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Articles by Farhan Imran
The hand from behind the curtain
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The hand from behind the curtain
It has been almost two decades since I worked at this hospital. This is where I grew up as a physician. After my home, I have spent most of my life within these walls and walking these hallways. The hospital used to have two main buildings, but a few years ago, the administration decided to erect a third building, which is a state-of-the-art facility. The hospital is situated at the northernmost part of the country along the coastline of Lake Ontario.
The story a cancer survivor and his bond with Lucky the Duck
There is no news that one can hear about oneself that is more dreadful than being told that you have cancer. The mind shuts down for a few minutes. No matter what the doctor is saying, the words do not register. It is like in the movies. The only difference is that the scene passes in the movies, and there is a happy ending. Not in real life. The scene has just begun, and the ending could very well be anything but happy.
The Significance Of Gender Pronouns
There were times when Latin or Sanskrit were the most widely spoken languages around the world. Today, that claim goes to the English language. When I was growing up in Pakistan, we used to speak Urdu and Pashto at home but since the country was under British colonial rule prior to gaining independence, English was the language that was taught in school and was considered a sign of literacy. I can still remember that in our English grammar books in first grade, there was a chapter on pronouns.
Pakistan's Forgotten Neurosurgery Pioneer
“A good doctor has to wear three hats. That of a clinician, a researcher, and that of a teacher.” I remember being instructed by the Program Director on the first day of my residency training. I always enjoyed the teaching aspect of medicine and am fortunate to work at an institution where I have the opportunity to teach students of all levels.
Which one is worse: cancer or loneliness?
If my grandfather were alive, he would be the same age as Mr. Hendricks. Seventy-eight years old. That’s why when I first met him, he introduced himself as John, but I preferred to call him Mr. Hendricks. That’s how I was taught as one of the ways to give respect to the elderly.
My 5-minute conversation with a suicide hotline expert
Sandy was sent to me by her primary care physician for evaluation of anemia. As I reviewed her chart, I explained to the medical student that the blood work showed a lifelong benign condition called alpha thalassemia trait that she was born with. It had no potential to harm her. This would be a quick consult, meaning we would have some extra time to enjoy our lunch. As I walked into the room, I caught her stifling a yawn. I looked at the clock to see if I had her wait for too long, but I was on time.
Is Elon Musk right about the future of medicine?
“Mark my words. AI (artificial intelligence) is more dangerous than the nukes.” – Elon Musk. The other day, as soon as I walked in to work, already running my usual ten minutes late, I was hustling from my office to the clinic when I saw one of our physician assistants in the hallway. Otherwise known for her calm composure, it seemed odd that she was visibly distressed. She had forgotten her laptop at home and could not find a loaner. I tried to save her day by offering her my laptop to work on.
A cancer patient's last wish
It’s not a good feeling when you cannot do too much for your patient as a doctor. That’s how I felt when I walked into the room to see Valerie for the first time. She was in her 60’s. She was flanked by her two adult granddaughters, who were very close to their grandma. You could tell that at some point in her life when she was younger, she may have been an athletic person, but now she was reduced to skin and bones.
Mehdi Hassan, Farida Khanum, Hafiz Hoshiarpuri - And Now Arooj Aftab
The first Grammy for a nation of 220 million people should be celebrated no less than the first Nobel Prize or the first Oscar. Thank you Arooj Aftab to show us this day. Not too long ago, a friend and I were listening to “Ae dil kisi ki yaad main” by Ali Zafar at one of his Coke Studio performances from several years ago. I praised how Ali Zafar had taken an old Pakistani song and sung it really well with powerful vocals in a modern pop-music style.
Mehdi Hassan, Farida Khanum, Hafiz Hoshiarouri - And Now Arooj Aftab
The first Grammy for a nation of 220 million people should be celebrated no less than the first Nobel Prize or the first Oscar. Thank you Arooj Aftab to show us this day. Not too long ago, a friend and I were listening to “Ae dil kisi ki yaad main” by Ali Zafar at one of his Coke Studio performances from several years ago. I praised how Ali Zafar had taken an old Pakistani song and sung it really well with powerful vocals in a modern pop-music style.
Bring back CME conferences to exotic locations
It was not too long ago, but it seems like decades when traveling for a CME conference was a routine part of being a physician as looking up articles on UpToDate or giving patients bad news. But like so many other things in life, the reality of CME conferences has changed. Most training programs give allowance to physicians for CME conferences on a yearly basis. After training, you have to keep yourself updated in your specialty, and ongoing learning is indispensable to any medical career.
To my patient who is going to lose her hair from chemotherapy
I understand that the biggest fear you have about going through chemotherapy is losing your hair. I just want to tell you. You will be fine. Trust me. I know it’s barbaric. Why don’t we have medicines to treat cancer that will not make you lose your hair in this day and age? Strange, right? But science has its limits. Work is being done on finding such drugs, but we are not there yet.
Does pro-vaccine always have to be pro-mandate?
“They are firing me for not getting the COVID vaccine. I can make more money working at Michael’s than I do at this job. I was only doing this because I like to help people. But this is it for me. I’m quitting. I’ll miss the patients, but I cannot be forced into doing something that I don’t believe in.” The patient care tech said to me after putting my patient in the room.
A medical student's guide to taking a social history
Dear medical student: I was in your shoes twenty years ago. At that time, I thought that becoming a doctor was all about gaining medical knowledge. When I started my clinical rotations, I was convinced that the “history of present illness” is the most important aspect of patient evaluation. As a resident, I felt that navigating through the differential diagnosis and treatment options is all that medicine is about.
A nurse is to a patient what a mother is to a child
I was on inpatient service and had already seen most of the patients on my list. I just had to see one more before I could call it a day and rush out just in time to take my daughter to her tennis lesson. I reviewed the patient’s chart to find out that her cancer had spread to her spine, which had incapacitated her to the point that she could not walk on her own and required assistance even for as little as propping herself up in the bed. I knocked on the door, but there was no response.
After all the years of medical training, I learned how to treat ugly on my own
We first met about two years ago when she came to see me in my clinic as a new patient. I glanced through her chart and reviewed her scans and pathology reports. She had one of the worst possible kinds of lung cancers, called small cell lung cancer, that had spread to both of her lungs. Her disease was incurable, but I could give her chemotherapy to improve her symptoms and to hopefully buy her a few more months of life.
What this physician says to vaccine-doubters
Can you tell the difference between an “anti-vaxxer” and a “vaccine-doubter”? An anti-vaxxer will outright deny and reject vaccines and may be quite rigid in their views. In contrast, a vaccine-doubter understands the importance of vaccines but has many valid inquiries. The latter may be more accepting of meaningful discourse, so here I am, trying to have a conversation with a vaccine-doubter. The world is in the grip of a global pandemic that any living human being had never personally experienced.
We need more black cops. We need more black physicians.
I am neither black nor white. I’m brown. I can choose to stay silent and indifferent, but the human and the American in me urges me to express my feelings and opinion about the current situation in the country resulting from a series of unfortunate events, particularly George Floyd’s blatant murder in broad daylight. I immigrated to this great country about fifteen years ago.
Introducing smartphone users thumb
Until about 50 to 100 years ago, the tradition was to name diseases after the doctors who used to describe them for the first time. Such diseases are called eponymous diseases. There are numerous examples, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Marfan’s syndrome, and Wilson’s disease, to name a few. Often, specific signs and symptoms were named after certain occupations, sports or other traits.
Will COVID-19 render the physical exam obsolete?
“You forgot your stethoscope!” The medical student dutifully pointed out as we were on our way to the patient room. “I don’t need it. But let me grab it anyway to pretend. But don’t tell anyone I said that!” I replied. Her eyes widened with disbelief at the blasphemous statement. At the turn of the millennium, the world was already going through seismic changes in how it conducts itself thanks to the digital revolution.
Decision points in the treatment of transfusional iron overload in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes: why, when, and how to chelate
Introduction: Patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) differ from those with other transfusion-dependent conditions (eg, thalassemia) as they are typically older, have comorbid conditions, and a generally shorter life expectancy. The underlying disease process in MDS and frequent use of red blood cell transfusions lead to iron accumulation and ultimately organ damage.
A plea for a universal, unified EMR
At some point, this gets to be ridiculous. Online, I can buy any item from anywhere at any price, pay any bill, watch any movie, listen to any song, order dinner, schedule car repair or read about any subject on Wikipedia. I can determine the weather in Rio, sport scores of Barcelona, Parisian traffic or by GPS the location of my kids, just down the block. However, I absolutely cannot learn anything at all of the health history of the flesh and blood cancer patient sitting right in front of me.
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