Page 166 - FATE & DESTINY
P. 166

FATE & DESTINY

               That evening, as I was returning to the lodge, the on-duty doctor at the triage beckoned me. “Did you
            donate blood?” he asked.
               “Must I donate blood for the test?”
               He stared at me with an open mouth. “Of course.”
               “But won’t the hospital provide it? My blood doesn’t match with the baby’s blood.”
               “Any group will do. This is to replace the blood provided by the hospital. Please go to the blood bank
            right away.”
               I returned to the cabin. “The doctor told us to donate blood, Ama. My blood doesn’t match with the
            baby’s blood. What should we do?”
               “I will donate,” she said. “You can stay with the baby.”
               “Okay. Come fast.”
               “Come, Ata Gelong,” she said.
               They returned after one and a half hours.
               Choki said, “Ata Gelong donated the blood.”
               “What?” I said. “Why not you?”
               “They said I didn’t have blood.”
               I grinned at Ata Gelong. “Thanks.”
               At 9:00 pm, the nurse came and said, “Stop feeding the baby after 10:00 pm. We’ll take him to the OT
            at 9:00 am tomorrow.”
               I glanced at Choki. “Doesn’t it look like surgery to you?”
               “The same thing happened at AMRI hospital, remember?” she said.
               My jaws clenched. “How could I forget that?”
               “Oops! I am confused,” said Choki, rubbing her hands.
               Rinchen cried for milk the whole night. In turns, Choki and I rocked him around the room. At 9: 00
            am, I went to the duty room to see the nurse. “When are you taking my baby to the OT?”
               “I didn’t receive any call from the surgeon,” she said. “I will inform you.”
               Flustered, I returned to the cabin. “The nurse told us to wait.”
               Choki rested her chin on her palms and sighed. “I am fed up with the deferral.”
               Rinchen wailed on the top of his voice. I paced out to the corridor to see if the nurse was coming. At
            11:00 am, she escorted us to the OT. We waited at the door for another hour. Rinchen pointed at the stairs
            and cried.
               “Not today, dear,” I said. “After they discharge you.”
               Even that adorable duckling doll—a surgeon had given him to play with—didn’t pacify his trauma of
            surgery. He seemed to know everything about what would happen to him. In his cute white operation
            gown, he dragged me to the stairs and pointed down. It was heartbreaking. So, I cradled him in my arms
            and paced around.
               “Oh, dear!” said Choki. “Why aren’t they calling us?”
               “It’s time. Surgeon would call us any minute. It’s just a test. Don’t worry, please.”
               “How could I not worry?”
               “Have patience, please.”
               The anesthetist came with a syringe in his hand. “Oh, dear, give me your hand.” As the baby stretched
            out his left arm to him, crying, he said, “That’s my boy. It hurts a bit, dear.”
               The baby slept in my arms.
               “Give me the baby,” he said. “Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”
               As the anesthetist took him in his arms, the baby faintly wailed and stretched his hands to us.
               We waved. “Rinchen, bye.”


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