Clues in the mortal frame

‘What is mankind that you are mindful of them,

Human beings that you care for them

You have made them a little lower than the angels

And crowned them with glory and honor. ’ -Psalms 8:4,5

Of all the postings for an anesthesia registrar, the one that inspires awe like no other is the stint in cardio thoracic theatre. Though it is intense, the intellectual and emotional rewards are amazing. The CT theatre is situated in the centre of the entire OR complex of Christian medical college. It is the largest and most sterile of all the operating rooms. And it must be that way, after all people’s hearts are cut open and closed to beat and pump better everyday.

A typical day starts at 6:40 A.M when we change to scrubs and hurry much before the other colleagues to get a battery of drugs and infusions ready. Machine is checked, patients pre anesthetic consult document scrupulously studied, invasive catheters flushed and writing boards filled before the patient is rolled into the operating room.

Identity is checked and confirmed along with the surgeon religiously to make sure that the right patient is operated upon. Then the patient is given a cocktail of sleep medicines. Administering anesthesia to a heart patient is one of the toughest challenges to an anesthetist. All these drugs cause the heart to slow down and giving such drugs to people who already have weak hearts and still keep the function of our life pump in optimal range is a walk on a tightrope. After the patient is under anesthesia with gases going into his lungs, the surgery ensues.

It is at this moment that a large rectangular contraption is rolled into the room. It is called the cardio pulmonary bypass machine. It does all the work of a normal heart during the time the heart is being repaired. After the chest is opened by a saw (very much like the one we see in a carpenter’s box except that it is clean and maneuvered with controls), one can appreciate a beating heart.

This is a wow moment! The heart just works briskly, regularly in a rhythm almost like indulging in a heavenly dance. One can so obviously note the two motions of contraction and relaxation.I peep into the mediastinum (the cavity within which the heart is situated. A complicated word for something so obvious like many other words in medicine) from over a foot stool near the head end of the patient. 

It was the first time I saw the heart beating directly. A surreal feeling enveloped me. What an intricate, powerful and regular pump human body is created with! The heart starts beating when we are in our mom’s tummy and continues to beat throughout our lives. It has no dayoffs, no holidays, no Sundays and vacations. It is the only muscle organ that works without a break. Of course the only time it stops is when we kick the bucket. No other word came into my mind when I looked at such an extraordinary device but ‘God’.

We are fearfully and wonderfully made the Bible notes. And the fearfulness of our manufacture (or Godifacture if I can say so) is in the delicately poised equilibrium in our body. The heart is supplied by three main blood vessels. And if they are blocked, the heart muscle is like a power plant without power to work. It is people with these hearts that reach the operating table.

The heart before being repaired is relieved off its blood. All the blood is diverted to the machine that collects impure blood, mixes it with oxygen and sends it back to the body. But a moving heart is inclement for performing repair. So a solution is injected into the heart. THE HEART IS STOPPED!! How much we as human race have progressed! We can stop hearts and make them beat again. We can correct life threatening defects and perform life saving surgeries. There is nothing modern medicine cannot do except making man immortal.

 The heart after the repair is done is got rid off that fluid that transiently stops its function. Now this is the scariest moment. I look at the vitals monitor fingers crossed. I fear and wonder what if the heart does not start to beat again? What if the patient does not wake up? But the heart slowly begins to limp back to normalcy like a marathon runner’s initial steps after a long slumber. Once the heart has regained normalcy, the chest is closed and patient is shifted to ICU.

On one of the surgeries, I had a candid chat with a cardio thoracic registrar. That had the strongest impact on me more than the medical marvel I had witnessed. He told me that nothing can match the heart we are born with. All the surgical intervention marginally improves a diseased heart. Nothing can compare to God given body.

As I sauntered along the corridors of ICU, I thought, we as men put our faith on medicine, on a mechanical machine, a rule of physics and an ion called potassium, to an extent of death and a semi- resurrection. The patients whether they realize it or not give consent to stop their hearts briefly so that they can be repaired. That requires a great level of faith. We trust anesthetic gases and drugs, even without complete understanding of how they work (research has not revealed a concrete evidence on how anesthetic gases work in the body) and put people to sleep and wake them up with devoted trust towards molecules and chemical structures. But we do not want to trust a God who has made it all. We argue that until we have complete proof and evidence we will not believe in God. But there is proof that there is a loving and caring God when we just look our own body- the mindboggling complexity, the vigorous function, the breathtaking wonder of its structure.

Next time when we are in doubt, just look at the mirror. You are an extraordinary creation and God has left many a clue in our mortal frames. You look into yourself and cannot but say Oh my God!