Are you one in a million?

Announced today in newspapers..... there are one million Jordanians suffering from diabetes (sokkari)...

In case you don't know, obesity (being overweight) is the number one risk factor for getting diabetes

That was announced one day after a ministry of health report stated that 42% of Jordanians die from a heart-related cause

We, including yours sincerly, are a very fat country.

Another study was released yesterday, showed that more than half the country suffers from B12 deficiency. They attributed that to the way Jordanians overcook their food.

So whether you eat healthy (cook in your house) or eat outside you're screwed. My advice is to keep eating at home and just live with taking a monthly injection in your butt.

Nice......

Great Song!

What's greater is that, after 2 years of agony, I know finally how to post videos on the blog, thanx to lamisova.

Why did you change the station

May I ask please, why did you
without any obligation
change the station?

When they blew my house
soiled my room with their feces
turned my brother into pieces
I aksed for help
and you changed the station


When my mother was taken
her dignity, forsaken
without any explanation
I asked for help
and you, sir, changed the station


When they told me I should not resist
that there's no reason for me to exist
I turned to you, sir, for a hand or a tear
or a word to quench my fear
but you, again, changed the station


I can see you sir
in five years, maybe ten,
holding a baby with an amputated leg
dragging your crippled mother with her broken neck
and when you'll look at the camera in the eye
thinking of the lens as your only salvation
you'll know how brutal it was
to just change the station

Hareega

Laugh it up your heart

A doctor in the clinic nearby called me because his patient keeps falling down at home. He asked me to keep him in the hospital overnight. "I'm afraid he has some problem with the heart.... a heart attack, an irregular rhythm.... or maybe strokes???"

The patient arrived to the hospital. I went to talk to him

"So you keep falling"
"Yes, I've been falling for more than a year"
"Any idea why?"
"Whenever I laugh I get short of breath and suddenly pass out for a few seconds"
"Does it happen at other times?"
"No , just when I laugh"

We ran a few tests on his heart and nothing showed up. I went again to this 56 year-old guy
"Your heart seems to be working very well"
"So what's causing me to pass out?"
"Laughing, whenver you laugh you stimulate some nerves that slows down your heart and make you pass out for a few seconds, it's not serious...you'll wake up"
"So how can I avoid that"

I thought for second.... "Stay away from funny people"
It looked like he thought the answer was funny, and I felt the danger approaching. He opened his mouth and started laughing. His face turned red. I looked at him very seriously in the face and he stopped laughing. I wrote orders to discharge him home, and before I left I checked the board to see who his nurse was. It was Ellis, a nurse whom I have never seen smiling in three years.
Then I thought to myself, "he's in safe hands"

A mostashfa el-Basheer moment

The emergency room is a fun place to be. Sometimes it's crazy and pakced with sick patients and at other times it would be empty and you'll find nurses sitting down chatting and making fun of doctors.

Yesterday was one of those crappy busy days and the ER was so packed that patients, laying on beds, were placed in the hallways outside rooms. The patients thrown in the hallway were more than those inside the rooms. .

I was called to admit a lady (I'll call her Dickens) with a hand infection. She had some psychiatric issues (i.e. she was crazy) and she tried to kill herself once so she cut herself and her hand kept getting infected since then. Her dcotor in the clinic thought that she needed to stay in the hospital. He called me at 2 pm to admit her to the hospital. There were no beds and she had to stay in the hospital.

At 5 pm the clinic closed, so they had no option but to send to the emergency room until they find a bed for her in the hospital.

I went to the ER and she was standing in the hallway waiting for someone to place her in a room or a bed or a chair and leave her there, but there was absolutely no palce for her. I asked her to wait in the lobby but there were no places. She did not require urgent treatment and all patients inside the ER were really sick so it was not reasonable to kick them out.

I went to a nurse and asked him, "Can you place Mrs. Dickens somewhere in the ER? "

"Doc it's full as you see, send her to the lobby"
"the lobby's full"
"I dunno doc I dunno I have a patient with a BP of 40 I gotta go, maybe we'll have a place for her in the hallway in half an hour"

I went back to the lady, "Hey Mrs. Dickens do you wanna wait in your car for half an hour then come back here, maybe we'll find a spot for you."

"I don't have a car, I came by bus"

I felt helpless and started to understand why Arizona scored an "F" in the emergency room care grading last year. Every winter we have hundreds of thousands of people called "snow birds" come in from the cold states because winter is beautiful here. Most of them are old so they get sick and come to the hospital.

I looked around and the area OUTSIDE the hospital was even packed with people and their families. Oh my God, where the hell should I send this lady? My patient got very angry and unpleasant and said that she would leave the hospital against medical advice if we don't find a place for her. I couldn't blame her.

It was about 8 pm then, I went to the coffee machine and looked outside and found an empty zone.....

I went back to the ER where she was standing and shaking with rage.
"Hey Mrs. Dickens, I have a suggestion"

She looked at me

Then I paused, and I had one of the biggest internal conflicts in my life. I wasn't sure if I should say it or not, but I found myself suggesting, "Why don't you go out there near the coffee machine, there's a smoking area where you can have a cigarette, take your time and when you come back maybne we'll have a spot for you"
"Sure", she walked oputside and I went back to my computer and started writing orders. She became back two hours later (probably smoked the whole pack) but we had a bed for her.

Before she went upstairs I wanted to feel better.... "You know, smoking is bad for you"

"Yeah..... "

I cleared my conscience completely when I convinced myself that this lady who had four previous suicidal attempts would probably kill herself before smoking kills her.

Also , that day, I realized why they had a smoking area just outside the hospital!

Ibin Raheejeh إبن رهيجة

Michael Debakey

Dr. Michael Debakey is the most successful doctor in the 20th century.
He is the pioneer in almost every single field in heart surgery. He was the first to design and perform different heroic heart surgeries including open heart surgery and his name is mentioned in many basic medical textbooks.

In 2005, as he turned 97, he had a major vessel disease (aneurysm) and required a heart operation to fix it. He refused to undergo the surgery that he himself had designed because he thought he was at a high risk to have it done. Probably nobody would have it done better than him. He eventually had the surgery done and he survived after a long struggle. He was the oldest person in history to undergo this kind of surgery.

Right now, he is 99 years old and is still practising medicine.

Dr. Debakey's parents, Shakir and Raheejeh, were immigrants from Lebanon.
Ibin Raheejeh became the most accomplished and successful heart surgeon in history.

I am wondering how many "Ibin Raheejeh"s are there waiting to prove themselves but they are not given the chance ?

Argentina and Faisali and the Conspiracy Theory

The FIFA World classification is not that reliable, but it gives an idea about which teams can be number one.....

Argentina took the lead yesterday and they are currently ranked number one in the world....

It was nice to see Messi scoring a historical hysterical hatrcik against Real Madrid, nice to seePalermo coming back and scoring a hatrcik against Estudiantes, Saviola shining again, and six other Argentenians leading Inter into an undisputable victory of the Italian Serie A.

On another level, a sick conspiracy, very sick one between al-Nasr from KSA and al-Kuwait footballs clubs took place. Both teams compete with Al-Faisali and an Algerian team to qualify to the semi-finals of the Arab Cup finals.

The Kuwaiti team lost any chance of qualifying, but they allowed the Saudis to defeat them 1-0 in a very clear way. So clear you should watch the game and wonder how stupid both teams were to make the conspiracy that obvious.

Faisali is playing the Algerians today, best of luck for them, wish some morons will be kicked out of the tournament.

In other news, our Olympic football Team drew with Australia 1-1. It feels good to have a draw with a whole continent.

To start the chemo or not start the chemo, Why is this a question?

As a fresh graduate I started working in the King Hussein Cancer Center. One day we admitted a lady (I'll call her Fathiyyeh) with colon cancer to the hospital and we were about to start her regular cycle of chemotherapy.

Before starting the chemo we had to check a few blood tests. I checked them and they were OK, so I wrote an order to give the chemo to the patient and told the nurse about it. That was just before 7 pm and the nurse shift changes at 7pm, so I told the nurse to pass it on to the next nurse, Layth, who is a very pleasant and hard-working guy with some sense of humor. I wrote the order in the chart to make sure it would be done.

I left the hospital and it was Thursday night, I went home really tired, and at about 10 pm I got a call from Layth the nurse.

Layth, "Dr. Faris regarding Fathiyyeh the lady with the colon cancer, shall we start the chemo tonight??"

I said, "Yes, I checked her labs and they were OK, so start the chemo tonight"

Layth, "So you're saying her labs were OK? Start the chemo?"

"Yes, they were fine, I wrote the order in the chart, it should have already been started..... start the chemo now, start it now"

Layth, "Do you want it to be started tonight or tomorrow?"

"No, tonight, we have to start it tonight, start the chemo tonight, START THE CHEMO TONIGHT"

Layth, "OK, I just wanna tell you that we already have started the chemo at 7 and she is tolerating it well"

"Then why did you call me??"

"Well it's Thursday night and you are probably out with your friends and I thought you'd really feel good if your friends around you heard you screaming on the phone to start the chemo now and yelling on other people"

I got the joke, then hung up and went back to watching, alone, the football game in the second division of the Sudanese league.

Give Me Falafel or Give Me Death

When I was in Jordan I attended a small party for hospital employees hosted by a filthy rich drug company. We were having dinner, as I was enjoying my fifth dish I noticed the janitor eating cold falafel which was placed on the side.

I told him "Why are you eating falafel, go have some pizza, it's hot and goood"

He said, "Don't wanna eat pizza, I'm afraid I might like it, and I can't afford it, so I'll miss it then I would feel miserable"

I loved his answer, a man of plenty of wisdom and scarceness of money. If you don't try something you'll never miss it. If you don't get sick you won't know how great it is to be healthy. As my best friend Aerosmith says in his Mo3allaqaat "You got to lose to know how to win".

This could explain why the rich are less happy than the poor; they've got more, and the more they got the more things they are gonna miss as time passes. Being rich is a measure of the things you have that money cannot buy. Those things are very precious and once lost they cannot be replaced.


We have a choice to catch up with the world and sometimes we need to, otherwise the average age of death for any Jordanian would still be 49 years (statistics from 1945) . We're moving forward quickly, we're trying to run as fast as we can to catch up with the pace. Nice, we've got smart and ambitious young generation that can do the job at this point of time.

Our only "oil" according to late King Hussein is the human being and the more educated and skillful a Jordanian is the more likely s/he is willing to leave the country and live abroad, and it doesn't look like it's gonna change soon.

Not a long time ago, most of what Jordanians seeked was some delicious falafel and bread, a bus that can take them to work and the ability to enjoy raising kids and providing them with any kind of education to enable them to grow up in a secure environment.

These days there is true poverty in Jordan that never existed before, real ignorance, amazing levels of primitivism of thinking that were not present at the times people were illiterate and schools were virtually nonexistent, all that on top of a competitive level of corruption that is not spoken about. With all combined I'm only concerned that one day or another we'll stumble and fall and then the falafel will taste bitter instead of sweet and a trip in bus can feel like hell and raising kids will sound like a punishment from God and we will realize then that falafel intoxication was much healthier than a "withdrawal from pizza".

How kids shower in different parts of the world

In most parts of the world .....

And in Iraq......

What did you just say?

In USA:

Doctor, "We have your results back. I have good news an bad news news. The bad news is that the biopsy shows that you have breast cancer. However the good news is that it is still limited to a small area in the breast. We have two options, one is removing the whole breast and that should take care of it, and the other option which many women prefer is removing only the part of the breast invaded by the cancer and giving you radiation treatment afterwards. There are complications of the radiation treatment that can invlove the skin or the lung underneath and might show up a few months after the treatment, however you will be able to preserve the breast. You can take a few days to think about the options. Meanwhile we need to run some hormonal studies on the biopsy taken to guide us into what treatment options you might require. Chemotherapy is not out of the question and it can cause a few side effects that I am willing to discuss with you however it has been shown to significantly impact your quality of life and survival in ten years. We have rates of resposne as high as 85% in some studies if the hormonal studies come back positive. Here is my number if you need to contact me. After hours call the other number below......"


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In Jordan :

الطبيب... والله يا خالتي باين إنو عندكي هظاك المرظ

المريضة.... إييييه وشو بدي أسوي

الطبيب.... بدنا نعطيك هظاك العلاج

المريضة.... وبطيب يعني؟؟

الطبيب.... قولي ان شالله

America is Stupid

America has the best univeristies and teaching insititutes in the world. American univerisites, hospitals, research labs have contributed more than any other country in the world to the advances in technology and medicine that we are witnessing today.

When you evaluate the "intelligence" of any country, you gotta look at people in general, what are they interested in, what do they watch or talk about.

For the past 3 weeks , the news coverage in the most popular and legetimate news channels (like CNN, NBC, FOX news) have focused on 3 stories:

1- A woman who drove a long distance to go kill or kidnap her boyfriend's mistress! She happened to be an astronaut.

2- Britney Spears shaving her head.

3- Anna Nicole Smith's death. If you don't know who is this woman, you don't need to. She's a strip dancer who married an old man to get his money then worked in porn/fashion/movies and was involved in many lawsuits. She has a daughter that nobody know who her father is.

Isn't there a fucking war going on?

Relativity at its best

I walked into the room to see this new patient. She had a tear tattoo on her cheek.
A tear tattoo is common among gang members and it signifies that she had killed at least one other person in her life. It was somewhat scary to even be with her in the same room, but she was a sick patient and she needed treatment.

Anyway we were suspecting a severe infection in her blood (sepsis), I found on her record that she had several STDs (sexually-transitted diseases) in the past.

I asked her the regular question, "Do you have multiple sexual partners?"
"No, I don't" she said
"how many kids do you have ?"
"Five"
"Do you know who their father is?"
"Yes I know who are the fathers of four of them, still not sure about the fifth one"
"Fathers??"
"Yes, each kid has a father, but I don't know about the fifth one"
"I thought you told me that you didn't have multiple sexual partners"
She got a bit angry and answered, "It depends on what do you mean by multiple!!"
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Here's a picture of the tear tattoo.... :)

Quick fact

The monthly salary of a starting doctor (intern- Imtiaaz) in a public hospital in Jordan is 47 JDs, about 75 dollars

I worked in Salt, lived in Amman
Do the Math

On Camels and Horseback

Escaping from the genocide in Darfur, victims found shelter in neighboring Chad.
Now Arabs, on camels and horseback, are chasing them to finish them.
Another genocide is on its way, this time committed by us.
Arabs should be the first to stand against these massacres because our names are written all over it.

Shades of Red

Just wanted to share with you how many people and world leaders have celebrated the Valentine ;)

How some people spent their Valentine

On this day fifteen years ago, hundreds of Iraqis were hiding in Baghdad when US air forces struck their shelter in Al-Amiriyah, killing more 500 people.

Reason for attack: intelligence reports suggesting the bunker was a military command site.

Victims: Almost all were women and children.

Weapons found : None.

Twelve years later, another strike on Iraq, again based on intelligence reports that Iraq had WMD and was linked directly to al-Qaeda, or so they said.

It's either that the intelligence is not intelligent, or people are too stupid to believe them.

وردة حمراء…on a Valentine's Day

One of the wonderful short stories by my friend Nakhleh ... It will give you another sense of Valentine
enjoy
Hareega
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السماء حبلى بأمطار وأسرار و أشياء أخرى… سار منتشياً بنكهة هذا اليوم الذي قدمه شباط هديّة للحب و المحبين…

كان دائماً يحب شباط…برده من كانون، و دفؤه من آذار، ونسيمه من نيسان…كأن السنة كلها قد أودعته تناقضاتها و أسرارها الحميمة، فلم يبخل هو، رغم أنه ابنها الأصغر ، بالرابع عشر عيداً مقدّساً لكل متيّم و حبيبة

مشى في الشارع المرتجف ينشد وردة حمراء…وردة واحدة جميلة لا بد أن يحصل عليها… لكن الجو المتجمّد كان ينذر بإغلاق للمتاجر قريب… فأخذ يهم في خطوه يكاد يعدو… و كأنه يجاري تيار المشاة المسرع الذي أخذ يخلي الطريق…

لم يبقَ الا محل الزهور عند الزاوية…اقترب من المكان لكن صوتاً حاداً سمّره في مكانه…التفت فإذا سيارة مسرعة تطرح رجلاً عجوزاً على الإسفلت… فرّ السائق في لمح البصر…فيما استعجلت البقيّة الباقية من المارة طريقها بعيداً عن مسرح الحدث

وقف للحظة يفكّر…لكن الرعد أيقظه فجأة، فيما بدأ المطر يهمي ليسقي المنظر كؤوساً من ماء بارد…نظر الى واجهة المحل ثم عاد و اندفع نحو الرجل الملقىعلى صفحة الأرض…فصدمه منظر النظارة السوداء التي يرتديها والعصا التي يحملها…و بسرعة انتشله من بين فكيّ الشارع الغارق في الدموع الشباطيّة…تفاهما دون كلام…سار العجوز الضرير مستنداً على كتف الشاب القوي و احتميا في محل الزهور فيما اشتد غضب المطر…لم يصب الختيار بأذى…كادت السيارة أن تدهمه لكنّه سقط أرضاً

شدّ على يد الشاب و قال بصوت جميل يناسب البياض في رأسه: " شكراً يا بني."وقف مبتلاً وسط المكان…ثم تذكّر

الوردة الحمراء…اقترب بوجل من البائعة و قال بهدوء مرتجف:-" أريد، لو سمحتِ، وردة حمراء

ابتسمت البائعة وردت بمرح…-" الورد الأحمر في عيد الحب غالٍ…!"، ثم أكملت بابتسامة آسفة :-" لم يبقَ عندنا ورد أحمر

ولا وردة ؟!"…قالها بهمس حزين وهو يجيل النظر بين أصناف الورود فلا يجد مبتغاه…_" آخر وردة بيعت قبل قليل…" … وقف كالمذبوح… كان جسمه يرتعش وأخذ يحس بخدر خفيف يلف رأسه

رفع الشيخ عصاه و هتف بذات الصوت الواضح العميق:_ " أظن يا عزيزتي أنك لو بحثتِ خلف تلك المجموعة هناك فستجدين وردة حمراء…" ...ابتسمت البائعة من مداعبة العجوز و التفتت وهي تكرر أسفها:_" أعتذر حقاً…لقد بعت بنفسي آخر وردة قبل لحظات…" " هناك هناك! خلف الأزهار الجميلة تلك…"عادت يداها تبحث في غير تصديق، حتى إذا استلت من بين الزهور وردة حمراء في غاية الجمال

وقفت مشدوهة لا تصدق ما بين يديها…التفت الشاب و كأنه في حلم…فضحك الأعشى وأشار بعصاه الى صدر الفتى و قال مبتسماً:- " القلب يرى يا صديقي " ...لم يرفع عينيه عن الوردة الساحرة تداعبها يدان مدربتان، تلفانها بغلاف شفاف و ببعض النوار الأبيض…- " لن آخذ منك ثمنها…" ابتسمت البائعة و هي تهز رأسها…"كل عام وأنتما بخير

التفت فلم يجد الرجل العجوز…احتضن وردته الغالية وخرج مسرعاً …لكن الشارع كان خالياً تماماً…وقف للحظة تحت المطر …أخذ يتخيّل الوردة و قد زيّنت صدغ حبيبته و عطرت شعرها الفاحم…وضع عينيها العسليتين أمامه و سار…يده تحمي وردة حمراء دافئة…و المطر الذي يشتد تهنئة ساخرة من شباط…لم تُنسه ذكرى صديق جميل…أخفاه الرعد كما يخفي الشتاء التموّجات المرتجفة التي تطبعها قدماه المسرعتان فوق الشارع المبتل

نخلة الياس أبو ياغي

Mehhhico en America

I went last week to watch the most exciting football game one can watch in America, the US vs. Mexico.
If the US was looking for a place to receive support from the fans in the game, Arizona was the worst choice. There were over sixty thousand Mexican fans , one thousand American fans and three Jordanians.
We were planning to route for America, we had an American flag and of course I brought a Jordanian flag with me, no question about it. For most of the match I was holding it blocking the view of at least three people around me, way to make people love Jordan.

Once inside the stadium we had to chear for Mexico, it was kinda scary not to. When a bunch of guys stand in front of you holding a large Tableh you and the people around you scream with passion , "Tarabattatoo Mehhhhico" you gotta scream with them.

By the way, Mexican waves look nice on TV but it sucks when you're part of them. It makes you lose focus on the game and instead focus on when you have to stand up and raise your hands.

Despite their victory 2-0, I felt sorry for the US team, it really sucks when you play home and all the fans are chearing for the other team. Football has very long way until it becomes popular among Americans. It's naive to think that Beckham can change the popularity of football in America, Hello!! Pele and Beckenbauer played in America and that didn't change a thing!

I like Jay Leno joke, "David Beckham is coming to play in America. That will probably change the way Americans ignore soccer"

Maybe a good start is to call football with its name.

Feels just like yesterday