Hema flew down from Srinagar to see me. She was drop-dead gorgeous: flawless skin, impeccably symmetrical eyebrows, expressive dark brown eyes, and long healthy eyelashes. Her nose looked as if it was sculpted by Michelangelo. Her cheekbones and jawline would make an anatomist gaze in wonder. She had bouncy burgundy hair reminiscent of Dimple Kapadia’s in her youth. I thought it was perfectly appropriate for a doctor to momentarily appreciate utopian beauty within the quiet recesses of his brain. In fact, looking at her, I was reminded of 13th-century Persian poet and Sufi mystic Amir Khusrau, who famously proclaimed Kashmir’s beauty with, “If there is a paradise on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this.”
When I asked what the problem was and before her docile husband sitting next to her could answer, her left eye started twitching. For a moment, I thought she was winking at me, but then her face also fluttered a little uncontrollably, grimacing involuntarily, transiently disturbing the natural beauty of her face, like it was trying to communicate in Morse code to a passing firefly. “Every time she’s stressed, fatigued, or anxious, the tremble exaggerates,” he said. “It’s as if I’m fighting a war inside my face,” she spoke for the first time. Kashmir had transformed from being the bliss it once was to the battlefield we now know it to be. “This started several years ago, but the intensity and frequency are now increasing,” she told me, adding how socially embarrassing this was for her. “We’ve tried everything – medication, Botox, stimulation, and even alternative forms of therapy – but it’s just getting worse,” her husband added. In case you’re wondering, Botox is often used medically to control spasms, not only to enhance beauty.
They had come to me because they knew the only option now to fix this was a surgical procedure. Hema had a condition called hemifacial spasm, where an abnormal artery was pulsating upon the seventh cranial nerve – the facial nerve responsible for the muscles of facial expression. Every time the artery touched the nerve, the face would contort. “We’ve been avoiding surgery for so long because we are very scared,” her husband spoke, adding that they had been forewarned that facial paralysis could be a complication of the operation. “Fear is not an emotion anyone must associate with,” I gave them some hope and courage. I acknowledged it was a possibility but assured them that if at all it happened, it would be transient. “The bigger concern is that on occasion, even despite surgery, the spasms don’t disappear,” I revealed. Nonetheless, we fixed up a date for surgery.
Within a week she was in the operating room. Under the magnificent light of the microscope, her facial nerve looked more sublime than her face itself. White and yellow in equal proportion, like on the days you see the sun and moon holding hands next to each other against a pale sky. A thick scarlet artery grooved over the nerve, hugging it like a jealous ex. I teased off the silver strands that held the artery against the nerve, and with a pair of pointed forceps, lifted it up and moved it away – the indentation on the nerve clearing up just like the dent in a cushion flattens out after someone gets up from it. I placed a buffer of fluffy Teflon between the two just in case the artery was to recoil back onto the nerve, like a jilted lover wanting to get back again.
When she woke up and smiled, her face was in perfect symmetry. The twitching had disappeared. Flowers bloomed where there once was bloodshed. No one was going to war. Paradise was restored.
65 thoughts on “The seventh nerve”
باسلام و احترام
بهترهامتحانکنید
سایت بت والیبال
رو برای تخته نرد شرطی.
این سایت محبوب تنوع ورزشها و برای پوکر بازها عالیه.
از جوایزش بردم و پیشنهاد میکنم تستکنید.
با تشکر محمد.
درود بیپایان
توصیه میشه
سایت والیبال بت
رو برای انفجار 2.
این وبسایت بونوس ویژه و برای رولت دوستان خوبه.
از جوایزش بردم و پیشنهاد میدم ثبت نام کنید.
کاربر وفادار.
درود و احترام محمد
پیشنهاد عالی
سایت دنیای هات بت
رو برای رولت ایرانی.
اینسایت پرداخت آسان و برای انفجار
2جذابه.
اپ رونصب کردم و حتما پیشنهاد میکنم ببینید.
کاربر قدیمی.
درود بر خانم فاطمه
حتما ببینید
سایت کرش آنلاین
رو برای تخته نرد.
این وبسایت امن ضرایب بالایی داره و برای رولت دوستان خوبه.
از بونوسهاش استفاده کردم و عالی برای شماست.
یکی از خوانندگان.
عرض ادب
به نظرم عالی برای شماست
سایت انفجار بت
رو در زمینه کرش گیم.
این سرویس حرفه ای امکانات خوبی داره و برای رولت
بازها مناسبه.
به نظرم بهترینه و توصیه دارم ببینید سایت رو.
یکی از کاربران.
درود بر آقا حسین
به نظرم خوبه
سایت انفجار 2
رو برای بوکس.
این سایت جدید تنوع بالا و برای انفجار بازها مناسبه.
اپ رو نصب کردم و توصیه ویژه دارم.
ارادتمند.
درود و احترام
پیشنهاد میدم
سایت والیبال شرطی
رو برای قمار آنلاین.
این سرویس معتبر ضرایب بالایی داره و برای تنیس بت خوبه.
پشتیبانیشون خوبه و حتما ببینیدش.
کاربر قدیمی.
سلام آقا رضا
به نظرم خوبه
سایت کازینو برتر
رو جهت مونتی.
این سرویس تنوع کازینو و به درد
قماربازها میخوره.
تجربه خوبی داشتم و پیشنهاد
میکنم شما هم امتحان کنید.
خدانگهدار رضا.
عرض سلام و احترام
به نظرم سایت خوبیه
سایت تنیس پیش بینی
رو در حوزه بلک جک آنلاین.
این سایت محبوب اپلیکیشن موبایل داره و
برای شرطبندان حرفهای عالیه.
از بونوسهاش استفاده کردم و توصیه ویژه دارم.
موفق و پیروز.
شب بخیر
توصیه ویژه
سایت رولت ایرانی
رو جهت کرش.
این سایت محبوب اپ حرفه ایو برای کازینو زنده مناسبه.
پرداختهاش سریعه و توصیه میکنم
چک کنید.
بدرود.
وقتتون بخیر
به نظرم سایت خوبیه
سایت رولت آنلاین
رو برای کازینو برتر.
این اپ خوب ضرایب رقابتی و برای تنیس بت خوبه.
تجربه مثبتی بود و جذاب برای امتحانه.
کاربر وفادار.
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