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Showing posts from April, 2011

Till then

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  "It seemed nice to put in the chief's ID, you see." Two months of absolute fun! That's what ICU rotation has been. Our team was great! . Dr Saeed Nicest senior ever. He used to overlook all our little mistakes. Said 'Good', on our little efforts. Smile on our silliness. Taught me how to put  A-line, central lines. I still remember when out of anxiety I even forgot how to put in a stitch, and he kindly smiled and said, "bhool gain." Dr Fasih Calm and cool. Ready for all sort of kind advises. He never imposes his seniour-ness on us. I still use his ID while putting in echo requests.I recently told him that (while in year one, my colleague taught me to put in his ID, Dr Fasih was medicine chief resident then)."Why do you use my ID", he asked. "It seemed nice to put in the chief's ID, you see." Dr Amir He has been put in the rapid response team and I call him Dr rapid.Almost everyday he used to remind us that he is in the ICU to

The happy day

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Its been years since I've been in this world. I've recieved love, affection.So yes, its my birthday today. Born and named a rather unusual name. Most people like it, otheres don't. But do I care. They ask, "So , whats the meaning of your name". "Well, its something that shines", I respond. Once my room-mate said, "so that means that I could call you Chamkeeli!". Ha ha ha ha ha. To celebrate I picked a blue dress, blue slippers, blue bracelet. Hajra took a look and said, "You seem to be enjoying ICU!". Hajra is also in blue and hence I've declared today the 'International blue day'. So coming back to my birthday, to celebrate, I ll not study a single word. Pickle story I made mango achar yesterday. Learnt it from my friend. Its instantly made.Few raw mangoes (peeled, and cut into pieces), a pinch of salt, red chilli powder, onion seeds, haldi, saunf, tablespoon of oil. Put all of this into a karahi, cover it , put on l

Relax, its the long weekend!

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  No flowers , no butterflies, interesting. The Sunday post. Two whole days of laziness ! On call tomorrow. Stop, lets not think about it now, not at eleven am on a Sunday morning. Done with the usual Holiday delights. A hearty nashta, made especially by my Nani (Grandmother, who is on a two week visit), parathas, chatni (Mexican Salsa, gosh such fancy names for tamatar kee chatni), steaming tea. My heart goes garden, garden (Dil bagh bagh hona) I love the morning breeze, sipping tea under the mango tree, new spaper in hands. Occasionally, a bird pays a visit, a sparrow, humming bird, crows, birds I dont know the names of. My younger brother loves butterflies, he wants to see them in the garden, but as there are only few flowers , hence none visit. No flowers , no butterflies, interesting.         B idding Farewell The newspaper has allocated a good two papers on Moin Akhter. He passed away on 22nd. A man we all adored. When I was in primary school, an aunty learnt to trim

Oh Wow!

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Week is done.My head aches like anything. Postcall. Last night tried every bit to keep patient in negative balance. Faced two pneumothoraces! When I called Dr Nadia for putting in the chest tube, she smiled and said, "I hate you Zarka, I really really hate you!". Two mornings of not waking up early.   Every cloud has a silver lining Yesterday's highlight. I finally passed an independent central line. The caveat. Patient died after coding about an hour later. Dr S smiled away and said, "You have such heavy hands, the patient could not bear the line and hence died". Ha, ha, ha, ha........Very funny Dr S. I told him that I ll pass a line in his neck on the last call! That would be interesting, causing pneumothorax in him! Hafta'y Daraz And now what comes is what is lovingly called 'Long weekend'.Two whole days. Fourty eight hours. Two mornings not waking up early. Our ice-cream is on the way.We are celebrating the line that I passed.

Latest update!

"Don't mention people's names in your blog, one day they would make you say sorry", Dr Amir advises. Would they! I think they should enjoy a piece of literature. Anyways. The medical ICU team, our fate changed starting Monday.Now we work harder.Round every hour.Check and recheck every detail. Dont just sit around in the call room, and laugh over. Our team has become short. Our very tall Dr Saeed is on vacation. Our notorious, not so tall Dr S, has also left for a three day spree to Quetta. Just before leaving, postcall, he looked really happy, and said, "Ok Dr Zarka, miltey hain break kay bad (see you after the break)!". Ya ya , whatever.

Minutes count

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I 'll give myself five minutes to write this piece. Dr Zarka, your time starts now. On call again. Dr S is passing A-line on a patient. I told him that I ll pass it , he said, that patient has only one arm for experimentation, and he ll pass it. Of course I wont listen. Just then Dr Saeed calls. I give him a review of the patients. Once I'm done , Dr S is nowhere to be seen. I search all over the ICU. Oh....... He is standing all scrubed to pass A-line! The nurse asks me to enter nebulizing drugs for this patient. I tell her, "This is Dr S's patient, he ll enter the drug!". I walk away. Still two minutes to spare. Just now the unit receptionist calls. He wastes one minutes Patient's family arrives for update. Five minutes end here.....

Obviously postcall!

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  "Hay ye josh a junoon, hay yay apna yaqeen, woh jo tum may hay dum wo kisee main naheen!"   Rough call. The whole week, only one patient is admitted. My call , three new patients arrive and one of them dies. Very very postcall. Just when I had started having breakfast, one of my patient underwent code. Wow. the omellete had never tasted better!The tea just fab. Timing all wrong! One day when I ll look back, I ll probably be proud of myself, but now..... First there was the Lawn fever. Huge bill boards of unknown fabric, famous models, ordinary prints. This was then followed by cricket fever. For almost a month the team that we thought won't even make to the quarter finals easily, made us sit on the edge of our chairs and scream out "Hay ye josh a junoon, hay yay apna yaqeen, woh jo tum may hay dum wo kisee main naheen!". Everybody was excited. Docs, nurses, house keeping staff, security. For once the whole nation, so many ethnicities and one thought, "