When you greet people, it makes them happy and that makes you happier.

We went to celebrate Yana's birthday at Steak Out Mohandesin. Great place. Great food, reasonable price, friendly helpful staffs. I really enjoyed myself.

Then a group of people came in. One of them piqued my interest because he looked like Dr. Hazem Dewidar, the gentle doctor who taught us ENT. I will always remember him because he said in his class that he is happy to repeat however many times to us until we understand, but if he have to during the exam, he will be unhappy. Hehe. He patiently taught the class and that left a really huge impression on me.

He was also the first doctor who taught me how to palpate the lymph nodes of head and neck when it was me who clerked the case and he walked me through examining the patient.

ENT was two years ago, the last round we had when I was a fourth year 2011/2012.

"Guys, that's Dr. Hazem from ENT, right?"

The girls didn't concur. But I was really convinced, so I told the girls I would go and greet them properly if they were still present at the end of the night.

So, the ever paparazzi, I stealthily kept my eyes trained on that group all night. I was sitting in the middle facing the landing, thus a clear view of other patrons. The rest however weren't very subtle. The staffs noticed their gushing and gestured between us and that table of doctors "What is it? Somebody you guys know?"

He went outside a bit near our table halfway through our dinner to answer a call, and he smiled and nodded at me. I stood up respectfully and nodded back at him. I think he noticed we were somewhat observing them (or the staffs spilled the bean) and deduced we must had been in his class because we recognised him.

Night ended and we were leaving. Maisarah asked me if I was going to greet the doctors. I said I'll pass, we did nod to Dr. Hazem when he went to answer his call. But just as I stepped out of the restaurant, I had second thought.

"It is polite to greet properly, right?"

Maisarah nodded, so she and Sarah went along with me. I walked deliberately to their table and smiled with my posture facing the doctor I remembered. The whole table smiled back.

"Assalamualaikum, all of you sir are ENT doctors, right?"

The table nodded "Yes, yes," and smiled. I noticed our coordinator was also with them but I forgot his name... Is it Dr. Solah?

"We're sixth year students. Final students."

"Final?" Dr. Hazem asked.

"Yes," I smiled. "You taught us ENT two years ago. Thank you doctor for teaching us a lot." They grinned happily and nodded back as I nodded gratefully at them.

"Thank you Dr. Hazem." I addressed him confidently. And what do you know, his grin got wider and humbler. So I did remember correctly. Thank God.

We left with a "ma3assalamah" and the table buzzed. I left the restaurant feeling very happy and thanked Maisarah and Sarah for accompanying me.

"Thank you for reminding me to go greet them. If I didn't, I think I'll be very regretful."

"I know," Maisarah said. "You were really excited when you first saw the doctor."

I guess I was, haha. Our doctors are the real heroes and celebrities for me, may Allah always bless them and ease them in their responsibilities.

This is Quinsy

In a case of peritonsillar abscess (quinsy), when the fever gets hectic, pain is throbbing, edema is pitting and aspiration brings out pus, incision and drainage is indicated. The patient is in agony and immediate relief comes when you incise the bulge that is causing him so much pain and drain out the collected pus.

Relief him off his pain first, then proceed with whatever you want to do next.

I think when a girl cries because of any problem, it is the equivalent of incision and drainage. It is immediate relief but the problem is still there. Solution still need to be found, work still need to be done and over with.

In the case of quinsy, the solution to the problem is antibiotics and antipyretics. And since we have this mantra "Once quinsy, always quinsy", the patient is rid of any future problems by surgically removing his tonsils a month afterward. Done and over with.

So if we apply the same principle to this.. predicament that leads me to writing this post and the sudden urge to jump off the Nile, I should cry, think of a solution and then get this whole thing done and over with.

A sound plan.

Only when you're emotionally retard, crying is really hard to do. The last time I cried I scared off my sanguinous roommate into silence haha. Thus I usually resort to something else. And that was after a blow from a respected person to my intelligence and life-priorities (and I was hormonal).

But all aside, the 'better' I feel after crying is slightly different than the 'better' I feel after any physical activity. Crying has its clinical value, I believe.

When you have something bigger to take care of, your own heartbreaks and psychological well-being can be put aside.

Updated:
Ops! I forgot I read and loved this one article before, silly me :P Don't Even Think About Giving Up Until

Shocked

Dr. Solah knocked on the door and since earlier this morning he gave us our shock exam, we were like teetering and gasping "Another shock exam?"

He came into the class, hugged and kissed Dr. Ali's cheeks and turned to us, smiling.

"I want to ask you a question. What is the management of shock-"

My mind was running, 'Complete bed rest with head low, diazepam, IV fluid or fresh blood transfusion, argh what's the fourth?'

"-exam?" he finished his statement.

The class laughed :))

"Resuscitation." Dr. Ali answered while sipping his Pepsi.

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Exam season leaves you edgy and jumpy. Haha.

Trust Without Depending

Dr. Ashraf demoed to us the procedures for a cortical and radical mastoidectomy using a computer simulator program. It was very neat. Three of our friends got to play ENT surgeons today and may that be a small spark towards a successful surgery career in the future.

The delicate thing with this surgery is that the mastoid cavity is so near the dura of the middle cranial fossa and the facial nerve. One wrong move and you might hit the brain or hit the 7th cranial nerve and the patient will have facial nerve paralysis.

Facial paralysis on the baby's right side thus the over-functioning on the left side.

"Of course, you should never attempt surgery if you don't know your anatomy," the doctor said as he proceeded to explain some of the preventive measures to protect the facial nerve during the surgery.

One of them, is having an experienced nurse to put her hand on the patient's cheek. The slightest twitch in the general-anesthesized patient's face is a sign of stimulation of the facial nerve, meaning the surgeon is too close to it for comfort. "Back off now," the nurse will warn and the surgeon will stop for awhile to review his anatomy.

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Surgery, or medicine in general, is a team play. The doctor is the leader and there is always a team with him for the management of any case. Be it just one other nurse or a resident, it is a team when it has more than one person in it. Even House when he fired off all his subordinates, he brainstormed with the janitor. That goes to show the significance of teamwork in medicine.

And that team spirit is what we should nurture from now on.

It is easier said than done. Terribly tough when you are a head-strong Choleric like me who generally give no heed for others but trying to change for the better, and you could die trying when you feel like that hard, ego-busting effort to teamwork with people is in vain...

"The only thing women want is to know that their faith in you is valid. That you value the relationship as much as they do."

Cynchick
Will of Fire

Anyways, I surmised after two incidents that it is not wrong to trust people but it is wrong to depend on them in any way. It hurts when you become dependent and outbursting "I thought I could trust you" and in the end, you can only blame yourself for expecting anything from them in the first place.

Teamwork is the thinking of an idealist. I still believe in a one-man army in the slightest tinge of reality.

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And as always, interesting people are the ones reminding me of someone or something. In Dr. Ashraf's case, he reminds me of Peter MacNicol :P

Pride

Dr. Ehab Abo Zeid when discussing a case of chronic secretory otitis media with us, told that most patients in Upper Egypt refuse to wear a hearing aid when their hearing gets worse.

"They will say, 'You can kill me, but I will not wear a hearing aid.' I don't know why."

I know why. It is a matter of pride. It's always a matter of pride when one refuses to do one thing. It is never up to us to judge whether the pride was misplaced or not since different people value things differently.

Because people can be a mule and will bark at will. 

Most People Are Missing Ophthalmology

After the dentist, I don't fancy ENT specialty. For two reasons.

1- The diseases of ENT are not self-visualizable nor self-examinable.

When I was studying Ophthalmology, I can wake up in the morning and stare at my own eyes in the mirror and assure myself I at least have a normal anterior segment of the eye and that those pathological pictures are not present in me.

But with ENT, I can examine my own tonsils but that's about it. How am I supposed to check my own ear drum??

2- I had bad history with the equipments, namely the flexible laryngoscope.

A hospital leaflet for patients actually described this thing as "black skinny spaghetti", urgh. Food analogies are the reason for anorexia.

It was during primary school (eight or nine years old, I think) and I had recurrent nose-bleed so one day dad took me to the hospital to get myself checked. The doctor sat in front of me and inserted a flexible laryngoscope into my nose.

It made through a bit and I believe I relayed my discomfort, but of course dad and the doctor assured me that it will be just fine.

But then I got really agitated and since I couldn't get him to stop by being vocal about it, I kicked the doctor. I wouldn't allow the doctor to come near me with a ten-foot pole so dad apologized to the doctor (he was dad's colleague), he wrote me an MC and dad took me home.

We did meet the doctor at the following Raya celebration, but I never went to see an ENT specialist ever in my life after that. The thoughts of them make me cringe.

Until a month ago, I accompanied a friend for an examination (otomycosis; treatment by removal of the fungal mass by ear wash and four days on anti-fungal ear drops) and there I was cringing on the chair as Dr. Mohammed gave her an ear wash. And then we have this ENT round of course, which is inevitable.

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Our doctors are awesome lecturers and alhamdulillah I have no problem understanding the lectures.

When it comes to our clinical sessions, my group is blessed with a lot of patients. We had eight patients already in the two days of clinical session (including a rare case of active advanced rhinoscleroma which Dr. Mahmoud said was his first in forty years) but the examination process of running an endoscope through the patient's ear/nose/mouth gave me equal chill as it gave the patient. I curse my empathy.

It took every ounce of willpower not to bolt out of the class.