Can You Mend My Broken Heart?

278 David !!! Is that you?

"Hello, Mr. Raymond. My name is Dr. Emre, and I am your attending doctor here. Please do not panic, everything is ok with you and you have just now woken up from induced sleep."

"Where am I?"

"You are in a private nursing home in Brooklyn. Please do not panic", the doctor emphasized again as his heart rate was spiking up,

But how could he not panic when in his head he wasn't able to recollect the face of the one person that he loved the most. He remembered Akira, he remembered her touch, her smell her kiss, but he wasn't able to recollect her face. No matter how hard he tried, with eyes closed or open, he failed.

"Hey, Raymond !!! It's going to be ok. It's all ok. You are in good hands", David said and gently touched his arm.

That voice sounded all familiar.

He sounded like his comrade whom he trusted more than anything in his life. His voice suddenly assured him, but his face, his face looked so unfamiliar.

Knitting his eyebrows he asked,

"Are you David?"

"Yeah, but why do you ask? Is everything ok?", David asked and looked at the Doctor all panic-stricken.

"What is the problem, Mr. Raymond? Are you having any discomfort anywhere or any problem in remembering anything?"

Ignoring the question from the Doctor, Raymond asked all impatiently,

"Where is Akira? Why is she not here? Why didn't you inform her? Tell her I am awake. She must be panicking like anything. Tell her fast David. I haven't contacted her after my accident".

David looked at Raymond all helplessly and then turned towards Sebastian with his pleading eyes because he wasn't able to see the love birds separated for a moment more.

But then his face turned all grave and looking at the doctor Raymond asked,

"But why can't I remember her face? Why can't I remember anyone's face?"

"What?", Dr. Emre exclaimed and came close to him and taking out his phone he showed him Donald Trump's picture.

"Can you recognize this man?"

"No".

Dr. Emre turned and moving his hand he requested Mr.Sebastian to come forward.

"Do you know who is he?"

"No, I don't", Raymond answered all restless.

"Call Akira David. Why aren't you calling her yet? Why am I here? And who is this person that you are showing?"

His heart rate started spiking alarmingly high and fearing a sudden cardiac arrest, Dr. Emre started a mild sedative to make his torrid heart rest for a while.

As his eyes closed, he was engulfed in sleep again. Seeing that a worried father turned towards Dr.Emre and asked,

"What's wrong with my son?"

"I think he has "Acquired Prosopagnosia" a very rare case that affects around 2.5% of the United States population. It is a cognitive disorder of face perception in which the ability to recognize familiar faces is lost due to damage to the brain".

"What damage?"

"I already had mentioned to you, that the huge fall had resulted in occipito-temporal lobe damage. Prosopagnosia can normally be caused by lesions in various parts of the inferior occipital areas or fusiform gyrus or the anterior temporal cortex. In his case, acquired prosopagnosia has developed as a result of several neurological damages causes in the fusiform gyrus."

"Then correct it. Money isn't a problem".

"Mr. Walker acquired prosopagnosia sometimes spontaneously resolves on its own, without any external interference. It has no cure as such as of now. It will not impact him that much, but just that it can be difficult for people with this condition to keep track of information about people, and socialize normally with others."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean to say, all his memory is totally intact. He remembers everything, but connecting faces to the names that he remembers will be a task for him".

"But he could recognize me", David interrupted the conversation.

"Yes, and I assume that you are very closely attached to each other. So I think he was able to know you by your voice".

"So you mean to say that now he knows that I am his assistant, but if he sees me again and I don't talk, he won't be able to know I am David just from my face?"

"Yes, he can't".

"I had two cases of acquired prosopagnosia in adults that I have seen in my career. They both had some problem is adjusting with society as they can't recognize people. But they can always recognize their close ones, from their voice, their smell, their touch. But you need to be very patient as they might not know who you are, even if they know everything about you and remember everything about you".

"So what do I do?", David asked, with his voice almost choking.

"Just keep reminding him who you are. But he will recognize you from your voice, so you don't need to worry about that part".

David turned towards Sebastian to speak, but he saw him immersed in some deep thoughts.

He never liked it when Sebastian went into deep thoughts.