The first round of being sick and going to Mubarak Hospital was done, and I thought I was getting better, but it seems it was the quiet before the storm. Things took a turn for the worse after a week of being sick and then we had to be hospitalized for several days in one of the private hospitals.

After several test and check ups, and cultures, and so many damn things that we were poked and prodded with they narrowed down the issues. We had both a virus and bacteria infection, the first set of antibiotics tackled the virus but the bacteria basically had fun running us around in circles, and I reached a point where I just admitted myself to the hospital because regular pills were just not doing the job. My stomach hurt so much so that I just wanted to sleep it off, it felt like someone was constantly punching my stomach hours on end.

I have to admit that the Doctors in Al Salam Hospital are very good, I always think most private hospitals want to rip you off but these guys systematically narrowed down what was wrong and tackled it with the right antibiotics. So after two weeks of being sick and week at least I’m somewhat healthy. I’m functioning normally and able to go to work, but what I went through put my whole digestive system through a roller coaster, it was painful and not something I would wish on anyone. This is probably the longest I have ever been sick and been in the hospital. There were even members of my family that I didn’t see for weeks because they have weak immune systems and were weren’t sure about infectious it was for a while.

Right now I’m somewhat out of the bad part of the infection but my body is still recovering, I know sometimes I pushing my luck but I was so happy to ride this Friday morning, I swear what ever painful was nothing compared to the thrill and joy of riding, I had a smile across my face that just wouldn’t go away that Friday morning. I’m still a bit on the weak side, but I’m happy that the worst is over, I know I pushed myself a bit on the weekend but I’m planning on taking it easy this week.

I’m not one to get sick easily or even usually get sick, the flu doesn’t last more then two days with me, even with food poisoning I have handled it differently but this is something that took me down and kept me home for more then 5 days. Being stationary at home for five days didn’t stop work from coming home, too many things to do and a few people on vacation but still had some things piling up that needed to get done.

I caught a stomach virus from someone and the tough thing about it is that the doctor wasn’t sure which type was it, and they gave me a certain type of antibiotic and pain medication, worked for a few hours then later in the evening turning to an insane amount of pain which resulted in a hospital visit. After leaving the hospital at dawn I was hoping it would kick in quicker, but not until I woke up the next morning did I feel better. I have to say that even Mubarak Hospital is pretty well equipped and they have good people but they are overwhelmed. The recovery process is slow as hell and still recovering, the bathroom became my second home, and barely functional the first few days of the week. I didn’t even bother staying in communication online, wasn’t that coherent either, was just too exhausted.

Luckily I managed to catch up on a ton of tv shows, a ridiculous amount, but I know that work piled up for me when I get and I’m not fully recovered but still gotta to go in. The first thing I tried was a few different foods to see if my stomach had any disagreements but luckily two tests were successful but I’m not going to push my luck at all.

Over the last few years there have been incidents where I have had some interaction with private hospitals from normal cases to emergency cases which could be fatal. There is a lot that can be said about Kuwait’s medical system, one simple thought that comes to mind is that it is that we are lacking hospitals. And a few private hospitals have popped out but they aren’t as good as people have in mind.

Public:

When it comes to serious cases in Kuwait they always go to the Public sector, they have really good doctors and there are that people that care. It is sad seeing people get caught in the bureaucracy which is rampant in the public hospitals they end up not getting the medical treatment that is needed. Then there is the lack of professional care, half the recovery is after the surgery or when you are in the case of the nurses and in the public hospitals the employees are slightly disgruntled or do what they can with what they have.

What we need is some new hospitals and a drastic cut in the bureaucracy, our hospitals are in disarray and badly maintained with patchwork keeping it together. The same person cleaning the bathrooms is the same person serving the patients food which is a disaster. For country such as Kuwait it sad to see the state of these hospitals even when our doctors are really good. We really do have good doctors but sadly they get disheartened and we loose some of them who become prominent doctors in Europe, Canada, and the US.

Private:

There are a few private hospitals that have popped over the last few years and some of them are decent. But what I always feel about private hospitals is that they are trying to squeeze every penny out of you, not necessarily trying to rob you bling but a bit going over board.

One very drastic problem with private hospitals is that they will not accept dangerous cases or accidents which has happened with me personally. I was taking someone in who had a severe head injury and was refused entry by security at the door even though he was covered in blood from his head to his waist. I put him back in my car and flew to Mubarak Hospital who took him in right away and got him into surgery.

Then there is the drastic lack of equipment and expertise in emergency or complex cases. They all say they have emergency rooms or floors but in reality they don’t have the adequate equipment to handle them and this we have also experienced. There has to be some sort of oversight by the government to make sure they are ready for all types of cases which they are not. They might have nice buildings, clean areas, and smiling staff but still they aren’t equipped for every type of issue.

For those who didn’t know, like myself until the other day there was a very large recall on all Tylenol products. There was some sort of smell that got tied into the medicine, which is a material used for treating wood. I for one have always been a proponent of Tylenol, it does a great job most of the time but I’m surprised that I didn’t hear about this until recently. So if you have any Tylenol in the house make sure to toss it out, I now most people use Panadol in Kuwait but recently they introduced Tylenol and I brought some over from the US with me when I came back from the US. I noticed on this trip that there weren’t any Tylenol in any of the shelves of the pharmacy, I asked why and they said they didn’t have stock of them, nothing about the recall, so I just picked up some Advil. I prefer Advil most of the time, but its only available in the US and not every location had so I picked up Tylenol. I have a few bottles of the gel caps and they are all going to be thrown in the trash. I was wondering why I got rid of the headache but my stomach was acting up after taking Tylenol, but it didn’t happen every time. Not worth the risk, I’m tossing it all out and if you know anyone using Tylenol then toss it out too.

The FDA said about 70 people have been either sickened by the odor – including nausea, stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea – or noticed it. The recall includes some batches of regular and extra-strength Tylenol, children’s Tylenol, eight-hour Tylenol, Tylenol arthritis, Tylenol PM, children’s Motrin, Motrin IB, Benadryl Rolaids, Simply Sleep, and St. Joseph’s aspirin.

Hayatt Cancer Foundation is organizing a charity gala dinner on wednesday 26 October to raise money to buy novel chemotherapy for expatriate breast cancer patients and to buy equipment to start with the help of the Ministry of Health the machines we need to start breast cancer screening for Kuwaiti women. We need the help of all as this is a national cause and the problem not only of the women but of all the family as anyone can be the target and on each family it could be a mother, a sister, a cousin, anyone.

We are selling tables for this event:

• Table of 10 for 5000 KD – Front Row
• Table of 8 for 4000 KD – Middle Row
• Table of 10 for 3000 KD

We may also sell by seat 300 KD

The famous singer Amal Maher (sings Oum Keltoum) is our guest for the evening. A doctor is coming from USA to deliver a lecture on Breast Cancer for this occasion.

Your help is highly appreciated.

On the other hand , please Contact Me: 97700724

After about two weeks of back and forth and having the time to get the work done I went over to Kuwait Medical Center in Old Salmiya over XCite Electronics. First day I got some XRays done and I needed to get on antibiotics before getting the tooth removed, she said it would require surgery to remove the tooth so she would prefer I’m on antibiotics.

The next day when I came in it still hurt and I was looking forward to having it removed. The tooth is the moler on the left side, lower deck, the one right next to the wisdom tooth. The Doctor leaned me back on the seat and told me that it would hurt a bit and explained what she had to do. When she put a hair net on my head (I am bald) that freaked me out a bit since it got a little more serious at the dentist then I’m used to. They also got into full gear and fully covered, and started with the big metal needle to inject the anesthesia into my and around the tooth. Three full needs and 5 minutes later I can not feel a thing and loved it.

She started with the surgery and I could feel the minor cutting around the tooth, and because the state it was in she had to break it up to pull it out. It came out with one big piece and two small pieces, and it required a screw driver looking tool to push it out, it didn’t come out gently. I had a feeling because of the hour and 30 minutes that my mouth remained open that I would be hurting the next day but I was wrong I was hurting 3 hours later and majorly incapacitated. I was given Pronstan for the pain and told I can take Tylenol with it every 4 hours, with my antibiotics on schedule.

I was hungry as hell when I left and my jaw was completely numb and started feeling that my hunger since I didn’t eat all day. She told me exactly what was going to happen and I would feel a good amount of pain the next day and I would also look like a chipmunk which I did. I’m just happy that it is over and I’m only eating soft foods at the moment but I’m looking forward to eating a lot of other foods when I can, I have been craving everything recently.

The last few weeks I felt something strange with my back tooth, the one right next to the wisdom tooth. I had a root canal done a year and a half ago but it wasn’t completed due to timing. The root was taken out and a temporary seal was made, I thought that would be enough and I had to take off for some meetings. And its been a long time since then, and as usual if something goes wrong with your teeth its always something major.

I felt a crack when I was taking a bite of my sandwich only to discover that it was my filling that came out. This was two weeks ago and I though its ok I will go tomorrow, thats what I kept telling myself. Then again and again I kept delaying it until yesterday the last filling came out and I could feel a hole going down and suddenly I could feel throbbing pain. My stubborness in delaying the visit to the dentist has led me to this disaster, I seem to have issues with dentistes in the back of my head. Now I’m heading over to Kuwait Medical Clinic in Salmiya to try to sort out this insane amount of pain and finish up what ever is needed. Tooth pain is seriously the worst.

I’m not one for massages but every once in a while a good foot massage does wonders. I read that a lot of muscles and nerves in the foot tie in with different muscles and organs throughout the body, and certain people with experience and skill can read it when massaging your feet.

Recently I decided to get a foot massage because my feet were aching, and I found a good place while traveling. When the woman was massaging my foot she asked if my lower back was acting up recently, and it was, I kept waking up at night with my lower back stiff and killing me, so I end up not sleeping at night. She kept pushing on my foot and told me that my back will be a bit more relaxed today but I need to work on my back or else it will get worse at a later stage. She told me that I had an acid build up in my back and that I need to stretch more and soak in bath salts once a week to help. I need to reach my toes while stretching, I don’t think I can do that without pulling several muscles.

Recently I have been feeling out of shape and after this reflexology session I realized that I do need to get in shape or things are going to get much worse. But that foot massage was damn good, felt like I was walking on jello.

The last week I have under the weather and feeling that I’m losing energy, and wake up with a sore throat and lack energy. The last week and the next few weeks are filled with work and a lot of other preparations, and the last thing I need is to get sick. I didn’t want to take antibiotics as I want sick yet so I started taking effervescent vitamin C with a bottle of water in the morning, even though I want to take it twice a day since it tastes pretty good but the directions state once a day. And I have been taking Nice Lozenges where ever I go and that has helped but its been a slow process, it seems everyone is getting some sort of virus these days. I’m still trying to operate at full throttle but I didn’t jump on the bike this weekend since I felt that I like the energy and the concentration, and when I riding I need to be at my best to ride and I didn’t want to make a mistake so sleeping in was a better choice. One of the highlights though of the weekend for me was going to Ace Hardware and luckily the have a new stock of Craftsman and Stanely tools which I enjoyed purchasing a few. I’m loving the weather the last few weeks, I can just do with out the dust, I don’t mind it raining either, I think we could use a good rain.

Bayt Abdullah, the first children’s hospice in Kuwait and the Middle East. It is a hospice, free of charge, to all nationalities to care for children in distress at a moment when hospitals are no longer needed.

This campaign is the first of its kind in Kuwait as the response of each company or individual contacted has given a full support in their capacity to offer in kind a generous contribution.

Bayt Abdulla is a new concept to Kuwait, something that we have been lacking for a long time. I have been interested in it for some time and lots of people I know involved in it. The main idea is providing a facility and services to care for children who are ill or terminally ill that need a help regardless of the period. When asking about what exactly they do, here is simple question:

What is Pediatric Palliative Care?
Pediatric palliative care is a philosophy and program of care for children with life-threatening conditions focusing on enhancing quality of life and relieving suffering for the child, family members and other significant people in the child’s life. To “palliate” means to make comfortable by treating a child’s symptoms from an illness or medical
condition.

Through the efforts of everyone and every company involved they have managed to make this amazing facility. Providing help to any children that fit the criteria regardless of nationality or religion, the main. A specialized professional service, free of charge for all children in Kuwait who meet the criteria for admission to the hospice, regardless of nationality or religion. Ansam already posted about an event that has taken place, but you can also help through donations or helping them any way you see fit.

Link: Bayt Abdulla