Although he had lung cancer, his death came as a surprise to everybody. Few months ago they said the cancer has taken a tight grip over his lungs and he was a goner. A while after that the good news came that he was doing amazingly well, he even went on a few months later to open a new Medical complex, after all he was a doctor and his job was to save lives. Everything seemed to be working out well, until a patient came in and sneezed.

It didn't take the H1N1 much time to claim his life. His immune system was fried with all the chemo, and within few days his family received a phone call just before dawn, telling them that their beloved father and husband has passed away.

He was a good man, and he had such a great family that we all loved, so it was only natural that people would pour in to pay their condolences. As soon as we saw the mother and the children we hugged them and cried with them, despite the warnings of not making too much contact out of fear that the swine flu might still be hovering over his loved ones.

His wife spoke about how he used to spend Ramadan nights praying and reading Qur'an, how he used to do the prayers even when he was in the ICU, and how sometimes he couldn't finish because he'd passed out. She'd alternate between crying out of sorrow and smiling at the good memories she had of him.

Just before we left the wake a certain piece of news spread like wildfire. His daughter also had, or maybe still has the swine flu. Well, what can you do other that hope that you didn't catch any of it…

As we left the wake we began exchanging stories about the people who attended. Some people had anti-bacterials that they used all the time. Someone came in with a mask dangling on his chest, which he clearly got rid of when he saw that no one else is using one. Someone arrived at the house but decided that he's not getting in and took of.

So at last we all concluded that we might have been exposed to H1N1, but what can you do? You just pray that it doesn't hit you, but even if it did, it might not be the worst thing in the world. According to my uncle's wife, people who get the swine flu this year should consider themselves lucky, for the virus is relatively mild now, while next year it could be more developed and more powerful.

The bottom line is that  it's just another flu, you just need to take the right antibiotic for it, which is the Tamiflu. If you get the symptoms, don't just take any kind of antibiotic because antibiotics could be dangerous if taken wrong. So there's really no reason to panic, they even are not keeping people at hospitals anymore, if you go to a hospital complaining about swine flu symptoms they just give you the Tamiflu and tell you to stay home for a week.

On the bright side, I woke up this morning to find that my mother had prepared two jugs of fresh citrus juice. Well, we can use some vitamin C you know!

May Allah rest the doctor's soul in peace, and give us whatever is better to have, flu or no flu!