Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Procedures in Medicine : Coronary Angiogram, Angioplasty and Stenting


Procedures in Medicine: Coronary Angiogram, PTCA and Stenting.

Procedures in Cardiology: Coronary Angiogram, PTCA and Stenting..




Coronary Angiogram.
I  was cardiology registrar along with Dr Duncan Dymond at St Bartholomews Hospital London in early 1981 to 1983. He was my immediate 'boss',my senior registrar, all 'gurkhas' working under several senior consultant cardiologists. Our big boss then was Dr RAJ Spurrel.
Here, Dr Duncan Dymond, now a big time consultant at the world famous Harley Street Clinic,explains about coronary angiogram.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHBUhsShwVw&feature=related

Coronary angiography,animation
click here


Cardiac angiography LIVE,
click here


Angioplasty.
click here PTCA

Angioplasty and stenting in an acute heart attack,
click here

Coronary stent placement, animation
click here

Thursday, May 17, 2012

'Let Us Take Back Our Narrative'...Shaykh Imran Hoessien on 'The New World Order'

I first listened to Shaykh Imran Hoessien  from the pulpit of Masjid Subang Jaya, sometime in  the early 90's ,just after the 1st Gulf War or thereabout..
I was just back from a two year post -post graduate stint at St Bartholomews Hospital , London.
There, we,  Brits doctors, including myself, had to attend a series of serious and 'jaw-dropping' late evening lectures by Ministry of Defense experts. Shown multiple injuries and mutilated bodies on the screen, and told to expect body bags coming back from Iraq, young soldiers with multiple blast injuries from munition and high explosive etc and etc. 


Unexpectedly the Desert Storm reached Baghdad without much casualties on  the 'crusading' armies. Can be counted below 10 for the Brits! Saddam Hussien's Presidential guards were trounced beyond recognition. It turned to be a war between un-equals. Saddam Hussien was no khalifah. He was  100 % secular guy, A Baathist lording over a Muslim populace. But I would not be sincere to  myself and the majority of the Muslim polity  as a whole,to  not put it down in black and white that the beating  and the humiliation,[ and subsequently the very public hanging of Saddam some 12 years later ], was deeply felt  in the Arab and Muslim street. Baathist or No Baathist, to us all, the 1st Gulf War was the beginning of yet another  un-called  for 20th century Crusade, full stop. 


There is no denying this fact. That is the universal Muslim psyche . Orientalists , Bernard  Lewis and John Esposito, if they are sincere with themselves, can testify to that. Muslims , despite our differences on too many fault lines , are an indivisible whole. What happened to the 'dogs' in Gaza, courtesy of American public fund, heavy arsenals and ordinance and American ridiculous veto in the UN Security Council, can be felt in Padang Pa' Amat, Pasir Puteh, Kelantan and the far flung arid desert of Mauritania.[ One and a half million Muslims in Iraq died in the name of democracy, and we are told by BBc, CNN and AlJazira , Madam Clinton,day in and day out this is good for the ummah. ]


Personally I cried on the eve America and the West, by proxy, hanged Saddam. That was on the eve of Aidil Fitri. I cannot explain why. Millions  and millions of Muslim did. I am sure they were also unsure as well as to their emotions, but we  all cried  albeit silently........Will these be translated later on in  future  by more 911's. Frankly, I dont know. How many more 911 are needed to  heal this gnawing pain in the hearts of hearts , one could not precisely pinpoint. The ball is now in the West to heal and atone .
By current standard, things do not seem to progress  at all in a positive way...................


Back in Subang Jaya  in the 90's, Shaykh Imran Hoessien, from the pulpit even then, pointed out to us, that socalled Muslim  predominant nations should walk out en bloc from the UN; that the Security Council was  [and is by all estimation ] a machination to dominate the East, nothing less.


In this lecture,  given in  December last year,more than 2 decades after, he has not changed his position.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeqn1L275Tk&feature=related


After this you would see BBC, CNN, Al Jazira,...Angela Meckels,  Blair [ who is the current British PM ? ],Hollande and Obama in a different light.
It is high time we start taking back our narrative, based on the Quran and the Sunnah !


And the Jews will not be pleased with thee, nor will the Christians, till thou follow their creed. Say: Lo! the guidance of Allah (Himself) is Guidance. And if thou shouldst follow their desires after the knowledge which hath come unto thee, then wouldst thou have from Allah no protecting friend nor helper.  Those unto whom We have given the Scripture, who read it with the right reading, those believe in it. And whoso disbelieveth in it, those are they who are the losers.
translation of  The Holy Quran, by Pickthal,
Surah Al Baqarah, 2 : 120-121  




Monday, May 14, 2012

Transland Journey



It all started with a religious polemical argument within my fellow form-mates in MCKK [ class of 69 ] in the jubileeintan69 website.
Two chaps were almost getting too hot under the collar over some 'ranting' issues, the usual 'purist'  vs 'traditional'.

I interjected and suggested we discuss a possible Kuala Lumpur- London drive instead to 'defuse' the hot situation.
Two weeks later saw myself, Peng[ an oncological paediatrics consultant from UH, semiretired, survived cancer of colon ], Bab [ ex Petronas ] and three others brainstorming on this [ Jed, Deng and Bastamam ].

Driving to London at 60 !!??
As usual with most Malaysian style  brainstorming session, we had teh tarik to 'warm up' the neurons , then gulp in a couple of roti canais, followed by a full plateful of  mee mamak. Then , and only a 'much later' then , the 'storm', sans the brains..........

Talk about 'crazy' people, we do have a lot of them coming from MCKK, at least during my time I was there.....that is why we have such thing as BERSIH  now. Restless souls, semiretarded childhood , a preamble to a delayed protracted adolescence  coalescing into late adulthood !!
But we are certainly no  'sissies' from VI or St John like our friend NTR .......
[ NTR was definitely not MCKK of course, not like his late dad... Otherwise he would not be so 'takut2' as he is now. Everyone in and out of Amenu knows his problem, but the typical' lallang' he is, he is not reading in between the lines and still  waiting for someone else to 'bersih' his problem ! My God ! Once a 'lallang', always a 'lallang' ! Must be in the water they serve at St John or VI. No wonder they always lost in Rugby to even RMC .]


We are doing the KL- London drive sometime next year, probably August after Eid. We agreed on a possible route driving thru Myanmar[ hopefully Myammar opens up its border by then], Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Pakistan [  Osama Ben Laden's Abottabad, Quetta etc etc] and on to Iran via the Kyber Pass, then Turkey. From Turkey onwards it would very 'light and easy' heading for Europe and London, via Bulgaria, Slovenia, Serbia and Croatia, Bavaria and Switzerland. My initial plan for leaving on the eve of Ramadan and doing the Umrah and Eid in Makkah midway was shot down .Bab and Peng were unfortunately not 'mad' enough.


We reckoned 2 months would be ideal for us to be able to pack in visits to some World Heritage spots and towns along the way.I will drive my Hilux single cabin with the help of my 2 boys, while Peng and Bab plus minus wife will probably in between them secure an old Landcruiser Prado. We plan to 'camp' as much as we can along the way. On  'breaking camp' in London we would go our separate ways. If Bab's and Peng's Prado is still intact by then they will ship it back to KL. Plan B would be to sell it as scrap iron in East London.So far my other classmates are not yet 'mad' enough to 'want to join us'.


I have my very own plan B and plan C : will drive down to Florence and leave my Hilux there with my son in law and daughter who is currently looking after Malaysia's 'durian plantation'  owned by Petronas there.
Some eight months later, after doing some decent work in my hospital back in KL, I would take a two month break and do the 'Muslim Conquest' route in the reverse direction:
Serville, Cordoba, Gibraltar, Tangier, Casablanca, Tripoli , etc and etc and finally Cairo. That would be , insyaallah the 2nd phase.

Godwilling , in late 2014, plan C would be  a trans-Siberian cross to Vladivostok from Moscow and the Stans in the West. This would require a wee bit more of ' mind over matter doa  and zikr' as this is basically no man's land. Insyaallah.
'Angan2 orang tua'.




PS : 
that 'mind over matter doas' and zikr would be ...


'ya  Muqallibal qulub, thabit qalbi alla kaa ta'atik
ya Muqallibal qulub, thabit qalbi alla kaa di nik'
oh The One Who changes hearts, make my heart firm in Your obedience
oh The One Who changes hearts, make my heart firm in Your Din


'bismillah himajreha wa mursaha innarobbi la Ghafur rur Rahim'
in the name of Allah it's sailing and it's anchorage, He is al Ghafur [ most forgiving ] and al Rahim [ most merciful ].


'allahumma innaka 'affuwwun tuhibbul 'afwa fa' fu anni' [ doa laylatul qadr ]
oh Allah, You are The One who pardons greatly, and love to pardon, so pardon me


'hasbunallah wa ni' mal Wakeel'
Allah suffice for me, He is al Wakeel


'has biyallah hula illa hailla huwa alai hi tawwakal tu huwa Rabbul arsil Azim'
[ the 'mother' of all tawwakal ]


'rabbirfili wa liwa lidayya wal mukmini wal mukminat'
oh Rabb, absolve me from my sin, my parents and all muslims, males and females


la hawla wala kuwwata illa billah hil Alim yul A zim
there is no change or power except Allah. He is al Alim [ all knowing ] , al Azim [ most high ]


la ila haillallah huwahdahu lasharikalah lahul mulku wa lahul hamdu yuhyi wayumit wa huwa ala kulli lishain Qadir


and 'mother' of all zikir,
la ila haillallah


and finally,
'la ila hailla anta subha nakainni kun tu minazzolimin'
Prophet Jonah's doa, when he was  swallowed and subsequently 'delivered' by the whale.




We all are no Prophet Jonah, but what the heck, even though these are short doa's , but all 'supergedebe' and superheavy  with  connotations within the 'al ghaiba'.
Try them everyday, morning, evening and night. In prayer and outside prayer. In sujud and outside sujud.
Do this with deep sincerity and reflection.
In all your waking moments : standing, sitting and occasionally while sleeping
Remember Him in everything that you do.
Internalize your doa and zikr in your psyche.
You will be on an entirely different 'plane'.
Imagine, no more over-reverence to people irrespective of their position and background.
That constitute ' spiritual and mental' freedom.

They work all the time.
Believe me.





Friday, May 11, 2012

coming home one whole circle on Happiness and Contentment...


Shaykh Abdullah Hakim Quick, who is proud to state that he was 'son' of former slaves. in this khutbah, finally 'joins' the dotted lines between happiness and contentment with the unlikely state of  suffering, forbearance and 'sabar'[ endurance] in the down and out of previous soceities in the past.....Sons, daughters and ancesteors of former slaves, and slaves who endured the burden of suffering from 'bad and awful' white men from the West whose watch word was 'plunder and rob' the yellows , the black and the sawo matang' of the East and the Far East.



Indeed the white men of the West had and has been bad news from time immemorial till the present time.

Before it was trying to free the impoverished, uncultured 'indians'  from false gods and demigods and introduce to the cleansing vision of Jesus Christ  Superstar and the nebulous concept of Trinity.
....now in  more modern times: in the name of democracy, female emancipation and human rights.

Before it was the Knights of the Templer, East India Company and the much hated Dutch VOC
Now in the guise of NATO, UN and UN security council resolutions, NGO's  and what have you.

At the end of the day, with respect to contentment/happiness, as the shaykh  concedes, we come one whole circle:
It not about any profound psychological endpoints; neither is it about a healthy body with a thick fat bank balance; or a young beautiful wife waiting at home in a nice big bungalow.
It is about sabar, endurance, ridza, cognizance of revealed wisdom. 
It is about returning to HIM.

Hasan al Basri, a tabi'in sufi saint endeared and respected by millions during his time put it simply for the poor and the unschooled of his time, a definitive 'trinity' of sort :
Reading the quran, 
Constant remembrance of HIM through zikr, 
and the obligatory prayers.....fullstop.

He was a great philosopher and thinker of his time and he could go on and on and write volumes.
But his prescription was simply practical.......a product of 'experiential Islam.
Otherwise happiness and contentment can only be the monopoly of the elites, the rich and famous and those with high iq's.

God is great and at the same time most merciful and compassionate.....anyone , just anyone can be happy [ or sad, it is a double edged sword ! ] be he a poor road sweeper, a slave, a 'pm' or mrs 'pm', or a mighty king with millions at his beck and call.

Monday, May 7, 2012

Still On Happiness........

For the third month in a row, I am still stuck on the nature of happiness and the subject of contentment.
Muslim sages and philosophers put it simply to returning to our original 'paradisial state'.
Our conciousness, all our souls, once before in a 'time before time' and 'space beyond space', on the day of Primordial Covenant, the ,Day of Alastu' in the realm of  the divine, were collectively asked:

"Am I not your Lord ?"[ Alas Tu Bi Rabbikum ? ]
We all answered in the affirmative:
" Yes, verily we testify... " [ Balaa Shahidna ]............{ surah al Araf, 7 : 172 }


Man, or 'insan' in Arabic, denotes  a 'state of forgetfulness'.
Man, perpetually in search of lasting happiness and contentment, need to get back to the original 'paradisial' state of remembrance and total submission........that is  the 'sine qua non' of happiness and contentment.


This is the Islamic position.




Prof Seyyed Hoessien Nasr addressing a mainly secular academia at Emory University,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p8kSiNLnEQ&feature=related




Related articles in the blog :
Happiness Revisited,
http://drnikisahak.blogspot.com/2012/04/happiness-revisited.html
On Tranquility, Happiness and Contentment
http://drnikisahak.blogspot.com/2012/01/on-tranquility-happiness-and.html

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Book :' The Messenger '

Khadijah thought of seeking the opinion of her cousin, the Christian Waraqah ibn Nawfal. She went to him [ whether alone or with the Prophet is not clear ] and told him of Muhammad's experience. Waraqah recognized the signs he had been waiting for and answered without hesitation :
"Holy ! Holy ! By He who holds Waraqah's soul, it is the sublime Namus [ the friend of the secrets of Supreme Royalty, the angel bringing the sacred revelation ] who has come to Muhammad; the same who had come to Mosses. Indeed, Muhammad is the prophet of this people."


Later, during an encounter with Muhammad near the Kaabah, Waraqah was to add:
" You will certainly be called a liar, ill-treated, banished, and attacked. If I am alive then, God knows I will support you in His cause to victory! " Aishah reports that  Waraqah also said:
"Your people will will turn you away !" This startled the Prophet, and he asked:
"Will they turn me away?" Waraqah warned him:
" Indeed they will. No man has ever brought what you have brought and not been treated as an enemy!"


The Prophet's mission had only just began, and already he was allowed to grasp some of the fundamentals of the final Revelation as well as some of the truths that had been present throughout the history of prophecies among peoples............... 


exceprt from Tariq Ramadan's 'The Messenger : The Meanings of the Life of Muhammad'
Tariq Ramadan, a leading Muslim scholar, with a large following especially among young European and American Muslims. In his book, written for a wide audience, he offers a biography of the Prophet Muhammad, highlighting the spiritual and ethical teachings of one of the most influential figures in human history.
If you ask me, 'a bloody good read', even for the non-committed.




Related topics in the blog :
..A European Muslim
http://drnikisahak.blogspot.com/2009/09/european-muslim-prof-tariq-ramadan.html
..Tariq Mehanna
http://drnikisahak.blogspot.com/2012/04/tarek-mehanna.html
..Tan Sri, Let Us Use The ISA !
http://drnikisahak.blogspot.com/2008/05/pearls-and-gem-from-from-surah-abasa.html