At the office, a doctor we had never seen before reviewed the file with us. She read for several minutes, then turned to Bruce.
“Your earlier results were poor,” she said. “But this note is very clear that repeat testing was recommended. The physician believed the sample may have been affected by recent illness.”
Bruce looked sick.
“The result should never have been treated as a final verdict without follow-up.”
“I remember the fever,” I said. “You were in bed for days.”
The doctor nodded. “A severe fever can temporarily affect sperm production. It doesn’t guarantee anything, but the result should never have been treated as a final verdict without follow-up.”
I looked at Bruce.
“So we lost five years to a sentence you never let anyone finish?”
His face crumpled.
The next few days were awful.
“Yes,” he said. “I think we did.”
I turned back to the doctor.
