Notes from the Land of Splat!

The Land of Splat!, as I describe it in Blest Atheist, is that place where we all find ourselves at times that seems to have no permeable border. Every time we try to cross out of the land of troubles into the land of normalcy, we are sprung back into our troubles (old or new) with a splat!. And so it goes with my life and the life of my children and my friends. We seem to be well settled in the Land of Splat!. Had I had any idea to the contrary, I would have been brought back to the reality of Splat! by the recent birth of my granddaughter. A bit preemie (but not much, five pounds being a good birth weight), she managed to surprise doctors considerably. They had discovered through sonograms that she would be born with hydronephrosis (a kidney condition that could be corrected by surgery--our grandson had the same) and her intestines outside her body rather than inside. She also had a cyst on her spine that they were hoping would not be spina bifida like her aunt (our daughter) has. Those hopes were in vain. She does have spina bifida, but that and the hydronephrosis and external intestines are a small matter compared to what the doctors were presented with at her birth: all her lower organs in pieces (at least, two pieces), some of them (e.g., the colon and rectum) missing, and her body fully open and split in two from the waist down (no belly button would be the result of her birth). The doctors recovered quickly fronm their surprise and immediately went into surgery, rebuilding a little human being. More surgeries and many months of hospitalization are in the offing, but she is fighting to stay alive, looking cute as a button, and garnering a little fan club of doctors and relatives/friends. We look forward to the day that she comes off life support so that we can hold more than her little hand; she curls her fingers around ours so quickly that we know she would love to be held. Nothing is insurmountable even in the Land of Splat!, but one certainly gets to experience unusual and trying moments.
If anyone out there reading this blog has had experiences similar to any of the various problems my brave little granddaughter is experiencing, I would love to hear the outcomes, share strategies, and learn about your coping mechanisms.