Monday Musings 145 - The smile of the Divine

Monday Musings 145 - The smile of the Divine

He was a new age professional. She was the wife he had chosen, as a solemn promise to be there for her in joy and in sorrow. Life would have been nice, had it not been for the games the divine plays, which He seem to revel in and we fail to understand.

The first child was a still born, the second one they lost after 21 months to a complication arising out of infant diabetes gone horribly wrong, while he struggled in a nearby ward with jaundice. So when she expected the third time, it was with trepidation and hope, anxiety and joy, knowing fully well that this was their last time. The Divine played His hand again. She was diagnosed with a rare complication of the heart, not fatal but curable by surgery.

So was surgery possible on her in the given condition? The gynecologist referred to the cardiologist, who said it was dangerous to operate in her condition, because during the surgery they would slow the heart rate, which will mean reduction in the blood level to the fetus, with potential damage possibilities. Off they went to a thoracic cardio surgeon for another opinion, who said, while the condition was certainly tricky, but it was quite possible to do the surgery. As it happens, he explained, that human body is Gods supreme invention and some of the way it behaved was the surest proof that God existed. Under the usual norms, when the body faces blood shortage, as in injury, it rations its blood supply to the various organs, in a manner that the brain and heart gets priority. Even when there is left smallest quantity of blood in the body, it will supply to only these organs - except that there is catch. You see, the body is programmed to behave in the above manner most of the times, except that when there is fetus in the body, it somehow starts rationing the blood in a manner that apart from the brain and the heart, even the fetus gets its share,  till the last supply of blood remains. How does this happen, well- only God can tell? So the thoracic surgeon gave case studies after case studies how it was possible for this surgery to happen, without damaging the fetus. The cardiologist recommended abortion. The choice was difficult. Would he risk her life for the sake of the child, knowing fully well, that this was the last chance? Or would he take a leap of faith amidst divided medical opinion?

What would have he gone through? What would have she gone through? Were they believers, before that and was their faith shaken - did they question their God? How would they decide - on science, on instinct, or on precariously fractured medical opinion, or an equally unreliable faith in the inherent goodness of life emerging out of an inexplicable positivity, which cannot be based on reason, but in the opaqueness of hope that no wrong could happen to me?

I am told they took the leap of faith. The Divine smiled. Their daughter is eight now and he tells her every night, horribly boring and repetitive stories.