Unique Lecture

Although today's lecture was meant to be a radiology lecture, the doctor managed to cover much more than just radiology: faith, history, art, psychology, philosophy, physics and ophthalmology.

The physics behind X-rays. Their difference from visible light. X-rays have shorter wavelength and higher frequency as compared to visible light. This gives them more energy, and hence more ability to penetrate through our body. He used the example of trying to hit someone with a ball and bullet.

Faith came into play, when he told us about how you dont really see the lungs on the film, but you know its there when you see a shadow (the proof), just like you dont see God but you believe in him.

History of X-rays, obviously. About Roentgen, and his discovery with the tubes. And how they came to be called Roentgen rays.

Art, when he spoke of picasso and his art. About how its all about using your imagination. He drew a chair on the whiteboard, and said we look at it and we see a 3-D image, whereas it is only a 2-D image. All the work of the mind. Just like that, you have to work your head when you look at the X-ray, to tell what part is anterior and which is posterior.

I dont even remember why he spoke of Ophthalmology though. It had nothing to with the lecture. I remember him mentioning the normal respone to dark rooms. How the pupils dilate and then the cones give up their duty and is taken over by the rods. Because the rods are more sensitive than the cones.

And it went on and on and on... (I dont remember the rest)

Just Another Day...

Today's ENT tutorial was quite the fun one. I dint fall asleep the whole time (perhaps I did dose off a little bit near the end).

At the start, it was the fact that after ages, we had a doctor who was actually interactive. But it was limited just to the introductory portion of the tutorial. Towards the end, it became one of those boring reading sessions, where you just want the doctor to STOP!

However, what helped keep my attention was his very peculiar way of spelling certain words. It was too hilarious, I dint want to miss it by falling asleep.

For example, he kept saying 'through out'.
"They present with dry through out, fullness of through out...."
And I kept wondering, what does that mean? It took me a while, but I soon realized he was trying to say 'throat'. He just cut it into 'thro' and 'at' which sounded like 'through out'.

The one that cracked me up the most was when he said 'tung you'. This was simply way too much. Apparently, he was trying to say 'tongue'. Again you can see, it was broken down to 'tong' and 'ue'.

And then there was the whole 'region' thing.
"And no matter what the region is.. they just keep doing for every region they can think of.."
Apparently this meant 'reason' and not the actual word 'region'.

I was caught off guard when he said 'piss'.
"You never take out just one piss.. you have to take out the whole piss at a time.."
Yup, piss it was. Stood for 'piece' by the way.

Besides all the hilarious words, which made us burst into laughter and then try to suppress them by coughing and covering our faces... there were the sudden change of topic from tonsillitis to the great mosques of Iran.

Suddenly, during his presentation appears a picture of a Mosque in Iran. He even explained one of them. The picture was of a wall in one of the mosques. There were several arched hollow portions in the wall, all of which were empty. He explained how the mosque was built 50 years ago and there used to be a lot of stuff in those empty spaces, and now he didnt know what happened to them. And then he continues with the rest of the presentation. I dont think any of the pictures had anything to do with the presentation. (I have noticed this to be a persian style of some sort, to have random pictures of stuff - for example, flowers, kittens, babies, mosques, landscapes - in the middle of their presentations)

Also, I recall a point during which the doctor said..
"You probably give him Penicillin or another blah blah medication..."
I simply could not believe he just said 'blah blah'. But he did! Everyone else heard it too. :o

These Persian doctors... some of them are very very weird. *shudder*

Oh my eyes!! My eyes!!

A common complaint in the Ophthalmology clinic by patient whose job involves long hours of straining on the computer screen.

The complaint is usually watery eye, red eye, pain in the eye or simply itchiness and uncomfortability of the eye.

The reason for this is usually because the person forgets to blink while trying to concentrate on their work. On an average, a normal human blinks 12-15 times a minute.

Some tips if you spend too much time on the PC or TV....

- Every half an hour or so, look away from your screen and at something distant (preferably something out the window)

- Every hour or more, sit back and relax with your eyes closed for a few minutes.

- Make a conscious effort to blink at least 10 times a minute.

- If you have dry eyes, get 'artificial tear' drops.

- If possible try to have the PC at a lower level than your eyes.

- Make sure, there is no glare of any light reflecting off the screen. This adds to the strain.

- If your job involves working on computers for long, avoid extra exposure at home (through computers or televisions)



Something people always forget, is that their eyes need rest just like the rest of their body. Just like long walks hurt your legs, your eyes will hurt if you strain them too much and give them no rest. Its only normal for your eyes to react when they are tired. Take better care of your eyes.