Dr. Malo's Adventures

This is the real Grey's Anatomy.

Pictured above from right to left are the following residents:

1. Joanna: She is one of our ER residents. She loves ER and does a mighty fine job taking care of the crazy stuff we see in the ER in Chicago. You aren't going to find a better trained group of ER residents than what they have here in Chicago. She is fun loving, outgoing, and is a team player. Very easy to work with and very reliable. You need to be reliable and dependable, and Joanna is.

2. Mike: Our wonderful Chief Resident. Mike is Internal Medicine and is a great guy. Great personality, fun loving, easy going, and easy to get along with. He gets along with everyone and everyone loves him. His management stle is very chill and easy going. He leads by example and rarely gets riled up. It's very rare that he gets upset with you. You gotta be a really bad resident to get his attention. And even then, he deals with most situations with composure and professionalism. Mike already got one of our cardiology spots, he is a graduating 3rd year IM resident.

3. Jim: This is one of our surgery residents. Jim is an Ohio State grad and loves Ohio State more than anyone else I've met. He's been to a million games. Jim enjoys life and is a hilarious person to hang out with. Jim is always excited when major traumas come in and handles his bsiness with poise. A guy may come in missing body parts, or has very few still attached, and Jim just handles it. You aren't going to get better trianing than what we have here in Chicago.

4. Mohammed: That's me! I am a second year internal medicine resident working towards cardiology and interventional cardiology. I am a pretty cool, calm, and relaxed resident. I don't get too excited about anything. I'm pretty even keeled. I love what I am doing. I love playing sports. Football, basketball, soccer, whatever it is. I find medicine fascinating. I really enjoy trying to figure out what it going on with people and what is making them sick. It's like trying to solve a mystery. The sicker the patient, the more fascinating. I love reading about medicine and trying to learn more and more. I love teaching the medical students. When I am on general medicine, I give tons of student lectures. It's enjoyable, and I have a knack for speaking and explaining things in simple terminology and helping students figure it out. The students really enjoy my talks (based on feedback they have given me). I am a huge Denver Broncos fan and Ohio State fan. I just try to make the most of every situation. Some people whine and complain, I just try to have a good time! Just enjoy life! Make the most of every situation!

Is Grey's Anatomy real? No!
I will address this in a future blog. But no, Grey's Anatomy is not real. No one on earth has sex at the hospital. This will be a future post.

For us, week 9 wasn't about the undefeated Patroits and the undefeated Colts (Superbowl 41.5) facing off. It wasn't about Adrian Peterson setting a rushing record. For us, it was about row 2 seats at Detroit. Row 2!!!!!!!!

We made it to the Denver at Detroit game without incident. We love Ford Field, we've been to many Toledo and MAC championships at Ford Field. It's a great facility, great venue. Awesome football facility. However, I must say, the RCA Dome is much louder. Like I mentioned in a prior post, in the RCA Dome I was sitting next to Arwa screaming at the top of my lungs into her ear, and she had no idea what I was saying. No kidding. At Ford Field you can always hear the people around you.... it's not loud at all.

I wish we would have been about 20-30 minutes earlier, so we could get more autographs and chat with players, but that didn't happen. We arrived around 11:30Am for the 1PM kickoff.



We're talking Row 2. I mean Row 2! On Denver's sideline. We could hear and see everything. Above is our good friend Cutler and the Denver offense huddling before a play.

Of course, being this close, means you get to see everything, even the ugly. Below is Cutler being sacked by Rodgers, on the very play where he injured his lower leg.



We were right there when he got injured. He got up, started walking towards us, then the coaching staff motioned to him to go down. Apparently, if he goes down on the field, that allows a few extra moments for the backup to warm up as they go to commercial break. (Smart move!)




Ouch!

Afterwards, he did not return.


We were right behind the Denver bench and had a great view of some of our favorite stars. So close that you could take pictures like the above.


This is one of the guys that was heckling us! He was very funny and jovial! He and his friend made the day go by much faster and we had a lot of fun with him. He actually started cheering for us on the few rare occasions when we actual got first downs. He felt bad for us. When Arwa told him that we watched away games all the time at Indy, Detroit and other locations, he started laughing and said, "So you're like a glutton for pain. Ok, I know what I am working with now. I am going really lay into you guys!"


That's the guy and his friend sitting next to Arwa.

The fans in Detroit were great. They kept their heckling to friendly and jovial. We had a great time with them.

The stadium was "sold out", but there were tons of empty seats. Not sure why. About 5-10% of the stadium was Denver fans from what we could tell. Most were wearing orange, but some were wearing blue. I was hoping they'd all wear orange to stand out.

Above are some Denver fans who were at the end of our section.

The Denver fans that were sitting behind us were really whiny and annoying. Every single play they were whining about the play calling, whining about players not catching the ball, whining about every little thing. It wasn't normal cheering or the occasional "Come on, catch the ball." It was a slow drone of whining, and complaining, and moaning. It was very painful to be around them. Thankfully, they were fair weather fans and left after the third quarter started (they came late too!)

Look, we all love the Denver Broncos, but when your team is getting pounded, try to make the most of it. Enjoy the atmosphere, enjoy the stadium, enjoy the fans around you, talk to people. Be happy. Whining is not going to change anything.

Another weird experience, a lot of fan not only did not show up, but came late and left early. I mean some fans came in the second quarter, and left after half time. Weird. I would love to be able to go to every Denver game and watch every second. If you have the privilege of being able to watch all your team's games at home, why would you leave early?

Below is the final kneel down after the 44-7 loss. (Proof we stayed till the bitter end)



In the back field is Calvin Johnson, one of the more amazing physical specimens. He is 6 foot 4 inches tall, weighs 240 and runs a 4.3 forty. Wow! I can't say I have ever watched a more athletic human being.

Some highlights, Shuan Rodgers running downfield and Selvin Young trying to tackle him. Like I always tell my team mates, tackle their legs. There is no way that a guy like Selvin is going to get the massive Rodgers down trying to tackle him that high.

Another highlight was watching Cutler warm up before the game. I saw what this guy can do. He has the strongest arm in the NFL by a huge margin. He is in an offense that still hasn't put his arm to use yet. During warmups, he was on the 25 yard line and launching he ball over 75 yards into the endzone, with minimal effort. It was pretty crazy!

Travis Henry and Dre Bly are really short dudes, Henry seemed really short. But he is built like a tank. It was hard to tell, but I think I am taller than both of them. Of course, I don't have Henry's legs or thickness, but I could probably give Dre a run for his money in the forty yard dash. He isn't very big, and didn't look too fast.

Ryan Harris and Hamza Abdullah are both Muslim, and I didn't see them take a prayer break. Hahaha. Just kiddig.

Sam Adams is an enormous human being. I don't know that I have ever seen anyone that big before. Watching him move around was painful.

I love tackle football. I will play with any one at any time. I have lucked out that in Chicago, I have always found people to play.

My good friend Jalal after a nice game.

Football is one of the most intellectually challenging sports humanity has seen. Yes, most kids when they pick up a ball and play don't view it as mental exercise, but it truly is.

Yes, anyone can just play and have a good time. But truly playing football means scheming. You see what the other team is doing and adjust. You don't need superiour athletes, you need a superior plan. That's the beauty of the game.

You need leadership on your team that can analyze, scheme, and execute gameplans as the game is being played. It's harder at our level, because we don't use a coaching staff, we are the coaches and the players, while playing.

Last sunday, we went to a field near the city to play at night. The lights were on and it brought back memories of high school ball under the lights. It's cooler at night, so we prefer it. We picked teams. I ended up with my buddies Kaiser and Jalal. But the big monster of a human being ended up on the other team.

This guy was huge. 6 feet 3 inches tall, 245 pounds of rock solid muscle. He had a 32 inch waist that flared out to huge shoulders. This guy could be on the Under Armor commercials, ripped and cut. His team started laughing at us and saying they were gonna kill us. And that it was over.

Jalal and Kaiser told me that they are just gonna hand off to this dude and he is gonna run over us. I huddled up the defense, told them what our gameplan was, then we started hyping each other up and getting ready. We basically, put everyone in the box to cover the run and left to cornerbacks on each side to cover the entire field behind us.

We dared them to throw. We gobbled up the running back. He lost yards, got flipped, tore up his shirt.... had no where to go. We had our corners on an island covering the entire field.

They could not move the ball.

On offense, we gave them the same look on every down, but mixed in run and pass. We ran 90% of the time, because they could not stop us.

It was awesome! That's just one simple example of scheming and gameplanning.

Football is the greatest sport humanity has ever invented. I will continue to play every weekend.

Someday I will be a high school headcoach. I can't wait! My teams will always win! Superior gameplan, not superior athletes, but having both is great! Smart players!

Having worked with people for the last fifteen years, whether it be as a political consultant, campaign manager, network administrator, salesman, public relations manager, a speech writer for various politicians at every level of the political spectrum, and as the Editor and CEO of www.PaintballTimes.com and www.FootballTimes.org, I can say that I have seen it all.

With that in mind, I would like extol the virtues of one individual whose path crossed mine, whose character is firm and trustworthy, whose personality is amicable and friendly, whose unselfishness is admirable, whose peers respect him, and whose family and friends love him; one Ali Tabrizchi.

Ali is a man for others. He puts the needs of others ahead of his own. He lends a helping hand and devotes his full faculties to help everyone he meets, giving them his full attention and concentration, whether they be a statesman or a fife. He has taken every opportunity to be a man for others.

Ali works harder than anyone I have had the honor and pleasure to work with. While working with him, I attempted to outwork his work ethic by arriving hours earlier; yet, when I arrived, no matter how early, he was always there long before I was. Further attempts at oneupmanship with Ali were fruitless. No matter how hard you worked, he worked harder, came in earlier, and stayed longer. You can't teach work ethic, but you can learn a thing or two from Ali.

Ali is the epitome of selflessness. When the team needed a member to go the extra yard, Ali proactively finished the task at hand, before anyone even realized that there was a task at hand. There was no hesitation, no doubt, no quiver. The task was completed before it even started. The task was a done, before it was ever a to-do.

Ali is an extraordinary motivator, among the likes of Lombardi, Reagan, Robbins, and Elway. Ali provides the extra oomph, the pizzaz, the dynamism, the zing, and the inspiration to make those around him, not only better, but better for it. Ali's motivation and drive comes from within, an inextinguishable fire that ignites others. He is driven not only to motivate others and help them achieve, but driven by the inner passion, the inner pursuit, the inner drive to achieve more and work towards the betterment of society.

Ali's personality is an engaging and wonderful experience. He energizes those around him, makes everyone feel good, and lets people know that he genuinely cares about them. He empowers those around him with positive, reverberating words of kindness and encouragement. He does not pull rank and engages even the most menial personalities with respect and gravitas. Ali's demeanor and personality move mountains.

Ali's maturity, wittiness, and political savvy rival that of highly seasoned professionals. No one ever feels quipped or slighted by Ali, not even in the slightest. Although Ali is an energetic son, he carries himself in the fashion of a wise grandfather. Ali is not drawn into petty arguments and battles of self aggrandizement, but rather will use his wit and wisdom to circumvent the negativity and reach a finality that is beneficial to all.

Ali has a sense of humility that flows through his veins like Plavix. Regardless of rank or rancor, Ali treats everyone, and demands to be treated with, unmatched equality, respect, and professionalism. Whether he is with those that love him or despise him, Ali maintains a humble attitude and approaches everyone with the same respect that they have come to love him for.

There is nothing wrong with Ali, that what's right with Ali can't fix.

Ali is a man for others, one in a thousand, one that can not be replaced.

Mohammed S. Alo
www.MohammedAlo.com

Back on cardiology with the same old friends that I was with as a student so many times.

As always, the cardiology team is fun, intuitive, intelligent, creative, and tons of rock solid fun!


The Great Dr. Benjamin Rojas!


The Infamous Dr. Ali Tabrizchi!

The cardiology service we are running now has some amazing residents, fellows, and students. We have our emotional, inspirational, and always exciting Ali. We have Ben on some days. We have Mic, the Chief Resident, we have Will, the family practice resident, two amazing students; Adam and Sam, our awesome attending, Dr. Ravi Gurujal (aka: MDConsult) and myself.

We spend most of our freetime debating football; both college and professional and enjoy debating various football issues!

So the Buckeyes, played as expected and pounded Michigan into submission. 5 out of the last 6 times, Ohio State has won! Go Buckeyes!

I hope the national championship game is a rematch and we get to beat them again!



Listen to this awesome Buckeye Anthem!
Download the Ohio State Buckeye Anthem!

My brother and his wife flew into town from Columbus, so that we all could attend the Ohio State versus Northwestern game. It was awesome! The atmosphere was surreal. It was like being at home in Columbus!



We were able to catch a nice picture with the infamous "Buckeye Guy".






























Buckeye Nation!

All good things come to an end. And unfortunately for me, my rotation with Dr. Susan Marcotte came to its eventual close. However, it was an amazing and engaging experience. It was a ton of fun and we had a good laugh. Dr. Marcotte is one of the friendliest and most amicable human beings I have ever met. Her patients love her and she truly loves them. They chat, laugh, and enjoy life together.

Here is me and Dr. Susan Marcotte on our last day together. I wish this was a 3 month rotation instead of just 4 weeks.


Below is Dr. Marcotte busy at work, working on her charts. On some days she stays in the office past midnight finishing up paperwork.


While her nurse, Erica, manages to file her nails and read a magazine at the same time. Erica is very talented!


Erica was a very funny partner in crime. She doesn't like brown-nosers and is pretty blunt about what she is thinking. Don't mess with Erica! But she does have a fun side and you'll have a good time with this dynamic duo.

BIG TEN CHAMPS!
The Buckeyes clinch the Big Ten basketball title in Chicago, and we were in attendence for this nailbiter.



Arwa and I at the game.



Mike, Joy, and Hadi chillin with the Buckeye crew, wearing scarlet and grey as usual!



Hadi smiling while secretly routing for NU. I warned him. Apparently he wants the Illini to win the Big Ten, so he is cheering for NU to win.



My friend Hadi decided to wear a black shirt, eventhough I insisted on scarlet. So I had to touch up his shirt.... as punishment for him. Below is the way his shirt is supposed to look.



This was an electrifying finish! If you saw this game on TV you'll know what I mean. With 1.3 seconds left Ohio State puts up a lay up that puts us up 54-53. NU has the ball, tehy try to pass it in for a quick basket, but end up passing it out of bounds. So we get the ball back, they foul us, we win 56-54!

Apparently, Northwestern's best player is a guy named "Mohammed Hachad". It was cool to keep hearing them announce my name over the loud speaker.

The crowd went wild! We were screaming the entire game. Everyone got sick of us. We were chanting "BIGTEN CHAMPS, BIGTEN CHAMPS, BIGTEN CHAMPS!" At the end as we filtered out of the little arena.

The arena was tiny, probably like 5,000-6,000 maximum capacity, very small. There was about 25% Ohio State fans... we travel well and represent!!!

We did our cheers, in their arena.... "Oh Ehch.......... Ii Oo" You could hear the O-H..... I-O chant ringing all night. A lady next to us kept saying, "Well at least they can spell." Then during half time their cheerleaders come out singing the YMCA song, spelling it..... I turned to her and laughed at her, "Looks like you can spell too!"

A magnificent night!! And An Awesome Birthday Gift!!!!

BIG TEN CHAMPS!

Today I gave a 2 hour workshop on Obesity, Nutrition, and Exercise. Of course, being a Buckeye, I am wearing scarlet and grey.

Because obesity is such an important topic to me, I usually will accept any invitation to speak on obesity. Obesity has become a favorite topic of mine and I thoroughly enjoy speaking on this topic. I have adopted obesity as my mission in health care, ever since I did a project on obesity during family practice. I wish I could end obesity, but I have too many forces working against me.

Most people don't realize how easy it is to be considered "obese". Most people think being "obese" means weighing 450 pounds, which is not the case. You can be obese and just be 15-20 pounds overweight, it all depends on your height and weight.

I was contacted by a group of women that meet once a month and have presentations on health topics. They have registration, attendance and are pretty formal about it, even though it's free. They take a quiz before the workshop as well as afterwards to see if they improved.

The woman that runs this is an older Palestinian woman that has been living in the United States for 4 years. She left Kuwait after Iraq invaded in 1990 and has been bouncing around. She eventually came here and was reunited with her family that has been living here for quite sometime.

The group I was speaking to were middle-aged to older women. There were a few teenagers in the audience, but only about 4 or 5 of them. Most of the audience was around 38-58 years in age. The group was a nice sized group, about 40 strong.

The women all spoke Arabic and came from a Middle Eastern background and lived in the part of Chicago where there is a high concentration of Palestinians, on 95th and Harlem. Throughout the presentation, I interspersed some Arabic words and cultural foods that they enjoyed and thought was funny.

Whenever I am scheduled to give a power point presentation, I always print out my notes on paper with 6 slides on each page for me to use while presenting. I also like to print out the slides, one to a page, in case the projector fails or the computer doesn't work, then I can at least hold up the large print slides and show them anything.

And wouldn't you know it.... the computer and projector failed me. So I had to use my paper slides. Always, good to have a backup plan.

They enjoyed the presentation so much, that they asked me to do it again, but for their entire community, including the fathers, brothers, and sons. Apparently, they need this talk as well. I'll keep you all posted on when this talk will take place so that you can attend. All their events are open to the public.

You can download the audio file and the presentation and enjoy using it or listening to how I presented it and mimicking my presentation. I just ask that you leave the power point presentation intact, not alter it, and give credit to me when you use it. The presentation is about 12 MB in size, so it is quite large.