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It was the day before Thanksgiving. I had come home after my 3rd day of psychiatry. I had just finished my Neurology rotation, all the while still recovering from my 3 months of Internal Medicine. I decided to go to the local YMCA - the last time I was there must have been in high school. I used to frequent this YMCA to play basketball, ping-pong, and swim with my old high school gym. I was expecting to run into someone from high school there. To my surprise, there probably was around 5 people at the gym that evening. Got my workout in, and I was leaving. I was walking down the hallway and I hear “Hossam!!” I turn around, and I didn’t recognize him. His right eyelid was closed, head was mishapen, and his head was turned a little bit. I carried on conversation, and mid-sentence, I remembered who this was.
A couple of years ago, he had gotten into a severe car accident, which almost left him for dead. I remember sharing it on social media, donating to a gofundme all those years ago, and here he was standing in front of me.
I asked him about how life was, and how the recovery was going. Thankfully, he told me he had a full recovery, nearly 100% back to his normal self. He can drive, take care of himself, and works out (that’s why he was at the YMCA).
He asked me what I was doing. I responded that I’m in Medical School, hopefully going to be a doctor in 1.5 years.
What he did next rocked me to my core.
He pulled his shirt down to expose more of his neck and pointed to a scar.
“I’m sure you know what this is”
I immediately recognized the close up of a tracheostomy. I responded “Yes, I do”.
He then point to his abdomen and said “I have another one here for a feeding tube”.
I had no idea what to say. I’ve seen patients get trachs, and get fed through PEG tubes, but never walking around in the community, let alone an old friend.
I congratulated him on his recovery, said I was proud and happy to see him - It’s not every day you see someone everyone thought was dead walking around.
He responded “I’m glad I got to see you at the gym and not at the hospital”
As I kept walking down the hallway, I felt a pit in my stomach. We learn about procedures, diseases, and managements on question banks and rotations, but seeing its impact on someone I knew — let alone someone who people thought was going to pass — hit different. It reminded me that behind all those lab values, and ct scans, was a real person.