Doc Ahmad Hajiri

Bismillah. I have been avoiding posting here in my blog for some reasons... I still cant organize the messy compartment in my head sooo I have intentionally delayed publishing many posts since last year... But don't be sad guys, I am going to share you a fun and happy post here :) HOME-MADE SCRUB SUITS This is my new pair of scrub suits. Cool aren't they? Where did I bought them you asked? In a store full of medical equipment? nope. This my friends, were made by my mother when I last went home to Sulu... That;s my beloved Inah. And that's her friend, the sewing Machine (which is by the way older than me) You see, my mother loves sewing. It's her new hobby (aside from being a workaholic, all-day-all-night mother slash librarian slash high school teacher slash cook slash house manager slash.. oh you already got my point so...) when I asked her if she can make some pair of scrub suits for me... The next day she went to the "Juwal-mura" (local ...

Bismillah Medschool had taught me a lot of things in life. Maybe some I learned listening to hours of lectures and Clinico-Pathologic Case presentations; some I gnawed through sleepless nights from pages of books and transcriptions reading, trying as much to remember as much as my short memory-lane can handle; some I learned repeating what our preceptors would tell us to do (do this, do that, touch this, put your finger here, listen to this sound, observe the color of his eyes); and some from hours of standing asking our patients from what they had in yesterday's breakfast up to the color and characteristics of their stools (yes we do that often). All these exciting discoveries I enjoyed somehow, one way or the other. But what strike me most of the times are those that I have to learn painfully: through constant failures and disappointments... to some point that I have utterly lost my way on what you call 'self esteem'. The last part, I don't think I am enjoying th...

Assalamu Alaykum.  For a new Muslim here in Manila, there are indeed a lot of challenges that could come your way... Being alone is one and looking for Halal foods, looking for Musallahs to pray in, looking for Masjids on fridays, and the list goes on and on... But Alhamdulillah, meeting new Muslims friends here in Manila made me feel less lonelier. By attending simple Muslim gatherings and lectures I was fortunate to meet a lot of them whom I can now consider my family here in Manila. What is best is that we share the same beliefs and we understand each others problems and we help and try to support each other. Last Saturday, after attending a lecture about Christmas < click here > I was able to spend the rest of the day with the other Muslim participants. Well, what we did was just the simple family gatherings a real family would do... Pray together, eat dinner together, and yes, we had our own "(unmarried) boy's night", too. haha. Just scroll along to se...

Bonifacio and the Philippine Post Office Earlier last Friday afternoon (a rarity that I have no more classes), I went to the Philippine Postal Office to claim a parcel package. It was sent by an adorable friend from Malaysia whom I met last year on her daring adventure to our hometown, Sulu. She just got married last October and as much as I wanted to attend, I was sadly unable to for my schedules are already packed with my studies. And yes, there’s also the problem with my passport. And financial thing too. Aaand.. Anyway, so much for those excuses… as a sign of friendship, the couple sent a “gift” or “token” for me and other friends whom she (the bride) have been fondly get attached with during her short stay in Zamboanga and Sulu. And that’s what I was going to claim at the post office. I wonder what's inside this gigantic building? The post office, as usual, always gives me a lot of questions to ask (its my second time coming here by the way; cant remember the ...

Assalamu Alaykum. It's been a while since I last shared about life in Med-school... hope I could catch up with my schedule and write some of them here as the end of the year draws near...  Aside from Fridays being my favorite day, there is yet another reason why I consider Fridays are great... No, it's not about the fact that we have exams every Friday (-_-), that one is just exhausting... But it's about out 2-hour session every Friday that makes a change for us.  The Art of Medicine is a one unique course we have every Friday afternoons. For 2 hours, we will talk not about the complex pathophysiology of Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, or the Cushing's Syndrome, or Systemic Lupus Erythematosus or Kawasaki's Disease or whatever alien names and words only the medical student's can understand (or are still trying to understand). No, we don't even talk about the brain-bursting pharamakokinetic and pharmakodynamics of drugs of different disease...

This year's 8th Medical Student Summit or MSS was held last Nov 23-24 at University of Santo Tomas (UST) in Manila. Various sessions and plenaries about the "Victories of Philippine Medicine" were held and other events as Med Quiz Bowl, Social's night and of course the Research Contest which I participated (try try lang). Although I was only able to attend the Saturday afternoon session (because I was still not in good shape those days), Alhamdulillah I was happy that I attended the summit. It was a great chance for me to get involved with such kind of summits and meet other med students from other schools and learn new things, too. I already expected not to win in the research contest for a lot of reasons, leading on the list is my late appearance and my poster was not as appealing as other participant's posters (it was my first time! I don't even know if I was doing it right haha). But all in all it was a great experience :) In shaa Allah I will try to...

Sembreak Series: part 2 of unknown number of parts. October 26, 2013 It’s my second sembreak as a medstudent. Yup. I am already a year and a half done with medschool (and hundred more years to come. LOL). And As I usually don’t go home to my beloved homeland (Sulu) during sembreaks for a lot of reasons, I might as well spend the whole two weeks of freedom (and boredom) doing something worth remembering: read away from medicine-related things. I keep on telling myself that I should be productive this sembreak that I may not regret it (or die of boredom from it). After all what’s the purpose of calling it a “break” if you’ll not take a break? Haha.  I spent the first week of this break on different things. 1) I spent a day rummaging my things and looking for unfinished books to read. Strolled around bookstores nearby and checked some interesting and really cheap books. 2) Also spent some time catching up on movies I failed to watch thanks to the weekly exams we had last se...

Sembreak Series: part 1 of unknown number of parts yet. October 26, 2013    Brothers and Sisters listening to the lectures After some months of absence, finally Alhamdulillah, I was able to attend this month’s SOULidarity conducted by the Nur Factory last October 26, 2013 at Balay Kalinaw in UP Diliman. This month’s theme is “ The Sacred Journey ”, and the lectures and discussions we had were about Hajj and the sacrifices that Muslims had done and should be willing to do for Allah’s sake. (To know more about Nur Factory and SOULidarity, read the last paragraph of this post >_0) Hajj, or the Pilgrimage to Makkah (Mecca), is the fifth pillar of Islam. It is the journey of visiting the Holy place of Makkah and conduct certain religious practices throughout the whole month of Dhul Hijjah (the 12 th and last month of the Hijra Islamic Calendar). It is also one of the important pillars of Islam that is considered done “by one’s capacity”, that is: a Muslim is not ...

(Translated from the original piece written in Bahasa Sug: Hinapusan hagas , published Sept. 8, 2013) Bismillah. It was one of those days as an LU4 student when we had our bedside preceptorials in Philippine General Hospital (PGH) as part of our class activity when this happened. My group was assigned in the Pedia wards and was assigned to a patient with a lung disease to check and try to learn how to properly identify and diagnose a probable disease. We also had a preceptor, a Pediatrician who will guide us along the course of the preceptorials. Upon entering the wards, one simlpy cannot help but feel saddened by the state of the patients in PGH, especially if they are kids. You will see different patients with different ailments: some have enlarged heads, some had bandages on their tiny arms, some were inside these tiny incubator boxes, some had tubes in their mouth, and some are even too young to be there (just some weeks or months old! Poor thing! (-_-). We arriv...

Originally written: September 8, 2013 Bismillah. Hambuuk adlaw awn kami pagtawagun preceptorials ha PGH (Philippine General Hospital). Didtu kami ha Pediatrics Ward, manga bata’-bata násakit in dáhun namu’ magbissara iban chek-upun. Awn da i sab kami preceptor atawa mastal duktur da isab maghindu’ kamu sin unu in hinangun. Pagsuwd na mán pa ward, kasusahan na tuud in dumagpak pa mata mu. Kakitaan mu in taud sin bata’-bata’ násakit: yaun na in nanghuhubag in uw, kiyapapalian, sampay agun ampa pila bulan in ummul sa siyasangunan na oxygen iban IV fluid (dextrose laung sin Tausug). Kiyarihilan man kami pasyente, nagtagna’ na in mastal maghindu’ kámu’. Awn na kaybanan ha mga iban ku in dimá nagbissara iban ina’ sin bata’-bata’, in kaybanan isab dimá naa nagpanayam iban bata’-bata’ bat lumuwt kanila. Sa’ in aku dugaing in kiyajagahan ku. Ha katan sin manga bata’-bata’ násakit ha ward yadtu, hambuuk kanila in kiya-idlapan ku. Hambuuk bata’-bata’ usug mag-ummulan hatiku mang...

Bismillah. I don't have anything noteworthy to say about the issue on the recent Pork-Barrel Scam. In fact, there are still a lot of things I don't understand about this issue (and I don't have much time to read about all the stuff about them ><) But being able to observe what happened this morning was something worth talking about. Honestly I was amazed how a great number of people can organize themselves and raise their sentiments to their government in a seemingly peaceful way. It what they now known as the "Million People March". A streetchild observes the students passing by, joining the Million People March I never planned in joining the rally in the first place. I was still too sleepy that morning and I still have hundreds of readings to do for the next exam (or so I pretend that I am actually reading them)... With my newly brewed coffee in my hand my phone rang, and it was from a classmate, asking me if I will join the "march...

Bismillah. Mataud na isab in jimajatu biháun subay dihilan natu’ waktu hátihun. Ha hula’ masi-masi in habal sin pagsaggaw-tau atawa kan pagkidnap. Ha pila adlaw puas sin bulan Ramadhan nagsunud-sunud isab in pagbustak madtu-mari. Timampal da isab in habal sin pagtakaw siyn sin manga tau ha parinta Pilipinas (bunnal way kita lamud kanila, sa’ lapay ra kita sin kakahinang ini). Magsusung da isab in adlaw sin pagbilma’rup sin parinta pilipinas iban sin tumpukan MILF. Ha habal ba’gu yan nagpamahalayak na sin kalimayahan in Maas Nur Misuari iban MNLF ha hula’. Ha hula’ malayu’ isab biya’ sin Egypt dimatung na in waktu pag-atubang sin tau raayat iban sin sundalu sin parinta nila… Di’ aku makarihil pamikilan (opinion) ha tiyap-tiyap habal nasabbut, mataud pa aku masi di’ kahátihan. Sa ha katán sin nasabbut yadtu, hambuuk da in matampal káku’: napulak-kanat in raayat Muslimiyn biháun. Bunnal awn manga habal marayaw magdatung, sa’ kamatauran labi makasusa. Ha biháun kiykita’ k...

Bismillah Nagbaha' ha Taft Iyabutan na isab kami sin ulan matigda’ diy ha hula’ Manila. Ulan matigda’ agaran sin hangin makusug. Di’ isab mabilang unus in kaybanan, sa sibu’ da in guwa’ niya: Maglakab-baha’ na isab ha kaybanan lugal; masuspend na isab in klas sin kaiskul-iskulan (magkalapay ra sambil kami ha medschool; ampa bukun langug bang masuspend in class pasal kami bata; iskul da in magmula). Di’ magkaubus in hangaka tahun sin wayruun lumabay ulan dakula’ pa hula’ ini. Gaid sin bunnal in bayta’ sin kamáasan sin awn tuud mulka’ ha hula’ ini. Di’ kapaglangugan in hula’ ini bang dumatung in bagyu agaran pa ulan matigda’ iban paglakab-baha’ ha karán-dánan. Magtrapik na isab. In manga tau sa da lumubung pa baha’ yaun nag-aanud ha supaya maka-untas hadja sin dán. Di’ ra maunu bang malanu’ in tubig yaun nag-aanud, sa’ ná kayngatan tan a, yaun na katan in kalummi’-lummian naglamud-lamud. Sa’ unu isab in mahinang ta? Duwal bang kaw mabaya’ matuwg ha sawm sisilung...

Bismillah. There are so many things I wanted to write about in the weeks that passed. But thanks to my class schedules and the after-class-schedules, I wasn’t able to find even a short time to do so. Even my daily journal notebook is already filled with blank pages. There are just so many things that need to be done, and so little free time in my hand. Or there maybe some free times, but I’m just too focused on something else (like taking some sleep that I have been deprived of for weeks now). But then, there are things that I cannot hold on and keep in my mind. There are times that I have to write them down no matter what, lest I forget them, lest I would never be able to express what I really feel right at the moment I had that idea or feeling; lest I would regret not doing anything at all and let those things become remnants of the past. It is already the end of Ramadhan. Indeed that is actually a sad thing to Muslims, we are not actually happy that the month of fasting is...

Bismillah. I am posting this before the Eid for this year arrives (it’s either August 8 or 9), so I am writing before the actual Eid is happening and there might be some changes of thoughts that may happen within that short time, and thus whatever I might have written here may be different after Eid (in shaa Allah, I do hope so it will). First off, it will be my second year spending ‘Eid far away from my family AND on a non-Muslim community. I have actually spend some ‘Eids away from home years ago, but those times where happy-‘ol-times as I can still feel the atmosphere of unexplainable happiness of spending the ‘Eid with your Muslim brothers (remember, I have spend more than 4 years in Marawi City :D and oh I miss that place). But this time of the year (well, it actually started last year), it’s a totally different world. I remember last year’s Eid. I was happy during the first few hours after the Eid prayers as I was spending some time with my Muslim friends (you kno...

Bismillah. The following conversations/questions are always thrown at me when they see my beard. Friend 1: “Hey Ahmad, why don’t you shave your beard? Are you really letting that grow? Or you just don’t know how to shave…” =) Professor 1: “You are a Muslim and you have a beard. So, you have been to Mecca, right?” Friend 2: “I like your beard… But man, it makes you look older!” Maybe there are a lot more conversations I had with friends (especially non-Muslims) who would never fail to notice my now-two-inch-long, sparsely growing beard hanging on my chin. And whether they ask me why, or I would notice them getting curious about it, I only have one answer for them:  “It’s simple my friend. This is SUNNAH!” (Usually followed by a beaming smile here) But what is Sunnah, you ask? No, it’s not the Arabic for “fashion”. Nor is it something done to please other people. SUNNAH is simply “following the examples of our beloved prophet Muhammad (Peace and ble...

Bismillah. It's already July, and since the first day of classes this year, I am still amazed as how fast things are going on in my almost-messy-unorganized days as an LU4 (Learning Unit 4 or 2nd year Med) student here in UPCM. Since the past two months (June and July) we already had 5 module exams, with about 7 major modules (subjects) compressed in such short time. These modules include: General Pathology, Microbiology, Parasitology, Psychiatry, Family Medicine, Community Medicine and Pharmacology. In "normal" cases, each of these modules would take at least a semester to finish. And guess what, the "system" is pushing us to finish each within a week or two! Yes, indeed. We are not in a "normal" school after all. But Alhamdulillah, amidst the ultra-fast tsunami-lectures, there are still so many things that I always cherish in my everyday life in BSLR-West (our classroom). First are the great lectures delivered by the best lecturers in the ...

Bismillah the Island of Siasi with Bud Siasi on the background Last summer I spent more than a week in Siasi, a smaller island in Sulu. I went there not to spend a wonderful vacation with my family, but to do something bigger, something greater: to conduct my first one-week community immersion! As one of the Regionalization Program (RP) students in the college, we were required to return to our community every summer and conduct our own community immersions before the next school year begins. This is one of the requirements that we have to accomplish for us to be allowed to enroll for the next Learning Unit (or year level). And so, being one of the only two students (out of 160) representing ARMM in our batch, I chose Siasi, Sulu to be my immersion site for the next five years of my stay in Medschool (in shaa Allah), and perhaps until I become a licensed physician someday (Ameen). Now, what did I do in my one-week stay in Siasi? I might not be able to tell all the th...

Bismillah In tiyap-tiyap panagnaan subay tuud pagsaddiyahan. Mataud jumatu amun dih ta kaingatan, bang kita wayruun nakasaddiya asal. Ha wala’ pa dimatung in kunsum, subay ha biháun pa kaingatan mu na bang unu in tudjuhun mu. Ha supaya bang dumatung na in adlaw yadtu, di’ nakaw maglawag pa sin dán, bang harap kaw pakain. Subay ra isab pagsaddiyahan in kaibanan manga prublima manjari jumatu ha susungun, ha supaya makasaddiya da isab kaw.  Biya’ da isab sin kabuhi’ iban kamatay. Ha wala’ pa dimatung in kamatay subay saddiya na kita bang unu in hinangun bang in waktu yadtu dumatung na. Tumtumun ta sin in kita ini dih da laung maglugay diy ha dunya ini. Misan pa ayn biya’diin in daya mu, in taud sin sinapang mu, in taud sin lahasiya’ mu, in kusug sin kawasa mu, tantu in katan yan ha panagnaan sadja. Di’ da lumugay, dumatung da isab in hinapusan niya. Malawa’ da sila katan. Biya’ sin dunya ini, biya’ da sin kabuhi’ mu, tantu awn hinapusan niya. Asal in tiyap-tiyap panagnaa...

Bismillah. “Ahmad! What were you thinking! Why did you decide to make your first 3 weeks in LU-4 in utter toxicity?!” Well, that was what I thought before the first day of my second year in Medicine started when I accepted the offer of becoming a Liaison Officer (LO) of our first subject/course for this year: HS202 Biopsychosocial Dimensions of Illness or BDI... They call this level as “HELL-U 4” because of the hellish experiences you students will experience compared to LU3 (freshmen year), and I already made my first week hellish than the rest of the class by being an LO. But as that first day as an LO came to an end, I finally realized why I accepted that challenge… I wanted to try it. I know being an LO is not a good joke. You have to coordinate with the professors from different departments for their class schedules, announcements and exams. This first module will be composed of 5 different departments namely: Departments of Pathology, Parasitology, Microbiology, Psychia...