THE QUESTION I DIDN’T WANT TO ANSWER
Suddenly, the woman from the club wasn’t just a blurry memory anymore.
I could remember her face.
Her perfume.
The taxi.
My apartment.
And one uncomfortable fact:
I had no idea who she really was.
That afternoon, I booked an appointment with a dermatologist.
The doctor examined my skin carefully.
He looked at my arms.
My chest.
My palms.
Then he sat down.
“Have you had any new sexual partners recently?”
My stomach tightened.
“One,” I said.
“When?”
I told him.
He asked several more questions before saying he wanted to order blood tests.
“Do you think this is serious?” I asked.
He didn’t give me a diagnosis.
“Let’s wait for the results.”
Those were some of the longest days I’d experienced in years.
I searched every symptom online.
One website convinced me it was an allergy.
Another made me wonder about an autoimmune disease.
Another made me fear something much worse.
Eventually, I forced myself to stop searching.
Then my phone rang.
It was the clinic.
“We have your results. The doctor would like to speak with you.”
My heart started pounding before I even arrived.
I sat across from the doctor as he opened my file.
He looked at the results and then at me.
Then he said one word.
“Syphilis.”
For several seconds, I couldn’t speak.
The entire night at the club replayed in my head.
The woman.
The drinks.
The taxi.
“Are you sure?” I finally asked
The blood tests supported the diagnosis.
Then the doctor explained something I hadn’t known.
Syphilis can begin with a painless sore. The sore may disappear even though the bacterial infection remains untreated. Later, a rash can develop, sometimes involving the palms of the hands or the soles of the feet.
The sore I had celebrated disappearing hadn’t necessarily meant the problem was gone.
It had been a warning.
Fortunately, syphilis can be treated with appropriate antibiotics, and my doctor arranged treatment and follow-up testing.
I thought that would be the end of the conversation.
It wasn’t.
The doctor looked at me and asked about the woman.
“She should be informed and evaluated too.”
I stared at him.
There was something I hadn’t told him yet.
“I don’t know who she is.”
PART 3 — NEXT PAGE
