The doc's blog.

Changing world

2011-05-13T13:58:00.000-07:00

World is changing, moving faster than it rotates or revolves.

The obsession with technology:

- How do you tell your friend who lives 2 states away you were coming to see him tomorrow, 12 years ago?

- Log on to your internet, no social networks. How long would you last before you get frigging bored?

- Go to library to get your info. Not google or all those online stuffs, a real library with dusty books.

- Discard your ATMs, go queue in the banks, all the time.

I cannot remember what life was like before all these stuffs came to be. Talk about shortness of memory.

Random question.

2011-04-19T07:12:00.000-07:00

OK, maybe not totally random. It pops to my head anytime I feel sleepy.

Like now.

Human beings, awake creatures that sleep once in a while

Sleeping creatures that wake once in a while?

Figuratively, when you are awake you are productive. Asleep you are not.

The answer to this question will determine whether it is extraordinary to be awake or asleep.

Uh? Let's answer the question.

Election fever

2011-03-21T04:48:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone.

If you are a Nigerian and you can read this, then you must surely know that elections are close by. It's been 12 straight years of democracy and I must confess that the interest by the public has never been higher. The future is definitely bright for us.

Gone are those days when the average Nigerian sits in his house and says it does not matter who he votes for because who will win will win. Now it's RSVP - Register (check); Select (mostly check); Vote (coming up); Protect (our responsibility).

My blog post is based on the protect part.

INEC has confirmed that a modification of the open ballot system used during the 1993 elections will be used at the polls in 2011. This means you get accredited first, then on completion of accreditation, voting starts as each of the accredited voters would have the chance to secretly make their choices in the open view of everyone . At the end, the votes will be counted and results announced there and then, making sure the number of votes does not exceed the number of accredited voters. This way, everybody can be counted and accounted for.

A very good friend of mine designed a simple website which serves as a medium for independent collation and monitoring of election results. The aim is to gather as many volunteers as possible to monitor the varioous polling booths and upload the election results at their stations as it is announced. This will give everyone an indication to our the election is going and hence protect our votes.

We all pray to God to give us a better Nigeria, this is our own part to play.

Click here to volunteer to be a monitor (Referral: aibet2000@yahoo.com or makville@yahoo.co.uk)

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Worst song ever?

2011-03-20T05:14:00.000-07:00

Twitter is a crazy network, a useful one at that. Can turn you into a star, overnight. I am not here to talk about twitter sha. Not today.

There has been this fuzz over a certain 13-year old Rebecca Black who has received over 29 million views for her music video 'Friday' uploaded on Youtube. The song has received a lot of reviews most of which are negative. Some have tagged it the worst song ever! She has trended for close to a week on Twitter now and to quote a tweet: 'We don't hate Rebecca Black because she is trending, Rebecca Black is trending because we hate her.'

I decided to add one to the views of the video and I saw that even though the video was not cool, it was not as bad as people painted.

Maybe that's due to the fact that I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, but I think it is more because I have seen worse.

I stumbled on a video by a certain guy on facebook. I think that is the worst song in the world. I would like to share the torture with everyone. So 'enjoy'.

Warning:

If you have suicidal tendencies, don't watch. It might activate that potential.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3y1WNX8XLc

My See Rees Countdown

2011-03-15T16:09:00.000-07:00

I am not a huge fan of TV series. I believe most of them are almost never-ending and boring. Also, my screen-staring stamina is not very impressive...you can ask Lord of the Rings trilogy.

However, some series stand out for me and has been worth every sleepless nights, every forced fasting and every books left unread because of them. I'll start from number 10, enjoy.

10. Heroes

This is to make up the numbers really because I totally switched off after the first season. Good concept but way too many characters in my opinion. Some of my friends would probably kill me for that review. Save the cheerleader, save the world...maybe I'll understand what that means tomorrow. Hiro Nakamura was my favorite character by the way.

9. Smallville

My former roomies can testify to this...when you start to hear the song, 'Somebody saaaaaave me', you know I'm at it again. Nice story, got tired however at about the 5th season. I was wondering what Clark Kent was aiming for, or were we just being sentenced to staring at his day-to-day life? He should also find a solution to his Kryptonite problem, it's annoying. My brother is still a huge fan of the show.

8. Grey's Anatomy

A medical series, at least in part. Started with the stories of some interns and the progress they made from day to day. The drama was interesting and they ended up with almost all the imaginable permutations of sleeping together. I got bored when they decided to fade out my favorite characters: George O'Malley and Preston Burke. I still watch it once in a while, but that's when the other seven series yet to be reviewed are not available.

7. The Simpsons

Lolol! This crazy series is the king of parodies. The family is dysfunctional and guaranteed to crack you up. I watched the first 2 seasons and I loved it. The first time I saw an episode was in 2005 in a friend's room, I cannot remember the last time I laughed that hard. But can anybody be as dumb as Homer?

6. How I met your mother

This series which is supposed to give an unsolicited narration of how the title character (Ted) met his wife to his children is one of the funniest things on earth. From the antics of the lively Barney Stinson to the hilarious banter between Ted and Marshall and then Marshall and Lily then Ted and Robin, there's the making of a great show. I'm still waiting to hear how he met their mother though. I also love the flashbacks and flashfronts. It's legen...wait for it...dary!

5. Scrubs

Hahahahahaha! Very unserious doctors. If only that were real. They do crack me up really. JD's imaginations; Perry's sarcasm; Turk's dance; the Todd's persona among others. Great series for me, anyday! I love the soundtracks too...have them all.

4. Boston Legal

Gee...these lawyers are not normal one bit! One is always shouting his name to himself, he's got a male friend who is almost like his wife. The cast is completed by various lawyers and paralegals each with their own degrees of craze - cue Edwin Poole on 'Casual Monday'. I like the atypical way they win their cases, and the hilarious vacations they go on...and the theme music. Finally, Denny Crane!

3. House MD

This show which centres around a limping, pill-popping, emotionless, jackass, bad-mouthed, misanthropic, sarcastic, genius doctor and his team, colleagues and Cuddy is one of my favorite show. Unlike Grey's Anatomy, it is actuallly more medical. Case after case, the way they solve the mysteries and the puzzles, it's phenomenal. I still prefer when the team was Chase, Cameron and Foreman though. Boy, does he like to torment Cuddy?

2. 24

High powered, adrenaline pumping series. Jack Bauer at the center. My roommates and I were arduous fans of this show in my last 2 years in school. We saw it with speakers blazing, we applauded all the JB moves, we dodged bullets with Jack and we all had the CTU ringtone as our ringtone. I remember toward our 5th year professional exams, we got a new season of the series and had to throw it on the cupboard, behind the big travelling bags so that we could read for exams instead! Ended at Season 7, I miss that show. My girlfriend loves it too!

1. F.R.I.E.N.D.S

Friends is a show about six friends, none above the other. A 10-season classic complete with humor, drama, adventure and even mild action! I love this show, more than anything on screen. I have the whole 10 seasons on my computer and I've seen it up to 9 times! I can act it along with them. Not one day passes without me thinking about Friends. I'm obsessed. Hahahahaha. My favorite character, Chandler! He makes sarcasm cool.

That's my top 10 in a nutshell, not that I've seen any other series apart from those ten...don't judge me.

Ok, I need to pee, bye.

Who is a doctor?

2011-02-19T07:38:00.000-08:00

What a question! Of course a doctor is someone who has gone to medical school and treats sick people. They also use all these big words that nobody knows. They are mostly hardened, treating every patient as a case rather than a person...or someone with honorary doctorate or PhD.

Hm, good definition, albeit rather flawed. Let's examine it for a minute.

According to World Health Organization (WHO), health is a state of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well-being and not merely the absence of disease or illness.

This means a deficiency in any of the above means an unhealthy person.

Simply put now, I'm thinking a doctor should be one whose job is to restore unhealthy people to full health eh?

I'm going to ask again, who is a doctor?

Can it be a physician, surgeon, psychiatrist and all those people that went to medical school?

Most definitely! They, in this case, me and them, all have a role to play in the four areas of well-being. If you only take care of the first part, then you have not done the best. No wonder some of our patients keep coming back with bizarre complaints. Of course, the more they come back, the more money we get eh? But let's remember, it's about healing not making money (tongue in cheek), so the more needs we meet, the more the satisfaction we gain.

I would like to meet my patient on the road and hear him say 'Doctor, thanks a lot. I feel okay now' rather than 'Doctor, the drugs worked at first but now I need to come and see you for the same complaints'.

Can a doctor be your partner, your family member, your friend, colleague, your pastor?

I like to think so! At one point in time or another, these people have contributed towards your well-being in the aforementioned categories.

Your parents put you through school (mental); your spouse has cooked you a big meal and shown you some love (physical, emotional); your pastor has just spoken some words of comfort to you (spiritual); even a smile from a stranger at times or a compliment.

I guess WHO did not know the implication of their definition of health. They have just made everyone a potential doctor!

So what do I have above all these other people? I know some of those big medical terms!

On a tangential note, how come 'doctored' is a negative word?

I'm going to end with this, your health and that of others around you is your responsibility. Always be willing to play doctor - but know your limits!

- Dr B. Arabambi, MBBS.

What is wrong with Valentine's day?

2011-02-12T23:43:00.000-08:00

February 14th, a date that is one of the most popular in the year. Maybe second only to Christmas and New year's day. A day that bears different meanings to different people. A day that has been a victim of criticism by many - mostly the guys, and some opinionated girls. A day that has inspired a lot of jokes, some albeit hilarious.

Because I like jokes and a good laugh, I would give a few examples of puns I've seen and heard about the day.

- Boys always try to breakup with their girlfriends and then make up on 15th of February

- Girls do not get angry before that day no matter how hard their boyfriends try to annoy them

- Valentine's day should be shifted to March 1st, for the sake of salary earners

- 'Toasting' reduces drastically around this period...and so on

The day in itself stems from history, like so many other special days. Many would argue that there were many people named St. Valentine and that what they did has been doctored and twisted, sometimes due to selfish reasons into what we now celebrate. My answer is, who cares?

First of all, to celebrate the valentine's day is not by force. If you don't believe in it or identify with the concept - big deal? - then don't mark it.

Second, if you want to mark the day, then do it from your heart. A man who gives his girlfriend or wife a 2011 Aston Martin, and tells his girlfriend that 'I am giving you this because today is Valentine's day and I am your boyfriend' has given less than a man who gives his girlfriend a pair of shoes and says 'I am giving you this as a token of my love for you, and to celebrate what we have because with you, everyday is special'. Of course, the materialistic girl, who has no love for her beau would prefer the former...but that's not what Valentine's day is about. That's just gold-digging.

All I'm saying now is that to really know you are celebrating Valentine's day with the right person, you have to want to do that everyday. You want to take them out, whisper in their ears how much you love them, hold them in your hands, feel their heartbeats with your ears and not once would you think any of these is unnecessary burden.

In some settings, people pick names randomly to decide who would be whose 'Valentine' and there is exchange of gifts and cards. This promotes camaraderie, which is totally wrong - sarcasm intended. It is not wrong, in fact, it is great - for those who don't understand sarcasm.

On a lighter note - A baby with a bow and arrow? That's just cute.

I'll end my story by saying, if you have that partner that you claim to love, and you decide because you want to be different, not to acknowledge February 14 with them, you are on your own. Don't say I did not tell you. Love is a verb. Love is a doing word.

Peace...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine's_Day

I know kung-fu!

2011-01-15T05:58:00.000-08:00

First I must say that what you are about to read may not make a lot of sense to you. It doesn't make much sense to me either. All the best!

Every little boy, well, the 'normal' ones love action flicks. The movies with a lot of 'Kpishauns' and 'Gbish, gbish, gbish!'. In other words, shooting (guns, not bad grammar) and fighting.

When I was 'littler', I wanted to be like Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Jackie Chan and all those other guys that can kick the butts of hundreds of bad guys at the same time using only their left hand. Yes, they were that good. They kick with their HANDS. This was not peculiar to me in any way. It was a shared dream. All my friends and classmates dreamed that dream too, even though we couldn't pronounce the names properly, we still wanted to be Bu Slim, Jet Link and Jacking Shan!

There was a time I attempted to do a hand-stand in school as a show-off to all my friends who had no kung-fu talents. I was successful, for only about 1 x 10^(-6) seconds. The ones who were slow in looking only saw the concluding part of the move, the part where my 'bumbum' hit the hard floor. The even slower ones caught only the part where the floodgates opened and tears rolled, for me, by me.

I look back at days like that and I laugh. The 6-year old boy inside of me still desires those things and comes to the surface once in a while. I want to be able to jump from one building top to another, I want to be able to stand on a tree branch on only my left foot while assuming a Shaolin monk stance. I want to be able to kick an enemy in the head with my descending foot while doing a full front somersault. I have on a few occasions kicked the person nearest to me while sleeping, more often than not, my brother, while I was doing some serious martial art stunts in Remland, the land of dreams.

It is like that in real life, we have got different dreams, different aspirations at different times. Then comes 'reality' with it's famous limitations.

Now, I could have been a kung-fu ninja, if I had gone to one of those Shaolin temples in China. If reality hadn't told me that would be crazy. Not that I still want to be one, I don't think I will ever be able to restrict the use of my skills to just defense anyway. I'm just saying if I wanted to be, I could have, by just going the length to do what is required.

Next time you wake up and you exclaim, 'I know kung-fu!' and reality tells you, 'For the last time, no you don't!', tell reality 'Shut up! What do you know?' Find the nearest tree, climb to the top and do your Shaolin monk stance on the thinnest tree branch, because you can!

Wataaaaaaaaa!

Do re mi fa so la ti doh...

2011-01-04T13:35:00.000-08:00

One of the hardest questions anyone can ask me is 'What genre of music do you like?'

To me, music is a part of my life. Either it's playing on my laptop, TV, phone, guitar or in my head/mouth - sometimes in more than one of those places at the same time.

What do I love about music? It's everything. Yeah, from the concept to the lyrics to the beats to progression and the weirdness. Some years ago, a friend was looking at my favorite playlist which I tagged 'Aibet' and he concluded I was very weird. This was because the whole playlist was a potpourri. If the songs were not individually strange, the transition of the now playing track to the next one was. That's my way. Linkin Park fades into Awilo Logomba then to Kenny G. Ok, I think I see my friend's point now, it's totally weird.

To me, there's no rap, rock, makossa, pop, blues, acappella, psychedelic rock, metallica, fuji, jazz or apala. There's just music. That doesn't mean I like all the songs in the world - that's ridiculous, I don't know all the songs in the world. I don't like all the ones I know either. Just that I'm a lot open to different kinds of music.

I love music, it's like a second skin (hope that makes sense?). The lyrics of one Acappella song says 'If there were no God, there would be no music'. I totally agree. Something that beautiful must be divine. You know, like love is divine.

If you don't like or care about music, I am because of you, sitting on an elevated chair, wearing a white wig, a black robe with a wooden hammer in my hand and peering above the top of horn-rimmed spectacles resting on the tip of my nose - judging you!

So, if you are looking to ask me the hardest question in the world, then you know what to do.

What do you think about music?

Stuck on you...

2010-12-31T14:09:00.001-08:00

Yeah...I do sing.

This little track is a reflection of what I strive towards in my relationship with Christ.

"And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it." (Luke 9:23, 24)

Stuck on You - Aibet | Upload Music
Everywhere I go it's all different place

Everyone I see it's all different face

Every road I trek it's all different ways

Every man I see it's all different clays

There's only one thing that never will change

Even in this world that is like a stage

Going through this life like the pages of a book

Be sure there is One always taking a look

As for me, I'll never give up

As for me, I'll always give thanks

As for me, I'll ever be at ease

'Cos He's put this sweet song in my mouth

Stuck on You - Aibet | Upload Music

It was Your love that saved me when I was dying

It was Your grace that gave me the power to move on

No matter what I face I'll sing the song

No matter what it takes I'll never let go

Where ever you may go, I'll follow You

'Cos Jesus I've decided to give all away

Sometimes when I look around

Tears flow freely from my eyes

For the evil in this world still abounds

Everybody's doing things their own ways

There's only one thing I take refuge in

Even in this world where there is no gain

That Jesus died and took away my sins

Thank you Lord, the sacrifice still remains

I will hold on

I will look onto Jesus

And I will stand firm

'Cos He's put this sweet song in my mouth

It was Your love that saved me when I was dying

It was Your grace that gave me the power to move on

No matter what I face I'll sing the song

No matter what it takes I'll never let go

Where ever you may go, I'll follow You

'Cos Jesus I've decided to give all away

Thank you God.

Yay! It's xmas!

2010-12-25T00:17:00.000-08:00

...And new year in exactly one week.

I thank God, for sending us Jesus, the reason for the season.

So many things I'm grateful for this year. You know, the gift of life, good health, favour, grace, friends...and most of all, the gift of love.

Last year, in July, after I finished my internship in Lagos University Teaching Hospital, I learnt I was going to be posted to a place in Eastern Nigeria for my national service. Had to get a map to find the location of a place called Ebonyi. This was after, in the normal Nigerian spirit, I had done all I could to 'work' my posting to Osun state or somewhere in the South-West.

I went through the Elizabeth-Kubler Ross stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression and finally, acceptance. However, thank God for some wonderful friends I met there who made my stay worth the while.

Early January this year, I think 3rd to be precise, walked in the reason I'm writing this blog. Even though she had traveled in from afar, and she had this wearied look on her face from having dragged a giant and heavy (yeah, I carried it...as per gentleman) traveling bag...she was still radiant. I knew I had found someone special. Don't ask me how I knew...I just knew.

She was synonymous with perfection. The way she stood, her carriage, her elbow's carrying angle, her smile, her eyelashes, her eyebrows...her spirit...it made me understand what Michael Jackson meant by his song Speechless. For all my recent attempts at being more 'social', I couldn't come up with an intelligible conversation. I offered her part of my burger that day, when she said no, all I could think of was how nice it would be to share food and everything with her one day.

Days passed, because we lived in the same building, I was able to see her like every 2 - 4 days. Either when she goes to the well to get water, or when she comes back from work and someone needs to open the gate for her (always tried as much as possible to be that someone). Still, the most conversation I could come up with was 'Hi!', 'Long time', 'Did you travel?', 'Someone is addicted to malt' and some other lame stuff.

One sunny afternoon, while waiting for a cab to take home from work, she was already waving her hand in front of my face before I saw her. That threw me off balance. I would have loved to see her like 2 kilometres away so that I could brace myself. Yours sincerely started sweating profusely...Haha...my shirt started to stick to my body, my tie became uncomfortable, my shoes felt like furnace. A cab came and we got in for the 5-minute ride...all conversations finished in 2 minutes. I didn't even remember to be polite! It was freakishly awkward. All I could dream of was being able to talk about everything with her one day.

Fast forward to February, mid of the month...my close friends were leaving as they had completed their service. I was lonely, I needed a friend...and she was there! That Saturday saturated with sweetness, we had the longest conversation since that time I saw her first. We talked for hours...but it felt like minutes. It was a wonderful day for me.

On Valentine's day, we had a random pairing of males and females in our compound for the day...I fervently prayed for her to be mine, but fate had other plans.

We had and still have a lot in common, so it was easy for us to become closer and closer. As time went by, we started sharing everything. She started to care what I think and say about her, neighbors started teasing us, we started hanging out more. I still remember the first time we held hands...it was perfect.

I knew I had to do something. I had to tell her how I feel about her. After I had rehearsed for days, which turned into weeks...courage or opportunity letting me down many times...I finally told her. She kept me in suspense for 3 days. And then she made me the happiest and luckiest guy in the world. Since then, it has been good progress for us. She made my year, she made my life.

Every single day, I cant but thank God for her. I was short-sighted. I didn't want to go to no jungle for service. What did I know?

If you are wondering who the angel is, her name is Emenena...meaning 'my own'. She's truly Emenena.

My Numnums, I love you always. Merry Christmas.

I'll never forgive you! You deserve to SUFFER!

2010-12-09T07:09:00.001-08:00

Oh really?

Disclaimer: Do what I say, not what I do.

Did I hear you say 'Hypocrite'?...Yeah, aren't we all? At least I've got insight. Ho Ho Ho!

We are about to conclude a seminar on forgiveness as part of our weekly devotion in the mission hospital I work at. Yours sincerely is co-ordinating the program, hence the inspiration for another of my once in a green moon notes.

Before I/you go on, if you know you never get angry at anything then don't bother reading this note. You can just go 'glow-basking' in your sainthood.

For the rest of us, anger is a feeling that we experience at one time or the other, some people more often than some others. It's like a reflex reaction. The other side of the Anger-Hurt coin. It tells us something has gone wrong, a rule has been broken, feelings hurt.

Anger as an expression is not bad...it only has the potential to be. You know, when it is held on for too long or it is over-expressed. You may argue that you know how to control your anger and blah blah...but do you? Really?

Forgiveness is thinking differently about our past so that we can be content with our present and can enjoy fully, our future.

Note that I haven't said forgiveness is forgetting or suppressing the past. I did not call it avoidance or deletion. I did not call it 'not facing consequences' or 'condoning bad behaviour'. Aha! *nodding head*

Let's face facts. Events that stir up emotions are hard to forget. The more unique the emotions are, the harder the 'forgetting' process is...so what's the point eh?

What was I talking about again?

Yeah...forgiveness.

A lot of people think when you forgive, you are doing the other person a favor. If you said 'Of course!', you are not totally wrong. However, let's consider for a moment:

How many times have you slept poorly because someone made you angry and did not apologize?

How many times have you skipped your meals, screamed at your friend because someone stepped on your toes?

How many times have you spent your day with someone you did not like just because the person you like hurt you?

While you are busy having a crappy day, the offender is away and HAPPILY looking for other toes to step on. While you are busy being an insomniac, he is already annoying other people with is loud snoring and talking in his sleep.

So you see, when you sincerely forgive, you are at peace. That great smile you are known for returns. People once again want to be around you and you are able to move on with your life. Medically, your sympathetic nervous system stop to 'hypertrophy' (I couldn't resist dropping a jargon).

The highest level of anger, that dude called 'Resentment'...where you replay events that hurt you in your head and relive it like it just happened. And it gets worse every time it's played. This could go on for years and inevitably eat your whole psyche and body.

Take a young lady for example. She was sexually abused as a teenager and now she remembers that incident every time she sees a guy. From being angry at that one guy, now she resents the whole guy folk. Any slight 'pick-up' gesture is met with serious rebuttal and defensive behavior which sends the guys scampering away.

She's definitely not at peace...now tell me, who is suffering?

In all, forgiveness I think helps you more than it helps the offender. The decision to forgive is entirely dependent on you, not what the other person says, or doesn't say. Take control of your life's situations rather than letting life's situation control you. You can control your actions but not your reactions.

I've said all these things as a bored OPD doctor, not a pastor. Else I would have referred to that contract that says "And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us".

Parting question: If you were Jesus dying on that cross, would you have said 'Father forgive them..' or 'Thunder fire una...'

So you think you're a god?

2010-11-12T01:54:00.001-08:00

Doctors have been widely accused of having the 'God complex'. A doctor gets annoyed when the patient, nurse or even other doctors tell him what to do.
He is also very proud of himself rather than happy for the patient whenever he does something that saves the patient from a lot of pain or even death.
A number of things also contribute greatly to this narcissism. Things like pulling off any of the following manoeuvres:
1. The Heimlich
2. Needle thoracostomy and tracheostomy
3. Kocher's manoeuvre and dt hip dislocation reduction thing
4. Arrest of hemorrhage
5. Securin' an IV when evry1 else has failed
6. The shoulder dystocia routine
7. Removal of retained placenta
8. Relievin d patient's urinary retention
9. Removal of foreign objects esp frm d child's ear and nose
10. Ultimately, performing a successful CPR.

It really takes the grace of God to accept the 'we care, God cures' thingie. Just that at times, we are spited by the cases we face irrespective of our depth of knowledge and experience.
As I always like to tell my patient's relations when they ask me if the patient will be OK...'I can only do my best and hope for the best for the patient'.
Tagged in this note: Hippocrates (our imposed mentor)

Doc, I'd like to take the pills like you said but I just can't.

2010-11-12T01:53:00.000-08:00

Sitting at my desk at the out-patient clinic (which I hate working at by the way), there came this middle-aged man. The most striking thing about him was not his age group but the punishment he was going through trying to take each breathe.

I looked through his case file, saw that he was being treated for heart failure. His last visit was about 6 months ago, when he was given a week supply of drugs. I shook my head (in 50% judgement and 50% pity) and asked him why he stopped coming for clinic.

He told me he lived in the village and he was feeling okay then. I opened my mouth to scold him but then something struck me...

This poor man, like a chunk of my 'clients' is guilty of what we call POOR COMPLIANCE. That condition in which our first plan in treatment would be 'advise patient on good compliance'. During this 'advice', we threaten, cajole, beg and bully them into understanding why they should comply...most of the time, it doesn't work.

My point, let's flip seats for a moment. Let's get away from that doctor 'pedestal' and look at what transpires when we go to the one that can help us when we are in 'heart failure'. We go like, 'I can't breath and I feel choked by everything', 'my legs are swollen and I can hardly move forward', 'I have palpitations as I'm always afraid', 'I get tired after a little effort and I'm losing hope'. Then if the Doctor decides to look at our records, do you think He finds us compliant? When He presents our case to the Consultant, does He say, 'that one? Mschew. He's hopeless and non-compliant'?!

...back to what struck me, I realized I have been way too judgmental on these patients. I looked at the man and smiled. I told him we had to admit him so that his problems can be taken care of quickly and he can breath easy again. The issue of 'compliance' we will handle through understanding and working hand in hand. The Doctor doesn't scold me, His grace is over-sufficient for me...so why should I scold my patients?

In summary, in case you did not understand any of my jargon...God's not judgmental...that's why He told the crowd that 'let him who hath no sin, cast the first stone'. So please, if you hath no sin, stone away...