For Your Eyes Only

He walked up to me, no longer wearing the eye glasses that he had regularly worn for more than twenty years, and said, “I can see your face so clearly!”  Though still red, his eyes shone with a special sparkle – his eyes are finally free!  His smile melted into my heart, and I felt his excitement.

Masood had LASEK surgery done to correct his myopia of more than 20 years.

What is LASEK?

Laser epithelial keratomileusis (LASEK) is a laser eye surgery used to correct both nearsightedness and farsightedness (even those coupled with astigmatism).  This procedure is ideal for people who have thin corneas.

Do you qualify for LASEK?

You should be at least 21 years old, to ensure stable vision and shouldn’t have any scars in the cornea.  Masood underwent a thorough evaluation (a lot of fancy eye tests) before his doctor finally concluded that he qualifies for the procedure.

How’s LASEK done?

In case you’re wondering, a local anesthetic is used before the procedure.

What happens post-LASEK?

Masood came out of the operating room 15 minutes later (I watched the entire procedure on the TV in the waiting lounge) wearing green protective plastic caps on both his eyes.  He sat with me for about half an hour, then we were called in the doctor’s office.  Masood’s eyes were examined, we were advised on the medications and precautions, and scheduled to meet the doctor in five days.

Although the flap edge heals in 24 hours, Masood was required to wear bandage contact lenses for 5 days to protect his eyes.  Once the effect of anesthesia wore off, he began complaining about mild pain and irritation.  “It feels as if there’s something in my eyes,” he often said.

For the next four days, Masood had barely been able to open his eyes.  And when he did struggle to open them up to look at me, I saw red, teary eyes.  He wasn’t allowed to take a head bath, nor splash water on his face (specifically the eyes).  I had to bring his meals, on the bed, and feed him myself.  I had to give him three different eye drops, four times a day.

I actually enjoyed looking after him.

Our Doctor:  Syed Maaz Mohiuddin

During the healing period, there was a time when Masood actually thought for a while, “Have I done the right thing?”  I assured him that he did.

One of the reasons why I had been confident about the procedure was the fact that we had a very good corneal and refractive surgeon, Dr. Syed Maaz of the New Vision Laser Centers.  The attention and compassion, along with the confidence that reflects his knowledge and expertise in the subject, is exceptional (MashaAllah).  Sitting there in his office, it felt like we were talking to a friend.

No wonder his clinic is always packed with people waiting to rid of their eye glasses.

Dr. Maaz, thank you so much!

You may check out the website of New Vision Laser Centers if you’re interested to have the procedure done in India, or may contact Dr. Maaz himself at +9140 66364808 between 3 to 6 pm local time.

A month after LASEK:

“I don’t understand how people manage to wear eye glasses,”  Masood teases a colleague of ours.

He still instills eye drops regularly, and will continue doing so for a couple more months.  His vision is as normal as mine now, Alhumdulillah.  And he proudly wears his Ray Ban sunglasses (which he bought last year and loves so much but couldn’t wear because of myopia).

Of Cough and its Remedies

“I remember older women in the Philippines extract juice from mint leaves by pounding them in mortal and pestle,”  I was telling Masood this morning, “just a tablespoon of the juice might do;  there’s no harm in trying that.”  He coughed – placing a hand on his chest, as it hurt each time his congested lungs tried to expel the foreign particles – and said, “But I’m not a Filipino and there’s no old woman here.”  I knew he was making excuses, hence I replied, “But we all have the same lungs.”

“Your grandmother used to dissolve salt in warm water and have us drink that,” his Mom suggested.  Masood also rejected that idea, saying, “Salty water is for gargling, not drinking.”

“Mix a teaspoonful of honey in a glass of warm water and add a few drops of honey.  I used to make you all drink that when you were little,”  said my Mom.  Masood agreed to this sweet remedy, as opposed to the bitter and salty ones suggested earlier.

You see, Masood has been having dry cough for the past 3 days and has been febrile all day yesterday.  Personally, I don’t believe in giving cough medicines right away, primarily because coughing clears our airways.   We should allow our body to work on its own.  There are exceptions, of course, for which you should go see your doctor.

Speaking of doctors, I noticed that most physicians here prescribe the antibiotic, Augmentin, for a lot of illnesses:  common respiratory tract infections, toothache, minor ear pain, joint pains, diarrhea, and even fever!  Antibiotics will cure ONLY the infections caused by bacteria.

Anyway, so Masood is drinking the honey-water and taking steam inhalations, which has helped loosen up the thick mucus.  And I also gave him Panadol, my favorite antipyretic drug.  He feels much better now, alhumdulillah.

Writing this post also reminded me of Sumaiya, Masood’s 10-year-old cousin in Mumbai.  She once offered to apply some cream for a mosquito bite on my arm.  Before she smeared the cream on my arm, she whispered, “Allah shifa de.”  (May Allah heal).

Her sweet gesture made me think on how we often forget that Allah is the Healer.  We sometimes put a little too much faith in our doctors and their prescribed medications, momentarily forgetting to seek His help to cure our illnesses.  So before we pop in that pill into our mouth, let us seek His blessings to heal us.

Narrated Abu Huraira:  Prophet Mohammed (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said, “There is no disease that Allah has created, except that He also has created its treatment.” [Sahi Bukhari: Volume 7, Book 72, Number 582]

The Story of Baby Girl

The tiny, delicate chest moved up and down to the rhythm of the oxygen being pumped into its premature lungs.  No, not just the chest;  even the abdomen rose and fell as we helped this new life struggle to stay alive.  She was a fighter, not willing to give up to death lurking very close to her feeble body.

Baby Girl was born prematurely at 22 weeks in June 2004.  I was an intern at the Department of Pediatrics in a public hospital, where there were 38 premature infants, who needed intensive care, and only 20 incubators to help them survive.  She was rushed in from the emergency room at 6 pm, accompanied by her anxious grandmother.

The resident doctor on duty rushed to examine the newly arrived baby, and looked at me.  She need not utter the words to me, for I had been with her long enough to understand what had she wanted to say:  this baby is not going to make it.

There wasn’t a spare incubator for this baby and the family couldn’t afford one at a private hospital.  So we gently laid this fragile life in a cot and turned on a lamp close to her body to give her heat.  We took her vitals.   Blood tests and a chest x-ray were taken, as she endured it all silently.

She remained quiet as we placed a tube down her delicate throat.  It was through this tube that oxygen was being delivered into her lungs.  The doctor gave her an artificial surfactant, a crucial substance that keeps the tiny air sacs in the lungs open.  Her own lungs had barely started to produce surfactant, when she had been forced to leave the comforts of her mother’s womb.  A device on her finger showed us the oxygen concentration in her blood – it was very low.  Her grandmother looked in with tears in her eyes, though she fought hard to conceal them from Baby Girl.

“We’re at the hospital,” Baby Girl’s grandmother said, answering a phone call, “Come here as soon as you can.”

“That was my husband.  He still doesn’t know about this baby.”  Then,  she told me the entire story.

Ana (not her real name) was a 16-year-old, honor student.  She was the youngest and the only girl among four siblings.  Life was going smoothly for her, until she got pregnant by her 17-year-old boyfriend.  When she broke the news to him, he left her.  Being pregnant, ashamed and not knowing what to do, Ana decided to abort the baby.  She took some pills during the fifth month of gestation to rid of the life growing inside her.  None of her family members knew she was pregnant, not even her mother, who would later feel the most guilt in this entire ordeal.

One afternoon while doing laundry, Ana felt the painful uterine contraction for the first time.  She had been anticipating this pain;  she had been waiting for the pills to finally free her from this mess she had gotten into.  So she worked extra hard with the laundry, making sure her body exhausted itself to the point of bleeding.  And when she did bleed, it frightened her.  Ana thought that the pills will make her bleed a little, there will be painful cramping, a blood clot will pass out of her, and that’s it – her problem’s over.  But she panicked when the bleeding wouldn’t stop and the contractions got unbearably painful.

Ana cried out to her mother and that’s when she had to finally confess the truth.  Everyone else was out at work, so Ana’s mother hailed a cab and rushed to the hospital.  Baby Girl was born in the cab.  Ana was admitted in the OB-Gyn department, while Baby Girl was brought to us.

“She hasn’t looked at the baby yet,”  Baby Girl’s grandmother told me.  “How could I have not noticed that my daughter was pregnant?  I am such a failure.”  I remained quiet, not knowing how to express myself appropriately.   I felt her pain too.

A while later, the resident doctor came in with Baby Girl’s x-ray report:  hyaline membrane disease.  Her lungs were too premature to function normally.  The doctor suggested to wheel in Ana so she could hold the baby.  But when her wheelchair was finally parked near Baby Girl’s cot, Ana turned her face away.

“She’s your own flesh and blood, for God’s sake!”  cried Ana’s mother, “Hold her in your arms while she’s still alive. Don’t you want to apologize to her.  Just look at what you’ve done.”

Tears started to trickle down Ana’s face, yet she stubbornly refused to look at her baby.  “Please take me away,” she told the nurse.

“Ana,” her mother was almost pleading, “don’t you even want to see how pretty your daughter looks?  Her eyes search for you.”

“Please take me back to my room.”  Ana was wheeled back to her room.

Not long after, Baby Girl started to turn blue.  She was slipping away, fast.  And by the time her grandfather arrived, shocked, the doctors decided that it was time to end the resuscitation efforts.

Baby Girl’s grandfather rushed out and returned with some clothes for her.  He kissed her forehead gently, held her tiny finger and whispered in her ears, “We love you so much.  I’m sorry for what your mother has done.  If only we knew, your grandmother and I would never have let this happen to you.  You’ll always be our special baby, no matter what.  We know you’re a brave girl.  Go to heaven, my love, for you’re too pure for this world.  I love you.”

Baby Girl’s grandparents held hands and looked on with tears in their eyes, as the doctors finally removed the tube and wrapped her up.  After completing the necessary paperwork, they took Baby Girl’s body home.

“The death of a baby is like a stone cast into the stillness of a quiet pool;  the concentric ripples of despair sweep out in all directions, affecting many, many people.” De Frain, 1991

(Photos taken from Google images)

Do You Suffer From Internet Addiction Disorder?

The Internet Addiction Disorder or IAD was identified or named sometime in 1999. The research methodology has been weak, and therefore this particular disorder hasn’t seem to make it in the official guidebooks of mental disorders. Mental health professionals, however, recognizing the very obvious symptoms of internet addiction, classified it as an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

Internet addiction is not simply an urge; it manifests itself as a craving.

Four distinct symptoms:

1. Withdrawal, associated with sense of anger or depression when user can not use the computer.

2. Constant need for better equipment.

3. Social isolation

4. Fatigue

Curious, I took an online Internet Addiction Test here.

My result:

32 points: You are an average on-line user. You may surf the Web a bit too long at times, but you have control over your usage.

Thank goodness!

So, what’s your score?

PS. You might want to try Laila’s Twelve Step Internet Recovery Program here.

Avoid The Snack Trap

Stressed spelled backward is desserts.

source

Both men and women consume more high-fat, high-sugar snacks when they’re feeling overwhelmed by daily hassles, especially those related to work, according to a recent study in Health Psychology.

Elisa Zied, a registered dietitian gives us these tips to avoid the snack trap:

Pop a strong mint or breath strip in your mouth or rinse with mouthwash to help yourself resist the urge to snack.

When you’re feeling tense, do something that does not involve food, like taking a walk, calling a friend, or listening to music.

Pay attention to how much you are eating. Eat snacks only when you’re sitting at a table. Turn off the TV and computer monitor, and don’t talk on the phone while eating. Eliminating distractions will help you feel more satisfied more quickly and curb your intake.

Make sure you snack only when you’re hungry — not when you’re bored, or lured by the sight and smell of tempting food. This is especially important if you are overweight and if your snack choices are high in calories, sugar or fat.

Before you dive into that snack bag, read the nutrition label for calorie load. Portion out one serving into a small baggie or on a small plate (one bag doesn’t necessarily mean one portion). If there’s a type of goodie that you tend to overeat, don’t keep it in the house. Buy a single serving if possible and make it a once-in-a-while treat.

If you have one can of sugary soda, that counts as 150 calories, the same amount you’d find in three small cookies or six Hershey kisses. Try substituting flavored sparkling water for soda. And when you choose caloric beverages, stick to the smallest cup, can and bottle size to limit how much you consume.