The Neurologist's Love

C H A P T E R 1

"So! Hana, Maryam, and I we all were looking through hospitals when you had your night shift. And Alhamdulilah my uncle magically suggested the best one in town." She squealed, jumping up and down. Zayna's uncle was quite keen on her getting the best education, and position as possible. Well mainly because, we all know her mom is secretly trying to find a guy for her. Hence that it also was an advantage to us, what Zayna was about to say, she knew I would be more than shocked. I was very excited to leave this hospital but that meant being a newbie at another hospital, which meant people think you're dumb until you prove them wrong. It happens everywhere, it's like starting your first day of school.

"Assalamualaikum, girls" Hana and Maryam shouted out, these two girls were part of  Zayna's and I group. Obviously, if you think we do not have a life, trust me we have others friends out there too, but when you go to school with someone, you get really close to them and that is how I felt amongst the girls. "I heard what happened" Hana sighed shaking her head in distraught. Hana was Arab, Zayna and I were Pakistani, and Maryam was Turkish/Afghani – Maryam was a year older than us. Apparently last year she had to repeat her program due to a mistake she made that had almost cost a patient her life. So you could imagine, how uncomfortable she felt to be at a place where she was humiliated, but things went well when these two girls became close. We all had each other's side and made a deal to never separate. Zayna and I would always be jealous of them because to be frank, I really disliked my Pakistani culture, it had too many traditions that I personally didn't believe in, but I also loved my culture. There are some aspects which gets to me and which ruins some of the concepts of the religion, Islam.

Tugging on her purple hijab, my mind and eyes studied a patient across from me. My eyebrows furrowed as I saw a man struggling to – "Guys!" I yelled out, giving no time to think, my yell had caught others attention, "this man is having a stroke!" My immediate reaction was to rush to save the man. As I ran I quickly called the nurses, "CALL CODE BLUE" and they followed me, My friends sped behind me and all took care of that man. "If we do not help him soon, he can go into cardiac arrest! His pacemaker is not functioning! Page Cardiac now! And could someone call Code Blue now!" My voice came out loud and subtle. With a few nurses they managed to get the man on a bed and rolled him quickly to an OR room. This was probably my first proper diagnoses, as we rushed down the hall, it was as if everything was happening in slomo, my neck started to feel warmer, and sweat trailed down as my heart was pounding loudly against my ear. My eyes did not leave the patients, I watched the man in pain flickering back and forth to him and to the doors, it was so sad to see people like that but then again I signed up for this mess. As they rolled in I had no doubt to recite the ayatul kursi (a prayer/wish) praying for the man's life.

"I got it from here thank you Doctor" A woman's voice spoke beside me, I looked at her taking the bed away. Dr. Hills, the best cardiac surgeon in the hospital. I admired her work, but it was not something I was in favour to do, my favourite specialty was neurology. The brain is such a complex structure subhanallah, which is what intrigued me to med school, and for some other reason. Nodding in obeyance, I backed up and watched them place the man in the operation bed.

Turning around I let out an unknown breath that was held in. It's scary to be a surgeon, it's a life and death situation, our hands need to be delicate when cutting someone open but firm. "Mashallah! Aiyla that was the best catch!" Hana said, her eyes open in shocked. Hana was very smart too, she had diagnosed about 3 times which was a good amount of numbers as a 4th year intern.

"Tell me about the new hospital" I finally mentioned, tryna ignore my heart pounding against my rib cage violently. After contemplating in my mind to leave or not, I had made my decision, and knew there will be the best in it. We head downstairs to the cafeteria, the best place to meet up, the ER and surgery floors were too busy. I wanted to work at a hospital where it wasn't just old people, or just a couple of rowdy teens, like the one we were in at the moment was an adult hospital and trust me mostly old people are racist. We walked down the stairs, my eyes were roaming around whilst listening to the girls talk amongst themselves, but what I couldn't help notice were the stares we received. It wasn't just the clothing but mainly the hijab, my or mainly our headscarf that I adored wearing. At a very young age, I thought a women looked beautiful in a hijab, it showed modesty, and best of all god loved it. After knowing the right time, I wore my first hijab, Grade 8, no one really cared, but she I never knew it would get tougher as I aged. I looked at the group of nurses talking obviously about her, raising my eyebrows with a questioning look to their odd staring. This caused the nurses to quickly look away, and started to talk.