A New Start.

So it's been a long time since I've posted (4 months and then some) so I figure I should update you on what's been going on.

Country's in shambles. Islamophilia and Islamophobia are on the rise all at once, and it's not looking good for anyone who's living here. However something monumentally life altering has happened:

I've finished my internship.

Now this might mean that the blog is done and dead. No more wacky stories from the intern who gave you a peek at an Egyptian Government hospital. Don't fret! For I have bigger news:

I start my Residency in a month (hopefully less), and it's going to be in Pediatrics, but for now I'm volunteering every now and then at the hospital so that I'll know my way around when it all becomes official.

Now, I know what I said before about me not being able to post that many stories when I was interning at the Pediatrics hospital, but, after much thought and exposure to both stupidity and mind altering moments of clarity, I've decided to keep posting about the stuff I'll be seeing. Keep in mind it might not be funny all the time, and sometimes, it's going to get a little dark and depressing. Anyways, let's get started.

A few days ago, in the Pediatric ER department we had a patient that went into shock.We stabilized her but she needed to get into the ICU. Luckily, the resident at the ICU department said there was a free space available (a rarity in its own self) but we'd have to wait a while until the patient using the bed previously actually got discharged i.e: her parents would come and pick her up. So we comforted the mother and told her, and needless to say, she was ecstatic (she knew about the difficulty in actually finding a free bed available) After a few hours and dozens of patients we'd realized that the resident in the ICU hadn't called us back to tell us to bring her in. So I went to go talk to him about it.

"What happened? I thought you said it was a done deal and your patient would get discharged."
"Yeah, about that, the patient's parents aren't picking up their phone."

"What do you mean they're not picking up their phone?"

"I mean they're not here in the hospital and I can't just kick her out into the street now can I?"

(Keep in mind the soon to be discharged patient was 4 months old)

"Well, keep calling them. They'll have to pick up eventually right?"

4 hours later.....

"What the fuck man? It's been 4 hours. Did they not pick up?"

"They did but we have a bigger problem.They don't want her."

"What?"

"Like I said, they don't want her. It turns out they weren't the ones that brought her to the hospital. That was her uncle. Her parents don't want to have anything to do with her."

"I don't understand. What do you mean they don't want her?"

" I mean they don't want her. They said something about worrying she was going to die if she left the ICU but from what I gathered, they just don't seem to want her back."
"Did you tell them we're not a fucking orphanage and that bed's needed."
"Yeah yeah, all that, they still don't seem to give a shit though."
"What am I going to tell the girl's mother upstairs? We practically promised her the bed."

"Well, she's going to have to leave eventually. When she eventually leaves the bed's still guaranteed to your patient upstairs."

So yeah.. 

Now, it's not relatively uncommon for parents to not give a shit about their kids. If I keep posting, you'll soon realize how frustratingly apparent and common it's become.  What ticked me off, was that there was a bed that was available that could have really helped another patient, and it was being wasted on someone who didn't need critical care. 

And that. Fucking. Sucked.

I went upstairs and told the mother. She was amazingly decent about it. She kept asking me one thing though:

"What sort of mother would do that to her own child?"