There are instances when a doctor feels terribly helpless. Imagine the plight of a family who comes to know that a doctor can do little to combat the myriad of illnesses they are bestowed over. It occurs a lot of times when an occasional case of advanced multiple sclerosis or that of terminal stage of malignancy pops up in the usually serene OPD setting. Medical advancements have been great but nature’s modes are, and will never be, poorly fathomed. It happens most of the times that a family’s faith is shattered when they come to discover that one of their loved relatives is suffering with an illness that has little hope to be conquered. We, the medical practitioners, also find ourselves drenched in the pool of despair in such settings. Hope is the functional steel of the life, and when a person has no hopes left, how vulnerable would his mental state be? Is there a worse emotion in the world than that of an impending loss?
A loss is a very serious occurrence. It is akin to betrayal; the sense of bereavement is something that one would never want to imagine. The race against time serves no real sense to the sprinter; you end up feeling the egg on your face. Had there been an appliance that would have rendered emotional immunity on demand, a lot of worldly problems would have ceased to exist. Care must be permanent, unconditional and supreme when it is needed the most. Nature’s rules are multifarious enough to shake the faith of the ordinary human being; the road to enlightened knowledge has dark tunnels, labyrinthine in course. Would there be a day when we will be able to combat every malevolent illness? Would there be a moment when the world would witness a mass grief-free moment?
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Don't delay. You might just miss the bus.
In the torrid paced setting of the modern-age world, it sometimes begins a habit to procrastinate. We've all had moments in our lives where the urge to procrastinate is extremely tempting and at times indefatigable. Putting things off or choosing to adjourn rather than actually getting work done can lead to multifaceted problems in the long run. And why just in long run, your important work schedules can go for a serious toss in the short run as well. Procastrination is comparable to looming in the dark with the belief that light is your muse; it doesn’t happen like that all the times. You must try to work over the mental settings that regularly push you for postponing your works.
Break your work into reasonable parts: Perhaps you've wanted to reorganize your shelf, but it's such a huge project you procrastinate and are reluctant to begin.If this is the case, then break up that large task into to smaller increments so you can't really procrastinate. Not only will it seem easily doable, but you'll find the work getting done in a relatively short amount of time. Your brain’s reward centres would feel stimulated and the positive feedback phenomenon would keep you revved high to not to try procastrination in the future.
Lightening up your work helps a lot: Another helpful tip in combating procrastination includes exploring your psyche and changing your mindset. If you're a perfectionist, you know that the thought of even beginning a project is overwhelming because you're consumed with having it turn out "just right" which causes many to delay it incessantly without any logical reasons. Getting rid of or suppressing this urge for flawlessness will definitely help your project get under way and stop the annoying urge to procrastinate. Always remember, early you start, more are the chances of getting the work finished in time.
Schedule your space and time: If you can't seem to get started on anything, make a list to battle your habit to procrastinate. Rank all of your projects in order based on when they're due and how difficult they are. If you are more of a computer person, there are a plenty of desktop applications that provide the virtual reminders and to-do-lists that keep on glaring in the background of your desktop. It's hard to procrastinate with a list in front of you, guiding you through the day. Make sure to order the tasks in terms of their relevant priorities.
It’s important to reward yourself when you accomplish a task with precision and without delay. Planned relaxation time is great, as long as it stays within set boundaries and doesn't turn into time where you put off the scheduled assignments. So whatever your personal barriers are when it comes to tending to procrastinate, just keep structure in mind when planning your day, your month or your year. Keep small chunks of time as a buffer but don't leave super large slots of time that could cause you to procrastinate. Wings of time don’t wait for anything, and they flutter fast when you are busy doing nothing. So roll up your sleeves and stick to the schedules; your reward centres must get their daily supply of stimulation.
Break your work into reasonable parts: Perhaps you've wanted to reorganize your shelf, but it's such a huge project you procrastinate and are reluctant to begin.If this is the case, then break up that large task into to smaller increments so you can't really procrastinate. Not only will it seem easily doable, but you'll find the work getting done in a relatively short amount of time. Your brain’s reward centres would feel stimulated and the positive feedback phenomenon would keep you revved high to not to try procastrination in the future.
Lightening up your work helps a lot: Another helpful tip in combating procrastination includes exploring your psyche and changing your mindset. If you're a perfectionist, you know that the thought of even beginning a project is overwhelming because you're consumed with having it turn out "just right" which causes many to delay it incessantly without any logical reasons. Getting rid of or suppressing this urge for flawlessness will definitely help your project get under way and stop the annoying urge to procrastinate. Always remember, early you start, more are the chances of getting the work finished in time.
Schedule your space and time: If you can't seem to get started on anything, make a list to battle your habit to procrastinate. Rank all of your projects in order based on when they're due and how difficult they are. If you are more of a computer person, there are a plenty of desktop applications that provide the virtual reminders and to-do-lists that keep on glaring in the background of your desktop. It's hard to procrastinate with a list in front of you, guiding you through the day. Make sure to order the tasks in terms of their relevant priorities.
It’s important to reward yourself when you accomplish a task with precision and without delay. Planned relaxation time is great, as long as it stays within set boundaries and doesn't turn into time where you put off the scheduled assignments. So whatever your personal barriers are when it comes to tending to procrastinate, just keep structure in mind when planning your day, your month or your year. Keep small chunks of time as a buffer but don't leave super large slots of time that could cause you to procrastinate. Wings of time don’t wait for anything, and they flutter fast when you are busy doing nothing. So roll up your sleeves and stick to the schedules; your reward centres must get their daily supply of stimulation.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
The Eerie Emptiness
Emptiness fills the vessel of vacuum. What is nothing to ordinary eyes remains occult to knowing mind. Void has an identity; it is probably composed of lowest energy particles in dynamic equilibrium thus making it ‘nothing’ according to the principles of matter and kinetic energy. But why does emptiness has its space and existence? I believe anything which is potent enough to have its space, can’t be nothing. There has to be a potential energy in it; with some motive.
The vacuum of space is probably near to transcendental state of mind; which is very rich in its potency and seemingly dead to the oblivious eyes. Does the emptiness repel its possession by measurable particles of mass and energy? And if it does so, it must be applying some energy to maintain its existence. Is emptiness pure or is it attained after an array of assortment? Who understands the purpose of emptiness? Is emptiness pre-occupied or open to new colonizers? Empty state of mind has never caused any entropy so can we safely render it divine or supernatural?
The vacuum of space is probably near to transcendental state of mind; which is very rich in its potency and seemingly dead to the oblivious eyes. Does the emptiness repel its possession by measurable particles of mass and energy? And if it does so, it must be applying some energy to maintain its existence. Is emptiness pure or is it attained after an array of assortment? Who understands the purpose of emptiness? Is emptiness pre-occupied or open to new colonizers? Empty state of mind has never caused any entropy so can we safely render it divine or supernatural?
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Hey Stethoscope, Do You Have A Soul?
I seldom wonder, what all whirls in the mind of a patient who happens to be at the wrong side of consultation desk with a doctor. The heightened hope, the abundant anxiety and the heaps of anticipation; all make a confused assortment in the shallow sulci of patient’s brain. The doctor is observed and studied with electric eyes, whether he is paying enough attention to the array of symptoms; or seems pre-occupied? If psychomancy would have been as easy as humming a nursery rhyme, the patient would have deciphered every smidgen of scientific knowledge dwelling deep in the cerebral cortex of the clinician. The patient normally comes with pre-occupied set of answers, only if the clinician is clever enough to pop the right question at the right time.
The white-coat syndrome threatens to attain monstrous manifestations to the ill prepared patient. The sight of sphygmomanometer and stethoscope, the smell of fumes of formalin, the sound of tongue-twisting medical syllables; all make the patient feel like tittle drop of water in the gory fire of tropical forest. The occasional question put forward by the all-knowing clinician that trespasses the mental boundaries of the ordinary person, makes the patient dilapidated. The Greenwich longitude starts settling with flashy pace. The patient finally adjusts his focal length to dire measures and attempts to observe the illegible handwriting of the doctor; the hopes get dashed again.
Now comes the counseling time. The good doctor will give ample of time to the patient and his most scintilla of concerns with big ears. The rapport establishment exercise does half the work for ideal acquiescence with the treatment. I feel that patient should be given every opportunity to express himself as many tangled cases get solved with the focus on seemingly inconsequential points in symptomatic narration by the patient. We are here to treat illnesses; we should make our personalities more approachable, more interactive and gentler.
The white-coat syndrome threatens to attain monstrous manifestations to the ill prepared patient. The sight of sphygmomanometer and stethoscope, the smell of fumes of formalin, the sound of tongue-twisting medical syllables; all make the patient feel like tittle drop of water in the gory fire of tropical forest. The occasional question put forward by the all-knowing clinician that trespasses the mental boundaries of the ordinary person, makes the patient dilapidated. The Greenwich longitude starts settling with flashy pace. The patient finally adjusts his focal length to dire measures and attempts to observe the illegible handwriting of the doctor; the hopes get dashed again.
Now comes the counseling time. The good doctor will give ample of time to the patient and his most scintilla of concerns with big ears. The rapport establishment exercise does half the work for ideal acquiescence with the treatment. I feel that patient should be given every opportunity to express himself as many tangled cases get solved with the focus on seemingly inconsequential points in symptomatic narration by the patient. We are here to treat illnesses; we should make our personalities more approachable, more interactive and gentler.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Frozen Frowns
They say that body mass decreases when a person dies due to flight of soul from the body. They say some theories have crawled to the point where this has been proved in the labs. What I want to ask, whether emotions (e.g. love, faith, anger etc) also have measurable weight? The abstractionism is mysterious, as it is not visible. The abstractionism has powers (you would agree, how else we can explain the evolution biggest of history changing events from a fit of faith, love, anger or other thoughts). My point is why the powerful has chosen to remain invisible?
Forgotten faith leads to forbidden fear. Fear is the recipe for disaster. In every disaster lies a potential escape. To hunt for the escape is meant for the intelligent intuition. Intuition is the offspring of belief, intelligent intuition eventually born by intelligent belief. What is an intelligent belief?
A needle is a needle when viewed from a certain angle. It can cause you optical illusion of a small dot, if seen from another angle. The perceived length of the needle depends on angle of viewing; for some viewers, it is shorter, for some, it is longer. Which angle are you viewing your life with? No matter how much potency and efficacy has been bestowed over your life, if your viewing angle is wrong, you will perceive it as a blemished dot that hardly exists.
They say before any unaccustomed happening that is going to affect us, our body’s senses react in aberrant way. And we don’t become aware of the same, until it happens. How strange? How do our body’s deepest senses know of the impending future? Are things pre-planned? What is the role of brain in our bodies then? Don’t you think that most of the sights are illusionary and most of the thoughts are misleading? What blindfolds us?
Forgotten faith leads to forbidden fear. Fear is the recipe for disaster. In every disaster lies a potential escape. To hunt for the escape is meant for the intelligent intuition. Intuition is the offspring of belief, intelligent intuition eventually born by intelligent belief. What is an intelligent belief?
A needle is a needle when viewed from a certain angle. It can cause you optical illusion of a small dot, if seen from another angle. The perceived length of the needle depends on angle of viewing; for some viewers, it is shorter, for some, it is longer. Which angle are you viewing your life with? No matter how much potency and efficacy has been bestowed over your life, if your viewing angle is wrong, you will perceive it as a blemished dot that hardly exists.
They say before any unaccustomed happening that is going to affect us, our body’s senses react in aberrant way. And we don’t become aware of the same, until it happens. How strange? How do our body’s deepest senses know of the impending future? Are things pre-planned? What is the role of brain in our bodies then? Don’t you think that most of the sights are illusionary and most of the thoughts are misleading? What blindfolds us?
Death Is Dark (And Secrets Are Kept In Dark)
Death is the shell, death is the seed. Without death, birth is impossible. Bodies die and decompose; soul is ever youthful with indescribable wisdom, it changes bodies in accordance with the most mysterious laws of nature. A body is the virtual reality that is seen; a soul is the factual reality that is unseen. The laws of nature are locked with the bushel of convolution; and the key to open the locks of secrets has been rendered out-of-bounds for the ordinary minds. Death is metamorphosis; the transmutation of sable smoke into lustrous light.
My initial reaction was that of stupefying shock when I heard that Spiritual leader Sri Sathya Sai Baba passed away at the Sathya Sai super speciality hospital at Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh's Anantapur district today (24-04-2011). Though I was watching closely about his health affairs, the tiny flickers of hope refused to die down. But it happened. I felt all 5 phases of grief (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance) in quick flashes (Denial, Depression and Acceptance predominantly). Why can’t our souls be allocated one body for the soul’s lifetime? Why do bodies have to wither and decay? Why don’t souls identify each other, as bodies do?
The life is a mirage; and death is the end of it. I believe death is the closest clue that nature has given us to decipher the inevitability of life. I am not sure whether the holy grail of life can be cracked by us, lesser mortals. The constancy of a thing reminds of its importance; and death is the only constant that we know. So if I assert that death is the most important thing in nature, would I be rendered wrong? And you would agree that the important thing is important because it has vital essence; it has some uncommon thing which is of extreme importance. So if the death is a prized phenomenon and not a conjectural occurrence, why don’t we take it as the biggest clue of nature’s super secret laws and study it? Death is dark and most of the secrets are kept in dark, which is human tendency. Does God also think like humans?
My initial reaction was that of stupefying shock when I heard that Spiritual leader Sri Sathya Sai Baba passed away at the Sathya Sai super speciality hospital at Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh's Anantapur district today (24-04-2011). Though I was watching closely about his health affairs, the tiny flickers of hope refused to die down. But it happened. I felt all 5 phases of grief (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance) in quick flashes (Denial, Depression and Acceptance predominantly). Why can’t our souls be allocated one body for the soul’s lifetime? Why do bodies have to wither and decay? Why don’t souls identify each other, as bodies do?
The life is a mirage; and death is the end of it. I believe death is the closest clue that nature has given us to decipher the inevitability of life. I am not sure whether the holy grail of life can be cracked by us, lesser mortals. The constancy of a thing reminds of its importance; and death is the only constant that we know. So if I assert that death is the most important thing in nature, would I be rendered wrong? And you would agree that the important thing is important because it has vital essence; it has some uncommon thing which is of extreme importance. So if the death is a prized phenomenon and not a conjectural occurrence, why don’t we take it as the biggest clue of nature’s super secret laws and study it? Death is dark and most of the secrets are kept in dark, which is human tendency. Does God also think like humans?
Friday, April 22, 2011
Benumbed Blitzkreig
All of a sudden, your eyelids get a life. They get away from the mutually cuddled position and resume the usual role of visual sensory watch guards. As vision enters your retina, the neuronal circuits get a life and occipital cortex takes a sigh. It’s the onset of another morning; the bodily clocks never fail to astonish you with their cold-hearted accuracy. Who invented the clock? Who invented the necessity of slogging for money? Who invented that night is meant for dizzy galore? You appreciate the heightened lassitude of your body with snail-paced-velocity of crisscross thoughts. The order started appearing in your thought processes with noteworthy inclination. You sit, you yawn, you stretch your stiff musculature, and you step down the bed.
You think for the day’s schedules, the apprehension disseminates in the billion cells of your body. The iron-fisted day has blazoned its arrival. You hurriedly finish up with the daily rituals and get armored to fight for your existence yet again. Where is the time for self appreciation? Where is the time for discovering unknown horizons? Why do we allow ourselves to get occupied in the whirlpool of humdrum? You glare yourself in the mirror, tuck your hair, watch those fine wrinkles in your forehead, those crowfeet besides your eyes and you turn away. Did you really see yourself in the mirror? Can you identify yourself? When was the last time that you were turned to see yourself in the interior mirror; that is your soul?
You ate a little with you thoughts ricocheting like the bubbles of boiling water. You are almost ready to move out of your house. Haven’t you already moved out of your house? Were you there in your house? Where is your house? Who are you? Why do you exist?
You think for the day’s schedules, the apprehension disseminates in the billion cells of your body. The iron-fisted day has blazoned its arrival. You hurriedly finish up with the daily rituals and get armored to fight for your existence yet again. Where is the time for self appreciation? Where is the time for discovering unknown horizons? Why do we allow ourselves to get occupied in the whirlpool of humdrum? You glare yourself in the mirror, tuck your hair, watch those fine wrinkles in your forehead, those crowfeet besides your eyes and you turn away. Did you really see yourself in the mirror? Can you identify yourself? When was the last time that you were turned to see yourself in the interior mirror; that is your soul?
You ate a little with you thoughts ricocheting like the bubbles of boiling water. You are almost ready to move out of your house. Haven’t you already moved out of your house? Were you there in your house? Where is your house? Who are you? Why do you exist?
Where Is My Bed?
You just exhausted your last kilo calorie meant to be burnt for tedious professional commitments of the day. You relished the succulence of your otherwise ordinary supper, the food smelled like alter-ego of divine vapors. The presumptuousness failed to die down as you feverishly gagged the buttons of the slain remote control. Effrontery caught the craze with a gall and soon you were submerged in some old classic film or the vehement debate over some breaking news. The law of relativity smells you as a potential victim and you swim in the sky of thoughts, mesmerized and frozen.
Your eyelids soon started turning soporific, nothing can help it. The signals have turned green and hypnosis would prevail with indefatigable might. You turn your posture in that comfortable cushion once more and have a glance at the old wall clock. It’s already midnight. The nature is workaholic and its machinery has no match. One more day passed with eyes open, one more night will pass with eyes closed. What are we here for?
Your eyelids soon started turning soporific, nothing can help it. The signals have turned green and hypnosis would prevail with indefatigable might. You turn your posture in that comfortable cushion once more and have a glance at the old wall clock. It’s already midnight. The nature is workaholic and its machinery has no match. One more day passed with eyes open, one more night will pass with eyes closed. What are we here for?
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
A Designer Brain For The World
1. Start a new hobby every 3 months.
2. Join a fitness club.
3. Adopt a child.
4. Devote some time for prayers daily.
5. Don’t forget to wish birthdays and anniversaries.
6. Learn to cook.
7. Read a book.
8. Smile more often.
9. Complement your colleagues.
10. Watch sunrise.
11. Drive with ease and patience.
12. Donate in charity.
13. Take out some time for self-organization.
14. Get your finances structured.
15. Learn to play a musical instrument.
16. Take care of your parents.
17. Write a blog. Regularly.
18. Post your facebook status often.
19. Avoid stimulants.
20. Dream big and start with a detailed plan.
21. Don’t mix personal and professional life.
22. Think of the ways to contribute towards society.
23. Don’t keep grudges.
24. Give your spouse pleasant surprises.
25. Pay taxes on time.
26. Don’t join too much social networking sites. Join the selected ones and remain active on them.
27. Don’t keep too many expectations from anything.
28. Purchase Greeting Card and Post it.
29. Write letters to your friends and family.
30. Carry a photograph of your family when traveling.
31. Let your calmness dominate over outbursts of anger.
32. Read biographies.
33. Watch cartoons.
34. Savor fruits.
35. Love animals.
2. Join a fitness club.
3. Adopt a child.
4. Devote some time for prayers daily.
5. Don’t forget to wish birthdays and anniversaries.
6. Learn to cook.
7. Read a book.
8. Smile more often.
9. Complement your colleagues.
10. Watch sunrise.
11. Drive with ease and patience.
12. Donate in charity.
13. Take out some time for self-organization.
14. Get your finances structured.
15. Learn to play a musical instrument.
16. Take care of your parents.
17. Write a blog. Regularly.
18. Post your facebook status often.
19. Avoid stimulants.
20. Dream big and start with a detailed plan.
21. Don’t mix personal and professional life.
22. Think of the ways to contribute towards society.
23. Don’t keep grudges.
24. Give your spouse pleasant surprises.
25. Pay taxes on time.
26. Don’t join too much social networking sites. Join the selected ones and remain active on them.
27. Don’t keep too many expectations from anything.
28. Purchase Greeting Card and Post it.
29. Write letters to your friends and family.
30. Carry a photograph of your family when traveling.
31. Let your calmness dominate over outbursts of anger.
32. Read biographies.
33. Watch cartoons.
34. Savor fruits.
35. Love animals.
Dilemmas Of A Resident Doctor
1. You are facing your first job interview. You are asked whether you have intubated a patient solely. You mutter and fumble and succeed in arousing a lot of doubts in the interviewer’s mind.
2. It’s your 4th day of posting in Accident & Emergency Department. You are virtually surrounded by a flurry of patients with near similar presenting complaints with near equal anxiety. You gallantly finished the test by scribbling at every patient’s prescription slip, only to realize that for 2 patients you prescribed Inj Perinorm instead of Inj Stemetil. Now what? You gushing like maniacs to find the piece of literature (available with every medicine) with fine prints to evaluate to possibility of potential side-effects. Life in the fast lane with blinding beams.
3. You did not bother to examine the patient completely and the senior consultant appears from nowhere. You are asked about abdominal findings and you get only 2 abbreviations in your mind; NAD (No abnormality detected) & WNL (Within normal limits). You follow your mind; only to be taught the basics of abdominal palpation with an annoyance. After all, it was no body’s fault that patient’s spleen was massively enlarged with beautifully palpable anterior margin.
4. You are in the middle of the night with virtually no patients to attend on emergency basis. You feel nauseating with the combined effects of nicotine with drawl, hunger pangs and drowsy eyes.
5. You are explaining the consent for surgery and anesthesia to a patient; and this guy is serious. The moment you tell him the rare possibility of dreaded complications (including but not limited to death), he appears shocked and betrayed. And in a knee-jerk reaction, he orders you to arrange a meeting with the senior doctor, so that he can re-decide whether he wants to be anesthetized and operated upon or not. Now who will call the senior consultant; and what sort of explanation can save the resident doctor’s already compromised authority?
6. You feel thrilled to have a sight of a beautiful intern in the ward. You steal glances while organizing your hair with an electric vigor, only to gather in coming minutes that she is blissfully married and preparing for USMLE to settle with her in-laws in Philadelphia. Life is a crap!
7. You are assisting in OPD of your Unit Head. You are told to write ATT (Anti-tubercular Medications) to a patient, you gladly wrote AKT-4 Kit, to be taken once a day. But your Unit Head seems unhappy, he asks to write individual drugs with their dosages and your pen virtually slips with the flood of sweat between your index finger and ring finger. What if he asks about individual complications of each anti tubercular medication? What is the full form of DOTS?
8. Its post midnight. You are in duty room. You get a call regarding refractory febrile spike of a child. You collect yourself to attend him. You get another call about the routine blood sugar (RBS) value of 24 of another patient; you shout on the phone for 25%D infusion. Another call for a patient (Post Operative Day 1 of Hemicolectomy) complaining of severe abdominal pain and increasing distension. Another call from Emergency ward to attend a family (which just arrived in dehydrated and lethargic condition in the hospital) suspected to be having food poisoning. Another call for repeated failed attempts of peripheral canulation of a 5 day old infant. Oh God!!! Why ME?
9. You were set to cool your heels this Saturday evening with your girlfriend in the swanky interior of PVR Saket. In the late morning of Saturday, you are told by ever arrogant Roster Incharge that your shift has been revised and you are supposed to do a 24 hours duty starting this evening. What lies in a Sabbath?
10. You observe with great wisdom that your Unit Head is not able to make a diagnosis; you scratch your brain and the missing piece pops up with a flash. You tell your opinion with puffed torso and somber voice, only to finds its utter triviality in milliseconds. Is there any software for erasing recently acquired memory? If it is there, I would like to apply it to my Unit Head to save my already negotiated self-pride.
2. It’s your 4th day of posting in Accident & Emergency Department. You are virtually surrounded by a flurry of patients with near similar presenting complaints with near equal anxiety. You gallantly finished the test by scribbling at every patient’s prescription slip, only to realize that for 2 patients you prescribed Inj Perinorm instead of Inj Stemetil. Now what? You gushing like maniacs to find the piece of literature (available with every medicine) with fine prints to evaluate to possibility of potential side-effects. Life in the fast lane with blinding beams.
3. You did not bother to examine the patient completely and the senior consultant appears from nowhere. You are asked about abdominal findings and you get only 2 abbreviations in your mind; NAD (No abnormality detected) & WNL (Within normal limits). You follow your mind; only to be taught the basics of abdominal palpation with an annoyance. After all, it was no body’s fault that patient’s spleen was massively enlarged with beautifully palpable anterior margin.
4. You are in the middle of the night with virtually no patients to attend on emergency basis. You feel nauseating with the combined effects of nicotine with drawl, hunger pangs and drowsy eyes.
5. You are explaining the consent for surgery and anesthesia to a patient; and this guy is serious. The moment you tell him the rare possibility of dreaded complications (including but not limited to death), he appears shocked and betrayed. And in a knee-jerk reaction, he orders you to arrange a meeting with the senior doctor, so that he can re-decide whether he wants to be anesthetized and operated upon or not. Now who will call the senior consultant; and what sort of explanation can save the resident doctor’s already compromised authority?
6. You feel thrilled to have a sight of a beautiful intern in the ward. You steal glances while organizing your hair with an electric vigor, only to gather in coming minutes that she is blissfully married and preparing for USMLE to settle with her in-laws in Philadelphia. Life is a crap!
7. You are assisting in OPD of your Unit Head. You are told to write ATT (Anti-tubercular Medications) to a patient, you gladly wrote AKT-4 Kit, to be taken once a day. But your Unit Head seems unhappy, he asks to write individual drugs with their dosages and your pen virtually slips with the flood of sweat between your index finger and ring finger. What if he asks about individual complications of each anti tubercular medication? What is the full form of DOTS?
8. Its post midnight. You are in duty room. You get a call regarding refractory febrile spike of a child. You collect yourself to attend him. You get another call about the routine blood sugar (RBS) value of 24 of another patient; you shout on the phone for 25%D infusion. Another call for a patient (Post Operative Day 1 of Hemicolectomy) complaining of severe abdominal pain and increasing distension. Another call from Emergency ward to attend a family (which just arrived in dehydrated and lethargic condition in the hospital) suspected to be having food poisoning. Another call for repeated failed attempts of peripheral canulation of a 5 day old infant. Oh God!!! Why ME?
9. You were set to cool your heels this Saturday evening with your girlfriend in the swanky interior of PVR Saket. In the late morning of Saturday, you are told by ever arrogant Roster Incharge that your shift has been revised and you are supposed to do a 24 hours duty starting this evening. What lies in a Sabbath?
10. You observe with great wisdom that your Unit Head is not able to make a diagnosis; you scratch your brain and the missing piece pops up with a flash. You tell your opinion with puffed torso and somber voice, only to finds its utter triviality in milliseconds. Is there any software for erasing recently acquired memory? If it is there, I would like to apply it to my Unit Head to save my already negotiated self-pride.
My Favourite 10 Films With Medical Theme
1. Angels in America (2003), a fantastic HBO production that explores AIDS in the early 1980s. The Barbarian Invasions (2003), a French-Canadian comedy-drama that looks at the end-of-life decisions of a patient with terminal cancer.
2. Dirty Pretty Things (2002), a peep into the lives of immigrants in London, one of whom is a physician from Nigeria.
3. The Painted Veil (2006), Set in China in 1925, the movie tells the story of the marriage of a young London socialite and a bacteriologist living in Shanghai.
4. Ikiru (1952), a Japanese masterpiece that explores how a bureaucrat finds meaning in life after being diagnosed with a terminal illness.
5. Miss Evers’ Boys (1997), a screenplay that explores how racism and research intersected in the United States from the 1930s to the early ’70s.
6. Motorcycle Diaries (2004), a beautiful portrayal of the real and metaphorical journeys that medical students often blindly follow.
7. The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936), a melodramatic black-and-white biopic that reminds us how far we’ve come in terms of understanding and controlling infectious diseases.
8. Traffic (2000), a powerful story of how the illegal drug trade affects three individuals.
9. Yesterday (2004), a South African film that puts a face on the global AIDS pandemic.
10. The Doctor (1991), Based on the book A Taste of My Own Medicine. William Hurt plays an arrogant surgeon who is diagnosed with throat cancer. As he begins to see medicine, hospitals, and doctors from the patient’s perspective, he learns that there is more to being a doctor than doing procedures and writing prescriptions.
2. Dirty Pretty Things (2002), a peep into the lives of immigrants in London, one of whom is a physician from Nigeria.
3. The Painted Veil (2006), Set in China in 1925, the movie tells the story of the marriage of a young London socialite and a bacteriologist living in Shanghai.
4. Ikiru (1952), a Japanese masterpiece that explores how a bureaucrat finds meaning in life after being diagnosed with a terminal illness.
5. Miss Evers’ Boys (1997), a screenplay that explores how racism and research intersected in the United States from the 1930s to the early ’70s.
6. Motorcycle Diaries (2004), a beautiful portrayal of the real and metaphorical journeys that medical students often blindly follow.
7. The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936), a melodramatic black-and-white biopic that reminds us how far we’ve come in terms of understanding and controlling infectious diseases.
8. Traffic (2000), a powerful story of how the illegal drug trade affects three individuals.
9. Yesterday (2004), a South African film that puts a face on the global AIDS pandemic.
10. The Doctor (1991), Based on the book A Taste of My Own Medicine. William Hurt plays an arrogant surgeon who is diagnosed with throat cancer. As he begins to see medicine, hospitals, and doctors from the patient’s perspective, he learns that there is more to being a doctor than doing procedures and writing prescriptions.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Know More About Darwin, Einstein & Edison
EDISON
Edison built his first lab at the age of 10
Edison was deaf and he liked it that way!
Edison has a mysterious tattoo on his arm
Edison proposed marriage … by Morse Code!
Edison saved a boy from a runaway train
DARWIN
Darwin once ate an owl
Darwin wanted to be a doctor, but he couldn't stand the sight of blood
Darwin received best birthday gift ever: a mountain!
Darwin was a backgammon fiend
Darwin married his first cousin
EINSTEIN
Einstein was inspired by a compass
Einstein failed his university entrance exam
Einstein’s first official job was that of a swiss patent officer in bern
Einstein, the war pacifist, urged FDR to build the atom bomb.
Einstein’s brain was pickled in a jar for 43 years and driven cross country in a trunk of a buick!
Edison built his first lab at the age of 10
Edison was deaf and he liked it that way!
Edison has a mysterious tattoo on his arm
Edison proposed marriage … by Morse Code!
Edison saved a boy from a runaway train
DARWIN
Darwin once ate an owl
Darwin wanted to be a doctor, but he couldn't stand the sight of blood
Darwin received best birthday gift ever: a mountain!
Darwin was a backgammon fiend
Darwin married his first cousin
EINSTEIN
Einstein was inspired by a compass
Einstein failed his university entrance exam
Einstein’s first official job was that of a swiss patent officer in bern
Einstein, the war pacifist, urged FDR to build the atom bomb.
Einstein’s brain was pickled in a jar for 43 years and driven cross country in a trunk of a buick!
Top 10 Problems That Nurses Face
1. The venepuncture site (canula insertion point) gets blocked again.
2. The patient asks too many questions about finer nuances of the disease (The nurse invariably thinks about the silent glance and understanding gesture that the patient portrayed when senior doctor was taking rounds…. That was fine, but what happened to him now? Is he testing the authenticity of my medical degree? That’s fine. But please stick to the syllabus).
3. The patient seems to have a fascination with pressing the nurses call button (What lies in a reason?).
4. The little kid in the ward defies the boundaries of producible sound while crying inconsolably; and does not succumb to the usual baits.
5. A doctor is taking ward rounds and another doctor demands the attention of the same nurse for a different patient.
6. You have 5 trauma patients for whom you have to check vital parameters every 30 minutes. And it’s the busiest night shift already.
7. The anxious patient suffering with Hepatic Encephalopathy with Sub Acute Intestinal Obstruction is adamant at taking the Ryle’s tube out. He has done it 3 times in past 6 hours and you are mumbling divine hymns.
8. Before you take the over from the preceding duty nurse, you are called by a anxious looking resident doctor (its his first day of joining) in the expectation of getting a thorough orientation of the ward, the hospital and the life. Predicament can’t get louder.
9. Though you have finished with the Herculean forms and draconian quality assurance paper-works, you get thumbs down for that not-so-neat handwriting by never-pleasing horde of quality assurance guys.
10. The patient complaining to doctor that ward nurses seldom listen to him (though you religiously put every inch of an effort to help the guy in disguise).
2. The patient asks too many questions about finer nuances of the disease (The nurse invariably thinks about the silent glance and understanding gesture that the patient portrayed when senior doctor was taking rounds…. That was fine, but what happened to him now? Is he testing the authenticity of my medical degree? That’s fine. But please stick to the syllabus).
3. The patient seems to have a fascination with pressing the nurses call button (What lies in a reason?).
4. The little kid in the ward defies the boundaries of producible sound while crying inconsolably; and does not succumb to the usual baits.
5. A doctor is taking ward rounds and another doctor demands the attention of the same nurse for a different patient.
6. You have 5 trauma patients for whom you have to check vital parameters every 30 minutes. And it’s the busiest night shift already.
7. The anxious patient suffering with Hepatic Encephalopathy with Sub Acute Intestinal Obstruction is adamant at taking the Ryle’s tube out. He has done it 3 times in past 6 hours and you are mumbling divine hymns.
8. Before you take the over from the preceding duty nurse, you are called by a anxious looking resident doctor (its his first day of joining) in the expectation of getting a thorough orientation of the ward, the hospital and the life. Predicament can’t get louder.
9. Though you have finished with the Herculean forms and draconian quality assurance paper-works, you get thumbs down for that not-so-neat handwriting by never-pleasing horde of quality assurance guys.
10. The patient complaining to doctor that ward nurses seldom listen to him (though you religiously put every inch of an effort to help the guy in disguise).
Top 10 Patient Queries
A lot of queries are raised by patients during their treatment process to their health care professionals. I am enlisting some common queries that I come across from my patients who are planned for surgical intervention.
1. Is it a major one or a minor one?
2. What is the cost of the procedure?
3. How much time will it take for the procedure to be done?
4. When would I be discharged?
5. Will I develop weakness after this operation?
6. Would you be video recording the procedure?
7. When can I start eating?
8. For how much time will I have to take rest after procedure?
9. Can this problem recur?
10. Do you offer discounts?
(Note: These queries are not necessarily in the same order of appearance)
1. Is it a major one or a minor one?
2. What is the cost of the procedure?
3. How much time will it take for the procedure to be done?
4. When would I be discharged?
5. Will I develop weakness after this operation?
6. Would you be video recording the procedure?
7. When can I start eating?
8. For how much time will I have to take rest after procedure?
9. Can this problem recur?
10. Do you offer discounts?
(Note: These queries are not necessarily in the same order of appearance)
The Convulsing Confusions
How many thoughts can wander in a human mind in a minute?
How are thoughts related to intuitions?
How are intuitions related to outcomes?
If a pleasure causes mental fatigue, is it worth it?
Which angle are you viewing your life with?
How do you allow trespassing of your mind? Is it controllable?
How does mind harbors miseries and pleasantries in isolated existence?
If the soul has a life, what constitutes it?
Why do we seek divine intervention when we are unhappy?
What is the basis of programmed release of undecipherable happenings in our lives?
Do Dreaming and Day Dreaming have a common basis? What controls the same?
What are divine sensations? How can those be achieved?
Does a thought carry measurable weight?
Light is the basis of life, energy is the basis of light, what is the basis of energy?
What is more logical, life or after-life?
How are thoughts related to intuitions?
How are intuitions related to outcomes?
If a pleasure causes mental fatigue, is it worth it?
Which angle are you viewing your life with?
How do you allow trespassing of your mind? Is it controllable?
How does mind harbors miseries and pleasantries in isolated existence?
If the soul has a life, what constitutes it?
Why do we seek divine intervention when we are unhappy?
What is the basis of programmed release of undecipherable happenings in our lives?
Do Dreaming and Day Dreaming have a common basis? What controls the same?
What are divine sensations? How can those be achieved?
Does a thought carry measurable weight?
Light is the basis of life, energy is the basis of light, what is the basis of energy?
What is more logical, life or after-life?
Thursday, March 31, 2011
The Glow Of Red Bulb
I seldom think about the cerebral calisthenics happening outside the operation theatre. The relatives of patients waiting mutely with anxious gazes; seems so contemptible. There can be no pertinent portrayal of what happens in the numb minds in those crucial hours. The leviathan wait just seems a tunnel with no light. Feelings of belonging, affection, care, hope all form a broth; so close to the nectar of life. Divine, pure and subliminal. Everyone prays differently; some chant feverishly, some succumb to silent soliloquy, some let their faith pace ahead of time to conquer the peaceful news for them, some leave it all to their karma and almighty. The prodigal emotions are invoked ardently with no premeditated effort.
People experience some of the biggest soul-stirring moments outside operation theatre, waiting for their loved ones to come out safely and cured. Most of the times the wait just seems cruel, heartless and never-ending; anxious calls are made to staff nurses and doctors to get a pie of the real news. The Operation Theatre has an unyielding heart of rock; it sees the most piteous sentiments; it transforms the bodies (and the souls). Relativity of time can be experienced best while warming the waiting seat with a constant effort to ward away the negative thoughts that loom vehemently. The anticipation seems agonizingly aberrant. Unpleasant incidents often have a heart of gold and they tend to transform the ordinary metal; the ordinary people.
People experience some of the biggest soul-stirring moments outside operation theatre, waiting for their loved ones to come out safely and cured. Most of the times the wait just seems cruel, heartless and never-ending; anxious calls are made to staff nurses and doctors to get a pie of the real news. The Operation Theatre has an unyielding heart of rock; it sees the most piteous sentiments; it transforms the bodies (and the souls). Relativity of time can be experienced best while warming the waiting seat with a constant effort to ward away the negative thoughts that loom vehemently. The anticipation seems agonizingly aberrant. Unpleasant incidents often have a heart of gold and they tend to transform the ordinary metal; the ordinary people.
My SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
My faith in Almighty
My Medical Education
My Professional Experience
My Family
My Friends & Colleagues
I can write well
I don’t forget people & their patterns
People love me (especially my patients)
Internet savvy
Don’t keep up with Joneses mentality
Love to appreciate hidden humor in ordinary things
Weaknesses:
Not able to take out adequate time for family & friends, due to surmounting professional engagements. Not able to spend enough time in recreational activities that I love (listening to old ballads, reading literature)
Thinking from the heart (and not from the brain) most of the times
Opportunities:
To learn new advancements in surgical sciences & patient care
To evolve more as a person and to be able to identify with my inner self
To learn from others in similar roles to mine
To pay back to the society in my embroidered capacities
To evolve as a Multi-tasking individual (Doctor, Blogger, Musician, Gourmet Connoisseur and what not)
To help poor and needy people in my capacity as the director of a Multi Super Specialty Hospital
Threats:
Time pressure, which can wreck my plan for self-enlightenment because it catapults me back to my “usual” daily routine
My faith in Almighty
My Medical Education
My Professional Experience
My Family
My Friends & Colleagues
I can write well
I don’t forget people & their patterns
People love me (especially my patients)
Internet savvy
Don’t keep up with Joneses mentality
Love to appreciate hidden humor in ordinary things
Weaknesses:
Not able to take out adequate time for family & friends, due to surmounting professional engagements. Not able to spend enough time in recreational activities that I love (listening to old ballads, reading literature)
Thinking from the heart (and not from the brain) most of the times
Opportunities:
To learn new advancements in surgical sciences & patient care
To evolve more as a person and to be able to identify with my inner self
To learn from others in similar roles to mine
To pay back to the society in my embroidered capacities
To evolve as a Multi-tasking individual (Doctor, Blogger, Musician, Gourmet Connoisseur and what not)
To help poor and needy people in my capacity as the director of a Multi Super Specialty Hospital
Threats:
Time pressure, which can wreck my plan for self-enlightenment because it catapults me back to my “usual” daily routine
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Have you found your joystick?
I remember it was a cold morning in Hong Kong. The year was 1992 and I had just entered the big hall in Prince of Wales College, meant for the practical training session of basic laparoscopic surgery. As my instructor finished with the illustrations, I held the laparoscope with keen eyes and fearful fingers. It was a bit uneasy to absorb the concept of minimal invasive surgery being really hit the jackpot with its potential applications. The experience was very strong. As I was guided by my instructor, I started making use of laparoscope with my gaze fixed on the monitor. Seemed unreal, but it was happening. It took me some time to not to stare at my hands but to focus on the screen. Those 10 days taught me the most magical aspect of surgery, performing big procedures with small incisions. I think, it took me my share of time to become relatively adept at. But I enjoyed the process and my learning curve.
Days passed by and I started doing laparoscopic (minimal invasive) surgery at my hospital (Khetarpal Hospital started functioning from year 1992 itself) with overflowing vigil. I learnt with every procedure; to be honest it used to take a lot of time in finishing one procedure and most of the practice spanned in removing gall bladders. I was feeling good to have adapted relatively very new concept and technique of surgery in my own practice. Those were the days when very few organizations in India were performing laparoscopic surgeries. As some more water passed under the bridges, the words spread and I started getting more patients who were keen to be performed minimal access surgery. But one thing remained unchanged, the sight of laparoscope infusing the vigor in my inner self. I remember, I went to Muktasar (a small town in Punjab, India) with my team and performed 32 Gall bladder removal operations in a single day. It was such an absorbing and full of beans experience. Life has in its stores to teach you and to make you efficient, only if you know the real meaning of being efficient.
Even today, as I enter my OT (Operation Theatre), the very sight of display of scopes and other minimal invasive instrumentations, gives me a cause to reinvent myself. I love to perform surgeries; in fact I don’t think I could have done anything in my life with such quantity of interest and gusto. I owe a lot to the laparoscope; it is my joy stick, my pillar of strength, my pal.
Days passed by and I started doing laparoscopic (minimal invasive) surgery at my hospital (Khetarpal Hospital started functioning from year 1992 itself) with overflowing vigil. I learnt with every procedure; to be honest it used to take a lot of time in finishing one procedure and most of the practice spanned in removing gall bladders. I was feeling good to have adapted relatively very new concept and technique of surgery in my own practice. Those were the days when very few organizations in India were performing laparoscopic surgeries. As some more water passed under the bridges, the words spread and I started getting more patients who were keen to be performed minimal access surgery. But one thing remained unchanged, the sight of laparoscope infusing the vigor in my inner self. I remember, I went to Muktasar (a small town in Punjab, India) with my team and performed 32 Gall bladder removal operations in a single day. It was such an absorbing and full of beans experience. Life has in its stores to teach you and to make you efficient, only if you know the real meaning of being efficient.
Even today, as I enter my OT (Operation Theatre), the very sight of display of scopes and other minimal invasive instrumentations, gives me a cause to reinvent myself. I love to perform surgeries; in fact I don’t think I could have done anything in my life with such quantity of interest and gusto. I owe a lot to the laparoscope; it is my joy stick, my pillar of strength, my pal.
Lesser known facts about dreams
Life is an epic and dreams are hidden directions, pointed at you by the biggest genius, your subconscious, to take help you have a smooth sashay towards your destiny.
Were you aware of these facts about DREAMS?
1. Dreams prevent development of psychosis.
2. Toddlers do not dream about themselves until around the age of 3.
3. When you are snoring, you are not dreaming.
4. Even blind people are capable of dreaming.
5. Within 10 minutes of your waking, 90% of the dream is gone. You are unlikely to recall that.
6. Dreams contain familiar faces; it’s very unlikely that you would ever see an unfamiliar face in your dream.
7. Many of us dream in black and white (A full 12% of sighted people dream exclusively in black and white).
8. People who have quit smoking, alcohol or other substance abuse are more likely to be having vivid dreams than they would normally experience.
9. Dreams storm you with the sense of external stimuli. Many of us feel thirsty, afraid, writhed, detached, depressed in our dreams and at that moment the feeling is true.
10. If you are awakened out of REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, you are more likely to remember your dream in a more vivid way than you would if you woke from a full night sleep.
11. Vivid dreams help you learn.
12. Sleep paralysis is a reality. A person experiences sleep paralysis when the brain awakes from the REM sleep cycle, but the paralysis state remains. The person is conscious, but unable to move.
13. Males & females dream differently. In fact, it is believed that around 70% of the characters in a man’s dream are other men. On the other hand, a woman’s dream contains almost an equal number of men and women.
Were you aware of these facts about DREAMS?
1. Dreams prevent development of psychosis.
2. Toddlers do not dream about themselves until around the age of 3.
3. When you are snoring, you are not dreaming.
4. Even blind people are capable of dreaming.
5. Within 10 minutes of your waking, 90% of the dream is gone. You are unlikely to recall that.
6. Dreams contain familiar faces; it’s very unlikely that you would ever see an unfamiliar face in your dream.
7. Many of us dream in black and white (A full 12% of sighted people dream exclusively in black and white).
8. People who have quit smoking, alcohol or other substance abuse are more likely to be having vivid dreams than they would normally experience.
9. Dreams storm you with the sense of external stimuli. Many of us feel thirsty, afraid, writhed, detached, depressed in our dreams and at that moment the feeling is true.
10. If you are awakened out of REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, you are more likely to remember your dream in a more vivid way than you would if you woke from a full night sleep.
11. Vivid dreams help you learn.
12. Sleep paralysis is a reality. A person experiences sleep paralysis when the brain awakes from the REM sleep cycle, but the paralysis state remains. The person is conscious, but unable to move.
13. Males & females dream differently. In fact, it is believed that around 70% of the characters in a man’s dream are other men. On the other hand, a woman’s dream contains almost an equal number of men and women.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Why nature turns vicious?
I am sure all of us are near-optimally informed of the momentous grief that Japan is struck with at present. As widespread scathe dominates, it feels if human life has minuscule value in the ample eyes of Mother Nature. We understand that our lives are directed by a set of unconquerable rules that are yet to be explored in totality, but how, why and when nature decides to act aghast against us, remains an apprehension of extreme befuddlement.
We, unknowingly, kill a lot of living creatures daily that harbor our bodies without a voluntary attempt (the medicated shampoos, antibacterial drugs, scavenger cells in our tissues which are programmed to kill a lot of extrinsic organisms etc), the question is, whether we also hold the same importance in the eye of Mother Nature? Are we chosen to exist in the world or do we just exist? What is the law of nature regarding existential reality of humans? What forces the Nature, which supplies the untiring gust of pure oxygen in our alveoli, blesses us with purest water unconditionally (60% of our bodies are made of water), gives us luscious fruits and eatables to eat, to turn a cold-blooded slayer? Is the law of harmony experiencing the draught of some missing codes, causing the marauding mayhem?
I have a genuine doubt, which I am sure; a lot of people must have had in their lives. Why aren’t we rendered disease-free in our lives? Why the constant fear of succumbing to little known syndromes and greatly known killer illnesses loops around? Who gets the thrill when we suffer? And what is achieved by this suffering? What remains unfilled in the occult equations which require the presence of sequential array of tragedies in human life? We oppose active euthanasia but we are victims of the same? Would you ever opt to put some slaughtering fungus in the succulent roots of your plant and then watch it wilting and dying? Who is better in the present understanding; a modern day thinking human or Mother Nature? Would exploring further in the milieu of Mother Nature and its laws is going to help us in understanding the significance of our existence?
We, unknowingly, kill a lot of living creatures daily that harbor our bodies without a voluntary attempt (the medicated shampoos, antibacterial drugs, scavenger cells in our tissues which are programmed to kill a lot of extrinsic organisms etc), the question is, whether we also hold the same importance in the eye of Mother Nature? Are we chosen to exist in the world or do we just exist? What is the law of nature regarding existential reality of humans? What forces the Nature, which supplies the untiring gust of pure oxygen in our alveoli, blesses us with purest water unconditionally (60% of our bodies are made of water), gives us luscious fruits and eatables to eat, to turn a cold-blooded slayer? Is the law of harmony experiencing the draught of some missing codes, causing the marauding mayhem?
I have a genuine doubt, which I am sure; a lot of people must have had in their lives. Why aren’t we rendered disease-free in our lives? Why the constant fear of succumbing to little known syndromes and greatly known killer illnesses loops around? Who gets the thrill when we suffer? And what is achieved by this suffering? What remains unfilled in the occult equations which require the presence of sequential array of tragedies in human life? We oppose active euthanasia but we are victims of the same? Would you ever opt to put some slaughtering fungus in the succulent roots of your plant and then watch it wilting and dying? Who is better in the present understanding; a modern day thinking human or Mother Nature? Would exploring further in the milieu of Mother Nature and its laws is going to help us in understanding the significance of our existence?
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