Thursday, March 21, 2013

Dr. Karimov

Zindagi bhi insaan ke sath kese kese khel khelti hai. Dhalti umar main aksar aese gul khila jaati hai ke insaan shahsdar reh jata hai.

It was my first job after residency. I was fresh with very minimal experience. One day, I admitted patient from ER with 'mental status change'. ER did CT scan of head but transferred patient to floor before results were called. I was called by Radiologist to let me know that patient has pneumocranium. Honestly, I did not make much of it. As I was making phone call to neurologist, I saw our unit janitor looking at CT scan, I uploaded on computer screen. I thought he is just curious and looking at it. As I walked to computer again, he looked at me and said: "I think, this is Tension Pneumocranium and patient may need to go to OR". His pupils were as wide as can be. He was sure of his diagnosis. I was shocked to hear those words from a janitor in hospital.

Above was my first encounter with Dr. Karimov. He came to USA from Uzbekistan. He was neurosurgeon trained in Russia. He came to USA for good future of his 4 daughters as life was getting too harsh and it was getting impossible to sustain family there. He found odd jobs in USA to support his family. With odd jobs, he tried to finish exams but didn't pass and give up on his profession. By the time I met him, he was already in his late 50s. 

2 nights ago, I met a 60 year old man at gas station who was an Orthopedic surgeon in Pakistan. As he saw my scrub, there was a sudden flash of light  in his eyes. His pupils widen.  We talked for few minutes. He reminded me of Dr. Karimov. 

I left. As I drove out of parking lot, I can't stop saying words, I promised myself never to say again: "Life is a Bitch"!

1 comment:

bsc said...

I paid part of my zakat to a surgeon who came with his wife and two children from Syria, graduated from Barcelona, speaking good Spanish but was not good in English
That is life but those are wrong decisions made by such relatively intelligent people. Just hard for me to believe but it does happen.