Can’t wait to go and watch this production of Hamlet at St. Schristopher’s School on March 7th! If you’re around, get your tickets and let’s soak a bit of culture!

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and we’re off today too, Day or Arafah being declared as another national holiday starting this year. But there’s no rest for the wicked… Apart from dad being in hospital for more than a week, I had to go to the office to finish a multi-million dollar proposal at the same time! Guess where my mind was.

The proposal included 21 pages of prices, a rather heavy dose of technical evaluation, coordination with suppliers, double checking pricing quotes from suppliers who have lost faith that this particular customer will buy anything during this lifetime. And I had effectively just 4 days to get it done!

Add to all of this that dad has had enough of the hospital, and there is no way come hell or high water that he’s staying in there for another single day. Thankfully he’s feeling much better and his doctor was happy enough to let him have his way. He’s at home now, relaxing.

I suggested that we cancel or at least limit the Eid festivities to just a quick visit to wish mum and dad an Eid Mubarak and leave them be to relax and recuperate. So it won’t be a regular Eid, but the real one for us anyway is having him home in good condition. He’s just got to learn to take good care of himself from now on. As in the previous stay in the hospital, he came out with a bag of medicines, all different from last time of course!

The very first thing he did when he got to his room at home? Light up and have a smoke! Wonderful thing for the heart that. Wholeheartedly recommended! Followed by a tantrum because he didn’t like lunch that was prepared. You can’t really blame him though, he cannot swallow very well because the muscles in his throat are relaxed that makes swallowing very difficult if the food is not just right. Change texture or consistency (or his mood) and he won’t be able to eat.

We have a German hospital in Bremen to thank for all of these weird and wonderful things as they insisted 14 years ago that he’s got a virulent form of cancer in his brain which dictated bombarding him with cobalt radiation. A few months after receiving that “treatment” he lost his sight completely and suffered the rest of the ills. The list is far too long to go into here, but if you were given a choice of any form of radiation, I’d advise you seriously to get second and third opinions before you acquiesce.

This time they also did an MRI scan on his brain in order to check for any changes which might have happened in the last 14 years, compare them with an MRI done at that time and also find out why his electrolytes were all shot. What they found is that he has had a brain stroke recently! This was why he lost consciousness a few months ago. At the time we immediately took him to “specialists” who diagnosed that condition as a sudden drop in blood pressure because he got off the toilet too fast! We don’t have doctors in Bahrain, just criminals on the take who call themselves healers.

I’m looking into what sort of checks the ministry of health does on these private hospitals and clinics all over the island in order to authorise them to butcher people. That will be my task and journey for the next few months. If there is even a slight chance that I can take some of these quacks to court, I’ll do it. I’ll blog my progress here.

We’re all very tired to care about Eid this time. We’re however very happy that dad’s back at home again.

Eid Mubarak everyone.

I’ve found a site of a former Bahrain resident with loads of memories and pictures of Bahrain in the 70s and 80s. Quite nice and gives you a glimpse of the life of an expatriate of that era. Well worth a visit, here’s a sample of what the souq area looked like then:

and this is how it looks like now! I took this picutre a few minutes ago (Jan 30th, 2004 at 12:00 pm):

more historical pictures here…
and how this particular area of the Manama souq looks like now (Jan 30th, 2004) here

My dad is much better today, even when compared with last night. Thank you to everyone who expressed sympathy by commenting here or sending an email. Your emotional support is invaluable.

Not only is he back to him mild complaining ways, but he’s gone one better today:

Dad: so doctor when do you think I can go home this time?
Me semi-whispering: you know why he’s asking that question doctor don’t you?
Doctor: listen (to dad) if I find out that anyone gave you a cigarette while you’re here I’m personally going to shoot him!
Dad: well that’s your problem and I won’t stop you, but he’s got to give me a cigarette first!

Doctor laughs and leaves

Dad – to mum: you can get me a cigarette right?
Mum: no, I don’t want to be shot!
Dad: now explain to me, how is this MY concern?
Us: laughing

They’ve removed 5 IV drips from him yesterday, he’s on only a couple now and they’re weaning him off those too. All things being equal, the doctor said that he’ll move him out of ICU tonight and he’ll then have to start walking. He’s anxious to do that… yeah sure! We’ll watch him run to the car park to scrounge a cigarette most probably!

This time, they’ll leave him with them for another 3 days to ensure that he’s responding properly to the medicines which he’s got to live on for the rest of his natural. Pity that this year we’ll be missing the Eid Al-Adha celebrations, but dad’s health is much more important.

Happy Eid everyone!

Unfortunately my dad is back in the ICU again. He was feeling lethargic, sleepy and couldn’t keep his food down. Thinking that this is just a reaction to the various medicines he’s already had, and the bunch of pills he has to take for a while now (he’s got 8 packets with 1 ointment!) So I called one of his doctors – the heart guy where he suggested that as his heart was “perfect” when he left hospital, I might want to contact the internal medicine and diabetes guy which I did and he suggested that I bring him in.

In we go at around 5.30 pm only to be told half an hour later that he’s still got fluid in his lungs and he has to be admitted yet again, but this time the doctor warned dad not to complain at the length of stay as he expects that he’ll be there for a week.

Lovely.

So whey the hell did they release him in the first place? I would have thought that a hospital which happily charges BD 400 per day for the pleasure of being in the ICU without counting the various doctors, consultation, nursing, food, medicine charges would be happy to keep patients in there as long as possible, yet the doctor in charge of his case was harassed and he subsequently succumbed twice: [1] to move him out of the ICU into a “normal” room, and [2] to release him when dad wanted released.

I compared his release x-ray with his admittance (last night) one and found that true enough there is more fluid in the lungs when compared with the release x-ray. But the question is why would they release him with fluid still in the lungs in the first place? Case for malpractice? Any (competent) Bahraini lawyers who would like to take this case around?

The lead doctor caring for him now is the head of the cardiology dept and he seems competent. When he described what he has to do to dad last night I thought I’d better get another opinion. Thankfully I got in contact with the top heart surgeon at the Bahrain Defense Forces Hospital (BDF) and asked him to discuss the situation with each other at the end of which he (BDF) advised me to leave him where he is and let the doctor do his work as moving him from one hospital to another in this condition is inadvisable.

He’s in your hands doctor.

An hour later he came out and took me aside. He explained to me that what he did for dad is a simple thing that normally one of his assistance would have performed (he inserted a catheter direct to the heart in order to ingest medicines direct to the heart thus faster action and better to strengthen the heart muscles) which is true enough I found out, it’s just like having an IV needle, except this one is a bit longer and it goes straight to the heart through an artery in the shoulder area. He also said that he’s a professor of cardiology from Rotterdam and that I should trust his opinions.

I asked him to trust my opinion as well and that it is my right to question and get answers as well as get another opinion. He fully agreed with me. I can’t help but sense a little bit of bitterness though, but I guess he’s got to be used to that from patients or their relatives.

Dad’s again stable. His blood pressure is back to approximate normal levels and so is his pulse rate. Both of which were through the roof last night. Again.

We pray that he’ll be all right and back with us healthy again soon. This time I won’t allow him or anyone else to harass the doctors to release him early.