Sunday, 22 September 2013
Dinner at Diana's
Saturday, 21 September 2013
Sheikh Faisal Museum
While walking around the Sheikh Faisal Museum today, I was trying to come up with adjectives to describe the odd assortment of artifacts and objects housed in what is essentially several giant warehouses out in the middle of the desert. "Eclectic" doesn't even come close. The museum is the personal collection of Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani, the former ruler of Qatar who recently stepped down to let his son take over. Over the years he has acquired an extensive collection that focuses on Qatari culture and Islamic history, and he's still collecting so sometimes new artifacts will just appear in the museum. The museum is MASSIVE! Walk to the end of one great hall and another one begins. The walls are adorned with photographs, drawings and paintings that reflect a range of styles. Also included are a full-sized Bedouin tent, dozens of antique cars, replica of a traditional Qatari home and a vast collection of weapons from around the world. Getting to the museum is half the battle as the directions we read said something like "20 km past Education City and near the three dead olive trees" ??
Oh yes, there they are!
Once inside, the museum is actually a series of enormous halls full of stuff. There doesn't seem to be an order to the way things are displayed.
Personal photographs are grouped in the same room as ancient weapons
And stuffed falcons
A photograph of Sheikh Faisal next to some antique furniture. There was a lot of antique furniture at the museum!
One room was full of old Korans, some as old as 400 years!
A 12th-century Egyptian bowl
And a plane, of course
A glass case full of model cars, still in their original boxes
The boat room
A family gathering, Qatari style
??
Oh yes, there they are!
Once inside, the museum is actually a series of enormous halls full of stuff. There doesn't seem to be an order to the way things are displayed.
Personal photographs are grouped in the same room as ancient weapons
A photograph of Sheikh Faisal next to some antique furniture. There was a lot of antique furniture at the museum!
One room was full of old Korans, some as old as 400 years!
And a plane, of course
A glass case full of model cars, still in their original boxes
The boat room
??
That's the end of that
I'm not even joking.....
The staff on the unit ordered Indian food for my last shift (note: this is just a photo from the Internet). I arrived a few minutes early yesterday and put out some cookies and chips that I bought for the staff in the nurse's lounge, my way of thanking them for the last 10 weeks. From my perch at one end of the unit I could see a steady stream of purple uniforms going in and out of the nurse's lounge. And when I went in an hour later to check on the status of the cookies, half were gone. Conclusion: nurses here can also be won over with a few trays of baked goods as evidenced by the fact that every single nurse I passed on the unit yesterday thanked me for the treats as I walked by. The cookies definitely put everyone in a good mood!
I said goodbye to Souyma and thanked her for her patience and for everything I had learned on the unit. She really is a wonderful nurse and I'm so lucky to have been paired up with her. I said goodbye to a few of the friends I had met there. I'm still planning on meeting a few of my lunch buddies: Adrian, Rose and Joy, for dinner tomorrow evening and I hope we stay in touch afterwards.
A photographer from the U of C came to the hospital on the previous day and took a bunch of pictures of us with our preceptors so I'm hoping to post some of those next week.
The staff on the unit ordered Indian food for my last shift (note: this is just a photo from the Internet). I arrived a few minutes early yesterday and put out some cookies and chips that I bought for the staff in the nurse's lounge, my way of thanking them for the last 10 weeks. From my perch at one end of the unit I could see a steady stream of purple uniforms going in and out of the nurse's lounge. And when I went in an hour later to check on the status of the cookies, half were gone. Conclusion: nurses here can also be won over with a few trays of baked goods as evidenced by the fact that every single nurse I passed on the unit yesterday thanked me for the treats as I walked by. The cookies definitely put everyone in a good mood!
I said goodbye to Souyma and thanked her for her patience and for everything I had learned on the unit. She really is a wonderful nurse and I'm so lucky to have been paired up with her. I said goodbye to a few of the friends I had met there. I'm still planning on meeting a few of my lunch buddies: Adrian, Rose and Joy, for dinner tomorrow evening and I hope we stay in touch afterwards.
A photographer from the U of C came to the hospital on the previous day and took a bunch of pictures of us with our preceptors so I'm hoping to post some of those next week.
Thursday, 19 September 2013
Second last hospital shift
Oh no....this is starting to become a habit...
A delicious, spicy, grilled chicken-and-bread-habit mmmmmmm. I thought it was someone's birthday again but no, one of the male nurses passed his driver's test and wanted to celebrate by bringing food in for the staff. And that's not all! People bring in food for anniversaries and children's birthdays too.
I could really get used to this....
I was going to walk home after clinical today but that didn't happen. Hey, it was hot! It's now 11 p.m and it's still 32 degrees with 75% humidity. Both Tanis and Natalia are finished their hospital shifts and Laura and I have our last shift tomorrow evening. I can hardly believe the time has gone by so quickly.
As I walked by my patient's room, I could hear her son softly singing this beautiful song in Arabic to his mother. I was reminded of something I learned at the talk I attended on the hajj about the important role that mothers play in Islam. Children are raised to honour, respect and obey their parents, but especially their mothers. When the son left a few minutes later, he left a CD playing in his mother's room, again it was a man's voice, singing softly in Arabic.
Here is a photo of the three of us (Laura is at the Women's Hospital). Notice all the papers almost falling out of my pocket. I'm prepared for anything!!!! I'm also thinking: "oh you guys have your stethoscopes and I don't, dang! Let me just run upstairs...no...ok..we're doing this...ok SMILE!"
A delicious, spicy, grilled chicken-and-bread-habit mmmmmmm. I thought it was someone's birthday again but no, one of the male nurses passed his driver's test and wanted to celebrate by bringing food in for the staff. And that's not all! People bring in food for anniversaries and children's birthdays too.
I could really get used to this....
I was going to walk home after clinical today but that didn't happen. Hey, it was hot! It's now 11 p.m and it's still 32 degrees with 75% humidity. Both Tanis and Natalia are finished their hospital shifts and Laura and I have our last shift tomorrow evening. I can hardly believe the time has gone by so quickly.
As I walked by my patient's room, I could hear her son softly singing this beautiful song in Arabic to his mother. I was reminded of something I learned at the talk I attended on the hajj about the important role that mothers play in Islam. Children are raised to honour, respect and obey their parents, but especially their mothers. When the son left a few minutes later, he left a CD playing in his mother's room, again it was a man's voice, singing softly in Arabic.
Here is a photo of the three of us (Laura is at the Women's Hospital). Notice all the papers almost falling out of my pocket. I'm prepared for anything!!!! I'm also thinking: "oh you guys have your stethoscopes and I don't, dang! Let me just run upstairs...no...ok..we're doing this...ok SMILE!"
Wednesday, 18 September 2013
The Hajj
We attended a "Coffee Morning" at the Islamic Cultural Centre yesterday, a once-monthly event for women that focuses on an aspect of Qatari culture. The Hajj refers to one of the five pillars of Islam. Specifically it refers to the journey to Makkah (to Mecca) that all Islams are required to make at least once during their lifetime if they are able and only if they are free of debt. The other four pillars are:
Shadadah: declaring that there is no god except God and Muhammad, God's messenger
Salah: praying five times a day
Sawn: fasting during the month of Ramadan
Zakat: giving 2.5% of one's earnings to the poor
Yesterday's talk was very interesting. The speaker, a Qatari woman, has done the hajj four times during her lifetime. She was joined by a woman originally from Tennessee who converted to Islam when she was 20 and has also completed the hajj. For Muslims, two of the holiest pilgrimage sites, Mecca and Medina and located in Saudi Arabia, the country where Islam was revealed. The third pilgrimage site is in Jerusalem.
Making the pilgrimage to Mecca used to be done by overland caravan and it could take people their entire lives to get there. We heard the story of one man who left for Mecca as a single man and arrived a married man of seven. Another man started the journey to Mecca as a child and completed it during his 70s. Muslims who complete the journey to Mecca have earned the right to be known as hajji (male) or hajjia (female) and it's not uncommon to see art work displayed on the homes of those who have recently completed the journey.
So important is the journey to Makkah, there is a channel on TV here that broadcasts a live image of the mosque there 24 hours a day.
The black box in the centre of the mosque is a one-room building of worship called the Ka'aba and while Muslims don't worship the box itself it is the focal point of Muslim prayer. It is believed by Muslims to be the first house of monotheistic worship in the world and dates back over 1,000 years.
When Muslims pray five times a day they must always pray toward the Ka-aba. Hotels and prayer rooms here will have signs telling people in which direction to pray, and of course nowadays there is also an app for your phone. The mosque in Makkah is the only mosque in the world where Muslims pray inward.
When making the hajj, clothing plays a very important role. Muslims must shed all signs of wealth and rank and enter a state of purity where everyone is an equal. Men wear a simple white garment and women wear a simple dress. Once in Makkah, there are many rituals that are performed as part of the Hajj but they are too numerous to mention here.
Due to the large number of Muslims in the world, Saudia Arabia restricts the number of visitors who are granted Hajj visas. Last year, only 500 people from Qatar were able to go.
Shadadah: declaring that there is no god except God and Muhammad, God's messenger
Salah: praying five times a day
Sawn: fasting during the month of Ramadan
Zakat: giving 2.5% of one's earnings to the poor
Yesterday's talk was very interesting. The speaker, a Qatari woman, has done the hajj four times during her lifetime. She was joined by a woman originally from Tennessee who converted to Islam when she was 20 and has also completed the hajj. For Muslims, two of the holiest pilgrimage sites, Mecca and Medina and located in Saudi Arabia, the country where Islam was revealed. The third pilgrimage site is in Jerusalem.
Making the pilgrimage to Mecca used to be done by overland caravan and it could take people their entire lives to get there. We heard the story of one man who left for Mecca as a single man and arrived a married man of seven. Another man started the journey to Mecca as a child and completed it during his 70s. Muslims who complete the journey to Mecca have earned the right to be known as hajji (male) or hajjia (female) and it's not uncommon to see art work displayed on the homes of those who have recently completed the journey.
So important is the journey to Makkah, there is a channel on TV here that broadcasts a live image of the mosque there 24 hours a day.
The black box in the centre of the mosque is a one-room building of worship called the Ka'aba and while Muslims don't worship the box itself it is the focal point of Muslim prayer. It is believed by Muslims to be the first house of monotheistic worship in the world and dates back over 1,000 years.
When Muslims pray five times a day they must always pray toward the Ka-aba. Hotels and prayer rooms here will have signs telling people in which direction to pray, and of course nowadays there is also an app for your phone. The mosque in Makkah is the only mosque in the world where Muslims pray inward.
When making the hajj, clothing plays a very important role. Muslims must shed all signs of wealth and rank and enter a state of purity where everyone is an equal. Men wear a simple white garment and women wear a simple dress. Once in Makkah, there are many rituals that are performed as part of the Hajj but they are too numerous to mention here.
Due to the large number of Muslims in the world, Saudia Arabia restricts the number of visitors who are granted Hajj visas. Last year, only 500 people from Qatar were able to go.
Tuesday, 17 September 2013
Today I felt like a nurse
It was somebody's birthday on the unit today which means this was the sight that greeted me when I went into the nurse's lounge during my break (apologies to my leftover spaghetti, still in the fridge).
I learned the food is from a place called Maramara Istanbul Restaurant, really close to our apartment. Maybe the girls will be up for some take-out on our last night?
Quite a bit of blood mentioned in this post so if you're one of those who feels queasy with the thought of it, you've been warned! Back in the CCU for an evening shift today after almost a week off (except for a day in the cath lab). I think I actually missed it a bit; the nurses, the patients, the fear/excitement of the unknown. The patient assigned to Soumya and I was a stable, post-angioplasty, middle-aged man awaiting a bed in the ward upstairs. There was a new patient being admitted down the hall that Souyma was asked to help out with so naturally I followed close behind.
The partially-conscious patient was intubated, had a very fast heart beat and was very agitated. He wasn't fully awake but his arms and legs were so the nurses were putting on restraints as a small group of doctors gathered at the doorway. His heart was pounding, fast and loud. Then I noticed the man had two wound dressings, one on each side of his groin (over his femoral artery) and both were oozing quite a bit of blood. One of the nurses (there were about 4 of them in there), with some gauze, starts putting firm pressure over the wound site on the left side, which was bleeding a little more than the right. You can imagine how much your hand starts to hurt after a few minutes of this and how uncomfortable this can be to a patient. It's a good thing he wasn't awake. I stood next to the nurse and eventually asked to relieve her when her hand started hurting. She was hesitant to let me (bleeding from the femoral can be very serious) but one of the doctors chimed in.
"Let her do it so she will learn," he said.
I pulled the gauze away to take a peek quite a bit. Yep, still bleeding. I pressed my two gloved hands firmly down and waited.
By now the doctor had begun to assess/ stop the bleeding from the other side. To tell if I was correctly over the artery, he told me, I should be able to feel the pulse, even through the gauze. I couldn't feel it. He pulled the gauze away and put three fingers firmly down on the man's skin, where blood was slowly pooling around his fingers.
"Here," he said, indicating the correct place to apply pressure. I put my hand down again, a little harder this time, to stop the bleeding.
"If you are in the correct place, his pedal pulses (on his feet) should feel weak," he added.
With one free hand and while still applying pressure to the site, I reached all the way down to the man's foot and felt for a pulse. It was weak, good. I continued to apply firm pressure to the left side while the doctor applied pressure to the right side. He told me that in order to stop the bleeding, we had to press down on the site for 10-15 minutes. So there we stood, both putting pressure down on either side of this patient, who was now completely sedated, watching to see if more blood would pool when we removed the gauze. I learned the doctor was from Oman and had recently returned from two weeks in Canada. He hoped to get a job in Vancouver.
After about five minutes my fingers were numb but on the plus side it felt great to be given such a big responsibility and to being doing something useful (besides throwing away empty gauze packages and opening syringe containers which, while important, isn't quite as rewarding). There was a moment during all of this when I did start to feel a little warm, the first step in the road to lightheaded-ness (a road I've traveled a few times now). It wasn't because of the blood, oh no, but likely because I had forgotten how to inhale air. Thankfully I still remembered how to put one foot in front of the other. So I asked one of the nurses to take over, telling her, "I just need to go and check of MY patient." Out the door I went, did a quick lap around the nurses station, took a deep breath and back in I went. I guess you could say I jumped in with both feet. I did check in on my other patient: he was walking around the unit talking on his cell phone. I think he's doing alright, I thought.
Things learned tonight: if it's bleeding, apply firm pressure. This experience also helped alleviate some of the fear I had initially felt about the CCU. Before coming here I thought it was downright terrifying and now, not quite as terrifying. I'm learning!
I learned the food is from a place called Maramara Istanbul Restaurant, really close to our apartment. Maybe the girls will be up for some take-out on our last night?
Quite a bit of blood mentioned in this post so if you're one of those who feels queasy with the thought of it, you've been warned! Back in the CCU for an evening shift today after almost a week off (except for a day in the cath lab). I think I actually missed it a bit; the nurses, the patients, the fear/excitement of the unknown. The patient assigned to Soumya and I was a stable, post-angioplasty, middle-aged man awaiting a bed in the ward upstairs. There was a new patient being admitted down the hall that Souyma was asked to help out with so naturally I followed close behind.
The partially-conscious patient was intubated, had a very fast heart beat and was very agitated. He wasn't fully awake but his arms and legs were so the nurses were putting on restraints as a small group of doctors gathered at the doorway. His heart was pounding, fast and loud. Then I noticed the man had two wound dressings, one on each side of his groin (over his femoral artery) and both were oozing quite a bit of blood. One of the nurses (there were about 4 of them in there), with some gauze, starts putting firm pressure over the wound site on the left side, which was bleeding a little more than the right. You can imagine how much your hand starts to hurt after a few minutes of this and how uncomfortable this can be to a patient. It's a good thing he wasn't awake. I stood next to the nurse and eventually asked to relieve her when her hand started hurting. She was hesitant to let me (bleeding from the femoral can be very serious) but one of the doctors chimed in.
"Let her do it so she will learn," he said.
I pulled the gauze away to take a peek quite a bit. Yep, still bleeding. I pressed my two gloved hands firmly down and waited.
By now the doctor had begun to assess/ stop the bleeding from the other side. To tell if I was correctly over the artery, he told me, I should be able to feel the pulse, even through the gauze. I couldn't feel it. He pulled the gauze away and put three fingers firmly down on the man's skin, where blood was slowly pooling around his fingers.
"Here," he said, indicating the correct place to apply pressure. I put my hand down again, a little harder this time, to stop the bleeding.
"If you are in the correct place, his pedal pulses (on his feet) should feel weak," he added.
With one free hand and while still applying pressure to the site, I reached all the way down to the man's foot and felt for a pulse. It was weak, good. I continued to apply firm pressure to the left side while the doctor applied pressure to the right side. He told me that in order to stop the bleeding, we had to press down on the site for 10-15 minutes. So there we stood, both putting pressure down on either side of this patient, who was now completely sedated, watching to see if more blood would pool when we removed the gauze. I learned the doctor was from Oman and had recently returned from two weeks in Canada. He hoped to get a job in Vancouver.
After about five minutes my fingers were numb but on the plus side it felt great to be given such a big responsibility and to being doing something useful (besides throwing away empty gauze packages and opening syringe containers which, while important, isn't quite as rewarding). There was a moment during all of this when I did start to feel a little warm, the first step in the road to lightheaded-ness (a road I've traveled a few times now). It wasn't because of the blood, oh no, but likely because I had forgotten how to inhale air. Thankfully I still remembered how to put one foot in front of the other. So I asked one of the nurses to take over, telling her, "I just need to go and check of MY patient." Out the door I went, did a quick lap around the nurses station, took a deep breath and back in I went. I guess you could say I jumped in with both feet. I did check in on my other patient: he was walking around the unit talking on his cell phone. I think he's doing alright, I thought.
Things learned tonight: if it's bleeding, apply firm pressure. This experience also helped alleviate some of the fear I had initially felt about the CCU. Before coming here I thought it was downright terrifying and now, not quite as terrifying. I'm learning!
Monday, 16 September 2013
The Pearl
Spent the afternoon walking around The Pearl today. Some of the yachts we saw today, well I can't even imagine the price tag! I've never even seen boats so large and aerodynamic! We went around 3 in the afternoon (bad idea, it's way too hot in September) when the place was pretty much deserted. About a third of the stores haven't opened yet and many of the apartment buildings are uninhabited (contrary to what I reported yesterday). However, once the sun went down, people started coming out of their homes and walking along the promenade. The two most popular places were the Chocolate Cafe and the Armani Cafe. I appreciated the public bathrooms located about every 100 feet as I have been drinking about 5 liters of water a day (or at least it feels like it).
Above: I did a double-take when I saw this guy kayaking in the hot sun in the middle of the day.
A school of fish
Yes, they even have Red Lobster here. It's the most inexpensive place to go for seafood, we were told.
A store that sold only fancy popsicles, I tried pistachio. Why yes, I would like it dipped in chocolate, hold the nuts, heh.
Went to a Lebanese restaurant for dinner around 7 and we were the only people there. Apparently the Pearl is very busy on weekends but I couldn't help but feel bad for the employees who work in some of these high-end stores with barely a customer all day.
I really liked the decor here
Natalia and Laura
Tanis and I
Below: I apologize for not using a flash here and I probably should have. These pictures don't really do it justice. The food was so rich....
Natalia's Red Snappa' with "spicy Arabian tartar sauce" served with grilled vegetables. According to her, "the best meat is in the head."
Minced lamb with onions, lemon and pomegranate served over cracked wheat.
"A rich, yogurty, lamby dish" according to Tanis, with eggplant and some sort of crispy fried bread.
Above: I did a double-take when I saw this guy kayaking in the hot sun in the middle of the day.
A school of fish
Yes, they even have Red Lobster here. It's the most inexpensive place to go for seafood, we were told.
A store that sold only fancy popsicles, I tried pistachio. Why yes, I would like it dipped in chocolate, hold the nuts, heh.
Went to a Lebanese restaurant for dinner around 7 and we were the only people there. Apparently the Pearl is very busy on weekends but I couldn't help but feel bad for the employees who work in some of these high-end stores with barely a customer all day.
I really liked the decor here
Natalia and Laura
Below: I apologize for not using a flash here and I probably should have. These pictures don't really do it justice. The food was so rich....
Natalia's Red Snappa' with "spicy Arabian tartar sauce" served with grilled vegetables. According to her, "the best meat is in the head."
Minced lamb with onions, lemon and pomegranate served over cracked wheat.
"A rich, yogurty, lamby dish" according to Tanis, with eggplant and some sort of crispy fried bread.
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