WRITE!

It is 2:30 am, the house is utterly quite, the wife and kids are sound asleep, and not a single sound from our 16 months old boy (very rare btw).  I'm sitting on the couch, the AC and the ceiling fan are tirelessly battling the Phoenix hot summer night (truly grateful).   My mind is restless as usual, except tonight, it is with a tinge of uneasiness and I'm unable to diagnose it.  We just finished a 4 hour orientation of brand new resident doctors who are starting in a few days and perhaps I am anxious about how they are going to handle the load of residency; Long hours, endless reading and learning, non-compliant patients, unforeseen post surgery complications, middle of the night pages from the floor or the ER, and etc etc.  Or may be it was the news I received today that my father called in sick to work (a true rarity) because he's not feeling well.  Perhaps it's the reality that I where ever we move to next might be our home and where we will plant some roots for the next few decades.  "I have to keep my mind occupied, I have to enervate it".  So, I started with reading about world events; from more significant 'Brexit' to not so crucial 'Messi retiring from the National team', and of course Facebook (just being honest here).  Unfortunately, none of those did the trick.  So, I decided to do work related reading and I came across this frightening piece of statistic from and article titled Causes of death in Tonga: quality of certification and implications for statistics by Carter et al.  Popul Health Metr 2012,

"Mortality from diabetes for 2005 to 2008 is estimated at 94 to 222 deaths per 100,000 population for males and 98 to 190 for females (based on the range of plausible all-cause mortality estimates) compared with 2008 estimates from the global burden of disease study of 40 (males) and 53 (females) deaths per 100,000 population."

By now, I have read the paragraph above over and over and the sting seems to get worse each time.  Now, the leash on my mind is shortening and it is zeroing in on a few more scientific articles about the havoc Diabetes is effortlessly wrecking in Tonga.  I am not feeling discouraged at all, instead, I am feeling motivated.  "What can I do?"  Part of the answer came swiftly and clearly; WRITE.

It has been 5 years since I last wrote on this blog.  I have, on multiple occasions, thought about writing again but I was so good at finding reasons not to.   I shall make the utmost effort to suppress those thoughts and embrace the reasons to write and lovingly discuss these issues not just as a healthcare provider but also as a son, a grandson, a husband, a father, a brother, a cousin, an uncle, a neighbor, and of course a TONGAN. #TongaMaaTonga