The impossible Old wives tales were just that, old wives tales or so I thought: my world was about to be turned up side down. I was a successful neurosurgeon based in Hammad Hospital in Doha, my life was based on life or death situations: where error was not a possibility. I always new just what I was to do and how to do it, like a conductor flawlessly conducting a symphony, so did I operate on the most delicate organ the human brain. My inspiration was my grand mother; my eyes just start filling with heart felt tears when I think of this miraculous woman: she’s the reason for my success. She was a simple woman who always knew just what to say at the right time. I remember one piece of advice she gave me just as I begun on the strenuous …show more content…
The tumor was a “Brain Stem Glioma” (Surgery is not an option, because the brain stem controls vital life functions and can easily be damaged”. I saw the hopelessness in her eyes and thought about the story my grandmother told me. I had to put hope back into this sweet little angel’s eyes. She laid there asleep on the cold slab in the operating room that smelled of a strong disinfectant chemical that pierced the nose and overwhelmed one’s sense of smell. The brain stem laid exposed; as I already separated her scull, Meninges (three membranes that envelop the brain and spinal cord). There was no turning back as I plunged the small microscope and surgical through the pink cushiony material of her brain. I saw it, the evil spirit; the Brain Stem Glioma, causing this girl to wither away just like the villagers in the story. I gently positioned my hand on the controls of the scalpel, one wrong movement of my hand and this girls life would end abruptly. I needed to conduct this blade as the orchestra master conducted his symphony; with precession. I took a deep breath, looking at the nurse before making my unchangeable move: “Ready nurse”, I said in a confident, yet shaky voice. “Ready doctor”, she replied. With a pinch of my thumb and index finger within the tight rubber gloves, I sliced the tumor and flawlessly removed the evil spirit from the little angels’ brain. She made a full recovery and hope started returning within her beautiful, blueberry bedazzling eyes. I saved her just like Umniya saved her
In Sam Kean’s The Tale of Dueling Neurosurgeons, he uses historical events to explore the brain’s many components and qualities. Exposing that several scientific advancements of the human brain are a result of some gruesome incidents and tragic stories. The title is in reference to two brain doctors from 16th century Europe, Ambroise Paré and Andreas Vesalius who were called upon after King Henri II was pierced through the eye and skull during a joust in 1559. The story is written with Kean being the narrator of the cases from the past he then follows the story with current information of the related brain structure and its functioning. The cases include strokes, seizures, infectious diseases, and traumatic accidents followed by how the victim
The more we use our brain, the “stronger” it becomes. “Scientists have found that the brain grows more when people learn something new and less when they practice things they already know” (Health & Science, n.d.). In this sense, Dr. Osteen opened up a new world for Dr. Gawande to over come his plateau and to observe his practice from another point of view apart from his usual routine surgeries. His feeling that there was nothing more to learn was merely because his practice involved the same routine and same techniques which didn’t allow for
Najjar came in with a completely different mindset then the rest of the doctors. He grew up in a small town in Syria and did very poor in the private school classroom environment (Calahan 128). No one believed in him, and even his parents lost all hope in him achieving success. They decided to have him transfer into a public school. This opened up a new mindset for Dr. Najjar and lit a spark inside of him. At his new school, a specific teacher caught interest in him and praised him for his work which raised his confidence. Dr. Najjar easily could have taken this confidence and stopped putting forth the effort needed to continue succeeding, but instead, he stayed persistent, and at the end of the school year, he came home with straight A's on his report card. His parents didn’t think this was possible and accused him of cheating. His teachers backed him up and assured his parents that he worked hard to earn his good grades. As time went on, his success continued and Najjar eventually graduated at the top of his class in medical school. He then moved to the United States where he became an esteemed neurologist and epileptologist. No one believed in Dr. Najjar growing up, so he wanted to prove a point to everyone who doubted him and he made it clear he was never going to give up on
In the book, Better by Atul Gawande, the author writes about his experience as a surgeon and his trials and deliberations along the road. The author splits up his books three ways, Part 1 is Diligence, Part 2 is Doing It Right, and Part 3 is Ingenuity. Each part takes a certain place and time in Gawande’s career. Each of the stories are breathtaking and very personal as he takes us through his eyes of what can only be described as impossible conditions and choosing the best outcome to better himself and the world.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Everything will be all right.” My doctor was there. That reassured me. I felt that in his presence, nothing serious could happen to me. Every one of his words was healing and every glance of his carried a message of hope. “It will hurt a little,” he said, “but it will pass. Be brave.” (79)
The Power of Mistakes Atul Gawande is not only our resident surgeon; he’s also a patient himself. He’s anxious before performing surgery, he dwells on mistakes, and he has emotions: he’s human and he understands us. However, he does not appear to share concerns with his patients initially. Gawande experiences a long, drawn-out development from a young medical student to the doctor he is today. This process of identifying with patients is evident in his anthology of essays, Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science.
This book (the last lecture), is filled with awe-inspiring circumstances. Of course life can come with some hurdles or challenges, but the tendency for Randy to handle his medical situation with phenomenal valor, is an outstanding qualities that shows leadership and focus on what matters to him, his family, and vision before he moved on to the next realm.
...x the problem. In today’s society, because of the advancements in the medical field, technology and the rise of professional doctors, we do not need to resort to supernatural phenomena to cure medical hardships. Doctors have the ability to fix most of our troubles through procedures such as medicine or surgery. Hence, this demonstrates how the study of history, puts human experience in context and allows us to understand ourselves as people and how much we have evolved, and will continue to evolve for centuries to come.
Many years ago there was a small boy who was woken by a loud scream. Terrified, he ran from his room to find his mother unconscious on the floor. His little sister was screaming as he pulled his mom onto her back in desperation. In reality, he didn’t know what to do to save her and his helplessness was due to his lack of knowledge. She passed away that night. That boy was me. Our past defines us no matter how we protest; it can either pull you down into failure or lift you up towards success. From then on, I was drawn to medical sciences and used that helplessness to motivate my education.
In his encounter with a young boy, Lee Tran, who suffered from a tumor compressing his airway which obstructed his ability to breathe, Gawande discusses the sheer luck that resulted in Lee’s “tumor [shifting] rightward, [allowing] airways to both lungs to open up,” as the conflicted doctors did not pursue the safest course of treatment (Gawande 6). This anecdote validates the fact that often doctors cannot foresee the optimal course of action through the smoke of crisis and relied on essentially random chance to save the young boy’s life. Gawande sums up this experience as he admits that while there is science in the profession, there also exists “habit, intuition, and sometimes plain old guessing” (Gawande 7) - rendering the science imperfect. These qualities - habit, intuition, and “plain old guessing” are not empirical qualities proven through the scientific method but rather unquantifiable, refuting the stereotypes conferred by the myth of an infallible science and revealing the medicine is ultimately a human
Almost doctors and physicians in the world have worked at a hospital, so they must know many patients’ circumstances. They have to do many medical treatments when the patients come to the emergency room. It looks like horror films with many torture scenes, and the patients have to pay for their pains. The doctors have to give the decisions for every circumstance, so they are very stressful. They just want to die instead of suffering those medical treatments. In that time, the patients’ family just believes in the doctors and tells them to do whatever they can, but the doctors just do something that 's possible. Almost patients have died after that expensive medical treatments, but the doctors still do those medical procedures. That doctors did not have enough confidence to tell the truth to the patients’ families. Other doctors have more confidence, so they explain the health condition to the patients’ families. One time, the author could not save his patient, and the patient had found another doctor to help her. That doctor decided to cut her legs, but the patient still died in fourteen days
She’s been struggling everyday of her life for the past 10 years; battling and fighting this horrible disease has made it hard on her and her family. The cancer has now metastasized, making it difficult for her to take care of everyday responsibilities and participate in daily activities. Her 13-year-old daughter is watching as her mother suffers and becomes brittle and weak.
Surprisingly, from such a high-ranked and honoured neurosurgeon to suddenly falling to a position of being someone who needed help rather than providing it is unbelievable. Paul’s emotions of regret, fear, frustration, and denial of his state resonated with me and got me questioning myself “where do my values lie at this very moment of my life?” This was a thought that constantly entered my mind. Similar to the writer, I am guilty of questioning why we have this concept of life and death, but as living in a fast-paced generation full of technological advances, we do not have time to think about what is most important to us. As a teenager born in this generation, my friends and I are incredibly oblivious to how fragile our lives can be. Living in the 21st century, we are given many privileges such as access to medical care, warm shelters, and nutritious food, yet we consistently get distracted by the appeal of our wants rather than our
Whoosh!A bed whizzed by, surrounded by about 6 medical personnel. “What’s going on?” I thought immediately with apprehension. I knew whatever was happening it was not ideal. Ensuring I was not in the way, I stood on my toes to see what demanded so much attention. To my astonishment, I saw a coin sized hot-pink little girl. She could not have been bigger than two quarters lying side by side.She was struggling! Even with all the procedures the doctors were executing to save her life, she was performing the most work.
At three in the morning, the phone rang. A trembling voice relayed the news that my friend had fallen into a coma due to an inoperable brain aneurysm. A few days later, her family decided to stop life support after confirmation that she was completely brain-dead. The fact that nothing could be done for her in this day and age, despite all our technological advancements, was a great shock to me. In addition, the fact that she was younger than me made me realize how short and precious each life truly is. Her death inspired me to pursue medicine so that one day, others in similarly hopeless situations, would have a chance to survive. My dream is that one day, I will contribute to bringing medicine one step closer to curing someone with a currently untreatable disease.