Patient Experience
As a 72-year-old with chronic COPD, I'd seen many pulmonologists, but Dr. Cenik approached my case differently. During my routine checkup at Acibadem Fulya, he noticed subtle changes in my breathing patterns that others had missed for years. Instead of just adjusting medications, he designed a personalized breathing retraining program using a small digital device that tracks my lung function daily. What impressed me most was his follow-up—he reviewed my data remotely every week and called me personally when he noticed anomalies. After three months, I've reduced emergency inhaler use by 60%. He treats the patient, not just the disease.
Our 8-year-old daughter developed a mysterious persistent cough after what seemed like a mild cold. Pediatricians dismissed it as 'post-viral,' but after six weeks, we sought Dr. Cenik. He spent 45 minutes playing a breathing game with her using colored bubbles, making her laugh while secretly assessing her lung function. He discovered exercise-induced bronchoconstriction masked by normal resting tests. His solution was ingenious: a pre-exercise breathing technique using a musical app he developed, avoiding medication entirely. At our follow-up, he remembered her favorite cartoon character and incorporated it into her breathing exercises. She now calls him 'the breathing wizard.'
I arrived at Acibadem Fulya's ER at 2 AM with sudden pleuritic chest pain and difficulty breathing—terrified it was a pulmonary embolism. Dr. Cenik, who happened to be on call, performed an ultrasound at bedside instead of waiting for CT. He diagnosed me with a rare condition called costochondritis mimicking pulmonary symptoms, sparing me radiation and contrast dye. But here's what stood out: he explained the rib cartilage inflammation using a rubber band model he kept in his pocket, then taught me specific sleeping positions to reduce pain. At 3 AM, he demonstrated breathing techniques to manage the panic that accompanied the pain. His emergency care felt like compassionate detective work.
Following a complex lung biopsy surgery for a suspicious nodule, Dr. Cenik's post-operative protocol was unlike anything I've experienced. Instead of standard pain management, he implemented 'respiratory rehabilitation' starting the day after surgery—gentle humming exercises to prevent atelectasis. He visited me twice daily, not just to check vitals but to analyze the sound of my breathing through a digital stethoscope that recorded patterns. When I developed anxiety about recurrence, he created a visual timeline showing healing progression with actual images from my follow-up scans. At my 3-month checkup, he presented me with a comparison chart showing my lung capacity had actually improved 12% since surgery due to the rehabilitation techniques. He turns recovery into enhancement.