What, you might ask, is my husband doing with an IV attached in a garden in Istanbul? In the photo, you'll see our psychiatrist friend Cengiz, his nephew Onur, and his son Safuk. It actually started back in Charleston, when he had tooth pain and went to see a dentist who gave him some pain pills and told him it would get better spontaneously. What this dentist forgot to say was that the pain pills would put him in la la land and as long as he took them, he wouldn't care where he was or what happened. As I was beginning to worry about very rapid onset Alzheimer's Disease brought on by the sudden change of venue, I also noticed that the right side of his face was getting bigger and redder. Luckily for Jeff (or Cef as he spells it in Turkey), I work in a hospital, so he was whisked down to ENT where they declared an abscess and prescribed oral antibiotics with frequent returns. A note about antibiotics in Turkey: they are actually quite easy to obtain, available at any pharmacy without prescription! In Cef's case, the oral antibiotics didn't work, so two days later he had a procedure to drain the abscess with a new prescription for IV antibiotics. Nurhayat, the psychiatric nurse here at the Hacettepe, got him started, but he was not going to miss the weekend trip to Istanbul, so with drips and lines on board we forged ahead to Istanbul, trusting his care to Cengiz (shown holding the bag, so to speak), his wife Emine (a child psychiatrist), and their friends and relatives in Istanbul. Cengiz managed 3 successful infusions, before we had to resort to a hospital nurse to reinsert the IV line. It finally got to be too much trouble, so he's now back on oral antibiotics and the infection is nearly gone. Hurray for personalized medicine (even if delivered by a psychiatrist)!!Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Personalized Medicine
What, you might ask, is my husband doing with an IV attached in a garden in Istanbul? In the photo, you'll see our psychiatrist friend Cengiz, his nephew Onur, and his son Safuk. It actually started back in Charleston, when he had tooth pain and went to see a dentist who gave him some pain pills and told him it would get better spontaneously. What this dentist forgot to say was that the pain pills would put him in la la land and as long as he took them, he wouldn't care where he was or what happened. As I was beginning to worry about very rapid onset Alzheimer's Disease brought on by the sudden change of venue, I also noticed that the right side of his face was getting bigger and redder. Luckily for Jeff (or Cef as he spells it in Turkey), I work in a hospital, so he was whisked down to ENT where they declared an abscess and prescribed oral antibiotics with frequent returns. A note about antibiotics in Turkey: they are actually quite easy to obtain, available at any pharmacy without prescription! In Cef's case, the oral antibiotics didn't work, so two days later he had a procedure to drain the abscess with a new prescription for IV antibiotics. Nurhayat, the psychiatric nurse here at the Hacettepe, got him started, but he was not going to miss the weekend trip to Istanbul, so with drips and lines on board we forged ahead to Istanbul, trusting his care to Cengiz (shown holding the bag, so to speak), his wife Emine (a child psychiatrist), and their friends and relatives in Istanbul. Cengiz managed 3 successful infusions, before we had to resort to a hospital nurse to reinsert the IV line. It finally got to be too much trouble, so he's now back on oral antibiotics and the infection is nearly gone. Hurray for personalized medicine (even if delivered by a psychiatrist)!!
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Middle Passage and Soft Landing
We survived the four fights (including a large number of babies who expressed considerable frustration at the long wait on the tarmac in Atlanta) and were met in Ankara by my Turkish colleague Cengiz and one of the psychiatric residents Mehmet. Luckily for us, they had each brought a car, because with the amount of luggage we brought (and I had to talk my way out of paying for extra baggage again in Istanbul), we definitely needed the multiple vehicles. We are now guests in Cengiz's really lovely home on the outskirts of Ankara. I met my psychiatric colleagues at Hacettepe University on Friday and am looking forward to a full day tomorrow. Meanwhile over the weekend, I have power walked around the neighborhood and even visited the health club (more to come on that). Food is outstanding, so I'll definitely need to build in lots of exercise! In the picture, you'll see Jeff, Cengiz, and me at the Washington Restaurant, a lovely spot located above the city inside the walls of an ancient castle. Saturday, September 10, 2011
Counting Down
Last Spring, I found out that I had won a Fulbright Award for research in Turkey. Needless to say, I was thrilled (having never had a sabbatical). My departure date in mid-September was so far away, and there was time in the world to do all of the things that would be necessary, including learning Turkish, applying for sabbaticals at the VA and MUSC, tying up loose ends at work, and getting the house ready to rent. Well, you know how all that goes! And now that I've got less than 24 hours, I'm beyond panic and decompensating rapidly into psychosis! And it doesn't help that my super organized husband has been packed for three weeks. So, this post will be short, but I promise more to come when we arrive in Ankara on Thursday.You'll see in the picture my mother, children, and grandchildren who all came to Isle of Palms a few weeks ago to wish us well. Since then, there have been wonderful parties, happy hours, breakfasts, and dinners to send us off (maybe I should leave more often??).
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