dragonsmall.jpg

Vidya and I were returning from the temple when we saw this cloud. We were coming up the hill past Judy’s and it dominated the sky; from the angle we saw it seemingly hovering over our house. It was striking because at first glance it seemed to have wisps trailing off in four different directions, which would be inconsistent with normal cloud formation.

It appeared to be some flying entity — the legs hanging below, the extended wings, and a trailing tail. It had a clearly formed head. By the time we parked, went in to get my camera, moved to a clear vantage point and was able to snap a picture, the head was more indistinct then at first view. Still, it is there cocked over the left of center wing in the picture.

In the Hepatitis C (HCV) community, the disease is often referred to as the Dragon. While HCV does some damage on its own, most of it is inflicted by the body’s own immune system. To replicate, HCV enters the liver cells. The immune system then perceives those cells as intruders and attacks them. This results in inflammation, and it is this constant inflammation that over time eventually causes cirrhosis. Thus the metaphor of the dragon, a fire breather, is quite apt.

You could see why, at first glance, I would have seen a dragon in the cloud, considering I am coming to grips with probably having failed in the course of treatment I am currently taking against it. Hovering doom.

Then, as I had time to reflect, another possibility emerged — another flier associated with fire, the Phoenix.

“At the end of its life-cycle the phoenix builds itself a nest of cinnamon twigs that it then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix arises.”

This could represent the concept of reincarnation or liberation, like losing my body to the fire of HCV, then being reborn in either body or spirit, the soul eternal.

Another would be somehow or other coming off this treatment and managing to go along any how for a decade or more. It can take a normal liver twenty or more years before HCV can destroy it; maybe a transplanted one would have a shot too. Heck, maybe a liver from a younger guy, which I now have, would be better situated to cope with the stress than an older one, being earlier in the Hayflick Limit cycle. Although maybe the Hayflick cycle doesn’t apply to the liver as it is so unique in its ability to regenerate.

Anyway, I took the cloud as an omen; now if only I could find some old villager who had spent their life learning to interpret them…

“Krsna and Balarama then learned the art of foretelling events by seeing signs. In a book called Khanara-vacana, the various types of signs and omens are described. If when one is going out one sees someone with a bucket full of water, that is a very good sign. But if one sees someone with an empty bucket, it is not a good sign. Similarly, if one sees a cow being milked alongside its calf, it is a good sign. The result of understanding these signs is that one can foretell events, and Krsna and Balarama learned the science. “

KB 45: Krsna Recovers the Son of His Teacher