled quietly.

“Alright.” Megan said as she helped her lay down comfortably.

“Dear, I think I need to go home and pick some few things for us.” John said giving his wife a hand.

“Dad, can you bring my Bible with you?” Sapphire asked.

“Of course.” He replied.

She smiled at him as she closed her eyes.

“Honey, can you help me bring my Laptop when you are coming back?” Megan asked in whisper.

John gawked at her; “What are you…” His words sobered in surprise; “You want to start writing the biography?”

“Yes. The earlier the better John. She needs to help me with facts.”

“Okay.” He nodded as he moved to go.

“When I return, you can go home; you can even stay the night.” He offered.

She shook her head in protest; “No. I don’t think I can sleep at home knowing she’s here.”

“Plus when last have I slept in that room without you by my side.” She blushed.

“That’s my girl.” He winked.

“I will get you something to eat when coming. Will Boiled potatoes and roasted chicken do?” He looked at her with a soft gaze.

Megan gulped and whispered; “Can you get it? Like really bring it here?”

He smiled at her behavior just then.

“I love seeing you so gentle like this.” He said softly and pulled her into his arm.

She looked deep into his eyes. She didn’t know when she licked her lips expectantly.

He chuckled softly as he tilted his head closer and kissed her full on her lips.

He was breathing hard by the time he released her few seconds later. “Anything for you sweetheart.” He whispered before pecking her on her forehead.

“I’ll be back.” He let go of her and turned to go.

“Take your time John.” She called after him.

“You meant to say I shouldn’t be long right? I will be back before you know it.” Laughing deeply, he gave a mock salute and exited the room.

As soon as her husband stepped out, Megan’s face became sober as she took a seat beside her daughter and watched her sleep.

She closed her eyes. Lord, I think I understand how Abraham must have felt when you told him to give you Isaac. How had that man done it? This isn’t easy Lord.

My grace is sufficient daughter.

“My beautiful daughter; God’s precious gift to me…” She said as her eyes shimmered with tears.

She bowed her head beside Sapphire and prayed silently; “Lord, release upon me all I need to fall in track with your will.”

“Help us Lord to walk in line with your plans.”

“Help us Lord to do faithfully that which you have committed in our hand. Release strength Lord.”

She let the tears flow.

Little did she know that minutes away, her husband was also praying that same prayer.

Few hours later, Megan picked up her journal and pen and started drawing up how the biography would be: its contents and the little details she could think of; she would take note of other things as they come to her mind.

Some memories got her laughing; some made her cry.

She had just finished penning down something when Sapphire jerked violently from her sleep. The monitoring machine connected to her also barred in alarm.

“Sapphire…” Megan called as she stood up, quickly dropping the journal on the side drawer.

She looked at Sapphire in alarm: The girl was shivering violently, her face bedded in sweat.

Megan looked at the monitoring machine in fear. Even though she didn’t know how to read the vitals, she could tell that her daughter’s blood pressure and heart beat were fluctuating rapidly.

She rang for the nursing station immediately.

Before she could return back to her daughter’s side, the door opened and about four nurses rushed in.

“What happened?” The Nurse who had attended to her a day before alongside the doctor asked as they all moved towards the girl.

“She just jerked from her sleep.” Megan replied disordered.

“This is not good!” Another of the nurses exclaimed.

“What is it?” Another asked and they moved close to see whatever she had seen.

“Which drug is she on?” The Chief Nursing Officer asked.

“Azithromycin.” The nurse who had brought the drug in few hours before said.

“Dr James is not going to like this.” The CNO pouted thoughtfully; “Please ring for him. This is serious.”

Megan stood there praying silently as it appeared that the nurses had forgotten she was present in the room.

She couldn’t help but tell herself that God wouldn’t take her daughter just yet.

Silently committing all into God’s hands, she excused herself from the room to give her husband a call.

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Dr James had just finished his rounds and entered his office when the hospital intercom rang out; “Code white; Code White; Code White.”

“Pediatric medical emergency?” He frowned as he turned back and dashed quickly to the nurses’ station.

“Which room is that?” He asked the only person he met there.

She looked at the central monitor briefly; “Room 6B Sir. Four nurses including the CNO reported there minutes ago.” She said.

Sapphire! He muttered under his breath as he made a beeline for the room. Whatever would have made most of his nurses including the CNO be in that room couldn’t be good.

He found the door opened when he got there and entered; “What’s wrong?” He asked and they immediately cleared out for him.

He moved towards the girl and one look at the girl was enough for him to realize he had made a big mistake.

“Geez!” He looked at the medical monitoring machine for her vitals.

“It’s the drug right?” One of the nurses asked.

Four pairs of eyes turned to glare at her.

Megan walked in just then and didn’t fail to notice the tensed atmosphere of the room; “What’s going on?”

Dr James turned to her; “It’s going to be alright. Just…”

“Megan…” John hurried in at that moment and seeing the number of people in the room quickly looked at his daughter in dread.

“Mr & Mrs Anderson, I know this is not going to be easy but could you sit on the bench outside the door?” Dr James sent a silent plea to John with his eyes quickly darting to Megan.

John understood.

“Okay.” He said as he took his wife’s hand in his and led her out of the room. He used his free hand to close the door behind them.

Silently, they walked towards the Bench. He assisted her to sit down and also sat down beside her. She leaned on him immediately.

“John, it’s not time right?” She asked.

John swallowed as he looked down at the floor swiftly before closing his eyes; “Megan…” What would he say? He himself needed answers.

God, what should I say?

With eyes still closed, there was a brief replay of all Megan had told him in his mind.

“John?” Megan called in tears.

He opened his eyes; “I just know it isn’t time yet. There are still things to be done.” He said reaching forth to hold her hand.

“Right? That was what I was thinking about too.” She muffled beside him.

He squeezed her hand fondly; “Lets’ just trust God, okay?”

“God is in control.” She said silently.

“Yes he is.” He said as he kissed her forehead.

“How did you get here so quickly?” His wife asked.

“I was about to leave the house when you called so all I had to do was beat speed limit to get here.” She heard a smile in his voice and chuckled.

Before she could reply, the door opened beside them and the CNO and another nurse rushed out as if on errand for something. Husband and wife fell into various thoughts just then.

Megan sighed as she thought about the fact that waiting for news of whatever was happening to their daughter was frustrating.

She then told herself they had no choice but to wait.

Watch out for Sapphire XII

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Welcome to the month of October.

It will be a month of accomplishing greater things for us all in Jesus name.

My Dear Readers, thank you for following ‘Sapphire’ and I’m so Sorry for the delay in posting this episode.

I will do my best to make the next episode available without delay.

Kindly drop your thoughts as regards this episode in the comments section.

Happy 60th Independence Day to all Nigerians.

God bless you.