AIDS and my hypochondriac aunt

Recently I fell seriously ill. I did not eat anything for a month and lost 10 kg. Only thing I could eat was ice cream and a leading nephrologist told me to eat it without guilt. It was sound advice. Folks near and dear thought the end was near.

Among other things my prostate was suspected of misbehaving. Subsequent investigations’ found what was actually wrong and two eminent doctors put things right.

I have a spinster aunt who is a chronic hypochondriac. She promptly proclaimed that she too suffered identical symptoms though nobody paid any heed. With difficulty I explained to her that it could not have been so as the offending prostate was only found in males unless she had undergone an anatomical and physiological change within her body. She quickly announced that the whole thing had been a passing episode which had subsided.

Some time back a former domestic of ours who had sought better terms in the Middle East paid us a courtesy call. It was apparent that something was the matter with her. She said that she felt tired the whole time and all her joints caused her severe pain .I advised her to see a good physician before she went back. This immediately struck a sympathetic chord in my aunt who said as usual that she silently suffered the same symptoms.

A few days later we heard that our ex domestic had been diagnosed with AIDS. I broke the news to my aunt and explained the different ways in which the dreaded disease was contacted including unprotected promiscuous sex, I teasngly asked her whether she had been up to any mischief.

My aunt has not spoken to me since.

Gamini Peiris
Panadura