We were a young couple, barely out of yeshivah and seminary, and we were new parents to a sweet baby. Something about her behavior didn’t seem right to us, and we took her to the doctor. The doctor examined her and he announced, “You must go to the hospital immediately! She needs emergency surgery. You don’t have to take an ambulance, but it’s urgent that you get there ASAP.”
We walked out of the doctor’s office shell-shocked. We had never imagined that this is what we would hear. Not long before that, we’d been holding on to our parents’ apron strings! We called them up immediately. My parents were away on a long trip, and they didn’t have their cell phones with them. My wife’s parents were not available at the time to answer our call, and we understood that there was no one else who could take responsibility for the decision. We were the parents, and now the responsibility was ours alone. What to do?
I remembered that there was a family with a similar story, who had taken a private doctor, but the surgery was not so successful. My wife called her aunt, who told her that it was very important to take care of the problem, lest such and such occur, and we should hurry up. Which hospital? Perhaps it was really critical to take a private doctor?
There was no one to answer our questions, and at that point I told my wife, “I decided to take a private Doctor – the best and biggest Doctor there is: the Ribbono shel Olam. He will be our daughter’s Doctor.” I reminded her of the Nefesh Hachaim’s segulah, concentrating fully on the words “ein od milvado.”
