Did I regret coming to Turkey?

 

Did I regret coming to Turkey?

This one of the most questions I get from my friends and followers, especially girls who are planning on going abroad alone. This will answer all your questions about me, after six years of being in Turkey, both as a citizen in terms of living, and being a medical student.

I moved here 6 years ago, in beginning, it was not the most fascinating thing in the world to move on, leave memories, friends, and habits back where I used to live. Especially that the decision was some sort forced on me. I tried to adjust to the new environment forced on me.

In the first few months -the first semester- was hell like there was barely any time to do anything but to study, why is medicine that hard? Will it isn’t only being hard but what made it harder than I studied my entire school in Arabic teaching school, add to that that I was studying in English in a country that doesn’t speak the language fluently.

What made it harder? duh, it is Istanbul I came from Jeddah isn’t that obvious, Jeddah is a relaxed city we don’t moves few inches without a car, here, on the other hand, I had to do it all, I mean transportations alone in a country that I don’t even speak its language.  

Wait wait, it was not all bad and twisty, what made it easier? Friends support, the moment I came here I started searching and searching for friends, I kept my friends close and my fans closer, every time I heard a chairing from a friend it gave me a boost of energy, family support means the world they don’t have to understand everything you are going through but them being there for you make all the darker easier.

What made it even easier than I opened to the city allowing her to give me and take from me, only then I realized that I have fallen in love with this city. This city is very big magnificent full of history, the idea that I might be standing in the same place that someone 100 years ago was standing gave me chills, I guess me as a history lover Istanbul was the perfect match for me.

So, I started making sure I can enjoy the city as much as medicine provides for me, participating in trips, meeting friends at new places, exploring activities, doing so medical-social activities.

It wasn’t easy to be part of the new student society, considering my old type of school, my old school was all females no boys around, the university life was different every day I had to take 2 buses for 4 years one of them I used latterly to ride it hocked to the door of the buses, old men used to grape me so I don’t get to fall down. I would leave every day at 6am come back at 7 pm. One more problem I faced was fitting in the student’s society and learning to accept it all and accept everything without judging, and at the same time to learn how to fully stand up for myself.

Meeting all the different religions, nationalities, and different minds gave some sort of resilience.

Crowded roads were a killing problem, studying in buses, spending late nights in school, and most importantly spending nights without sleep. were all problem I faced in this country, but who cares now when I remember the last six years, I have enjoyed every second of the trip.

Last, my most important advice is, enjoy every single step of the way because Istanbul worth it, and do not ever regret this city cause it worth love.  

 

Move on

On the treatment of idiopathic inter-cranial hypertension, 

Where the pressure inside the skull increases for no pathological cause, we treat it by opening a hole in the skull to relieve the pressure applied on the brain different structures, earlier this decade the removed part of the skull was preserved for later closure of the whole after the pressure resolves and decreases to normal again. 

It was preserved in the abdominal fat tissue to get blood supply and stay in normal body temperature. 

This preservation method is not used any more, for so many reasons including atrophy of the bone piece duo to decrease blood flow to it which basically means that the bone get smaller and when trying to put it back to place it cant cover the whole opened area, or infection either in area of insertion due to sudden switch in abdominal flora - which is the covering layer of bacteria that lives on or body surfaces and cavities and differs from one region to the other-

Or infection of the area of the bone in the brain when returning the bone to its place duo to the same reason which is an invasion of abdominal flora in the brain. 

Later on, the surgeons decided that, if we throw this piece and use later an artificial bone piece- a human-made bone-like structure- this can decrease a lot of the risks and suffering that patient and his might go through. The point of all of this patient is your life and the bone piece is a lot of people, relationships, things that we think we can't live without, and implanting it the abdominal area is the same action to hold on those people, stuff and relationships that lead to more cons than pros. As much as giving up parts that might look so loved to our hearts, so close to our souls that might sound hard even impossible to give up on it at the moment. It still sometimes more healthy to give up than to hold, things even loved things, even people can some time get smaller like an atrophic piece of bone that wont fit in your life and cause so much damage, or it will be as toxic as a wired flora in your life that can invade you life causing massive breakdowns.

This transformation in method should teach humans to give up on things when we have to give up regardless the pain that can be caused by giving up, you have to let go on things that you love but it is harmful to you, because sometimes the pain caused by letting go is nothing compared to pain of keep holding.

The way we deal with our dear pieces can determine how our life will go so make sure to let go when you should let go.

relationships

In relationships, you have to trust your partner, his decisions, his thought, and above of that his presence.That isn't only in your love life, it is in your work, in your friends' circle.And that means you trust yourself, you trust your choices knowing that no matter how far things can get mad Your relationships will survive because you are the one who chooses them.And you are a fighter with history for stupid decisions that made you smart enough to choose the right people in your life, you are a human being with a history of lose-lose relationships, with history of people who used you, who took advantage of you. The history that made you realize how to choose your partners in love and war, made you aware of your mistakes and how to avoid them. Made you logical enough to give people in your life the benefit of doubt, but without letting anyone use you. That is why exactly you have to trust your partner because he worth it and above all, he is your choice that worth to be trusted.

failure

Medicine is a sample, a small sample of real-life out there. And so failure is a part of the deal, a deal that you either take it all or leave it all. 

And as long as failure is a large piece of the cake, then you should learn how to accept it, not only except it but learn how to live with it and be proud of your failures. 

I used to be full of shame every-time one of my teachers gave me that speech about how bad you are to fail? As if what I did was the taboo action that we get raised for not doing it, it is bad to fail it is totally your right to feel mad about it and to feel anger on yourself and your mistakes, but what is it worse is to keep yourself stuck where you failed forever not allowing yourself to restart, or to give anyone the power of putting down your value and worth because of a mistake you have done. 

Be proud of your failure, it is what makes you who you are, be proud of them so no one could have the power or the authority to control your life and bully you just because you have failed. 

No one can live without failure otherwise we won’t know what success tastes like.

vacations

If you have a medical student in your life, you probably know that they never have long vacations max they get is a month and a half or 2 months, and if they have a vacation they most probably have a test to get ready for, paperwork to finish, assignment to complete.
Never long enough vacation for them to get out of the student or the doctor mood, vacations that they are long enough to relax but not long enough to feel free and live like normal people.
After an experience that forced me to take 3 months of vacation, I understand that this is exactly the right thing, long vacation is not allowed for a reason, it isn’t that they want to force students to get robotic or for them to lose the compassion and enjoyment of normal life. On the contrary, they want us to have fun not to forget our human side, but not to forget our duty toward the job, the oath and the human we deal with.
Vacations are important but hard because having fun can make the human forget how to commit to his duty and go back when he must go back.
Not only this is the reason why vacations are hard they make you put high expectations about your reality that you forget how it is if you spend a long time away of, the longer the vacations the higher your expectations get and the harder your hit get when you land on the rock of reality.
This vacation that will end soon in latterly in less than 48 hours from now, and lasted 3 months and a half, had taught me the value of short vacations. 

العلم والخرافة

إن العلم بالتعلم والفهم بالتفهم ولم يكن ديننا يوما ممانعا للعلم كان دوما داعما، يقول يوفيل نواه هراري إن الدين هو ما يعطي التبرير الأخلاقي للبحث العلمي فلا يمكن نكران أهمية كلا الموضوعين وترابطهم العميق، أكثر من يعاني من التناقضات التي يخلقها المجتمع بين الدين والعلم هم الأطباء.

إن الطبيب يواجه دائما مشكلة لحل الخرافات التي تحيط بالعلم الطبي بسبب إيمانات البعض الروحانية نرى كثيرا من الشكاوي على مواقع التواصل الإجتماعي فلان من الناس يصاب بتشنجات عصبية فيقول أهله إنه مس من عمل الشيطان فلنجري إلى الدجال.

إحدى الفتيات يصيبها اكتئاب مابعد الولادة فتشتكي للناس أن زوجها لم يعد يتحملها وتطلب أن يساعدوها باسم شيخ يساعدها. يأتي أحدهم للدكتور بعد أن صار معه تلبك معوي من كثرة الأعشاب المقروؤ عليها والحجابات التي تناولها لأنه يواجه مشكلة عصبية أو نفسية.

لا أعلم أين حدث الخطأ وما الذي جعلنا نفقد السيطرة على تفكيرنا بهذه الطريقة! ولكن في لحظة ما منعنا عقلنا من التفكير فانهار كل شيء في أحضاننا وأول ما انهار كان عقولنا.

إن أول ما نزل في القرآن كان إقرأ ولم تكن الآية وحدها الحاثة على العلم
فالسورة ككل حملت أمر التعلم وحلت أكبر قضية شغلت الخلق وهي تكون البشر في الأرحام واظهرت وسيلة التعلم الأساسية وهي الكتابة حيث قال الله تعالى علم بالقلم، والقراءة عندما قال اقرأ.

فما سبب ما أصاب الأمة بالجهل؟يقال أن الدين يفقد قوته التصحيحية والأخلاقية عندما يفقد صلته بالواقع وبالتطور العلمي، حقيقة لم يكن خطأ ديننا أنه فقد الصلة بالواقع نحن من فصله نحن من أفقدناه تواصله مع الواقع عندما ترفع العلماء عن تعليم المجتمع وترفع الجهل عن البحث فيما يجهله فنتج عن عدم التواصل هذا أن وصل مجتمعنا لطريق لا رجعة فيه الكلمة الأخيرة فيه للجهل.

نحن ننتصر للخرافة نرى في أن الخرافة تستحق أن تحيا بينما أرواحنا لاتستحق، نحن نضحي بأرواحنا وأرواح من يحبنا لتحيا الخرافة لتعيش وتتمدد.

فمريض التشنجات العصبية التي دار به أهله بين رجال الخرافة والمكبسين والدجالين تشنج واحد كفيل بأن يرميه في عداد الأموات، فهي أمراض قد تكون على سهولة ماتبدو عليه ولكنه مميتة أو خطيرة وتحتاج مراعاة خاصة.

تلك الصبية التي أصيبت باكتئاب مابعد الولادة قد ينتهي بها الحالة بحالة نفسية تعرضها للانتحار.

إن العلم لا يتعارض مع الدين لكن يتعارض بكل تأكيد مع الخرافة، إن الخرافة مميتة ومحرقة للأرواح.

لم يفلح قوم ولو أمرهم للخرافة، هي مادة سريعة الاشتعال تنتشر انتشار النار بالهشيم ماتلبث أن تمسك عقل أحدهم حتى تنتقل كعدوى مرض بين العقول فتسيطر على العقول والقلوب والأرواح، وهي على عكس العلم الذي يصعب انتشاره لأنه يهز قواعد الإيمان الاجتماعي ويحارب النظريات اللامنطقية التي تؤمن بها الشعوب فهو كالدين حديث العهد وكالثروة الفتية يصعب على الناس اتباعهم ولو عرفوا مدى صدقهم وقوة حجتهم، لكن يبقى للناس أن يبقوا في جهلهم الهادئ لأنه الطريق الأسهل وليس لأنه الصحيح.إ

I am always a student

Medicine is a life long learning process, it is the only place where you really can't say I got enough of learning, the only place you never find yourself in point where you know everything. simply it is impossible. 

As a medical student, or resident, or even a professor you should never feel that you know it all. If it happens to feel so you should take a step back and take a look at yourself, reconsider your thoughts. Cause feeling so means only one thing you are on the wrong page of the book. 

It is ok to feel confident but between confidence and ego is one thin line that can easily get broken. 

The difference is that when you are confident about your knowledge you will be always open for a new perspective, open to say that I don't know. Know that it is nothing shameful about not knowing. 

A medical worker is someone who is learning as long as the person is alive, the moment the worker says I want to learn no more is practically dead. 

You should keep yourself motivated to learn and work, any other field has the luxury of stop practicing the moment the worker leaves the office, for medicine, it isn’t the case. You are a doctor in your school, at the office, in the street, at a bus, on an airplane, you are always a doctor wearing your white coat or not, having your stethoscope in your bucket or leaving it home. You are always a doctor, and you should always learn, read and study. 

You should be always ready.