Just a spoon full of sugar...

Tareq Ramadan

2011-02-26T11:32:00.002+04:00

POWS from Tareq Ramadan

If a person is gay and says he's a muslim, who are we to say he has gone out of Islam by believing that being gay is permitted in islam?

As long he believes in the shahadah and That the prophet s.a.w is the prophet of God...then that should be enough for us, the rest is between him and God and not for us to judge.

When a sahabi (this story would have more weight if i knew the guy's name) was sent to rule Yemen, the prphet s.a.w asked him how was he going to rule, the reply was something like: With the text of the Quran, then the tradition of the prophet, then by using my mind.

So that basically shows that even back then, they expected differences according to region, ie we cannot follow Saudi law in Australia.

Islamic Theology or Islamic Studies in the European Context

common topics i gotta cover thoroughly

2011-01-26T08:57:00.006+04:00

About junior doctors, PGY1 and PGY2, "much of their time is occupied by repetitive administrative tasks"

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!! and i thought internship was crap! now ive still got to do that AS WELL AS manage the patients!!

Stolen from here. Thanks Racgp.

cardiac podcasts and INR

2011-01-26T02:25:00.004+04:00

I'm considering turning this blog into a med resident support site...week 2 has started so im over the initial franic period (freak out + panic). So much i need to learn, and revise, and do! at least we get paid for over time..i think, i need to work on my note taking skills, as well as admissions and proper discharges..which are sort of difficult when your patients keep changing.

ALSO it would have helped if some would have told me earlier to not use a blue pen and that they preferred black in the files for scanning reasons.

A day off for Australia day yay! but i was hoping to have a picnic type lunch or bbq outdoors with family, instead im multitasking between tidying up the flat (hast been done since i moved in) and finish off unpacking (still have sealed cardboard boxes around, and 2 semi full suitcases) and a bunch of open half empty boxes...ALSO my priority is for studying, i need to cover some essential topics, ie warfarrin doses and INR's, and some table about that, i need to find that information so i can use it, thats the practical info, also the theory stuff like heart murmurs, i think those two ill start off with, also want to find an ideal admission template, thats very complete and unsummarized. also i need to organize the pager numbers to stick onto my security thingee so i stop calling switch everytime i need to call radiology or whatever..

ok so this is now my official med resident rant blog...and these are my responsibilities

and these are some amazing podcasts on cardiac murmurs that i will at some point try to make into a cd to listen to on my 20 min drives to work every morning...oh yeah my itunes made audio cd's dont work in my car..damn one more thing to figure out! np it can be solved!

cute; Zainab bint Muhammed s.a.w

2010-04-06T02:37:00.003+04:00

قصة زينب بنت محمد

صلى الله عليه وسلم

وأبو العاص بن ربيع

ذهب أبو العاص إلى النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قبل البعثة،

وقال له: أريد أن أتزوج زينب ابنتك الكبرى.

فقال له النبي: لا أفعل حتى أستأذنها.

ويدخل النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم على زينب

ويقول لها: ابن خالتك جاءني وقد ذكر اسمك

فهل ترضينه زوجاً لك ؟

فاحمرّ وجهها وابتسمت.

فخرج النبي.

وتزوجت زينب أبا العاص بن الربيع،

لكي تبدأ قصة حب قوية.

وأنجبت منه 'علي' و ' أمامة '. ثم بدأت مشكلة كبيرة

حيث بعث النبي .

وأصبح نبياً بينما كان أبو العاص مسافراً

وحين عاد وجد زوجته أسلمت.

فدخل عليها من سفره،

فقالت له: عندي لك خبر عظيم.

فقام وتركها.

فاندهشت زينب وتبعته وهي تقول:

لقد بعث أبي نبياً وأنا أسلمت.

فقال: هلا أخبرتني أولاً؟

قالت له: ما كنت لأُكذِّب أبي.

وما كان أبي كذاباً. إنّه الصادق الأمين.

ولست وحدي.

لقد أسلمت أمي وأسلم إخوتي،

وأسلم ابن عمي (علي بن أبي طالب)،

وأسلم ابن عمتك (عثمان بن عفان).

وأسلم صديقك (أبو بكر الصديق).

فقال: أما أنا لا أحب الناس أن يقولوا خذّل قومه.

وكفر بآبائه إرضاءً لزوجته.

وما أباك بمتهم.

ثم قال لها: فهلا عذرت وقدّرت؟

فقالت: ومن يعذر إنْ لم أعذر أنا؟

ولكن أنا زوجتك أعينك على الحق حتى تقدر عليه.

ووفت بكلمتها له 20 سنة.

ظل أبو العاص على كفره.

ثم جاءت الهجرة،

فذهبت زينب إلى النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم

وقالت: يا رسول الله..

أتأذن لي أنْ أبقى مع زوجي.

فقال النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم:

ابقَ مع زوجك وأولادك.

وظلت بمكة إلى أنْ حدثت غزوة بدر،

وقرّر أبو العاص أن يخرج للحرب في صفوف جيش قريش.

زوجها يحارب أباها.

وكانت زينب تخاف هذه اللحظة.

فتبكي وتقول:

اللهم إنّي أخشى من يوم تشرق شمسه

فييتم ولدي أو أفقد أبي.

ويخرج أبو العاص بن الربيع

ويشارك في غزوة بدر،

وتنتهي المعركة فيُؤْسَر أبو العاص بن الربيع،

وتذهب أخباره لمكة،

فتسأل زينب: وماذا فعل أبي؟

فقيل لها: انتصر المسلمون.

فتسجد شكراً لله.

ثم سألت: وماذا فعل زوجي؟

فقالوا: أسره حموه.

فقالت: أرسل في فداء زوجي.

ولم يكن لديها شيئاً ثميناً تفتدي به زوجها،

فخلعت عقد أمها الذي كانت تُزيِّن به صدرها،

وأرسلت العقد مع شقيق أبي العاص بن الربيع

إلى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم.

وكان النبي جالساً يتلقى الفدية ويطلق الأسرى،

وحين رأى عقد السيدة خديجة سأل: هذا فداء من؟

قالوا: هذا فداء أبو العاص بن الربيع.

فبكى النبي وقال: هذا عقد خديجة.

ثم نهض وقال: أيها الناس..

إنّ هذا الرجل ما ذممناه صهراً فهلا فككت أسره؟

وهلا قبلتم أنْ تردوا إليها عقدها؟

فقالوا: نعم يا رسول الله.

فأعطاه النبي العقد، ثم قال له:

قل لزينب لا تفرطي في عقد خديجة.

ثم قال له: يا أبا العاص هل لك أن أساررك؟

ثم تنحى به جانباً وقال له:

يا أبا العاص

إنّ الله أمرني أنْ أُفرِّقَ بين مسلمة وكافر،

فهلا رددت إلى ابنتي؟

فقال: نعم.

وخرجت زينب تستقبل أبا العاص على أبواب مكة ،

فقال لها حين رآها: إنّي راحل. فقالت: إلى أين؟

قال: لست أنا الذي سيرتحل،

ولكن أنت سترحلين إلى أبيك. فقالت: لم؟

قال: للتفريق بيني وبينك. فارجعي إلى أبيك.

فقالت: فهل لك أن ترافقني وتُسْلِم؟ فقال: لا.

فأخذت ولدها وابنتها وذهبت إلى المدينة.

وبدأ الخطاب يتقدمون لخطبتها على مدى 6 سنوات،

وكانت ترفض على أمل أنْ يعود إليها زوجها.

وبعد 6 سنوات كان أبو العاص

قد خرج بقافلة من مكة إلى الشام،

وأثناء سيره يلتقي مجموعة من الصحابة.

فسأل على بيت زينب وطرق بابها قبيل آذان الفجر،

فسألته حين رأته: أجئت مسلماً؟

قال: بل جئت هارباً.

فقالت: فهل لك إلى أنْ تُسلم؟

فقال: لا.

قالت: فلا تخف. مرحباً بابن الخالة.

مرحباً بأبي علي وأمامة.

وبعد أن أمّ النبي المسلمين في صلاة الفجر،

إذا بصوت يأتي من آخر المسجد:

قد أجرت أبو العاص بن الربيع.

فقال النبي: هل سمعتم ما سمعت؟

قالوا: نعم يا رسول الله

قالت زينب: يا رسول الله

إنّ أبا العاص إن بعُد فابن الخالة

وإنْ قرب فأبو الولد

وقد أجرته يا رسول الله.

فوقف النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم.

وقال: يا أيها الناس

إنّ هذا الرجل ما ذممته صهراً.

وإنّ هذا الرجل حدثني فصدقني ووعدني فوفّى لي.

فإن قبلتم أن تردوا إليه ماله

وأن تتركوه يعود إلى بلده،

فهذا أحب إلي. وإنُ أبيتم فالأمر إليكم

والحق لكم ولا ألومكم عليه.

فقال الناس: بل نعطه ماله يا رسول الله.

فقال النبي: قد أجرنا من أجرت يا زينب.

ثم ذهب إليها عند بيتها

وقال لها: يا زينب أكرمي مثواه

فإنّه ابن خالتك وإنّه أبو العيال،

ولكن لا يقربنك، فإنّه لا يحل لك.

فقالت : نعم يا رسول الله.

فدخلت وقالت لأبي العاص بن الربيع:

يا أبا العاص أهان عليك فراقنا.

هل لك إلى أنْ تُسْلم وتبقى معنا.

قال: لا.

وأخذ ماله وعاد إلى مكة.

وعند وصوله إلى مكة وقف

وقال: أيها الناس هذه أموالكم هل بقى لكم شيء؟

فقالوا: جزاك الله خيراً وفيت أحسن الوفاء.

قال:

فإنّي أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وأن محمداً رسول الله.

ثم دخل المدينة فجراً وتوجه إلى النبي

وقال: يا رسول الله أجرتني بالأمس

واليوم جئت أقول أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله

وأنك رسول الله.

وقال أبو العاص بن الربيع:

يا رسول الله هل تأذن لي أنْ أراجع زينب؟

فأخذه النبي وقال: تعال معي.

ووقف على بيت زينب وطرق الباب

وقال: يا زينب إنّ ابن خالتك جاء لي اليوم

يستأذنني أنْ يراجعك فهل تقبلين؟

فأحمرّ وجهها وابتسمت.

والغريب أنّ بعد سنه من هذه الواقعة ماتت زينب

فبكاها بكاء شديداً حتى رأى الناس رسول الله

يمسح عليه ويهون عليه،

فيقول له: والله يا رسول الله

ما عدت أطيق الدنيا بغير زينب.

ومات بعد سنه من موت زينب.

*****

Enough with the labelling...PLEASE!

2010-01-03T02:20:00.005+04:00

Walking tall and proud with my new too high sandels from country road, with a new long white embroided top, and white hijab, beside me cousin, with her peach chiffon dress top and an elegantly matching peach hijab.
We were both happy to be shopping around at miranda shopping center in sydney, following my husband in his quest to find the perfect gift for his brother's birthday that night.

Some old wrangled tall guy with a pony tail walking in the opposite direction, with his child and wife(?) by the time he reaches level with us whispers over his shoulder, having fallen victim to the now overly exhausted term, labelling of us as terrorists.

What do we do? What can we do? By the time we consult each other if it was our imagination, now why would we encourage this victim mentality, why would we conjur up such an incident to ruin our good mood? no it wasnt our imagination.

By the time we found my husband, we had lost the insulter. about an hour later thanks to Allah for sending him back to our direction, all that fuming and frustration paid off, we left it to husband to make him admit his crime, and all his response was "Dont make a scene, im not a racist" and a sarcastic disgusted"oh please!" from the female with him. Then they walked off..we were left standing there, not feeling any better, frustration building up. i didnt want it to be one of those "we should have done this.." times, i had too many festering inside me already.

They were a few meters away and we had already received a few questioning glances from passerby's at the hushed almost whispered confrontation that had just taken place. All i could do was yell at the top of my voice "COWARD!" in their general direction. and then just in case those around me hadnt made out what exactly i'd said i yelled it again. No festering what if's in my head that day. Maybe it wasnt the right thing to do, Im usually a very quiet person but it made me feel better to get some of that frustration out. and the beautiful immediate thanks i received was my husband kiss me on my right cheek, and a kiss from my cousin on my other=)

Death defying will

2010-01-03T02:04:00.003+04:00

Is it wrong to have a back up plan just in case someone close to you that you rely on passes away?
is it wrong to think that far ahead and decide that if that happened, this and this would be an option, and if i had kids this would be the better choice, etc

I know a person needs to trust in Allahs swt and be hpopeful of teh best outcome, but what about the tying to camel part? how far ahead should i think to plan?

Dates in Doncaster

2009-09-02T02:09:00.002+04:00

While contemplating the honey roasted cashews at coles (Westfield Doncaster), i was also vagualy listening to that irritating lady with the mic in the vegi section, with hair and makeup overdone, formal black clothes, in uncomfortable heels.
" a punnet of strawberries for only 1.60, fresh and tasty for this low price of 1.60"
i was thinking that was a good price, will pick some up once i reach that side...
"and for those of you celebrating ramadan, we have dates ..."
did i hear that right? the lady at coles knows about ramadan? I craned my head to have a look at her, and saw that my mum had the strawberries and now was placing a few dates into a bag..
damn thats great marketing!

For the all DIY people with warts

2009-07-30T13:39:00.004+04:00

Depending on which studies you prefer to believe, duct tape can be a cheaper alternative cure to warts as opposed to burning them off with liquid nitrogen...Cryotherapy works but for this is for those who cant be botherd with appointments!
If you do have the time to read thro all the research done, then yeah you probably would find studies that state they don't work, but why not try it since it has worked for some.

Procedure:
Apply small pieces of duct tape to each wart. Leave the tape in place for six days (re-apply tape if it falls off). At the end of the sixth day, remove the duct tape, soak the wart in water, and gently debride it with an emery board or pumice stone. Replace the tape overnight, then re-apply for another six days. Repeat this pattern for two months or until the wart is resolved.

Use this as motivation: "In patients treated with duct tape, 85 percent of the warts completely resolved, compared with 60 percent in the cryotherapy group."

Tiggie

2009-05-17T07:58:00.002+04:00

Tagged by Mass

Favorite Colour; All shades of blue and a few shades of pink.
Favorite Perfume (guys); Safari by Ralph Lauren
Favorite Perfume (girls); Into The Blue by Givenchy
Favorite Clothing wear brand; Zara/ H&M/ Stradivarious
Favorite Person in the entire world!; Husband
Favorite Country; Home
Favorite car; Prado
Sport; Official Sport Of Slurping
Sports man; Nadal Raphael;)
Favorite spot in America; a safe park?
Animal; possums and wombats
Movie; The wind that shook the Barley was good
Singer; Kareem Salama, Daeud Warnsby, Natiev Deen
Day in the week; Saturday
Time in the day; Iftar time
Holiday season; summer cos i get to travel to winter countries:)
number: 8
food; feta cheese and olives
cartoon; family guy
ice cream flavor; vanilla with hot milk chocolate poured over it
favorite chocolate; Curly Wirly
favorite blogger; husband
favorite name; ninnevah
favorite hobby; Laptopping
fruit: pears, chakita bananas;)
room in the house: mine cos its quiet
Book: patricia cornwell.
momment: when i wake up and realize i dont have anything planned that day so i can declare it a lazy day

I tag Husband and Y.M

Manuka can Heal You!

2009-05-10T04:11:00.003+04:00

So now whether you've got high LDL,

gingivitis

an unhealing venous ulcer,

just delivered your baby by c-section,

a diabetic foot ulcer

or fournier's gangrene...

Then Manuka Honey is for you!!

And remember..

The darker the better!!!

here is the evidence

Red Meat - The Rich Man's Dinner

2009-04-07T11:32:00.003+04:00

"Red and processed meat intakes were associated with modest increases in total mortality, cancer mortality, and cardiovascular disease mortality," the study authors write. "In contrast, high white meat intake and a low-risk meat diet was associated with a small decrease in total and cancer mortality." from here

"High meat intake has been associated with higher levels of N-nitroso compounds, heme iron, and advanced glycation end products, which could result in oxidative damage and could be toxic to the retina," Dr. Elaine W.-T. Chong at the University of Melbourne and fellow researchers note in the American Journal of Epidemiology for April 1.

In a large Australian cohort study, greater consumption of red meat was positively associated with early AMD. Higher intakes of fresh and processed red meat were associated with similar trends toward an increasing prevalence of early AMD. In contrast, eating chicken was inversely associated with late AMD, and this inverse association seemed unlikely to reflect simply a lower intake of red meat.

Red meat included veal, roast beef or veal, beef steak, meatballs, meatloaf, mixed dishes with beef, roast lamb or lamb chops, mixed dishes with lamb, roast pork or pork chops, and rabbit. Processed meat included salami, sausages or hotdogs, bacon, ham, and manufactured luncheon meats. Chicken included roast or fried chicken, boiled or steamed chicken, and mixed dishes with chicken.

Conclusion: red meat is baaaaaaaad! eat panda's instead!

Diabetes Insipidus-what i need to remember

2009-03-01T22:46:00.002+04:00

DI -Central: Vasopressin deficiency
DI - Nephrogenic: Vasopressin insensitivity at the level of the kidneys
VASOPRESSIN: * Is the regulator of tonicity
* Largely stimulated by increased plasma tonicity
* AntiDiuretc
* Synthesized in the hypothalamus (paraventricular + supra optic nuclei)
* Stored in the post pituitary
* Also stimulated by baroreceptors in the aortic arch and carotid sinus
DRUGS THAT INHIBIT VASOPRESSIN RELEASE
`ethanol
`phenytoin
`opiate antagonists
`halothan
`alpha adrenergic agents
ANP ~ Isolated form cardiac atrial muscle
Actions: *Decrease salt resorption
*Decrease vasopressin secretion
*Relaxes arterial sm m.
DI diagnosis by
*Serum osmolality > 300 mOsm/kg
*Urine osmolality < 300 mOsm /kg
Wolfram Synd ~DI central
~DM
~Optic atrophy
~Deafness
DI assoc tumors: * Germinomas (polturia)
* Pinealomas (Check hCG B subunit, MRI scans)
* Craniopharyngiomas
* Optic gliomas
* Acute myelcytic leukemia (pit stalk + sella infiltration)
Triphasic Response Following surgery:
1. Transient DI 12-48 hours
Could be due to local edema, interferes with vasopressin secretion
2. Inappropraite ADH 10 days unregulated vasopressin release from dying neurons
3. Permanent DI
90% of neurons destroyed

JNC Hypertension Part 1

2009-02-23T13:51:00.008+04:00

RANDOM THINGS FROM THE REPORT THAT I FOUND INTERESTING OR MIGHT NEED TO BE REMINDED OF LATER ON
THE SEVENTH REPORT OF THE JOINT NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON PREVENTION, DETECTION, EVALUATION, AND TREATMENT OF HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

Arighty so we've already mentioned the classification, so whats next, the treatment?
In my supershort summary all i need to remember is this;

Stage 1 hypertension (systolic = 140~159 Hmmg and/or diastolic = 80~89Hmmg)
Lifestyle Modifications
Thiazide type diuretics
Consider ACEI, ARBS, BB, CCB (or)
(If considerable indication present, like HF, post MI, CAD, DM, CKD, resort to another post-link coming soon)

Stage 2 hypertension (systolic 160 Hmmg and above and/or diastolic 100 Hmmg or above)
Lifestyle Modifications
TWO drug combination:
Thiazide type diuretics AND an ACEI or ARBS or BB or CCB

BTW- extra caution is required for those at risk of orthostatic hypotension (DM, autonomic dysfunction, some old ppl)
If after a trial of that and the goal Blood pressure hasnt been attained,
1.Optimize dosages
2.Add additional drugs
3.Consult a htnsive specialist

N.B. Commonly used = clorthiazide, lisonopril-enalapril, perindopril ACEI, aldactone ARB, verapamil-nifedipine CCB.

Q. How long do you wait to decide that this drug is not working alone and you should add another?

RESISTANT HYPERTENSION
When a patient who is adhering to maximum dosage of a 3 drug regimen (including a diuretic) and has excluded potential identifiable causes and still cannot acheive the goal blood pressure.
Possible things to further investigate include;
. The proper cuff is being used, if its too small or the person is too big, its gonna give a false reading
. Try different drug combinations
. Check fluid overload- from the patient sprinkling excessive salt over his food or having a palate for especially salty foods.....
. Is the patient on any other Drugs? from NSAIDS to cocaine to OCP's and other steroids to simple cold meds n decongestants
. Any dietary obsessions? from some herbals (ie. ma huang) and dietary supplements...even licorice!

Basically you gotta find a cause, and fix it.

PHC definition of Hypertension

2009-02-23T12:54:00.001+04:00

Doctor; Basic Question, did you read up on hypertension?

Me; Yes, i even printed out the JNC 7 thing you told us about (big grin)

Doctor; All of it, why?

Me; not the actual one, the PHC's summary one

Doctor; oh good, yes thats handy, did you read it?

Me; Not all of it yet...(grin slowly disapearing)

Doctor; ok..do you have any questions so far?

Me; Not really...its pretty clear

Doctor; So whats the definition of hypertension?

Me; uhhh...when the blood pressure is above...when the systolic pressure is above 120..no 140, and the diastolic above 80.

Doctor; specifically 140/80? Is the the cut off point? (deep breath) okay....finish reading then come back to discuss it.

btw- I still havent finished reading it but this is what my answer should have been like;

The cut off point of hypertension IS 140/90 Hmmg, Buts its not just that simple,

Above 120/80 and below 140/90 is known as prehypertension

(which does require lifestyle modifications- will focus on the DASH diet later)

and then hypertension is divided into stage 1 (140/90 <) and stage 2 (160/100<)

Banned Visa and a Book

2009-02-21T10:14:00.004+04:00

I was reading up on how Peer, the israeli tennis player was banned a visa to come play in dubai, and then now they've allowed Ram, a male israeli player, AND the WTA is gonna fine dubai a whole bunch of money for not following the rules...to treat all players equally regardless of race/color/nationality/religion.

The reason the dubai tennis people used as their defence is that when she was playing in New Zealand there was a small but noisy pro palestine protest in her honour (yay for our future kids being half nzers)...so imagine what may have happened had she been allowed here (lets overlook the fact that protests in the U.A.E need permission from the ministry of something).

Along the same lines, well not really the same...the Dubai literary Festival, sponsored by Emirates airlines is being held here soon, and theyve banned the launching of a book that is based in a fictional gulf state, and has an arab sheikh in a homosexual relationship with a british guy. even tho he's not the main protagonist but its still in there and therefore was deemed culturally insenstive. so other writer's are considering cancelling their attendance, the full story is here; Atwood pulls out of Dubai festival in censorship protest...maybe they should have considered this before sending out invitations...well as long as penny vincenzi is still coming! They should make her books into a tv serial, not just a one time movie like they did for the shopaholic series...that was a sad one, pulling random bits out of 5 books and bunching them up into a movie! there was no space for the events to roll into place. Oh and about banning books, in highschool i got hold of a list of 25 books that have recently gotten banned from public highschool libraries, so all that did for me was to go out and search for those books, and the first one i got hold of was Catcher in the Rye by Salinger...which was a disapointment, talks about a young male student and his superficial exposure to prostitutes, and a gay male teacher's advances on him. After that i gave up on my attempts to gain access to banned books.

8 babies all squished together

2009-02-13T07:25:00.005+04:00

THIS POST IS DEDICATED TO MASS - THE ONLY BLOG READER I HAVE LEFT WHO KEEPS STOPPING BY AFTER MONTHS AT A TIME OF MY SILENCE. THANK YOU:)

Pregnancy and childbirth is difficult enough, with the labour pains, and all that pushing, just for one kid!!! how on earth can someone do it for 8 babies!!! EIGHT!!!!!

"Nadya Suleman, whose decision to give birth to the octuplets after undergoing fertility treatment despite already having six children, was expected to return home later this week, Michael Furtney told AFP" The rest of that story is here

And pics of the babies, all of them doing well and healthy - tho i think they were a bit premature (obviously with EIGHT of them in there!!) and you can even send them comments here

May God help the infertile couples in the world!!

TB & Air Travel - Part 3

2008-12-23T13:05:00.006+04:00

RANDOM THINGS FROM THE REPORT THAT I FOUND INTERESTING OR MIGHT NEED TO BE REMINDED OF LATER ON
Criteria for deciding whether to inform passengers and crew:
Once notified, the health authorities must evaluate the risk of M. tuberculosis transmission and decide whether it is necessary to inform passengers and crew of the potential exposure.
For this purpose, the following criteria should be used:

-Infectiousness of the index patient
-Duration of exposure; if over 8 hour.
-Time elapsed between the flight(s) and the notification of the case.
-Proximity of other passengers and crew to the index patient.

Before any further action is considered in such cases, health authorities must confirm whether the person has pulmonary or laryngeal TB.

RECOMMENDATIONS For physicians
3. Physicians should inform all infectious TB patients that they must not travel by air on a flight exceeding eight hours until they have completed at least two weeks of adequate treatment.
4. Physicians should inform all MDR-TB patients that they must not travel by air – under any circumstances or on a flight of any duration – until they are proven to be culture-negative.
5. Physicians should advise TB patients who undertake unavoidable air travel of short duration (less than eight hours) to wear a surgical mask when possible or to cover the nose and mouth when speaking or coughing at all times during the flight.
6. Physicians should inform the relevant health authority when they are aware of an infectious TB patient’s intention to travel against medical advice.
7. Physicians should immediately inform the relevant health authority when an infectious TB patient has a recent history of air travel (i.e. within three months).

For the rest of the recomendations, ie FOR PASSENGERS AND AIR CREW, PUBLIC HEALTH AUTHORITIES, AIRLINE COMPANIES, please check out the original report at this link;

Tuberculosis and Air Travel - Guidlines for Prevention and Control - Second Edition - WHO

TB & Air Travel - Part 2

2008-12-23T09:43:00.008+04:00

RANDOM THINGS FROM THE REPORT THAT I FOUND INTERESTING OR MIGHT NEED TO BE REMINDED OF LATER ON

IHR 2005 regulations
-To share information – flight details, itinerary, seating plans
-Notification of disease, by patient or health care officials to airlines, and vice versa of the suspected before arrival of flight
-Personal data kept confidential

An 'affected traveller' is a traveller who is infected or contaminated or who carries sources of infection or contamination, so as to constitute a public health risk.
A 'suspected traveller' is a traveller who has been exposed, or possibly exposed, to a public health risk and who could be a possible source of spread of disease.

Although the captain of an aircraft can legally deny boarding to a person if he or she has a valid concern that the person is a threat to the health and/or safety of other passengers and crew, in practice this may be difficult to apply. If a passenger is obviously very ill and with signs and/or symptoms suggesting an infectious disease, a medical consultation may be obtained before boarding. National laws vary significantly in different countries and air crew may be hesitant to deny boarding when privacy concerns may protect the individual passenger and discrimination charges may be an issue.

Known cases cannot travel till 2 weeks of adequate treatment

AIRCRAFT VENTILATION
Once the aircraft has left the stand and the engines have been started, the APU is shut down and the air supply to the cabin is drawn from some compressor stages of the engines. This 'bleed' air supply is at high pressure and temperature and the environmental system cools and conditions the air to comfortable levels before introducing it into the passenger cabin. Air is distributed evenly throughout the passenger cabin via ducts running the entire length of the aircraft.

Air enters the cabin from overhead distribution outlets and flows downwards in a circular
pattern towards the outflow grills along both sidewalls of the cabin near the floor. Air enters and leaves the cabin at approximately the same seat row, and airflow in fore and aft directions is minimal. Movement of passengers and crew in the cabin has minimal impact on the intended airflow patterns.

According to a study by the United States Department of Transportation: "If the ventilation system is not operating, passengers should not stay aboard the plane for long time periods (i.e. greater than 30 minutes)

The most efficient HEPA filters will capture 99.99% of particles (bacteria, fungi, and larger viruses) between 0.1 and 0.3 μm. The tubercle bacillus is approximately 0.5–1 μm in size.
Therefore, HEPA filters remove any M. tuberculosis organisms from the re-circulating air, thus eliminating the risk of exposure for passengers and crew from this source.

If during a flight a passenger is suspected of having infectious TB because he or she informs the cabin crew of, or experiences, severe symptoms such as haemoptysis, the cabin crew should try to relocate the passenger in a more comfortable and isolated area if space is available.
One cabin crew member should be designated to look after the ill passenger, preferably the crew member who has already been dealing with him or her. The ill passenger should be given a surgical face mask. If no mask is available or if the mask cannot be tolerated, the passenger
should be given an adequate supply of paper handkerchiefs (or towels if necessary) and instructed to cover his or her nose and mouth at least when speaking or coughing. The cabin crew should follow standard universal precautions when handling potentially infectious material (e.g. wear gloves, place disposables in sealed plastic bags). The designated cabin crew member may wear a mask if available, especially if the ill person cannot tolerate a mask.

Tuberculosis and Air Travel - Guidlines for Prevention and Control - Second Edition - WHO

TB & Air Travel - Part 1

2008-12-23T07:46:00.005+04:00

RANDOM THINGS FROM THE REPORT THAT I FOUND INTERESTING OR MIGHT NEED TO BE REMINDED OF LATER ON

Interferon-gamma release assay: An assay for cell mediated immunity to TB that measures interferon-gamma (IFN- ) released from peripheral blood T cells stimulated in vitro with TB antigens.
Acid-fast stain (e.g.carbol-fuchsin or auramine – Ziehl-Neelsen method)
Tuberculin. Purified protein derivative (PPD) – a mixture of antigens from a culture filtrate extract of M. tuberculosis that is used for skin testing; many of its antigens are non-species specific.
multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB): tuberculosis caused by
strains of M. tuberculosis that are resistant to at least isoniazid and
rifampicin;

The quality of the air on board commercial aircraft is high, and under normal conditions
cabin air is cleaner than the air in most buildings. On short flights, there is minimal risk of disease transmission.
Some countries (e.g. Australia, Canada and the United States of America) require TB screening to be done in the country of origin (a chest radiograph, tuberculin test) for adolescents and adults, and sputum smear examination if the chest radiograph is suggestive of TB disease. No person with a positive smear examination is permitted to immigrate.

Some countries (e.g. Switzerland, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom) screen immigrants and refugees when they enter the country.

A few countries require medical examination both in the country of origin and when entering (e.g. Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia). Thus, people with infectious TB would often be identified as having infectious TB only after they have travelled.

TB is an infectious disease, caused in most cases by M. tuberculosis and transmitted by exposure to tubercle bacilli in airborne droplet nuclei produced by a person with infectious TB during expiratory efforts, such as coughing, sneezing or singing.

To date, no case of active TB has been identified as a result of exposure on a commercial aircraft.
In the first report, evidence of transmission was limited to cabin crew with at least 12 hours' exposure to the infectious source. In the other, transmission of infection occurred to only a few passengers seated in the same section as and in close proximity to the passenger with infectious
TB, and only on one flight lasting more than eight hours.

Other potentially serious airborne or droplet-transmitted infections
that could merit public health interventions if encountered during air
travel are influenza (both seasonal influenza and any unusual strain such
as avian influenza affecting humans), measles, meningococcal disease
and SARS.

Tuberculosis and Air Travel - Guidlines for Prevention and Control - Second Edition
WHO

Sex on TV

2008-12-05T21:50:00.000+04:00

oooh i'd be interested to know what examples of tv shows they asked them about..
an interesting article from medscape medical news "Teen Pregnancy Linked to Watching Sexually Explicit Television" by Marlene Busko. Sad tho that they needed a whole study to be done so that people would beleive them..isnt it along the same lines of violence in movies and kid's cartoons?

"Teens watch an average of 3 hours of television a day, said Dr. Chandra. Sexually explicit television programs may not prepare teens to make responsible and informed decisions about sex because such shows rarely highlight the possible consequences of sexual activity, including the risk of pregnancy or sexual transmitted disease, or the potential value of condom or contraceptive use.

The researchers focused on 23 television programs that were widely available and popular with teens and had sexual content ranging from physical flirting to intercourse and sexual talk. The programs included dramas, comedies, reality shows, and animated cartoons."

Addressing the issue of HIV in the UAE

2008-11-29T20:08:00.001+04:00

Dont expect any guidelines to the solution here, but just some ideas after a brain storm discussion...just some basis I may want to build up on later..

An initial step is to Remove the stigma

Admit, acknowledge the problem does exist. Admit it to who? A committee. We need a group of dedicated, committed members.
Data collection. Find the prevalence. Prevalence and not incidence (new cases) cos it’s an ongoing thing. We are trying to find people who already have it. for example newly diagnosed hypertension patients have had hypertension for a while, it just was silent so we didn’t know it was there. Predictive (P) value > 0.05 (the higher the value the less accurate it is. The lower the value (0.005) the more scientific it is. )
Records could be obtained through – the compulsory premarital testing
- elective surgeries (hospital records) i know this then brings up the question of confidentiality
Study the factors. Research factors around the stigma - random community samples –health care workers –culture / religion –laws that discriminate (If your an expat, you get kicked out of the country, if your local, you most likely will lose your job). Risk factors, try to pinpoint common causes particular to this region. Documentation of needle pricks.
COOL policy ? (i'm still clueless about this)
Benchmarking, learn from the experiences, other countries policies.link 1
link 2 Can be divided into intrinsic (own practice or past policies) or extrinsic (in this case would be other countries). An American visa wouldn’t be granted to HIV positive candidates until only recently. link

Pine Trees all in a Row

2008-11-10T19:11:00.000+04:00

One of the amazing things about Melbourne is that you can plant trees and then watch them grow. Or even come back a few years later and be amazed at their height (and width in the case of pine trees)
Trees that were my height as a child are now more than twice the height of our one story home!!

Work for this world in proportion of the time you are going to spend in it.
Work for the next world in proportion of the time you are going to spend in it.
Work for the fire in proportion to how much patience you would have in it.
Work for Allah swt in proportion to your need of Him.
-ABDUL HAKIM MURAD

A Job For European Muslims

2008-10-05T11:18:00.000+04:00

"when they say we don't want them to come, they are dealing with cultural fears not economic rationals."

"Not to use the immigrants to shed suspicion on the citizens, but to use the citizens to help the immigrants to be more integrated."

My Ramadhan Post

2008-09-05T08:12:00.002+04:00

I heard from a brother attending the IISNA convention mention a few interesting points, since it is ramadhan ill start with this one, that there are two types of muslims (im sure we can break it down to more but for the sake of this point...) who fast ramadan, the ones who abstain from food / drink / marital relations / bad talk etc, and those who also refrain from the same things but also continue living their normal lives. Rather than taking it easy the whole day, leaving early from work to go home and nap till late late asr etc. In order to appreciate the aims of fasting we need to place ourself in some sort of hardship/ difficulty by continuing the exact same chores we would have done on other days... i just found this interesting, as it is attempting to break the tradition of the extra long nap everyone takes right after work till like 5 mins pre adthan:) well except those who have to prepare the elaborate meal- which should also be simplified cos ramadhan should not be about the food either...but then again its become one of the joys of fasting is to look forward this meal. One of the two most happiest times of a beleiver is when he breaks his fast, right?

but the original idea does make sense dont you think?

Also the other thing i wanted to write about was about the new practice of attacking our prophet (S.A.W) by the media. Instead of blindly lashing out the way muslims already do, we need to make it a cultural taboo to talk about these issues. For example now its unacceptable for a non African American, say Arab to walk around calling black people Niggers. He would make himself into a social outcast. Its known that this in not appreciated (put aside them using it themselves but it is insulting for an outsider to use it- theres a real nice post about this by imam suhaib web - ill try to link it later) So basically this is what we need to do. To peacefully and calmy make it socailly not acceptable...How? well first it could be by not attacking them back, not to seem passive but this tactic does seem to backfire doesnt it? These type of muslims need to grow up.

Ill try to get who said what exactly, it would be only fair to quote the sheikhs names to their ideas.

Indian Cafeteria Delivery Guy

2008-08-13T01:57:00.000+04:00

Ive always gotten extra sugar in my tea, even when we're a big bunch of doctors in a clinic, or I'm sitting at the nurses station discussing the other doctors, the Indian cafeteria delivery guy always knows that the one with milk and extra sugar is mine and so places that cup with the torn Lipton label in front of me.
Today we did something new, we ordered tea to our oncall room, I've never been the one to make the call to the cafeteria, so they were hesitant, making sure i actually was calling form the doctors ward and that I'm not a patient who just messed up the directions.
When they finally knocked on our door, i was welcomed with a big smile and a very surprised 'YOU!!'

I like our cafeteria delivery guy, i always greet him in the corridors and he always gives me my correct change!

Chippies

2008-08-05T22:05:00.000+04:00

Awkward moment

2008-08-05T15:49:00.002+04:00

I walk into the ICU to see the two medical cases we have.
I go through the folder of the first patient; inf wall MI, stable now, ready to be moved to the male ward
Random male nurse places the medication chart in front of me.
Him; do you want to see the medication? medicine very important,
i need medicine...i need medicine for my heart, i am very hurting,
some person ignoring me i need medicine.
Me; im married
Him; thats all?
Me; questioning, lost look on my face, I just turned around and walked away

History; king Henry the 8th

2008-01-25T20:15:00.001+04:00

Did King Henry the VIIIth die of Cushings disease or Syphilis?

There is alot of evidence online supporting each theory , in my opinion Cushings is more likely culprit due to the similarities between the S/S of the disease and how he was described by certain historians....

Apparently after the death of his second wife, Anne Boleyn, he underwent psychological as well as physical changes, which according to Robert Hutchinson, historian and archaeologist, is in line with Cushings disease; "The known behavioural symptoms closely match the reports of the king's behaviour: the mood swings, the unexplained sudden changes in his decisions, his suspicions about those around him and his emotional isolation. Cushing's Syndrome would have turned him into a psychotic paranoid and aggravated his already unpredictable temper... The face becomes swollen with substantial fat deposits in the lower half beneath the eyes. Skin becomes fragile and thin, bruising easily, with slow, poor healing of wounds or lesions, as with his leg."

I couldnt find a clear colored diagram of a guy but this one shows the characteristics of Cushings dis and you can see the similarities between it and the above description....Also one of the things mentioned was the leg ulcer...which could also be a sign of tertiary syphilus...

Another overlaping symptom is the unexplained neurologic abnormalities that comes along with this STD, and this King was known for the number of women he was with....

"A varicose ulcer of 1527-8, say this theory's supporters, was a broken down gumma, or swelling - a sympton of tertiary syphilis"

"As syphilis can damage the foetus, the miscarriages and stillbirths of Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn are also seen as evidence of Henry's infection.

But there is no evidence of syphilis in his children, Mary, Elizabeth and Edward - none bore its visible stigmata" Keeping in mind that if the mother of these children had caught syphilus from him, the vertical transmission rate is only 60%...

Another argument that is used is if he was suffering from syphilis, the doctors of that time would have recognized it and treated him according to their time's treatment which would be to soak him in Mercury and the side effects of that would be evident in his portraits.

Overall its not that important what killed him in the end, but what i did find interesting is that we still have the same diseases in todays communities:)

Guys are earning more than us!!!

2007-12-02T16:27:00.000+04:00

Male doctors spend less time with their patients and therefor get to cover a greater number:(

Most people who are sick like to take their time in describing to their doctor the course of the disease, where exactly it hurts, what pills they have taken, whether the previous meds worked or not, how they couldnt sleep all night etc....and listening to all that takes time. precious doctor time. and they dont get paid extra for putting in those extra few minutes to listen. thats female doctors in australia.

So should they rush through patients consultation, ignoring what may be vital clues or choosing to skip those comforting words just to be able to make the same amount of money as male doctors?

story here

Blind Jumping Kangaroos

2007-11-19T13:11:00.000+04:00

Was going thro online journals and found a report about some special bacteria that has been isolated from grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus) in central coastal Queensland which can be gotten rid of with a dose of erythromycin or even ceftriaxone…

I couldn’t really find what it causes but Bartonella henselae causes cat scratch dis, which is a local infection at the site of the scratch and enlarged l.n, maybe generalized systematic symptoms too, so im assuming similar symptoms in a kangaroo?

I also found out that a virus called Wallal and Warrego cause chorioretinitis in kangaroos, leading to blindness. Imagine blind kangaroos!

And giving dexamethasone to a kangaroo could reactivate herpes!

and i just have to add in this quote stolen from the Kangaroo Industry Assoc Site;

"This land is cursed; the animals hop not run, birds run, not fly and the swans are black not white".
SO WROTE one of the first Europeans to set foot on Australia, Dirk Hartog, as he sailed away from the west coast in 1688.

5 Levels of Prayer

2007-10-16T22:16:00.000+04:00

This is more as a reminder to myself cos at times its difficult to focus once certain actions have become routine.

"When it comes to prayer, people are of five levels:
The first is the level of the one who wrongs himself and is negligent. He does not do wudoo’ properly, or pray at the right time or make sure he does all the necessary parts of prayer.

The second is one who observes the outward essentials of prayer, prays on time and does wudoo’, but he has lost the battle against his own self and is overwhelmed with waswaas (insinuations).

The third is one who observes the outward essentials of prayer, prays on time and does wudoo’, and also strives against his own self and against waswaas, but he is preoccupied with his struggle against his enemy (Shaytaan), lest he steal from his prayer, so he is engaged in Salaah and jihad at the same time.

The fourth is one who when he stands up to pray, he fulfils all the requirements of the prayer, and his heart is fully focused and alert lest he omit anything, and his concern is to do the prayer properly and perfectly. His heart is deeply immersed in his prayer and worship of his Lord.

The fifth is one who does all of that, but he takes his heart and places it before his Lord, looking at his Lord with his heart and focusing on Him, filled with love and adoration, as if he is actually seeing Him. That waswaas and those thoughts diminish, and the barriers between him and his Lord are lifted. The difference between the prayer of this person and the prayer of anyone is else is greater than the difference between heaven and earth. When this person prays, he is preoccupied with his Lord and content with Him.

The first type is punishable;The second is accountable;The third is striving so he is not counted as a sinner;The fourth is rewarded and the fifth is drawn close to his Lord, because he is one of those for whom prayer is a source of joy.
Whoever finds their joy in prayer in this life, will find their joy in being close to Allah in the Hereafter, and will also find his joy in Allah in this world. Whoever finds his joy in Allah will be content with everything, and whoever does not find his joy in Allah, will be destroyed by his feelings of grief and regret for worldly matters.

Written by Imaam ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah
Taken from: Al-Wabil al-Sayyib

Amusing

2007-10-02T11:12:00.000+04:00

I was going thro an old magazine and found this section that i had marked, thought it was worth sharing:)

"Like President Chirac, but for different reasons, i view all religions with equal skepticism. However, more and more journalists, in their determination to be politicallly correct, suck up to certain creeds while being pretty offhand with others. As in France, Christianity gets consistently rough treatment and Judiaism is often alluded to in terms that would have warmed teh heart of Julius Streicher. Yet perhaps because of what the Ayatolla wanted to do to Mr Salman Rushdie, or as part of our now virulent anti Americanism, no Chirac style liberties are taken with Islam here. I approve of this espect for a great religion and culture, but wish it applied more widely. For example, every time a town with a big mosque and a large phallanx of mullahs is mentioned it is, in evitably, 'the holy city of...' I am sure such placs are holy. But why are our cathedral towns not given equal reverence? When the BBc reports a jam on teh M2, could some reference not be made to the 'holy city of Canterbury'?
To be so casual about our own shrines confirms the Muslims'view that we are in such a state of decadence..."

DIARY- Simon Heffer
The Spectator
4 Sept 2004

etymology is not the study of plants

2007-08-17T14:17:00.000+04:00

I dont really know much about the ismaili people, and honestly im not really interested. But what i liked is the etymology of this certain word.

Over the years, as the ismailis' political power grew and the sect expanded into syria, its killers became almost mythic. The assasins had never tried to escape; their killing done, they were caught, tortured, and executed to a man, but new ones kept on coming, and nothing seemed to deter them from completing their tasks. They seemed possessed, utterly devoted to their cause. Some called them hashshashin, from the arabic word hashish, because they acted as if they were drugged. European crusaders to the Holy Land heard stories about these devilish hashshashin and passed them on, the word slowly transforming into "assassins" passing forever into the language.

page 438 chapter 33.
Robert Greene, The 33 Stategies of War

Also i wanted to share my happiness about receiving a reply to my letter from Habib Saleem bin Howsl aka Flesh n Bones
from Bones, Thugs n Harmony

yes he is muslim now and soon ill post up some quotes from his letter:)

Aussie Spiders n Flies

2007-06-15T11:11:00.000+04:00

We'r always having an arguement at te hospital about which is the most deadliest spider and we always conclude that in australia its the red back but including the rest of the world its the funnel web....now i just found out there's an australian funnel web.....

"Sydney Funnelweb spider. Funnelwebs are exceedingly aggressive and will actively defend their territory, rising up and baring their fangs. Along with redbacks, male funnelwebs are the only spiders known to have caused death in Australia. Contrary to popular urban myth, the level of venom in the bite of a daddy long legs spider is unknown. They can kill redbacks, but this doesn't necessarily mean that their bite is more venomous, and they are harmless to humans. Most white tailed spiders cause only minor skin irritation, although in a small numbers of cases there have been worse effects possibly caused by an immune system reaction to the spider bite."

Also another interesting thing i found is that fies are covered with some sort of antibiotics

(according to a study in queensland)

"Working on the theory that flies must have remarkable antimicrobial defences to survive rotting dung, meat and fruit...When this was placed in a solution with various bacteria including E.coli, Golden Staph, Candida (a yeast) and a common hospital pathogen, antibiotic action was observed every time. "

zach braff fm scrubs

2007-06-06T16:27:00.000+04:00

Listen for what he says about interns and the thing is that people dont always
take that part into consideration and expect too much from us

Depression

2007-05-24T06:29:00.000+04:00

No one is spared from the ups and downs of life. Everyone is subjected to good days and bad days. Occasionally even a few good days followed by a few bad days….but what if the bad days remain for over a week? What if that week extends to two weeks? What if you feel you don’t even remember what a good day is like?

Depression is a term that every so often is misused. Especially when thinking of the study load you need to cover this week, after failing a test, or even not having enough cash on you to join your friends at the movies for a film you’ve been waiting ages to see. These events may put you into a sour mood but it’s important to differentiate it from true depression. As long as it is temporary and you do experience a full range of emotions; happiness, joy, excitement, as well as sadness and grief, then this balance of emotions is healthy.

Depression is not just about being sad and miserable. It’s losing the sensation to any strong feelings, becoming emotionally numb, when nothing around you seems to matter much anymore. Thoughts of inadequacy, low self esteem and hopelessness eat away at your self image. Even trivial decisions can overwhelm you, minor issues may trigger your temper and anxiety becomes an everyday part of your life.

The sensation that you are alone and sinking, that nobody can understand your situation sets in. You find no motivation to get up in the morning. Even hobbies you use to enjoy, and the friends that you loved hanging out with, all bore you.

Depression could also affect your physical wellbeing, stretching your body’s abilities to extremes, either sleeping in everyday or insomnia; over eating comfort foods or anorexia.
As well as aches and pains that doesn’t really seem to have a medical cause. That doesn’t mean that it’s all in your head, but your brain does control your body so it may be sending off signals that are misinterpreted by your body.

If you experience 5 or more of these signs or feelings for a duration of over two weeks, then maybe its time to take action.

Nobody appreciates being labeled as “crazy” or a “psycho” and it is true there is a social stigma to being tagged as a psychiatric patient, but sometimes all you need is someone to converse with. It’s easy for people close to you to get caught up in their individual lives, or even if they do recognize your state, they may not know how to help you.

Psychologists are there to help you, listen to you, talk to you, and to assist you in understanding yourself as well as identifying contributing incidents, emotions and ideas. As well as to support you in making gradual, life altering adjustments through different modes like;
Interpersonal (based on exploring issues in relationships with other people)
Intrapsychic (within your own mind)
Personality

These talking sessions can be as effective as taking anti depressive medications in mild to moderate depression. Within around 4 to 6 weeks you can return to your old vibrant self, or even get another chance to start new all over again. Sometimes these sessions are held in combination with drug therapy. This does not mean that once you get off the medication that you will return to your depressed state. Usually only a few months are needed before the doctor can taper you off them.

According to the World Health Organization; 121 million people worldwide suffer from Depression, with two thirds of them not seeking any treatment at all. It takes recognition and a strong decision to stop wasting years from your life and to start living again. Don’t allow the negativity associated with psychotic disorders to stop you from fulfilling your dreams and leading a satisfying life.

Even if you think this article has no relation to yourself, that depression only happens to others, well then it possibly could happen to someone around you, someone you care about. It is a good idea to keep a watch out and be geared up to listen to others. You may be able to pick up the symptoms of depression in others before they even realize it themselves. It then becomes your responsibility as a caring friend to advice them, or if your not too good with words and are afraid of offending, then direct them to someone who can help, a parent or a counselor. In the long run you would be helping that someone to get their life back on track.

Religion in Chechenya

2007-04-15T00:59:00.000+04:00

Resul Magomedov, who is a contemporary writer of Daghestan, writes about Islamic contribution to themselves;

“Before Islam, all Daghestan tribes were broke off in respect of language, religion, ethnical structure and geography like all other Caucasian peoples. This situation caused severe hostility and conflicts. After all native tribes became Muslims, a unity in belief could be sustained among Daghestan tribes which also stopped ethincal conflicts among them.

If these conflicts continued, our homeland would face great disasters. This unity could only be established by medressehs spread out all the country. The scientists, scholars, imams graduated from these medressehs had an important role in stopping these conflicts in this multinational region and they helped tribes to establish friendly relations. Islam should also serve such a goal today.”

Stuff to Watch

2007-03-27T06:06:00.000+04:00

funny video;
http://www.mujahideenryder.net/2007/03/11/when-muslim-guys-try-to-be-gangstas/
just dont read the comments while waiting for it to load, will wreck it for you:)

Also this is about the free ummah clinic in the U.S
A realmotivation, Mashallah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_p9dU5s3vg

An End of a Hospital Day

2007-01-30T17:56:00.000+04:00

Its a strange feeling to be called after, once youve set your mind that youve finished your day at the hospital.
Had take away cafeteria food in one hand and my books in the other, trying to reach my car before the sun melted me away. It was a hot sticky day and i just wanted to get under some shade, i heard someone call out "Doctor! Doctor!" My mindframe changes once i leave the hospital so i didnt respond cos i didnt think it was directed at me, then it changed to "Doctora, Doctora!" that made me stop and turn around. I had to squint to see his face and it took some time for it to register that it was a patient from upstairs. I was assigned with another girl to take his history and examination overa week ago, and even tho i was the one just writing down the info not really asking anything, he still recognized me!

I asked him about who his doctor was now, and when his operation was going to be, he explained how the dr was still overseas attending some conference, and would be back in 5 days, this all took a few minutes cos he was speaking in half indian half arabic, but we still managed a simple conversation. He was a labourer with his family living back home so no visitors came to see him at the hospital, i guess he was bored and therefore just walking around outside. after a few more minutes there was nothing else to say so i ended it with an inshallah khair and salamualaykum, smiled and continued my way to the car.

it just got me to thinking, does such a simple conversation, just a few minutes of my time actually make a difference? other than giving them respect as human beings (labourers are treated real bad here) showing some interest in their situation, so that they feel like somebody does care? well he was the one that stopped me, i didnt make any active attempt to show that i cared, i just responded politely. does that still count?

Anti Niqabi in Hospitals

2007-01-30T16:56:00.000+04:00

They passed around a circular at the hospital the other day requesting women not to wear niqab while working. i think thats great. i really beleive it gets in the way of the building up the doctor - patients reationship and in gaining the patients trust. Or even when your sposed to reassure the patient, facial features also carry alot of that message...so yeah apparently i havent been the only one annoyed by them. btw it came from the ministry of health here in the u.a.e.

i also got a fwd email on this topic;
"The face veil - .... the kiss of death for Da'wah in the West, argues concerned Muslim convert Michael Young, with reference to the works of Dr Hassan Al-Turabi, Quran translator Mohammad Marmaduke Pickthall and other Islamic scholars."

Anyone interested in reading it let me know.

btw- I myself wear niqab, but not at the hospital, not when i got to Austalia, and not in places where being a non niqabi is just fine...yep im just a part time niqabi

Politics is unavoidable no matter how hard i try

2007-01-06T11:41:00.001+04:00

I havent done this before but this time im gonna fill this entry with quotes....and ill link them to their sources so that i wont be labelled as stealing words...and dont yell at me if you dont agree...

"Saddam should be trailled for all his crimes, against ALL IRAQIS, ALL IRAQIS, all the crimes he committed against Iraqis, Shea, Kurds and yes, yes, yes: against Sonna too."

"Why did the American/Iraqi government wanted to kill him so quickly? what is it that they didn't want him to say? the source of the chemical weapons he used against Kurds? the details of the west support during his war with Iran? what exactly is it?"

"Attacking (the National Dialogue Front) NDF, the only political party with no militias, will push the country towards more violence and militarization. It sends one message to Iraqis who still believe in political solutions: We will destroy you unless you were strong enough to destroy us."

The Correct Percentages of Sunnis, Shiites, Arabs, and Kurds
The actual, real percentages of various groups in Iraq is outlined below. Statistics come from the Al- Quds Press Research Center, London Study (www.qudspress.com) and, with reference to the map on the distribution of religious groups, from the Baker--Hamilton Committee report page, 102).

Mosque on the Highway

2006-12-28T17:25:00.000+04:00

We've given the impression to the surgery H.O.D that we prefer Medicine over surgery...now how did that happen?!!!
since i dont have access to my photo gallery i guess ill post some of my pics over here...

World Chechnya Day

2006-12-28T04:22:00.001+04:00

I know a few people from Chechnya but i dont know much about their history...neither do most other people...This year is the 12th year since Russia launched her brutal war in Chechnya.

"Over a decade of war and repression has devastated every tier of Chechen society and killed or displaced at least half of the pre-war population. The destruction inflicted by the Russian forces on Grozny and many of Chechnya’s main towns and villages is only comparable to that inflicted on Stalingrad or Dresden in the Second World War. "

"Today the brutal war continues shows with no sign of abating. Leading Human Rights organisations (e.g. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International etc.) have documented rampant human rights abuses and disappearances of ordinary Chechen men, women and children that are happening on a near daily basis. "

"Despite this, the European political establishment and much of the mainstream media continue to ignore the plight of the Chechen people – unless it be to condemn and duplicitly conflate the historic Chechen struggle for freedom with the ‘War on Terror’."

quoted from http://www.fosis.org.uk/committees/campaigns/chechnya.htm

An attempt is being made to raise awareness to remember 23 February 1944, when Stalin ordered the deportation of the entire Chechen and Ingush population to Central Asia.

250,000 people, a quarter of the Chechen population, have been killed with a comparable number displaced.

Chechnya has more ongoing land mine casualties, many of them children, than any other place in the world.

Approximately 70% of the Chechen Republic has been classified (by the Russian Ministry of Health) as a "zone of ecological disaster” or “a zone of extreme environmental distress.”

In 2004, sixty years after the event, the European Parliament passed a motion that recognised this catastrophe as Genocide.

So how you gonna help?

dextrocardia and podcasts

2006-12-22T21:48:00.000+04:00

I havent written for a while...been kinda busy at the hospital, seen a few interesting cases...never expected id see a kartegeners, thought that was only a textbook thing. he's 15 and comes every few months just for a check up. Imagine having your heart on the wrong side, basically all your insides reversed:) There was also a patient with polyneuropathy, he was in too much pain to examine and later on we found out that he had leprosy!

ok i guess that might sound pretty boring but i was excited about that...i discovered podcasts recently, but i havent been able to find out if i could put them onto a cd, id rather listen to them in the car, i think they have been downloaded onto my computer but i dont where to look for them now. for anyone else who uses iTunes, subscribe to meccaone, and the australian family physician podcats, they're good. anyways am upset deviantart has been blocked, dont have anywhere to put my photos now...and no its not like how it sounds.

A Last Minute Finding

2006-11-09T06:16:00.000+04:00

As we started examining the patient we became restless. The whole week was spent being sent to similar cases and having to report the history and examination of these patients back to various doctors�so far none had any significant findings, and all were somehow related to the gastro-intestinal tract; either melena, or gastritis or hepatic failure. We�d seen enough of these repetitive common cases and were fed up.

According to our rapid judgement, this was just the same. We started with the routine examination, Checking his hands, nails for cyanosis, palm for erythema, unusual sweating, no signs of iv drug abuse along his arms (of course not, he was a police officer) we moved onto his head, (HEENT = head, ears, eyes, nose, throat) all seemed fine. Then next was his chest, symmetrical movement, no scars, no surgery marks�hmm actually there were burn marks, like cigarette burns, when we asked turned, out to be due to cupping, some family traditional thing to help him grow up big and strong. Other than that, both sides sounded the same, vocal fremitus fine, apical impulse, lymph nodes, all ok. We found a cyst on the side of his chest and that got us all excited, finally a finding! Not attached to the skin above it, not attached to the tissues below it, there fore mobile, fluctuation test positive, yay now we had something to report back to the dr�

We rushed thro the abdomen, then moved onto the feet. Slight hyperpigmentation on his soles, no edema, further up..one leg showed a bit of muscle wasting, but then again his whole appearance was weak and tired�but his right leg looked slightly healthier than the left, we stood there for a few minutes, checking it out at different angles, comparing both, then we concluded its just cos one knee was slightly bent, we wanted to finish up quick, so we just asked the patient to straighten the leg�his answer shocked us��I cant move them, they�re paralyzed�

wow we felt stupid�.we thought we were just about finished, imagine reporting back to the doctor without this major finding! But we�were now presented with another problem�we had to do a neuro exam. We furiously flipped thro the medical pocket books we were carrying. This is the hardest of all examinations; was the reassurance the opening chapter gave us. As though a God send (Alhamdulilah) a doctor just then barged in, �excuse me, do you speak Arabic� uhh my Arabic is barely functional but I usually tried tohelp with translation. She was a neurologist who came to do the neuro exam for the file. We watched, translated a bit, and madly wrote down all the neurologist�s findings : )

�

Abdominal Pain

2006-11-04T23:50:00.000+04:00

might come in handy for internal cllinics/rotations

Eid Mubarak

2006-10-25T18:15:00.000+04:00

You know it's Eid when... by *iraqiguy on deviant ART�

The Hidden Stowaway

2006-09-19T09:46:00.000+04:00

PART 1

Ive had enough of being squashed in here, I need some fresh air. A few days ago I had wondered under some soft cloth to hide from those noisy humans. I could feel their movements during the day and I was waiting for peace and silence so I could plan my escape route. Ive heard so many stories about those of our species being tortured and squashed and pulled apart by these humans…and poor us, we don’t have any warning…well apart from being yelled at, but then impulsively being squashed by the end of a broomstick. We are never given a chance to negotiate first...there are legends of fortunate ones being fast enough to scurry away uninjured but I have still yet to meet one of those that have survived such a human encounter.

While in my hiding, I had felt the cloth above me become heavier and then darkness totally surround me. I decided to pull in my legs to remain hidden.…our elders had taught us a plan to implement if we accidentally got stuck inside human populated areas…to remain still and hidden, until we were surrounded by silence then look for high open spaces…that had been my plan until now that is….I realized that I felt disorientated after a while due to my world being moved around…..damn I think I got into a bag again…that’s how I got into this situation the first time…but this bag was overly stuffed, cos I could feel the cloth pressuring me from all sides. It was too tight to even move around so I decided to wait…

PART 2

We had just entered our new home, my brother was staying with me the first few nights till we got use to the place. I rolled my suitcase over where my room was going to be, unzipped it and dumped the rest of my carrier bags and jacket over it. We spent the rest of the day arranging and re-arranging the basic furniture in the living room and kitchen. By late evening we decided to un-pack some clothes but then found a few old dvd’s and decided to watch a movie first. The computer was set up on the floor so it was an uncomfortable setting, so we didn’t finish the movie and decided to benefit from our time by getting to unpacking some of our things.
I went to my room and put away things from the carrier bags, then threw open the top of my suitcase…it was bulging with clothes and I made a resolution (like I do after every trip) to travel lighter next time…I sat down in front of it and slowly pulled out a few tshirts and piled them on the floor. From in between one of the shirts, a stringy brown blob fell out. It was the same color as the top so I first thought it was torn or falling apart…but that didn’t make sense, I looked closer then realized it was a bit of dry mud…but I remember washing my clothes before packing…and even if it was, how would such a big chunk of dry earth get onto my clothes? I didn’t stay at a farm…anyways I got up to get something to pick it up with then it started moving…..i stepped back as it let out a long narrow speckled brown leg about an inch long, then another one out of the other side…. “Ahh…Ahhhhh…AHHHH!!!!!!! PLEASE COME……” I called for my brother who appeared in seconds at the door…even tho he was quick, in those few seconds it had unfolded all its long hairy legs and had raised its fat, hideous body off of the ground…It was too ugly to look at,

PART 3

My sister had been scared of crawly hairy creatures for as long as I could remember, and I think it was that fear that attracted them to her. Anyways I immediately took off one of my sandals and squashed it. Now it just was just about 7 pieces all of which where squashed and now stuck to the tiled floor. I looked at my sister expectantly to make sure she was ok and she answered my look with her own question; Whether I thought it was from the suitcase or the house, I could see she was trying to convince herself that she could still unpack peacefully without another one appearing…I wasn’t sure what to answer “Well if I say it was from the bag, you wont unpack ur stuff and if I say its from the house, you wouldn’t want to live here any more…” I decided to help her out and unpacked her clothes for her. I just took everything out one by one, shook it viciously and laid them all on her bed.
Alhamdulilah it all went uneventfully…

EPILOGUE

I had spent over a month in Australia and not had any encounter with a single spider…I guess their group of elders didn’t like that and had decided to send one back home with me...

btw thats a true story...well except for part 1, i dont know what the spider was thinking.

Hospital Clothes

2006-09-09T08:47:00.000+04:00

After the summer holidays im going back to a new place, a new home, a new hospital but alhamdulilah i will still have my old friends:)

but an issue that is still on my mind, how will we be treated in the O.T? it doesnt help that we are in a muslim country...but im tired of complaining about that, i found these articles that inshallah give us hope

BBC news; A gown designed for female Muslim patients who wish to preserve their modesty for religious reasons is being introduced to hospitals in Lancashire.

Irish Medical Times; About disposable sterile headscarves for medical students

Stuffed up stuff

2006-08-11T13:33:00.000+04:00

Was kinda feeling down about being in a new situation, everything new and different, unfamiliar surroundings, feeling cut off from most of my comfort things, losing my privacy, independence (even tho its just temporary, its so grrr)...then i got thinking about how selfish im being, so many people in worse off situations, (ok yes like in lebanon and iraq and palestine etc) but what i meant is about the iman levels, when your down, its the best time to test your iman levels...to see where you stand and how much you need to improve, and even when you feel your doing ok, that your prayers are pretty regular or your not gossiping then youve still got more to aim for, more to acheive, from sunnah prayers or reading more quran, or doing dawa actions, getting involved in the community...you will always be at a stage where you need to do more.

something nice to watch, btw you gonna need speakers for it;

Back to Melbourne

2006-08-05T23:33:00.000+04:00

Its kinda amazing that when your in another country everything is different. Everything as in the little things. The things that don’t usually get thought about, that are sposed to remain concealed from one’s perception. Am I making sense?

Every country has a different feel to it, a specific atmosphere. Within the first few days of being back here again, I felt the air I breathe was different, the breeze across my face was crisper, the sunlight softer, the scenery greener (well maybe that one is a bit more obvious since Dubai is a desert) but yeah in general it gave me a whole different feeling that I could really appreciate, maybe cos this time ive been away for two years and had the chance to become accustomed to the sticky hot dry atmosphere in the middle east.

sub specialities suck

2006-06-30T14:27:00.000+04:00

Its supposed to be an advantage that we now have drs specializing in almost every different aspect of human health or healing, but I don’t see this as a benefit to regular everyday people.

Now we have to consult a diff dr for each matter or query. Its cost time and money to make a new appointment each time.

Simplest example, I went to see my orthodontist (dentist specializing in braces) cos I think I may have had some bruising on my gums, she couldn’t tell me anything, just told me to go make an appointment with the hygienist…
I was just looking for some basic advice, was it related to my diet? Needed more fresh fruits and vegi’s. Maybe minor trauma? It was just a bruise? Maybe the bristles on my toothbrush are too strong? I wasn’t recording her words for a medicolegal reasons, I was just looking for reassurance and basic advice/suggestions to follow.

Its not just that, I was with an orthopedics surgeon (bone dr) and one of the patients came in also had a skin condition, I, as a student recognized what it was, maybe cos I had just recently finished my derma clinic…well its been a few months but it was still fresh in my mind, the patient had eczema, which could be cured by giving some kind of topical corticosteroids, and some advice about keeping it moist at all times with moisturizers, keep out of the sun. That’s advice I could have given from the top of my head…but this orthopedics dr, after dealing with the orthopedics problem, referred him back to reception to take a new appointment with the dermatologist.

It makes sense if it was a major complicated thing, but why are drs scarred to work out of their own specialized fields? Or is it just cos they’ve forgotten?
A doctor cant get this far without studying the basics of all the other medical fields as well. Do these people forget what they studied in their basic med science years? Its like they cant even be bothered…

theirs a quote i once heard, dont know who its by; a gp knows a bit about everything but a specialist knows everything about one thing.

teachers

2006-05-15T06:19:00.000+04:00

teachers can either be;

1. good with their teaching skills but really mean as a person. (46%)

2. or they could have a kind heart and be a really sweet person but then they usually arent able to teach very well.(49%)

3. really nice people to know as well as able to pass on the information to the student in a way that is well understood and remembered.(5%)

My Emaginary Doll

2006-05-07T13:25:00.000+04:00

With this doll i aim to spread awareness about;

1. Alzheimer's, especially their family members, May Allah give them the patience to look after loved ones that are suffering from amnesia, also with their deteriorating language and recognition skills.

2. Crohn's & Colitis, this is a very painful and bloody disease.

3. Cystic Fibrosis, kids dont deserve to be sick...they've just started their lives, this is a test for those around them, the main symptom is having messed up lungs, too much secretions, and therefore respiratory infections.

4. Domestic Violence...A family is a source of stability and interdependability for both partners as well as providing security and comfort for the kids...the family unit must all work together to keep the home environment like this...once this balance is tipped by even one member attacking another...well you end up with broken homes and broken people.

5. Fibromyalgia, imagine being constantly in pain that, you cant work, cant relax, it even affects your sleep, and on the rare nights when you do sleep, you wake up with morning stiffness, feeling tender all over, then anxiety/ depression kicks in.

6. Leimyosarcoma, just knowing that you have cancer is bad enough, this type usually affects your uterus...for all the women out there...can you imagine having your ability to have kids, one of the most precious gifts we have from Allah, threatened by this cancer? also it in not just a benign harmless type, it is a malignant type, what does that mean? that you will always be under the risk of it spreading to other parts of your body...

7. Lupus erythmatosis, this is an autoimmune disorder...where your body starts making these little soldiers to attack other parts of your body. Your immune system attacking your own heart, kidneys, skin, nerves, brain, blood vessels....oh and guess what? theres no cure for it...

whats going on in my life today

2006-05-05T12:29:00.000+04:00

whats going on in my world today?

am trying to d/l house MD in order so i can burn them onto a dvd...my accomplishment for this week will be if i can manage to do that right.

also studying for surgery this week, and ive just finished my opthalmology posting; for viral infections you dont do anything and for conjunctival/subconjunctival hmrg again you dont do anything...

there's a burial for this muslim iraqi sister here in the u.a.e this afternoon...

i start my internal medicine posting tomoro...i should read up for that...but im studying for sunday's test...

this is a very objective post...inshallah my next one will be a bit more interesting

medical free post

2006-04-25T05:49:00.000+04:00

GOOD MORNING!!!!! or good afternoon, good evening or good night....depending on where in the world you are.

This is gonna be a med free post, We just had our uncle from Iraq over for a few days, the plan is to find a job here, then move his family here to keep them alive....thus is the situation in Iraq, they are chasing out the people...but why do i want to talk about politics? i was careful not to mention any sect in that sentence:)

Hmm what else can i talk about that is not medically or politically connected, oh there is this new concept my brother came up with to do with the boycott, about why do we stop buying Danish or American products when instead we should be focusing on companies that directly sponsor the bad guys. Our answer (about the Danish situation) was that so the whole situation could pressure the Danish government to do something...but then maybe it wasnt fair on these individual companies to suffer for that...i dont agree, the boycott did have an affect, it did get us heard, it did let them know that we didnt like what was going on, we didnt have many other options that would make our voices heard...now about American products, this fits into that arguement, yes i dont beleive we should not boycott all American products, But we should all the ones that directly sponsor or elaboratly donate to Israel, im sure everyone has received those emails listing them...

I had a friend that had started off medicine with us but transferred a while ago to a different country...recently i heard that their mum had passed away..Allah Yarhamha, and i felt so guilty for not keeping in touch, then a few days ago i receive a msg about an old highschool friend who, along with her brothers and sisters, was raised by only her mum, and now her mum has also passed away. I dont know how to help them or to make things easier for them, I guess the only thing i can offer is my dua..actually i shoudlnt say it like that "the only thing." dua is a major thing, Inshallah They both will not feel any of the discomforts of the grave, Inshallah they will feel the cool breeze and beautiful scent of jannah, and that the time goes by quickly for them, Ameen

Int'l Emergency and Catastrophe

2006-04-10T22:12:00.000+04:00

I just wanted to add something interesting that i heard at today's conference...just so yous all dont actually beleive that i did pay the 150 AED to turn up only for the free pens...well technically they not actially free if i paid 150 for them right?
just kidding

What i actually wanted to write about was Mustard gas. One of the speakers, Dr. D. J Baker gave the third lecture and he mentioned an interesting point...Mustard Gas is a blister agent, it does hurt people but isnt really as deadly as sarin that was used in tokyo in 1995. It causes big skin blisters as well as conjunctivitis eventually leading to blindness...now the new fact that he brought up was that when mustard gas is used in hot weather, ie the summer heat in the middle east...its severity is multiplied, especially when inhaled.

Also about in one of the lectures about the Avian Flu (yes it does come up in every conference these days) the dr went into the history of other subtypes, ie Spanish flu, and even tho it was a worldwide pandemic, the rest of the world at 1918 were pre occupied with the WWI but the spanish media/ newspapers covered the disease outbreaks instead, hence the name Spanish Flu.

And one last interesting thing...when assisting with ventilation, the pressure you apply does make a difference, ie if not enough then the alveoli collapse and re-inflate each time, and with every collapse kinins are released, stimulating the pain receptors...so yeah if your not doing it right...ouch

oh and for bird flu, so far there are NO accounts of human to human transmission...Iraq has had two cases, if it could transmit like that...well its practically a warzone i think it would have spread, and as for egypt...ive been there, trust me, crowded is an understatement...also that got me to thinking about something else, how is the transmission between birds so well limited? amd why do birds have to be culled? put into limestone pits and buried...isnt it a virus, do visuses live outside their host? or in a dead host? if yes then they do get passed on thro fomites as well...if not then how do you explain the only 1 piece of evidence doctors use for their human to human transmission theory?

One very last thing..., Drowning in Your Own Blood, An interesting way to put it...

Emergency Med Conference Day 1

2006-04-10T21:38:00.000+04:00

Our new obsession this time was free pens!! Wewere trying to collect them from each of the stalls during the exhibition part, actually it was our way of politely interupting representatives and then getting them to explain to us their products...one that was really nice was this malaria detection kit, we made the poor guy explain the whole thing to us and then we bombarded him with questions and we even asked for a demo, instead he gave us about 3 to try out ourselves on real malaria patients, he said that would be more fun than getting negative results...so we gonna keep it in our lockers till someone turns up with malaria at the iranian hospital:)

Also i met an Australian from Queensland and shocked him by saying that i was also Australian, thats the first time i didnt go into explaining the whole my parents are iraqi but i was born in australia etc, just "yeah im australian too"...but the look on his face...hmmm i think i must have freaked him out, but im not sure if it was my hijab or my braces...both are matching pink...

Anyways we also met a Danish lady, we were commenting on why they had mangos at their stall and she was explaining cos its rare in her country..so we asked her country and yeah...i couldnt help smiling and i was just like; hmmm some stuff happened there recently...
i think i put her in an awkward situation but anyways she asked our opinion, we told her that obviously since we are muslim we were offended, but we agreed that both sides responded wrong...and then to change the subject we talked about Australia and she told us how her daughter was gonna be an exchange student there for a year...so yeah...but the whole time we were all smiley and all polite so that was good.

oh and at the end we found this other theme park/ water park exhibition and the girl at the entrance was also Australian!! paki- australian, anyways she made us free passes to go have a look inside and we spent sme time at a mini imax thing inside, the chairs actually move and it spurts out water drops and even a breeze onto each person seated there!! We planning to go back for more tomoro:)

Medical Conferences can be Fun

2006-03-27T11:06:00.000+04:00

I have recently discovered a whole new side of the medical profession, within the last month we have been invited to attend two conferences; The first annual medical student's conference which was held at the trade center, with a dinner and cruise after the second day, and the second one was by the Dubai Harvard Medical Research center. This one was held at teh madinat Jumairah.

Both had great food, i cannot stress this point enough!! The variety as well as the flavours, just wow!! But i also paid attention to the speeches beforehand, but i dont beleive they all were appropriate for an introductory symposium(this is last night's one by the Harvard people).
5 speakers are too much for no break in between, and for those of us who had to leave to pray maghrib midway, well it is rude for anyone who walks out while someone is still speaking, but we didnt have any choice!

Out of the research material that was presented, i liked the one by Dr. Peter Howley, that some viruse cause cancers so they have thought up a vacine to those specific viruses, its already been submitted and is now waiting for approval, unfortunatley his way of presenting the information...well thats when i chose to walk out to pray maghrib, but am interested to read further about this vaccine.

The first two speakers did a god job on keeping us listening, Dr. Nancy Andrews chose two specific research cases during the month of febuary, and Dr. Mohd H. Sayegh talked about the history of transplants, he had a nice concept about the first three people who worked together on acheiving something in this field included a jew, a british person and a lebanese man:) but i dont agree when he put in the last slide that had a picture of masjid al aqsa...but before you think im on teh wrong side, hear my arguement...this is an international conference with people from all over the place, if everyone was free to present their political or religious stands alongside the medical information or research they present, everyone would start taking sides and alot of valuable time would be wasted discussing politics instead of medicine. And it would just be everyone trying to get their views heard and no one really listening. People from all different backgrounds attend these things, Americans, French, Germans, Pakistanis and Indians, Arabs; Palestinians and Iraqi's, etc, its not wise to open the door for all of them, whenever they present anything to try and squeeze in a few slides portraying their own views unrelated to the topics assigned.

Anyways back to the fun part of it; they had fresh lemon juice with little pieces of mint added, which was great for the flavour, and this white cheese and tiny tomato salad, that was also great, i even had some more of that after i finished the main meal, and this cake like thing, with coconut and was each flavoured and moist and delicious but it was in tiny pieces, so i had to stand by it to have a few...

oh and another thing, whats with nowhere to sit? A full course dinner and we have to be standing the whole time? we ended up sitting on the staeps outside but we had a nice view of the tiny lake that flows between the shops and the hotel part. even tho the boats were reserved only for those staying at thehotel, it was still fun to watch:)

Over Protectful Parents

2006-03-11T00:19:00.000+04:00

Picture in your mind a mum with her first child, it is her most prized possession, she worked hard for 9 months carrying it in her tummy, being careful about the foods she ate, making sure she was eating enough for two from each food group, taking enough vitamin pills just in case it wasn't contained in her diet. Now her child being only a few months old was still totally dependant on her. She bathed it every morning and every night, using the most expensive milk formula she could find for feeding, and sterilizing each bottle after every usage. Whenever the child began to cry, she would stop whatever she was doing, to pick it up, feed it if it was hungry, change its nappies, or just rock the child back to calmness. She would let no other relative or friend hold it, or kiss its cute little head, in fear of them passing on a cold or any other germs. As the child grows older, it has a tendency to having upper respiratory infections, and on the insides of its elbows and knees, eczema develops, even seborrheic dermatitis on the back of its scalp.

Now imagine another family, the mother loves her child equally as much but is from a lower socioeconomic level, so she is also working from home, she doesn't have the same time to spend taking care of her child every minute, the child is at the stage where he puts everything he can pick up into his mouth, from pencils to the t.v. remote control. He has learnt to crawl around early and sometimes even wonders outside to the backyard where he has tasted the soil. The mother doesn't have the time to bathe him even once a day and usually just wipes him down with a wet towel when he looks too dirty, but at least on weekends, he gets a decent bath when dad is home to help. He seems healthier than the first child, and has less medical problems.

How come?
Antigens have three ways of getting into a child's system.

thro skin, which activates the IgE pathway.
thro the respiratory tract, which activates the same IgE pathway.
thro the intestines, which activates the IgG pathway
Once an antigen or germs get into the body thro either pathway the body builds up an immunity to it. Now its entrance route is a big deal, if its thro the intestines, ie, he eates or swallows it, then the body has no problem towards it, but if its thro the this natural barrier/skin, which gets dry and breaks up due to excess washing with soaps, thus allowing the germs/antigens thro, you get skin problems, like eczema. And if it thro its lungs, you get respiratory problems like asthma or recurrent respiratory infections.
The child from the lower socioeconomic family is in a better position with regard to his health and immunity, cos of the increased exposure thro his GIt, and cos the layers of his skin are not constantly being worn away. The outermost layer is made of keratin with this specific type of oil/lipids between them. Excess water destroys this, and so does soap. But everything is fine in moderation. Im not saying a child should be bathed only once a week, but every second day is enough.

A Dedication

2006-03-10T22:48:00.000+04:00

This was dedicated to us (me and my husband) on our engagement by my brother;
Thank you little brother:)

Sakeena by OutLandish

This ain’t a love song

This is a life song
Woman, you my equal, my wife

We be tight like 2 perfectly matching calligraphy lines
We don’t wanna build our house of earth, water and stone

But of wisdom, pure intentions, conversation

Compassionate action, with purity of heart

We might get somewhere, become light

Fast and burn like a candle, right

Intertwine, you give me peace of mind

I cloak you and you cloak me

Responsible I feel with honesty

Between us God has put affection and mercy

Praised be He who created u

Cuz all I see in u is beautiful

Woman, you my equal, my wife

We be tight like2 perfectly matching calligraphy lines

What drew us together

Doesn’t conform to the laws of nature

It is writtenThere is only One opener for the lock of these things

Amor mío

Te adora como a la más bella estrella fugaz en el cielo

Y cuando me siento sólo, sé que tú me entiendes

Sé que me comprendes

Sueño apoyarme en tu sonrisa

Toma mi mano y ven de prisa

Siempre me imagino

Viejo y arrugadoMis hijos ya crecidos mis nietos a mi lado

Y la luz de luna a revelado

Que tu palpitar es por mi, que siempre a sido asiHe practicado que decir muchas veces

Y cuando Dios lo quiera estaremos frente a frente

Será el momento de embrujarte

Ojalá que en tus ojos me retrates

Que aceptes mi pasado, que mis locuras yo no pague

Yo te prometere mi vida

Aunque la muerte nos separe

Translation:[My dearest

I adore you like the most beautiful shooting star in the sky

And when I feel alone I know that you understand me

I know that you comprehend me

I’m looking for comfort in your smile

Let’s hurry, follow me

‘Cuz I’ve always seen myself old and aged

My children grown up, grandchildren by my side

And the moonlight has revealed

That your heart beats for me

And it has always been like that

I’ve practised what to say many times

When God is willing

We’ll stand face to faceThat will be the moment to put a spell on you

If only I could slide into your eyes

If only you would see through the past

If only I don’t have to pay for my peculiarities

I’ll dedicate my life to you

Even after death will separate us]

Woman, you my equal, my wife

We be tight like 2 perfectly matching calligraphy lines

What drew us together

Doesn’t conform to the laws of nature

It is written

There is only One opener for the lock of these things

Most definitely in our luv are signs of knowledge

Every dime I spend on you

Is worth more than what I spend on the poor

See patience is the best key to happiness

Continuous, satisfaction, pearls wanna be like you

Intertwine, you are my Sakeena

You protect me and I protect you

Scientifically we be deeper than Al-kindi

Between us God has put affection and mercy

This ain’t a luv song

This is a life song

We going 6 years strong

With no sign of REGRET

With each year we gain in force with ups and downs of course

Yeah my wife is my cousin

And thank God, Faizan my son was born without complications

Hina my love to you is unconditional

Not limited by typical Bollywood scenarios

Or by statistics when problems occur we leave

‘Cause I know t u´ll stay till I no longer will breathe

Or if I’m crippled, blinded or anything else

I know I can rely on u helping my every step

Love is not just limited to butterflies and sex

It’s to recognise and respect each others intellects

Lots of regrets many things we shouldn’t have said and done

But that’s just part of our journey and it’s just begun

Define beauty ‘cause one day looks will fade

But a beautiful mind still be young at an old age

And I know it’s hard me being away for so long

But I respect u so much for being so strong

I remember you being pregnant going to school

Cooking food taking care of my parents and the whole house

All in one something a man could never do no doubt

So I thank my mother for the day she brought us together

And I pray for our reunion in the afterlife forever

Woman, you my equal, my wife

We be tight like2 perfectly matching calligraphy lines

What drew us together

Doesn’t conform to the laws of nature

It is written

There is only One opener for the lock of these things

Is acne and diet related?

2006-02-20T23:31:00.000+04:00

So how do I feel now that we have finally handed in our community project that we have worked on for 6 months? That took us a month alone just to find an appropriate topic, that we had to study enough to diagnose ourselves. That we had to drive around Dubai to survey 600, English speaking university students. That we had to look up every other research paper that exists on the same topic to compile our literary review. That we had to go over and over and over again to fix each and every misspelling or incorrectly used word, and make sure all the references were clear enough, and to bind all the drafts for doctors to proof read and to finally hard bind our final copy, add the cd with all the raw data, and neatly (almost neatly) pile up our filled in questionnaires. After we had to present our findings in a seminar and undergo harsh scrutiny from one of the toughest doctors alive. How do I feel now that we have finished all this work? That we have finally handed in all components of this chronically prolonged project?
Well as I sit here typing this, a slight feeling of relief flows through me, until my mind is overblown again with the thoughts of the osce, clinical test I have in two days, and the OBGyno sessional test next Sunday, and it is almost 11:30 pm and I need to read up on tomoro’s derma topic, as well as wake up early enough to make the first lecture…

Thus is the life of a medical student…and I am told I don’t study enough!!

oh and if you want to know the answer to the title, you can ask kareema/ Blue Rose for a summary of our study:)

The Quran and Embryology

2006-02-12T16:52:00.000+04:00

In first year uni, the embryology textbook that was recommended for us was "The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology" by Keith L. Moore and Persaud, and during one of teh pracs it was Dr. Emad, our egyption anatomy teacher who had mentioned that the same auther, Dr Keith Moore had said something about the Quran in relation to the verses to do with embryology...it has always been on my mind to look up what exactly he said, and I have finally found the time, these are a few of his findings;

The ayats and hadith are in this color

Dr. Moors's quotes in this color

Dr. Moore (a son of a Protestant clergyman) had the opportunity to study certain statements in the Qur'an and statements of the Prophet (S.A.W) in the Hadith literature, he remarked, "I was amazed at the scientific accuracy of these statements which were made in the 7th century A.D."

He created you (all) from a single person: then created, of like nature, his mate; and he sent down for you eight head of cattle in pairs: He makes you, in the wombs of your mothers, in stages, one after another, in three veils of darkness. Holy Qur'an (39:6)

Dr. Moore says: "This verse from the Koran states that God makes you in the wombs of your mothers in stages, one after another, within three veils of darkness. The realization that the embryo develops in stages in the uterus was not discussed or illustrated until the 15th century A.D. It is reasonable to interpret the three veils of darkness mentioned in the Koran as:

1. The mother's abdominal wall;

2. The wall of the uterus;

3. The amniochorionic membrane composed of the fused amnion and chorion.These three anatomical layers protect the embryo from external injury.

Dr. Moore then turns his attention to the mention in the Qur'an (75:38) that humans are created from a nutfa, a tiny drop of fluid, which gushed forth, and that God made the progeny of men from "an extraction of despised fluid (32:8)." He also refers to a hadith, which says: "Not from all secretions is the child made."

Then he comments: It is well established that only a few hundred of the several million sperms in the semen are able to pass through the uterus and surround the ovum in the uterine tube.

"Verily We created Man from a drop of mingled sperm…(76:2)

Here it says that a human being is created from a mixed drop. Dr. Moore comments: "The mixed drop mentioned in the Koran could refer to the mixture of small quantity of sperms with the oocyte and its associated follicular fluid. There are the other references in the Koran to the origin of man from a small quantity of 'mingled fluids', undoubtedly the male and female sexual secretions. As we know a secondary oocyte is expelled from the ovary during a process known as ovulation. The oocyte and the follicular fluid pass into the uterine tube, where, if coitus has occurred, they are mixed with several hundred sperms. The resulting mixture (drop) composed of the ovum and the penetrating sperm, becomes the zygote or primordium of the embryo."

"That He did create in pairs, male and female, From a seed when lodged (in its place); Holy Qur'an (53:45-46)Then he mentions Surah (53:45-46) and says: "This verse states that either a male or a female will be created from the nutfa and that the sex of the embryo is determined at the beginning." This piece of information in the Qur'an is way ahead of its time. "The realization that sex was determined at fertilization was established about 60 years ago when the sex chromosomes were discovered,"

Your wives are a tilth for you, so go into your tilth when you like, and do good beforehand for yourselves, and be careful (of your duty) to Allah, and know that you will meet Him, and give good news to the believers. Holy Qur'an (2:223) "A tilth refers to the cultivation of land and the comparison of implantation of the blastocyst to the planting of a seed is a very appropriate one. Just as soil covers the seed, the uterine epithelium covers the implanted blastocyst. The blastocyst soon develops chrionic villi for acquiring nourishment from the maternal blood. Similarly the embryo formed from the seed develops roots for acquiring nourishment from the soil."

He then went on to say: "It has been a great pleasure for me to help clarify statements in the Quran about human development. It is clear to me that these statements must have come to Muhammad from God, because almost all of this knowledge was not discovered until many centuries later. This proves to me that Muhammad must have been a messenger of God."

back to the future

2006-01-25T11:31:00.000+04:00

Asalamualaykum,
so many things have happened between my last post and now that i will not even bother to list them all, whats important is that i have a few minutes to spare and i want to just add a new entry here...but i need a good topic...PalTalk
i found a sisters only halaqah over there and they have this amazing q and a session, for example, which two prophets are cousins? i guessed isa (a.s) and i got stuck after that...

we had a really nice interactive seminar type lecture about acne, one reason why it was good was that i wasnt picked to anbswer anything out loud:) also, she explained how it was all linked and how various medication worked, it really cleared it up in my head.

its like so many ppl keep telling me to take the usmle 1 now since im sposed to have covered all the material by now, just the basic med sciences but as i go thro my clinics am still learning more and more of the basic things that i had thought i had already known or hadnt ever really bothered to go thro thoroughly.

anyways maybe this summer i will apply for it but i had wanted to do an elective training at st vincents hospital, in melbourne, our proffesionals in a few subjects are coming up the end of this year so i dont want the usmle to come in the way...i dont know ill see what happens at the time.

I started a Tarek Ramadhan book; To Be a European Muslim, the fwd and the intro were great and really made me anticipate the ideas/ theories /arguments the rest of the book would present but when i got to the actual first chapter the writing was very heavy and it really put me off. I need easily digestable books, i have enough medical books to go thro, on the side reading shouldnt be so tiring.

i heard this thing on the radio, the presenter was advertising her public speaking workshop and talking about how a client called her this morning, she was in a panic and on her way to give a presentation so she was saying; am gonna do awful, am gonna mess up bad, etc so she was using that as an example of self fulfilling prophecy, you tell yourself you will mess up, then you will mess up, or you can tell yourself that you'll do great then you have a greater chance of doing great...so I will be a smart, sensitive, understanding, sweet doctor inshallah:)

Vote for 618 at the Global Village

2005-12-15T21:33:00.000+04:00

It was 6:30 pm, an hour and a half before the iraqi voting place (a big tent at the global village's parking lot) would stop accepting voters. It has been going on for three days now, today is the last, my family had gone on the morning of the very first day, i couldnt cos i had a test, and i wasnt going to go drive all the way on my own...so yeah my dad had convinced me that we could make it there before it closed down so i could vote too:) subhanallah we took the emirates road and reached there by about 7:10, it wasnt as crowded as i had expected, there was a security canmera recording all cars who entered the car park, i guess thats why some cars entered thro the exit(?) anyways we had to go thro metal detectors and put our bags thro that xray thing like at the airport, we had left our phones in the car so that wasnt a problem. I was walking parralel with my dad, him at the guys side, me at the women's side, then some random big, old woman came stood in front of me, i didnt know she worked there, i thought maybe she was just half blind and didnt see me, i was gonna walk around her but then she actually stuck out her arm to stop me...okay so she did mean to stand in front of me...i didnt have any of my papers and i didnt know what she wanted and she wouldnt say anything either, i just yelled out for my dad, i wanted to catch his attention before he went too far ahead and i would be stuck with this lady. He said some stuff to her like yes she's with me and i have her passort etc, she didnt even ask to see them, just put on this big, fake smile and let me pass...do all women have to be accompanied by a man or was it my age? that wasnt the most welcoming greeting to start this experience by...btw i have never been to iraq in my life and i havent participated in anything like this before so yes it is a new experience....anyways once we were inside, the sound of the air conditioners were deafening, a loud, dull, continuous hum, thats the first thing i noticed and the bright white lights, there were also alot of desks inside and the ballot boxes were just big plastic tubs with lids on them, no locks or any security latches...we walked around a bit trying to decide were to go, but my dad had been here two days before so i guess he was looking for which desk to stop at(?) i dont know but we ended up with some hijabi women, everything we gave them, passports and birth certificate etc they asked for arabic copies...in the end they were happy with my u.a.e entry visa cos it had my dad's name in arabic and my dad's passport says he was born in iraq so thats my link to the country:) they filled out my details as well as my dad's, one of them also asked about our surname and from which area in iraq we were from, my dad didnt answer any of those questions, later he was like they wanted to figure out if we were sunni or shia...so yeah they then gave us this four page thing with about 5 columns on each in tiny print, and the lady explained to me in a quarter english, quarter arabic and half sign language what to do, in short; tick which group you want and fold up that paper give the rest to that guy for him to tear up and put the folded paper into the box...okay we did that but we also had the dip your finger into the ink part, i dont mind that the ink was purple but i didnt liek the idea cos it makes you look either like a criminal or illiterate...before now i was expecting them to grab my finger, stick it into the ink and then randomly put my fingerprint
onto the paper were you choose the groups...i truley felt releif when i saw pens:) Also cos we had given them my dad's passport they filled out a form thing for him too, and the ink had already washed off of my dad's finger (with the help of washing chlorine) but that would be dishonest so he said that he had just brought me to vote and that he didnt want to himself, one of the old lady's got upset at him cos she had filled out his details and didnt want to cross it out now cos then it would look like she had made a mistake in the record book...and a younger woman started giving the lecture about how you should vote cos your country needs you right now etc(the whole patriotic thing). anyways i dont know why he couldnt say he'd already voted, maybe cos the inky finger wasnt there anmore? anyways he did get out of it...and by the time we left i was thinking that that was fun and i cant wait for the next time:) i doubt my vote would make a difference but at least now people wont blame me when more muslims are slaughtered in iraq, i did my part to try and prevent that today.

random kid i saw

2005-12-07T22:39:00.000+04:00

I was driving back home and I heard the adhan for maghrib prayer start so I started speeding a tiny bit more so I could reach home in time to pray it. As I reached the park's mosque at the beginning of our street I had to slow down because five times a day this road narrows down with cars double parking as their drivers pray inside the mosque. It is a beautiful and interesting sight as the cars outside vary from white taxi’s to black Mercedes with tinted windows. Today a red convertible was also driving in front of me and as we reached the mosque, he parked the car right there, I was actually surprised then annoyed, this kid, with shoulder length blonde dreadlocks and loud music taking advantage of this temporary hectic parking lot. He even actually got out of the car and I could see his clothes trying to keep up with the latest trends, with this thick metal chain round his neck and he even had army pants on with one pant leg rolled up to his knee and the other full length, are people actually meant to follow these wierd fashion trends? I was thinking he was some lost youth, wasting his life on useless stuff, he was young so probly living off of a rich dad, not bothered with uni or even making a start in his own life. Anyways I immediately felt guilty for judging him so hard, cos after he got out of the car he headed for the mosque…I was genuinely surprised by this, I really didn’t expect he would be the type to take care of his prayers and especially being concerned with praying them on time. It just got me to thinking that even these type of people realize the importance of prayer and the inner peace and tranquility it gives. He might be living a messed up life or preoccupied with other things but when its time for prayer, nothing else comes in the way, that is the direction that his heart is following.

what if?

2005-11-20T19:09:00.000+04:00

How many times in your life do you make a decision and then wonder if it was the right one or not, or think what if i would had chosen the other option, too many situations to think of like that every time, thats why i need someone to put my total trust in and to beleive that they will help me to make the right choice, to have no regrets, or if i do, then i will have reassurance that it wasnt just my choice alone, or that i was sposed to choose this one over the other and this way i have avoided something bad and i dont know it cos i avoided it, i rescued myself from it by choosing this and not that. but there are too many times that im left thinking "what if ? " i hate thinking that, im happy with my choices and decisions in life, so why should i think what if? old people say those are words of the devil, and hey yeah these days im agreeing, cos it questions your sattisfaction with whatever outcome, it leaves you thinking too much about something you cant change, wasting your time wondering and then in the end your just depressed thinking that you may have missed out on something better.

Pancreatitis and prayer mats

2005-11-13T16:58:00.000+04:00

i read this and i liked it enough to copy out here, Causes of Pancreatitis; I GET SMASHED
Idiopathic
Gallstones
Ethanol/alcohol
Trauma
Scorpion bites
Mumps
Autoimmune
Steroids
H (ill fill this in when i remember it)
EROC
Druges/ ie frusemide

and there are actually 5 F's not just 4!!
female, >forty, fertile, fat and full of flatus:):)hehe

and other thing i wanted to bring up thats totally unrelated to pancreatitis..does anyone else get affected by the color of the prayer mat you use? we have this bright yellow one that whenever i pray on it i feel its screaming out at me to rush my prayers and go away, and the we've got this really calm blue one that ive noticed myself i actually do take my time and concentrate better and i feel a higher level of khushu / inner spiritual inspiration(?) and i just feel better in general afterwards...can anyone relate to this or am i just too caught up in my surroundings?
and whats with the detailed pictures on prayer mats, why bother with that? what are you sposed to be concentrating on anyways? if the minarets on both sides are at the same heights or on asking Allah's forgiveness? as you can probly tell i am very frustrated by this...am in the process of folding up and hiding all bright and detailed prayer mats at our home.

Also we went for our radiology posting today and found film from a mammogram up, so we had a look at them and figured there was only a tiny bit of fibrosis on the top part of one side. so we waited for the radiologist who came in and greeted us then said she'd just need a few minutes to go thro the mammogram film then she'd be with us, so we watched her carefully go over every part of each film, then she took out a magnifying glass!! and went over each film, inch by inch. she noticed our interest so then pointed out tiny calcifications which usually mean that it would be in the direction of non malignancy. (i thought i read otherwise? i need to check on that)

Yeah true there were tiny dispersed white dots, but no ways we would have otherwise noticed them. She saw our expressions and was like , dont worry your not required to read a mammogram, or are other doctors, or even radiologists, it has to be doe only by specialist radiologists....Specialist radiologists??

help!

2005-11-11T21:09:00.000+04:00

Hi asalamualaykum, im having a little problem here, i cant keep track of new comments on old posts...some of the blogs ive visited have this thig on teh side that keeps track of new comments...any idea where i can get one?

SAKINA

2005-11-11T17:49:00.000+04:00

Coming home in the evening, each day much on my mind
Fast pace of living in the West, with such little time
Cars and folks yell at me, everybody making me spin
Then when I come and I see my daughter's face so bright
With smiles there to great me at the door, like a beautiful light
I can only thank Allah for this blessing on me
For giving me Sakina, this tranquility!

When Allah sends His Sakina on me, how do I feel?
It's like peace inside my heart and I know that its Real

http://nativedeen.com/index.shtml
From SAKINA By Native Deen

Nobody can really understand this feeling unless they have actually experienced it, its a calmness and relaxed or reassured state of mind, body and soul.Even tho i dont agree that its like that only in the West...hmmm actually i think there is a bit more barakah here in relation to time,but it can still get hectic, and if you can actually get in at least one calm sincere prayer that has almost the right amount of khushu, it can really refresh your whole day as wellas your outlook on everything around you.

From OutLandish- Look into My Eyes

2005-11-07T18:33:00.000+04:00

"Each day you wake in tranquility
No fears to cross your eyes
Each day I wake in gratitude
Thanking God He let me rise
You worry about your education
And the bills you have to pay
I worry about my vulnerable life
And if I'll survive another day
Your biggest fear is getting a ticket
As you cruise your Cadillac
My fear is that the tank that has just left
Will turn around and come back"

I heard this and was wondering wow from which category am i living in? Do i have enough appreciation and gratitude for the safety and luxury i seem to take for granted these days? I guess cos i have been blessed to never actually live in such a situation that its easy to forget about the people who have to face this everyday.

grocery shopping in ramadhan

2005-11-02T16:30:00.000+04:00

I went to the jam3iya again today…and everybody was so nice that it honestly made up for how bad it was last time, like I was trying to look for cantaloupe (is that the right spelling?) and I didn’t know how to choose a good ripe one, so this old guy saw me just looking at them so he asks me a question in Iraqi Arabic; do you know how to find a sweet one? I just froze cos he looked so like a teacher from college and I was thinking is he or isn’t he him? So then I guess he figured I didn’t speak Arabic so he repeated the question in English, then he’s like, do you speak English? So I nodded yep, people don’t usually talk to each other there so this was weird, a total stranger being friendly. So he explained that if you smell the green part where the stalk is and it smells sweet, then that’s a good one, he was on the other side of the fruit stall thing so he came around and started showing me like this one is not good, this one is good, but it looks too big, okay smell this one, it’s a good size and smells nice….Me with this big smile, I took it and thanked him…I think that was very sweet of him. He asked if I needed anything else, nope, but thanks:)

Even when i went to the bakery forthem cheese/laham manakeesh's cos i only wanted something simple, they let me cut in line:)

Then when I was leaving, I was holding heavy bags and the place was crowded cos its eid tomoro and yeah everyone was moving out of my way, and they even waited at the bottom of the steps for me to come down first..it was like wow respect…maybe cos I was wearing a black scarf today? Or I guess everyone is just in such a good mood cos tomoro’s eid, whatever the reason it was really nice, there should be more days like this, Ramadhan is barakah:)

oh and Dr. Carmen (she's responsible for us students at teh hospital) came to our clinic yesterday and handed me this big white envelope...only to me and she said y full name too...wierd, so my expression was like huh? then she's like; good news comes in big sizes and bad news in small.

so yeah that was reassurance, anyways inside was this congrats / encouragement certificate for doing so well on my seminar....honestly i think that was a joke cos i acually did it all the night before presenting it, and ONLY 2 SLIDES whereas everyone elsein teh group realley researched and had at least 6 slides, but hey if they liked mine best, am not complaining:):)

random thoughts

2005-10-31T02:55:00.000+04:00

Damn Iranian hospital, can you beleive they gave us a test this wednesday, the very last day of ramadhan, just to make sure no one skips class!!

btw, how tall does a building have to be to qualify becoming a sky scrapper?

its not just the cash

2005-10-24T16:45:00.000+04:00

As I saw him come into the surgery clinic, I immediately checked behind him to see if any of his children were present. No, he was on his own. An old man, with a white beard and wrinkled, old, dirty dishdasha. He took tiny steps and was limping over to the patient’s chair. I thought of getting up and giving him my seat since it would be a shorter walk for him, but that only remained a thought. He had already reached the chair beside the doctor’s desk. The doctor pulled his own chair closer to him and asked him about his problem;
"I am old and in pain, this hurts and this hurts and this hurts."
He was pointing to his stomach and his hips and his legs, the doctor looked at us students and said it was just joint pain due to old age. He asked more specifically what hurts the most and if there were any other symptoms. He had to yell so that the frail old man could hear the questions.
It turned out he had an abscess and it was causing him difficulty with walking and sitting. Our doctor was determined to use this case to teach us a valuable lesson. As the old man lay down on the examining couch the doctor requested the nurse to prepare the sterile equipment.
As the nurse poured iodine into a little sterile metal bowl and the doctor put on his gloves, he was determined that we would learn from this case. He explained to us that once in Iran, he had taken his car to a mechanic because of a strange sound it was making. The mechanic had said to leave the car and pick it up tomorrow morning,
“But I need it today, I will pay you good if you fix it for me now.”
The mechanic did fix it, I don’t understand mechanics so I cant tell you what exactly it was but as I understood it was just replacing this little plastic thing. So the mechanic finished within 10 minutes and asked for the equivalent of 500 dhs. The doctor was shocked, it hadn’t taken much time and he was sure the little piece of plastic also didn’t cost much. The mechanic’s response to the doctors shock was; “Would you rather leave it over night and have us present you tomorrow with a really long list of things that were wrong and charge you over 1000 dhs ?” point was taken and the dr paid the 500.

So now he saw it as the same thing, if he admitted this patient to the operating theater and used general anesthesia etc, just to drain the abscess, it would cost a whole lot, and the patient was a poor, old man, it was obvious he would have to borrow the money, then live the rest of his days paying off the debt. Or he could do the drainage at the emergency department which would cost an additional 100 dhs, or he could just do it right there in the clinic, as part of the consultation fees. Sometimes doctors have to think about things other than money.

the cold wife theory

2005-10-24T15:27:00.000+04:00

We had someone with a nail infection, actually it was a foreign object under the nail and an abscess had formed and was infected, so the dr had to remove the whole nail…simple procedure, but I couldn’t watch the part where he was separating the nail from the nail bed. What came to mind was all them movies where they joked about Chinese torture and sticking bamboo shoots under your nails. The dr noticed I wasn’t watching, that I had turned away so he’s like, sometimes in medicine your heart gets as hard as stone, like whats happened to him. The people who suffer the most is female doctors’ husbands. Cos her heart will go from moderate to severe hard due to work while her husband, will be the one living with her and having to put up with a “cold” wife.

Interesting theory…I am not going into surgery

the best type of toothbrush

2005-10-21T11:22:00.000+04:00

has a flexible neck.
has a small head so it can reach the back teeth.
is your favorite color so it gives you motivation to use it.

i stole this quote...

2005-10-19T18:18:00.000+04:00

"We are like a man with a razor in his throat. We can’t spit out the Americans, but we can’t swallow them either." -some Iraqi dude

bored of the hospital

2005-10-16T15:25:00.001+04:00

I feel im really starting to lose place in my studies. I am still as interested and all, but when it comes down to the details im not all that into it, hmm maybe I should get a new notebook with those litlepictures in the borders of all the pages, that’d renew my interest in taking down notes (don’t worry im not being serious) and some new color glittery pens.

I was actually kinda interested in today’s lecture, and also it was the first time I sat on the first seat from the middle isle, so there was nothing on my left…no empty chair, no full chair, no one…felt weird. So yeah about the lecture, it was diabetic ketoacidois and yeah so I actually paid attention to the whole thing, what may have helped in that is it didn’t go over an hour like our morning lectures, if only drs knew how much more we benefit when they do not go overtime.

rant

2005-10-07T23:57:00.000+04:00

Who is the loser that wrote ‘Sameer I love u’ all over the hood of my prado??!! good morning this is not sameer’s car, this is MY car…and id just gotten it washed 2 days ago so it was only a very thin layer of dust over it, still looked clean …but not anymore…

Plus today id realized ive had enough of the jam3iya, this place, the co-op is like a giant supermarket but it has mostly locally made products from this region of the world; Syria, turkey etc, not that into exported foods like spinneys. I use to like the environment cos it was such a family place and it had all sorts of Arabs, Palestinians/ Syrians/ Iraqis etc, but today I think I will never go back there unless its out of necessity. People can be rude when they’re hungry! Ramadhan is not just about not eating and drinking during the day, like they say on the English radio ‘a month for muslims to not eat or drink from sunrise to sunset, a time to strengthen family relations and build up the community’ I was just thinking did they miss out a sentence in there? What happened to the self discipline that comes from the not arguing, and refraining from ignorant and indecent speech, and the part about seeking forgiveness from God , its also a time for rebuilding spiritual strength…what happened to all that? you cant just stop from food cos your not benefitting that way, then its just becomes a month of hunger...nothing more, whereas it should be about a whole lot more, otherwise how you gonna acheive the whole spiritual renewing part?

anyways im so grateful for having saturdays off as well (thurs + fri + sat) :):):):) a 3 day weekend!!! the benefit of working at the iranian hospital, now i dont mind having to wear their clothes.

radar ticket solution

2005-09-22T09:30:00.000+04:00

"There's so much pollution in the air now that if it weren't for our lungs there'd be no place to put it all." Robert Orben.

i heard that if i add a generous layer of hair spray onto my number plates i can avoid getting radar tickets cos it will reflect the light of the camera...is that for real?

also i had a conversation with a taxi driver yesterday, started off with him asking if i was iranian (was wearing the black scarf that the iranian hospital gave us), nope, im iraqi,
then am i a doctor? (also still wearing the lab coat),
answer; im a student,
then how is iraq now? (i really hate politics ) just said; i dont know im not there.

ahsan hasa, saddam khalas? (taxi driver style arabic = Is it better now that saddam is gone)
la, mu zain (no its not good)
qabal kan zain? (before was better?)
la, qabal kan mu zain (no, before was not good)
ay ahsan? qabal law hasa? (which is better, before or now?)
ithnain mu zain, qabal wa hasa (both not good, before and now)
haaaa, nafs afghanistan (haaaa, just like afghanistan)

driving in this country is crazy

2005-09-20T13:28:00.000+04:00

I kinda kidnapped a few medical magazines today, there were piles of them so the few that I took I am sure will not be missed…plus i think they were there for us students...maybe...anyways i got 2 editions of the bmj and a few more called the lancet, middle east health, and modern medicine I think it was, I will go thro them tonight, I also got the new jummuah mag too, so yeah that’s a lot of reading: )

Also on my way home, there was this other car and we were both driving alongside at the same speed, the other car was in the fast lane and I was in the middle lane, we were going maybe 90 - 100 km/h and there were like 3 cars behind us trying to get thro, it was fun. They kept changing lanes and flashing their headlights, but neither one of us slowed down or sped up so they couldn’t get past us, also a lot of slow cars in the slow lane so they couldn’t overtake from there either…btw I think the limit on that road was about 80 so they shouldn’t have been speeding anyways…but then by the time we reached the round about, we couldn’t keep at the same speeds so yeah they got thro...

It's actually taking me about an hour and a half every morning to get to the hospital, thats too much for me, its hard to keep your concentration up that early in the morning for that long continuosly, and its either i drive dangerously close to the car in front of me so no one else gets in my lane, or i keep a safe distance and somehow every car gets into my lane in front of me, its okay if its a few but thats never the case, i think they see me as this tiny little girl in a big man's car so they take advantage of that...not fair...but it is less frustrating to just let them than getting mad at everyone who does that, but yesterday i had a pickup behind me who kept beeping every time a car got in front of me...its not my fault, i cant help it!! driving is so frustrating!! especially when theres nothing good to listen to..so yeah i think ill switch to the public bus system soon, not really but thats an initial idea to build on right?

Prognostic paralysis

2005-09-14T15:24:00.000+04:00

I read about an article in the BMJ middle east about palliative care, that’s when you pretend to be helping someone but ur not really doing anything, usually cos you cant.The article says to ask yourself this question;
Would I be surprised if my patient were to die in the next 6 months?

If your most likely to answer “no” about a specific patient, usually in cases of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or Ischaemic Heart Diseases, then go on to ask about these topics;

What’s the most important thing in your life right now?
What helps you keep going?
Whats your greatest worry or concern?
If things got worse, where would you like to be cared for?

This at least gives the patient the hint, plus the chance to rearrange his life accordingly…But I was just thinking about answering them for myself as well. Since death is always unpredictable...

im

2005-09-14T15:05:00.000+04:00

A realm that does not feel existent, that devours all my time, that dictates my every thought but simultaneously is a welcomed distraction, a long awaited for circumstance that provides elation beyond explanation. The aspiration to keep it all perfectly in place is overwhelming. where you feel any breath too strong may endanger it. That mere thoughts may risk its abandonment, or even a portion of it discarded. The hope, the contentment, the ignorance of thinking it can only get better, let me reside in this bubble, this realm, my own world, no outside force to dictate or harass or destroy it. No consequences, the further it goes the more I crave, the deeper it becomes the more I desire. The unrestrained nature is terrifyingly refreshing. The chaotic mess and abstract randomness of these emotions is what seems to provide me with energy to get thro these hours.

the stock market

2005-09-07T13:33:00.000+04:00

My dad took us to the stocks broker place the other day. But before that we had breakfast at the tea leaf coffee bean ace right next to it, and they actually had projector slides showing the shares lists with opening and closing numbers, and where each one stands right now, and they’re all local companies. My dad taught us which ones we’ve got shares in so we could follow it. Our family is very new with this stuff cos they only a few months ago opened the market for non locals to participate in.
After I kinda understood how it worked and which numbers to follow I kinda realized its just like gambling…but then again its not really gambling, in my dad’s word’s its like instant investments.
I guess once you get the hang of it, you can make quick money. But the important thing is not to get too greedy and know when to withdraw you money .
I also really liked the discipline and order everything was in. Cheering / yelling or even clapping is not allowed. Also the week before a bunch of really rich guys came and bought a whole bunch of shares in one company so the price per share (I still havent learnt the proper terminology) skyrocketed really high and everyone started buying from it..then once it got really really high, the same bunch of rich guys that caused the increase, sold all their shares / withdrew their money, so almost instantly it dropped really low again without anyone else getting the chance to sell. The government dept found out and so these guys are banned and going to court in a few days : ) this is good that they don’t allow these kinda things so that ordinary people don’t lose, its not like them rich guys need the extra money, so why play around with the market values like that? So now there are rules to make it more steady and about how much you could buy in one go.
Also it was set up in the same hall where when I was in high school, we came to see a British company perform Shakespeare’s a Midnight’s Summer Dream. They did 3 performances and as I remember, every school with an American or British curriculum sent their high school students to see it. Anyways that was years ago and now there are better halls for plays like that, but even now its not big enough for this stock market thing, they’re building a newer building for it to move to soon that’s gonna be much more spacious Inshallah.

does thou hath time to kill?

2005-09-04T01:07:00.000+04:00

Whats going on new here…hmmm other than petrol prices increasing at about 30% not much else.

A friend we know got her leg amputated below the knee, she has diabetes and her leg got gangrenous, why she never went to a doctor earlier I’ll never know, but yeah I think diabetics need to be educated more about these complications. A friend who is a nurse works on an educational awareness team in Saudi was telling me how at this specific hospital where she works, a person is sent to each patient explaining their disease and their exact situation and prevention of complications and MOA of the medications etc, this was the hospital saved costs in the long term, and in general the morbidity rate of their patients decreased (less really bad situations).

We need that kinda stuff here, not only here actually but at every hospital. Also patients have a right to know how bad their situation is and how good or bad their prognosis is, I don’t believe in hiding the truth from a patient cos you believe it will affect his health. If this is the case then provide counseling as well, or you take the extra few minutes to explain it gently and tell of a few successful similar cases just to help reduce the fear/ anxiety etc.

About this lady who underwent the amputation, she was dead against it a few days ago, so the doctor was like ‘we will try to clean it first and maybe that will be good enough’ so she had all her hope on that debridement was going to cure her, that just removing the visibly black dead tissue was good enough, but in her file it was written that the patient is refusing amputation, and that infection has spread to the bone, osteomyelitis, debridement will be attempted for the sake of the patient… we tried to talk to her then but she had all her hope on that this was enough even tho the doctors didn’t believe so. I think this is unethical.

But anyways what was really refreshing was her attitude to all of it when we visited her this morning…she was amazed at the fact that she could still feel as tho her leg was there, phantom limb, and she had total conviction that it was in heaven where she would join it one day, then her explanation of the phantom limb feeling was that cos its soul was still here (I agree with this point), she was very content and i think her beleif in fate and the hereafter helped significantly...also one more thing is that within 1 week 3 relatives have asked me about medical conditions, ive just passed my third year so I don’t really have all that much clinical experience but alhamdulilah I was able to answer and advice correctly but unfortunately my cousin has got a kidney stone:(

Hijabiiiiiiiiii

2005-08-22T08:44:00.000+04:00

In the Uk, the problems that Hijabi medical students face is ways worse off than here cos the community is also judging them on their religious beleifs which is also almost always perceived as their political stance as well. This article touches upon this subject;
http://www.studentbmj.com/issues/05/07/life/298.php

Here we take it for granted how we can walk down the street and be accepted as part of the community without anyone even glancing twice at our hijab.

In Australia, some areas have accepted it because it is so widespread, from the lady at the bakery to the bank teller to the pharmacist, i even heard about the first hijabi police woman in melbourne a few years ago. But even though, just like there is ongoing descrimination against women in almost any workforce, the same is even between women towards hijab. Sometimes its very subtle but you also get the outright blatant situations as well.

Also another thing ive noticed is that hijab is pretty much more widespread than it use to be in Melbourne. This is a good thing cos it means they are becoming integrated into the community and also still feel free at expressing themselves and dressing the way they want to without totally assimilating into whats around them. By not succuming (i like this word) to the pressures of being accepted to a different community so changing your personality completely or even partially when its not required. But there is one little point i dont like about that...In the olden days you would pass a hijabi and there would be a big smile and a salams from both sides, but now, thanks to immigration, they totally avoid your look, and treat you like a total stranger. Okay maybe you dont know the person but the fact that you both in a non muslim country and you both muslims, there use to be some kind of link of sisterhood there, so that if you needed some help with the grocery bags, or a ride to the bus stop, or even to borrow some change (not too much tho), you could always rely on another hijabi. All these new ppl who have gone down there dont understand or even appreciate that sisterhood bond that use to strengthen the community and created a support network, or maybe they are just oblivious to it, anyways whats for sure is that it does not exist in the same way as it use to.

My Relatives from Yemen

2005-08-19T20:52:00.000+04:00

As I entered our apartment the scent of food, not our usual cooking, filled the air, it was a warm, satisfying aroma. As I let myself in, I saw shoes that were not ours, I came into the kitchen and was overwhelmed with the sight in front of me. Too many vegetables, from zucchinis to long beans to potatoes, rinsed and cut up, and tubs of fresh fruit; peaches, grapes, red apples. Then the dolma stuffing mix ready, the tomato paste out, the salt, pepper, spices spread out over the bench, the orca piled up on the cutting board. Three pots already on the stove; one simmering, one boiling something, the other was still only frying onions, waiting for the rest of its contents. Then there were two things that especially caught my attention;
Flour is not a common sight in our kitchen, maybe once in a while but we were people who believed in ready made cake mixes. Then I saw the canned ghee, now this is definitely the first time that has entered our home.

Our relatives from Yemen were here for a few days, my dad's oldest brother. He was here with his wife to see his sons and his grandchildren so I guess we leant them our kitchen. That way my cousins would get to taste their mother's cooking again…and we would have a fresh hot meal cooked in our house every day during their stay.

My aunty is one of those women who chose her life to be filled with cooking, stitching, house work and raising five boys. They live between Iraq and Yemen, and stop here in the emirates once a year. She has a dream to one day go back to America where she spent the first few years of her married life and where 2 of her sons still live.

Every time she is over, she and my mum sit and talk about almost everything, actually she talks and my mum listens, occasionally nodding her head in agreement, rarely commenting. This time most of the talk was about her recent trip to Iraq. How her in laws gave her such a hard time, how her son over there was having difficulty finding work while supporting his family, the usual then she talked about how the American soldiers barged into their home, how they picked up her brother by his shirt, how her sister was paralyzed at the top of the staircase only screaming incoherent words, and how she, with her limited English was trying to explain that they weren't against the American presence in Iraq, that she had 2 sons there. One of the soldiers were quizzing her, asking where exactly, and since it was true she was able to answer, they eventually left without taking anyone with them. This has become such a common story with so many people who have just come back from Iraq. It puts me off going there myself. A few months ago I was dying to go there for my summer training, thank god I did not have the chance.

Anyways I take a break from rinsing the rice and chopping up the salad, to go get the table ready. As I carry the dishes to the dining table in the living room I begin to listen to my uncle's stories, which I know will be repeated again over the meal. He is also talking about their most recent trip to Iraq, but with a different attitude. I hear about how on their way to Rawa (?) they ended up at the Syrian border instead cos anyone they had tried to stop for directions mistakenly took them for gang members. And I, a hundred percent can understand that.

He talked about the landmarks and places that I've barely even heard about before, the A'thamiya , the Kathamia, Shari' Shaikh 3umar…He also mentioned about how he dragged his sons around with him to make sure they would see all these sites and learn the history before they left in case they couldn't come back again or it'd get destroyed.

I guess he was hoping to pass on some of the patriotic feelings and history he had lived with to some of the new iraqi generation. The knowledge and feelings that so many of us iraqis that were born and brought up overseas dont really have and i know we will never really appreciate it as much as we should.

What is your favorite disease?

2005-08-19T20:48:00.000+04:00

The other day I was with a friend who asked me this question…what is your favorite disease? Honestly I was slightly stunned, what kind of question is that? I needed some time to think about it to come up with an answer …
Plague maybe? I've obviously never seen a case but I saw a movie a while ago, and it came up in this robin cook novel im reading. I want to see the gangrene on the fingertips and toes, btw that's the reason for it being called black death:)
In another book that ive just recently finished, a patricia cornwell one, they figured out the guilty person cos of the sweet but sweaty odour he left behind when the forensic team reached a crime scene early. It turned out to be maple syrup urine disease, when due to an enzyme deficiency, amino acids accumulated. Also on one episode of CSI, the criminal had ketoacidosis, so he also left behind a sweet fruity smell...
Anyways I returned the question back to the questioner…
"Tetanus, cos its such a f**ked up disease"

As for mine, I have still yet to decide…

Robert Fisk is a great writer

2005-08-18T20:55:00.000+04:00

another reason why i want the american occupation out of iraq
Robert Fisk; How can the US ever win, when Iraqi children die like this?

new start

2005-08-17T00:57:00.001+04:00

i just got home and while driving i was thinking about a decision i'd made a few days ago...i dont regret it but it will just take a bit to change my way of thinking bout that issue and to get use to it. even tho it was so incorporated into my life and has been for almost 3 years now. i just finally got rid of it and it feels slightly wierd in a free type of way, if that makes sense...like when you struggle to bite a big chunk out of an apple and then there's nothing in ur mouth. wierd analogy i know, but thats the best thing i can think of right now. i feel so light but at the same time like a tiny little void just took its place, like when you have a cast with everyone's signatures and ur friends' comments and you kinda get use to it so when its removed, its a good thing and you feel free and light but at the same time you know you will miss the reassurance of knowing that it was there.

surrendering ur freedom is a crime

2005-08-12T13:51:00.000+04:00

"And they shall appear before Allah; then the weak will say to those who were arrogant, 'Verily we were following you; can you avail us anything against Allah's torment?' They will say 'Had Allah guided us, we would have guided you. It makes no difference to us whether we rage, or bear [these torments] with patience; there is no place or refuge for us'" (14:21)

Personal freedom of thought and beleif is granted to every single human being. The 'weak' ppl referred to in this ayah are weak cos they have given up this freedom of choice, Sayed Qutb's point of view is that this is not weakness but it is a criminal act.
A crime not to use what you are equipped with (eyes and ears to gather and collect info, and a brain to process it) so you should use these to find the truth, you yourself should seek it out and not blindly follow others.

i think thats very nicely put.

first week at the hospital is over

2005-08-12T10:59:00.000+04:00

in an ectopic pregnancy, you can give a few doses of methotrexate and just keep track of the BhCG to make sure its levels are falling, and if it doesnt work you then can do a laproscopic procedure to like milk it out of the fallopian tube, but usually after taking methotrexate then the tube becomes too hard, so after the laproscopy you have to do a laprotomy (?)(which is just cutting it open) and you remove the whole tube. But this is only if the methotrexate did not work in the begining...

other choice is that initially you just go ahead with the laproscopy before it gets too hard then has to be removed.

how do you explain all this to the patient? it is sposed to be their choice but not everyone will get it, and i think most ppl would opt for the conservative medical treatment only...

my opinion, i think give one dose of methotrexate, check BhCG levels, if there is an initial considerable fall, then thats a good sign to continue, if BhCG levels are still considerably high and didnt drop at all, then directly do a laproscopic one, cos only 1 dose of methotrexate doesnt have that stiffening affect.

also something i read was about the hydatidiform molar pregnancy, that was named that cos initially they thought it was parasitic, then they changed the name to vesicular mole cos its actually a whole bunch of bubble like cysts filled with this jelly-oily substance plus alot of blood clots. But the term hydatidiform mole is so incorporated into so many medical books that for new editions they cant be bothered changing it. and anyways VESICULAR is so much easy to pronounce that HYDATIDIFORM!!(i have to keep double checking about the spelling even)

Anyways its a really sad situation when you see a mum with a vesicular molar pregnancy, about 6 months pregnant and you try to explain the situation to her, but she wont listen and she's just like "but what about my baby? its not going to survive? why not? your a doctor do something to save it!!!" how do you explain that there was no baby to start off with?

also i have a question about Bell's palsy- When the fascial nerve (7-completey a motor nerve) is affected so you get this paralysis, plus extreme pain, but sensation is by the trigeminal nerve and so therefor is an afferent? heading away from the area, so why extreme pain?

We also had a lady, 8 weeks pregnant come cos of slight bleeding...turned out that alongside her baby, she also had a fibroid growing in her uterus, so the dangers here is if the placenta attaches to the fibroid instead of the uterus wall, so as it grows it will bleed, or if if it does attach to where its sposed to, then the fibroid might push it hard enough to detach it, or it would just be extra pressure on the developing feotus, competing for space.
there is no way to remove this fibroid cos you will lose the pregnancy, also if we wait till its old enough for a cesarian, if it gets that far, even then you cant remove it cos the base of the fibroid would be very wide and highly vascular, so big risk of hemorrhage...but when the uterus goes back to the normal size after delivery, so will the fibroid.

ive never seen anyone go from super smiley and so happy to teary and sad as fast as this lady did when they told her about her situation...

oh and i found out another reason why drs wear those masks in the surgery room, so that ptnts cannot identify them afterwards:)

third day at hospital

2005-08-08T15:11:00.000+04:00

was at the nurse's station reading some revision book when i noticed my handwriting on their bulletin board!!
it was like *shock*shock*excitement*
im actually doing alot of paper work too and filling in the patient files, we actually get to take history directly into the ptnts files which is a big step for me:) and we have to write prescriptions and next appointments and summaries and discharge notices, so for some of them they keep up on the bulletin board for some reason (i think its when theres a request for sonar or laproscopy while waiting for the results) and yeah so quite a few of them were in my writing:)

anyways everyone is pretty nice to me here at this new place and i get to attend all the staff meetings and use the staff rooms etc, its like in highschool the side we were never allowed to be apart of, we even get to use the staff cafeteria, which has okay food, a little more than okay actually i would go as far as saying its good food, Ikea style.

also i met an iraqi doctor, and i kicked her too, accidently of course, anyways but the difference with this hospital and our old one is that everyone keeps a distance from the patients, differential(?) okay the same over there too, but this is different in the sense that you gotta go thro like 8 patients in under an hour, plus paper work keeps pilling up by the minute, but its okay cos you get to meet some people and see some cases that seem special, will talk about them later inshallah

valium, oprah, and iraqi women

2005-08-05T10:59:00.000+04:00

Was sitting with 2 russian, an american and another australian woman discussing history and politics so they reached the topic of Iraq, i was just silent listening, i have nothing to contribute to politics, then one of teh russian women was like, "hey we have an iraqi here,(she turns to me) do you have ay family still there? how is the situation? how are they living?" I barely had time to form a sentence in my mind, i was thinking where do i start when she interupted my thoughts, "Is it true that the women are overdosing on Valium?" i really wasnt expectig that question, "Valium?" "Yeah there was a show on Oprah where they talked about iraqi women and thats what they said was happening to them in Iraq" Then from the austraian woman from my right; "Yeah did you see that episode too? Valium, can you beleive that?"

Firstly, i think in any very stressful situation, ie war, women who cant handle the situation might turn to something like that...but did they actually think that was the most important aspect of Iraqi lives to pass onto the millions of viewers who watch Oprah?

2ndly, i only once watched Oprah and was shocked by how superficial it was, some of its topics are okay if they only went indepth enough into them and discussed every aspect of it. But i guess if you have the spare time, not that many interesting shows come on tv here.

I came home and relayed the incident to my mum, her response was; "Can they afford Valium?"

Oh and one more actually interesting thing that came up in this discussion too was that the newest theory is that the Al Qaeda group have now inhabited the Empty Quarter, we took about this place in highschool geography, it consists of dead desert area spread between Saudi Arabia, U.A.E and Oman...we concluded that our theory was that this was fabricated so that they (the U.S) could infiltrate and gain access to these 3 countries freely.

my too short week off

2005-08-04T15:16:00.001+04:00

some friends i know just came back from turkey, they were there for about 2 weeks, and i think its the last time they will go there for the summer, for a few years theyve been going to the same vilage over there and i think theyve had enough now, my friend also was mugged for the first time in her life...like all good things, once you get too much then its not so good i guess. anyways we were talking and we found a few iraqi words that are also turkish, i only remember these two; shafqa which is cap/hat and donderma which is ice cream:)

i only have one week off, from last sunday till friday, tomorro, and its almost over already, i barely managed to do half the things i was sposed to but at the same time im kinda glad cos i dont like having long crowded unorganized days, where id be on my way home from somewhere then its like i get a call and decide to have lunch here with some friends, or find out there's a get together that i cant miss. At least when i go back to the hospital my mornings are set and i get only the 2nd half of the day free for the hectic unplanned part of holiday life.

Anyways i came acrosssome nicepoints i want to add here. In surat Al Baqarah, we all know its related to that story about the cow, where God told the ppl to slaughter one and they kept questioning for more details just to be stubborn. but what i didnt really pay much attention to before was why they were even asked to slaughter a cow in the first place. That the story actually revolves around trying to find the murderer of a dead, rich guy. So a piece of the dead cow's flesh was to be used to briefly return life back to this man so he could say who killed him. It turned out to be his nephew so that he could inherit his uncles fortune, needless to say the nephew didnt get the wealth in the end.

Also one of the names of the Day of Ressurection is "Ba'ath" which also means An -Nushoor, so i was just thinking any relation to the Baathist group in Iraq?

I mean if we take the route of both words in arabic maybe? or before the transliteration they were two totally different words with different pronounciation and spelling even...i dont know...was just a thought...

vine leaves and herbs

2005-08-02T19:22:00.000+04:00

Was sitting listening to these iraqi women talk today...and its either politics or food, when they get tired of one subject they move onto the other and then back again...

for the part i was listening to, mainly was on herbs...the different types of zatar(thyme), with the sharp pointy leaves or the small round ones, and which one is used for which foods, for meats or treatment/herbal remedies and then about miramiya(sage) and then about ba'dunis and then oregano(i dont remember the arabic name) and parsley, and how there are also two types of that as well?

its just like how can you remember all that? and then it went ontotalk about dollma which is teh vine leaves rolled up with rice and vegetables inside it, oh btw the diff between the syrian versian and the iraqi one is that we also use egg plant and capsicum/green peppers and onions and zuccini along with the vine leaves. So this is supposed to be a major iraqi dish, one of the first that every girl is sposed to learn once she is interested in cooking:)

but what was interesting about this is that we had an old syrian
lady also sitting with us and she was saying how in olden days they use to fold up the vine leaves really really tiny and stuff them into empty coke bottles but you had to make sure you applied enough pressure to get rid of all the air, so that by 2 months into the winter they could cut the coke bottle and take out the vine leaves which would still be fresh and green. thats is a smart way but very tiring cos other than folding them up one by one then you'd have to unfold them all, again one by one, careful not to tear them...thank God for today's preservatives and canned foods.

Thursday lessons- Major Signs of the Day of Judgement

2005-08-02T19:04:00.000+04:00

i found something to keep me busy every thursday, this is what i learnt last week, and this week am planning to take another iraqi/british friend along with me so im not the only under 25 yr old there...

Some Major Signs of the Day of Judgement;

The Smoke;
*will affect beleivers as well as non beleivers
*will last for 40 years

Fitnat Al Dajjal;
* he will claim to be God, but the true beleivers will be able to see the word 'kafir' written on his forehead.
*he will claim to be able to bring ppl back from the dead,and will prove it.
*he will not be able to enter two cities; Mekkah and Medinah
*he will be one eyed (not clear about this, maybe one glass eye and one normal)

Essa ibn Maryam;
*He will return at the time of the Dajjal
*He will lead the prayer at a mosque with a white minaret, the imam of the mosque will step back for him to lead the prayer, indictating that he cametohelp establish Islam, not to bring a new religion.
*He will remain for 40 years
*After which the days of Jahiliya will return.

Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj;
*ZulQarnain was a just king who lived during the time of prophet Ibraheem
*The wall was built at the request of other people who complained that the Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj use to appear from behind the mountains, they plundered and commited bloodshed
*They are currently seperated from us by an iron wall
*This wall was built by ZulQarnain
*The Ya'jooj ana Ma'jooj are continuosly trying to break this wall down

Rising of the Sun from the West;
*No repentance will be accepted after this point.

Emergence of the Beast;
*He will distinguish between the muslims and the non muslims

A Great Fire;
*that will start in Yemen and drive the people to the place of assembly

my first super lazy day

2005-07-31T11:38:00.000+04:00

its so great to be lazy and not think that ur sposed to be doing something else instead like read up on some subject or prepare for some test...i can spend hours online now and not feel guilty, and i can watch all those comedy serials on tv and i can catch up on movies (caramel flavored popcorn yum, i can actually eat them there), and i can finally spend care free hours shopping and catch up with old friends, i think i need to return about 30 phone calls today...Also i can stay out late not thinking that i have to be up early for clinics or to study for tests..yaaaayyyy

*excitement* *excitement* and i can catch up on my own reading list where i can read at my own pace, i got a book with the same author of Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres; Birds without Wings. His books are like a romantic novel heavily diluted with history and wars and politics, Birds without wings is set during the end of the Ottoman Empire, in Anatolia, where the Muslims and Christians were co existing peacefully until then, i think thats what i understood from the summary.

oh and i got an iPod *more excitement*

sub culture

2005-07-22T13:04:00.000+04:00

was talking with my brother who is back in melb, about being "Arab Australian" soit lead me to think up the concept of sub cultures.

Within any major culture you have sub cultures. Like sub divisions, so that the minority also feel included, and do not ultimatley assimilate and merge into the main stream, losing their own identity in the process of trying to be accepted. This can either be a good thing or a bad thing.

Good cos a sense of familiarity is always appreciated and needed. It helps you keep your identity strong, you know and see others who are sticking to their traditions, and beleiefs and so it gives you motivation to do the same. It strenghthens your pride of your own background. It also gives you a sense of belonging, reassurance, like a big extended family.

Bad cos you would miss out on the whole multicultural thing, and limit urself only to people who think like you and have the same background etc, therefore miss out on the new learning experience. You also miss out or close yourself from opportunities that that country could offer you. You are making yourself a foreigner, also limiting the walls of your own freedom.

In the end, i think you still need to be apart of a subculture to fall back on when you need to, as long as it doesn't stop you from also being apart of the (main?) culture.

Nosocomial infections

2005-07-20T19:07:00.000+04:00

the general opinion on nosocomial infections

This is an infection that you pick up during your visit to the hospital, an illness other than the initial one you got admitted for. its usually defined by the clinical symptoms appearing 48 hours after admittance.

The hospital is one of the worst place you could stay at while your immunity is low. contradictory to what alot of mothers think about their newborn being better off staying a few days extra at the hospital cos of the extra medical attention, its actually a bad decision.

i dont mean to scare anyone with this, its not such a big deal, but the thing is that it does exist...

The estimated incidence is more than 2 million cases per year, resulting in an added expenditure in excess of $2 billion.

The National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (NNIS) System of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention performed a survey from October 1986 to April 1998.

The highest rates of infection occurred in the burn ICU, neonatal ICU, and pediatric ICU.

Thats from the eMed site