My 5 to 1 odds

"1,2,3..."

Xa felt tired that day. She was walking hurridly through the fields. She was late. In her hand she clutched the packet her husband had demanded she get for him urgently.
Xb felt like celebrating that day. Anyway, the next day was a dry day so might as well get a drink tonight. Anyway, his hospital ward work was over for the day. Soon, his internship would end and he could finally get a job as a doc after all these years.
Xc felt like relaxing that day. He was free for the next 24 hours. As he drove home, he wondered if perhaps he should take his wife and kids to the movies tomorrow as a treat.
Xd felt like having a drink before dinner that day. Not that he ate much. In fact, he'd been vomiting everything he ate since morning.
Xe felt like praying that day. She decided to take the fast like her daughter and grandchildren for 12 hours.

"13,14,15..."

Xa felt the sting on her feet before she heard the telltale hiss. Too late, she saw the glistening snake slither away and the drops of blood on her leg.
Xb had 2 vodkas. They were safe as the hostel warden couldn't get a smell. Besides he felt more stable driving his bike with vodkas. They never gave too high a kick. His reflexes were good enough to avoid the little girl who suddenly ran onto the road, but he couldn't avoid the stationary lamppost.
Xc got down a mile from his house for a cigarette. He had to quit the habit. His wife always nagged him that it would kill him one day. As he crossed the road to reach his car, the speeding jeep overtook the bus in front of it. Xc could only stare.
Xd didn't feel too good. He knew he shouldn't have had that drink. The doctors told him his system was different from everyone else. His heart and spleen were on his right, his weak liver on his left. Before he could voice his thoughts though, he started vomiting blood.
Xe took her medicines regularly,just as she had the last 10 years of her life. She decided to sleep and wake up at the time of breaking the fast. She didn't get up an hour later even when called.

"28,29,30... CPR's not working. Start the defibrillator."


Xa reached the hospital 4 hours later. Paralysis had long set in. She had to be intubated and placed on a ventilator. In her hand was found a small packet.
Xb reached the hospital an hour later. His spleen was ruptured, his brain bleeding. His pupils did not react to light. He was intubated and rushed to the operation theatre.
Xc reached the hospital 2 hours later. His skull was smashed in and multiple injuries were present over his abdomen. He was intubated and placed on ventilatory support.
Xd reached the hospital 2 hours later. His skin was yellow and he was disoriented. He would get progressively worse with his abdomen distending like a hot air balloon as his kidneys, liver and brain shut down.
Xe reached the hospital 3 hours later. Her pulse was feeble and slow. Her skin was cold. She had taken her diabetic medication and fasted. She was in a hypoglycemic shock since the last 3 hours.

"Clear !!"

Xa never recovered from the lack of oxygen her brain suffered once the venom started paralysing her lungs and diaphragm.
Xb was brain dead when he was brought to the hospital as the pupils confirmed. The 12 blood transfusions, the neurosurgeon and general surgeon working simulaneously at two ends, the icu staff working day in and out to keep his body stable... were all measures delaying the inevitable.
Xc deteriorated slowly. He went into cardiac arrest on day 2 and passed away.
Xd turned violent as his brain deteriorated. On day 3, he started waving goodbye incoherently to everyone who passed by. An hour later, he went into cardiopulmonary arrest.
Xe was given sugar formulations rapidly intravenously. She opened her eyes 10 minutes later.

"Clear!! Ok, That's it. He's not responsive to defib. It's no use. He's gone..." Xd died from cardiopulmonary arrest on Day 3.

Xa never got to give her husband the packet of beedis he left while going to work in the farm.
Xb, an only son, died 2 months before graduating to become a doctor.
Xc never got to tell his wife and kids how much he loved them.
Xd died at the age of 35, a case of situs inversus who went into liver failure, a chronic alcoholic from the age of 15 years. He was the nephew of a minister of the ruling government. The minister could not do anything to save him.

Xe lived to celebrate India's 61st Independence.

If you gave 5:1 odds to an Intensive Care Unit physician on the game of life and death, they'd gleefully take it. Because they know how fragile life really is. How death lurks at every corner... how even the most insignificant daily routine, like crossing the road, missing a meal, having a drink or just getting your husband his daily vice... can be as fatal as a viper bite.