Page 145 - FATE & DESTINY

FATE & DESTINY

Choki curled up on the wooden bench and muttered prayers. I said the rosary, pacing back and forth.
One hour later, I shuffled to the OT door and peeped in. Pin-drop silence. I returned to the waiting room.
“Hope everything is going well.”
“I hope so,” she said, glancing at the OT door.
Silence reigned over the place and a sense of mortality obsessed my mind. “It’s surrealistic.” I shuffled
to the OT door and peeped inside. Nobody came out, so I returned to the waiting room and resumed my
rosary. “God, bless my boy, please.” I went to the door and peeped in. My heart pulsated as bizarre
thoughts leaped into my mind. “Why is it so silent? What’s happening inside? What if something went
wrong?”
A nurse in a blue gown walked out a few minutes later.
“Excuse, nurse,” I said. “We are waiting for our baby.”
“It’s done,” she said. “Wait here.”
Dr. John walked out with the mask on his face. “Ninety percent successful. We did everything we
could.” He patted my back and slogged away.
“Ninety percent successful?” I muttered, watching him slog away. “Why not hundred percent
successful?”
A nurse returned the baby on a gurney. I wrapped him in his blanket and carried him to the ambulance.
Back in the cabin, the three on-duty nurses did the post-surgery treatment.
When Dr. John came in the evening, he said, “Don’t worry. The baby will be fine.”
I nodded in silence.
A couple of days later, Rinchen barfed. We could see his intestines through the gaps of the stitches. We
informed Dr. John. He came right away and examined the baby.
“The baby must be operated on again,” he said.
“Hell, no way,” I said, slapping my chest. “Why again, doctor?”
With a sorrowful sigh, he explained the procedure of the surgery with the diagram. “See this? It’s…”
He stared into my eyes. “He gives you lots of stress.”
“Even to you, doctor. We are sorry for that.”
“It’s okay. We’ll try our best.”
Dr. John came early in the morning and said, “Bring the baby to the operation theater now. I will wait
there.”
The nurse handed me a paper. “Sign here, please,” she said.
I picked the pen from the table. On the bottom of the page was written a high-risk remark.
“What’s this, nurse?” I said.
“Dr. John wrote it,” she said.
“Is there a risk?”
“All the operations involve some risks.”
“But this is different. I’ve never seen a remark like this before. Please wait, I must discuss it with my
wife.” I returned to the cabin. “The operation involves high risk, Ama. What should we do?”
Choki sat indecisive for a while. “You can decide.”
“Um, he poos a bit. Maybe we should cancel the operation. I don’t think he can bear another operation
in a short span. What do you say?”
She hung her head. “Okay,” she said.
I shuffled back to the nurse room. “Nurse, we want to cancel the operation.”
She stared at me. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, I will inform Dr. John.” She dialed the number and talked for a while. “He said okay.”

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