Bonding with Strangers, Part 1

Part1                                              

Although America is my new home, there are times especially when I m sick that this land looks so foreign and alien. In my home country, I had spent my childhood living jointly with my adorable parents, siblings, granny, aunts, cousins and helpful neighbors. I was completely dependent on them for so many things until I grew up. Being away from them or living alone particularly when being unwell, or an ER visit was a nightmare for me.

 But here in America, including myself people generally live independently and seldom have family or domestic help. It’s bliss if one is sick and bumps into good doctors. Many of us dread seeing medical practitioners. Other than providing medical insurance and co-payments, building trust on these practices is something that our emotional and psychological needs demand. I usually avoid a doctor’s visit, but childbirth is a time when one has to deal with a group of medical practitioners apart from insurance companies that foot hefty bills later.

As the birth date of my second baby drew closer; like others I, too, had mixed feelings of joy, apprehension and anxiety about this day. The scariest part was to face a c-section. At the hospital’s maternity ward, I was asked to remove my jewelry (considered to be inauspicious for a married woman in our culture back home) before appearing for the surgery. A caregiver led me to the operation room, a glance of it sent shivers down my spine and I felt like a silent lamb; even if I wished, I couldn’t hang back. There was a team of around seven or eight people. All strangers! They showed an urgency of executing their role. I was asked to sit on a stretcher that was waiting for me.

An anesthesiologist, named Dr. Faillace came and explained the details of anesthesia. He seemed eager and quick on performing his routine duty despite my repeated appeals to look at my spinal medical records first. One of his team members inserted a sharp needle in my back while an assistant doctor along with a couple of nurses held me tightly. And in few minutes I was numbed in the legs; completely surrendering before the nurses, doctors and a whole team of people I had never met before! Thanks to a magical epidural that leaves no room for resistance. As surgery proceeded, I could feel pulling and cutting of my tummy. I could also hear these doctors exchanging candid conversations. Their expertise and experience seemed as though cutting and stitching human bodies were as simple as changing a car battery. In few minutes, I heard my baby’s loud cry; the strangers expressed their joy and showed me my most valuable treasure. My bonding with them happened instantly.