Snowboard trip to Snow Summit, and Acupuncturing my arm.

First free weekend on ICU... what shall we do guys? How about go snowboarding! Yay... that's what we did. Lorinc, Aaron, and I went to Snow Summit last weekend and snowboard/ski'd for 2 days. When we got there, we 'Night-Ski' the first night... it was beautiful, less people on the slope, clear view of the lake on the way down, and it wasn't even cold. The trails were a little icy but ok. Then we went back to the small cabin that we rented for a night. We hung out, ate, and watched a movie. The next day, we went out again and ski'd and snowboarded until about 2:30pm. It was a nice trip!




HOWEVER, unfortunately, for me, I fell pretty hard on one of the runs coming down. I hit a ditch and instead of landing on my neck and back, I stuck out my left arm and jammed it into the ice and way hyperextended it. My elbow hurt really bad. But, I had to finish the day snowboarding so after icing it for about 45min, I was back on the slope for 3 more runs. So, here are pictures 3 days after it happened and my acupuncture attempt to treat myself.

I used a surface energetic treatment called the TendinoMuscular Meridian. It require a "Ting point," a "gathering point," and lots of needles to focus the treatment. The ting point starts the flow of energe, the gathering point directs to where the energy flows, and the local points focus the healing energy of the needles and Qi. So my ting point is on my pinky (SI-1). Gathering point is on my head (GB-13), and lots of local needles surrounding the lesion on my elbow.

It didn't look any better the next day, but I believe that the healing is taking place. For those orthopedic minded, the medical evaluation I gave myself ruled-out fracture right after it happened. X ray negative for fractures. My diagnosis: muscle strain and likely a ligamentous tear of the posterior portion of the ulnar collateral ligament at the left medial epicondyle. Next step: Rest, Ice, Elevate, Ibuprofen, time (6 weeks) for recovery. In the mean time, ace bandage and ice to minimize swelling; ibuprofen for pain and inflammation; continue increase range of motion to speed up recovery.

Now, if you are suspecting a fracture or know there's a fracture, the management changes a little bit. Make sure you consult your doctor.

Chris Tomlin Concert!

My friends Andy, Amy and Lindsay invited me to a Chris Tomlin concert 2 days ago... man, we had so much fun! Chris is such a good song writer and musician! We sang Christmas songs and worship songs all night and then Louie Giglio share an awesome message! There was 2 guess singers: Christy Nockels and Audrey Assad. Audrey Assad has such a beautiful voice and a beautiful song! It was super fun!

Medecins Sans Frontieres - "Living in Emergency"

Wow, just saw that movie... that was crazy! I am a doctor and love to be involved in international work, and was very excited to see how much despirate needs are out there. That movie only portrays a tiny little slice of the problem we face in our world. I want to help, but can't help feeling helpless.

The struggles of those doctors are real. The life style was so terrible, they are so worn out in such a short time. Imagine operating under such little support and equipment and pyschological support. You definitely have to be trained in such a way like a special-forces-operative to handle that kind of emotional stress for any length of time.

I walked away very exhausted, partly because of my 13 hour ICU shift, and partly feeling overwhelmed by how much there is to do if we are in the business of helping people get better.

To live that kind of live-style as a doctor could turn us into either a machine or an animal... it is so un-natural and harsh. There needs to be a more holistic balance so that we can continue to serve and not burn out.

How does one approach this type of work? How does one get prepared for it? How do you interpret suffering? How do you prioritize who should live and who to let die? How do we apply God's grace and His Good News in this?

Baking with mom

So my mom bought me this really sweet machine, Vita-Mix, as my Christmas present this year... yeah, Christmas isn't here yet, but you know, I am gonna be working in the ICU, so she wanted to celebrate it early. Vita-Mix is the coolest machine for the kitchen, it does everything! I've made smoothies, almond butter, soups, and now --> baking!

You can make puree anything; in three to five minutes your soup gets steamy hot right out of the machine; it dices and chops; and it also makes bread dough, cake mixes, cookies... so, tonight we took it to the test!

So, there's our Zucchini Bread with chunky walnuts and pineaple, and Apple Bread with pecans and raisins, and 2 trays of Persimmon Cookies with walnuts and raisins. Seriously, baking has never been so easy.

Voila! I wish I can share them with you! We stand around and sampled them and they were truly delicious! Bon appetite!

(*) Dear Readers, thoughts on Christmas...

Dear readers to my blog, it is such a pleasure for me to know that you all are able to access it from where you are as I share my life openly to you. Hope you enjoy some of what I have to say. I want to thank you for viewing my page, and if you ever have an urge to message me, please leave me a comment on my blog. I really do enjoy reading what you have to say too.

This is the season of Christmas, a special time that is all too much over advertized. People, at least in America, gets so excited and STRESSED in spending money and buying presents.... However, we all too often forget why we even have this special holiday at the first place! Christmas = a celebration for the birth of Christ. Why does he have to come?

We are fallable beings... we have lots of issues in our world, there are a lot of sufferings and ugliness in our humanity. We don't have to be a genius to know that even kids, early on, are NOT perfect... they know how to manipulate, how to throw a tentrum, and how to break rules... all by themselves! They don't need us to teach them that! How does a perfectly beautiful and clean babe, borned 'Tabla Raza,' ('clean slate') even raised in the perfectest of all family, still know how to manipulate and break rules?!

How does a perfect GOD stand unperfect? If God is perfect and unperfect, clean and unclean, just and shady, good and evil, then He cannot be 'God.' God cannot be 'contradicted.' He is the standard, He is Holy, He is perfect, He is sinless, He cannot tolerate sin/unperfect.

That leaves God completely seperated from us! Unable to communicate or be in our presence... because God does not commune with the imperfect... So, we have a problem don't we?

In fact, if we stop here, we pretty soon realize that this is where ALL of the world religions stop! The rest of the story 'depends on us an how we act and what we do.'

However, in Christ, He is the sacrifice that paid for our imperfection. He is the bridge between our imperfection to God's perfection. Christ, being One God in very nature with YHWH, and the Holy Spirit, is the representation of the perfect sacrifice that is required to REDEEM us, so we can be returned to God's presence. This act changes our life eternally. It allows us to have a relationship with God, instead of just a God far far away that really doesn't care about us.

The origin of Christmas really is to celebrate and to thank God for what He has done for us, for His provisions and His blessings... and most of all for His loving relationship with us... This is what seperates Christ believers to all other world religions... everything else is the same.

Now, if you are wondering how to allow Christ's Redemption to change your life, here are some answers and suggestions. God wants a relationship with you. God wants to love you and share His blessings with you. God wants to dwell with you forever in the perfect world He has prepared for us. God wants to give you hope and joy through the suffering that you are currently in and/or the sufferings you see around you that you cannot understand or solve. All you need to do is to invite Him into a relationship with you, first by recognizing what He's done for you... to accept His gift of grace and loving friendship; then, to confess your imperfection, which He carried your burdens on that ugly cross; then, open His Holy Bible and read. If you want to know where to start, I suggest starting in the book of John, then Romans.

Let me tell you, to follow Christ, does not require you to change your dress or your look, but it does require that you change your heart and allow Him in. He has already prepared your heart, you just need to invite Him in.

I have enjoyed 17 years of growing with God and thoroughly enjoyed it. I have had lots of hard times and some of my most heart breaking moments during this time, He does not necessary take pain away, but He give you strength, peace and comfort through them. He has promised that He will never leave you or forsake you, even when all other do. I have to say that I disappoint God way more than He has ever disappointed me!

Thank you for reading, I hope you feel loved today. Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving 2009

There are many things to be thankful for this year, even though, it was a year filled with trials. I am glad to say that healing has come for my broken-ness. Perhaps one day I will share with you what I've learned. First, I need to thank God for His provisions. Second, I must thank my family... and the new addition, Geoff and Jessies' new marriage. Third, I am very thankful for the opportunity to be working at Ventura's wonderful residency program.

It is really rare to get a vacation, but I got one for the entire week of Thanksgiving and got to go home and hangout with family. However, a week before I started my vacation, I got the PIG flu! I was coughing like a pig for nearly three weeks... PIGS ARE NASTY! That's all I have to say to that. My friend Ben said he got the Bird flu... but, I don't believe him... he wasn't coughing or flying at all! Spider-Boy got super powers when he was bitten by a spider... I thought pigs are smart... but I didn't get any special powers but coughing my brains out for 2 weeks.

You know, it gave me the appreciation for my patients' sufferings! I always tell them that there aren't anything out there that help with cough very well... well, I drank my own medicine! Now I can tell you that... yeah, I am still right! Stinking Pig!

So, transition from the Pig flu to HAM... yum... I can't wait to show you what my family made up for Thanksgiving dinner this year! I can't even explain... my stomach was in the back of my throat at the end of the night... and let me tell you, we started eating at 2pm! No wonder French people call us Americans fat pigs... well, I say "Ham UP."

What's wrong with me tonight... what's up with me and pig... Nevermind. Here is the spread!



So delicious... do you see how incredibly pretty and presentable of this turkey? Well, it took my uncle Steve less than 5 minutes to carve it and presented all on the platter... Man, you are a true CHEF!

Goble, goble, oink, oink.

Off the hook! Mission Inn, Riverside!

Do you know the Mission Inn Resort in Riverside, CA? It is like a super fancy hotel, 5 stars, where a few of our presidents got married in it, many of them have stayed in it, many foreign leaders have stayed there, and also lots of celebrities also stayed there... It is built with lots of mixtures of different architecture styles with lots of secluded spaces.

So, I've lived in the Riverside/Loma Linda for nearly 10 years and always wanted to stay at this hotel. I used to sneak into the hotel and hangout in one of the beautiful and secluded court yards... But, guess what? No sneaky sneaky anymore! I actually got to stay there like a high-roller this time!

So, I went to the ATLS (Advance Trauma Life Support) certification course, given at Loma Linda University by several trauma surgeons from the American College of Surgeons... I went there with my friends Kevin and Julie, who are also co-residents in the Ventura program. They are from the South... and I thought to treat them to the best of the Inland Empire that I know...
So, here is the where the rampage start:

You see that corner white tripple-arch door at the end of the terrace? Well, that was our room! And as we enter, we were all jaw dropped at how large and how our room was! Yeah, no joke, it was off the hook!

Then, as we walk out of the door, we can look down into the Terrace Cafe, where we ate a very nice 4 course meal on our second night there.

The rotunda!

There's Kevin and Julie looking cute on the stairs; Kevin and I stuck together in a box.

Me, chilling in a secluded court yard; the pool overlook.

Customized chair for the 335 lb president Taft; which both Kevin and Julie fit in easily... Kevin was doing a Taft impression.

A sweet Cadillac.

First course of our four course meal at the Terrace Cafe: Crab cakes.
Second course of my meal was a gourmet halibut.

Third for me was a spiked coffee; and then, of course, chocolate!

And yes, we all passed the ATLS certification. Yay.