Sunday 6 September, 2009

Doctor, with my chronic ailment, should I really marry…?

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Rahul (name changed) is 27, a tall, handsome guy with hazel colored iris pigment. Self employed and runs a placement agency. He was a juvenile glaucoma patient who had been operated for intractable glaucoma when he was only 9 year old. He says, his visual status (which is significantly reduced in terms of the visual field), is known only to two persons: his doctor (that happened to be this blogger) and himself. His family obviously knows about his ailment; however to everyone else he is a crazy guy who owns a bike, has access to his father’s car but for reasons best known to him, avoids driving either of them.

Rahul is not alone. Many glaucoma patients are forced to lead a restrained life due to visual field restrictions. As I said in a previous post, some countries even have legislation that (rightly) prohibits them from driving.

Unaware of his actual visual status, his parents are behind him. They feel it’s high time he “settles down” with a suitable bride.

Around a year ago, he sought my views about this. Marriage in India, unlike in most western countries are arranged, unless someone falls in love, in which case there may still be a lot of family drama because of multiple differences in caste, religion, region, language and financial differences.

Nevertheless, the question Rahul has raised, I believe must be shared by many others irrespective of which part of the world they live in. A patient with a chronic disease, physical limitation more often than not relives these restrictive factors and puts up a lot of anxiety not directly linked to the ailment itself.

So Rahul discussed his reasons for avoiding a marriage:

“I don’t have a girl friend, whom I could marry. (He probably closed the doors for a relationship because of the potential impact she would have to bear!). Even if I had, I wouldn’t want to ruin the life of someone I loved. My parents are pressing me to tie the knot, but the question is why should I marry and cheat a person I have never known….” he says.

Effectively, he has ruled out marrying someone he could have been in love with as well as others whom he wouldn’t be in with.

What do you say to this question?

I would post my answer shortly.

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