She stood transfixed midway in the room. She wondered what she had gone to get from the bedroom, almost feeling frustrated. Her eyes darted across the room momentarily. As she did a quick scan of every minute detail in the room, she still could not understand what it was that she wanted to get from there.
Frustrated, she heaved heavy sighs of near hopelessness. Then, she muttered to herself, as she turned to walk out of the room, “oh Aret, you need your memory back, ahhh.”
As Aret walked out into the courtyard, she was unaware that her two elder sisters stood by watching her. They knew without asking her that Aret would seek solitude under her favourite Iroko tree, away from their interferences in her life. Or what they knew she felt had suddenly become a life of obliviousness. They also knew that their baby sister had not always been so unconnected and unresponsive to people around her. They knew she had only gradually adopted the Iroko tree as a special solitary spot over the past six months since her discharge from the hospital.
Usually, her sisters would have left her to herself but they had brought an old friend home, they prayed would be able to help Aret. She had been diagnosed with Sudden Memory Loss (SML) following the road traffic accident she had on her way back from lectures that had left her hospitalized for nearly two months.
Though, the doctors who examined her had said it would only be temporary. Still, no one, not even Aret had been prepared for the tedious journey to recovery. As the days went by and months were recorded, her inability to function at an optimum level on daily basis became more and more interrupted by intermittent spells of slight headaches, fatigue, difficulty to stay focused, slowness in her ability to process information and then the memory loss put her in such a state of near helplessness and so much dependence on others.
Aret’s studies were interrupted and her lecturers were worried that she might need an extra year to be able to cope with final exams before graduating.
As Aret sat down with her sisters that afternoon, speaking with their friend, neither she nor her sisters knew what to expect. It was quite certain, though, that in addition to medication, she would need some form of therapy and an individualized treatment plan to complement her journey on the road to recovery. (To be continued)
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Author’s notes: Sudden Memory Loss due to Road Traffic Accidents (RTA) has not been fully substantiated in this part of the world. However, a real life experience meeting with a young lady who had suffered immensely from SML following RTA inspired this story being shared. She was just one lucky individual who was opportune to get therapy. There are several out there whose case deteriorates because they didn’t get the right referral.
By Bridget Uko
