TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR OWN HEALTH IS A LIFETIME JOB.
My family moved in a low-income community in the summer of 1984, and soon we found out that there were roaches everywhere in those apartments. Then one day when I tried to re-cook a piece of Kentucky Fried Chicken in a small bowl, I saw a roach was running around the base of the bowl. I was hesitated for a while, but I cooked both of them anyway. I cooked them twice, two minutes each time; but at the end of the second time the roach ran away, through a hole of the ventilation system of the microwave. This incidence gave me a chance to review the medication in both conventional medicine and Chinese medicine. In general, the Chinese medicine can keep you in better shape. Why? The purpose is the Chinese Medicine is to strengthen your body, instead of fighting the illnesses by itself alone..
In the first place, I set the cooking time for two minutes, but right before I push the “Start” button, I saw the roach, which was mentioned above, was running around the base of the bowl. As a practitioner of Buddhism I should not kill the roach, but I wanted to know how much heat the roach could take without being killed. Therefore I started the cooking and well prepared to push the “Stop” button at any time, if needed.
After lots of oil popped out from the Kentucky Fried Chicken, the roach started to move away from the bowl and ran among the bottom corners of the microwave, then the microwave stopped itself. Next, I set the cooking time for another two minutes. This time the roach wandered around the upper four corners the most. I wondered that should I re-cook the roach for the third time?
It was the roach’s choice, it ran away through a hole of the ventilation system of the microwave asI heard a sound, “Dang.” It seemed that the microwave was saying, “Hi Roach, you have done a wonderful demonstration.” Certainly, it showed me that germs and parasites can hide away in our bodies where medications are difficult to reach, as the roach had done.
Immediately, I walked to the next building where my co-worker lived, and told him about the incidence of the roach. He moved in this community two years ago, so upon hearing of my story he laughed loudly. Therefore, I emphasized that my microwave was brand new and made in America (by RCA). He laughed even loader and said, “So what? The roach was made in America, too.”
It’s weird, the manager of the apartments had sent someone to kill the roaches with chemicals monthly, but it seemed the population of roaches were becoming more and more. No doubt, the practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine would not kill the germs and parasites with medicines directly, but to provide the patients with more energy instead, and let their bodies to fight against the germs and parasites themselves.
Well, life is medicine. On one hand probably someone might say that, “You had used a scientific device, the microwave, to kill the roach but failed.” On the other hand, I do believe that --- The practice of conventional medicine is similar to the U. S. operation in Afghanistan, which fight against the Al-Qaeda with scientific fighters, helicopters, bombers, missiles, munitions and cluster bombs.” Could we win the war? And for our health, should we rely on the conventional medicine more than the alternative medicine?
One night, in April of 2009, a 65-year-old woman’s left humerus was broken completely, way up at the surgical neck; and after x-rayed in a hospital, she was scheduled for a surgery two days later. But during the consultation with a surgeon she changed her mind, she decided to come to see me instead of undergoing a surgery, and within two weeks she was able to comb her hair with her left hand. How? She had guided the pain to heal her bone.
Why did she, Mrs. L, change her mind? According to Mrs. L and her husband, the surgeon told them that the success rate of such a surgery was only 30 to 40 percents; besides, she might not be able to raise her left elbow higher than the shoulder for the rest of her life. However, the following medical history was the major fact that led them to see me.
Nine years prior to her accident, Mr. and Mrs. L were lived in Texas, and Mr. L’s knees had bothered him so much, and finally he was suggested to have knee surgeries, which might involved with AAK (Amputation Above Knee). Fortunately, someone recommended him to see me, and with a few acupuncture treatments, Qi-gong massage, and herbal teas, his knees were recovered.
Now let’s talk about Mrs. L’s left humerus. During the initial visit (April 27) I had measured the circumference of her upper arms, near the shoulders, both were over 20 inches. I massaged her left upper arm to be able to figure out her broken humerus, but I could hardly feel the surgical neck. I treated her once in every two to three days, and up to May 19, she had nine treatments totally. And she was able to raise her left elbow up to her forehead before she went back to Texas.
“What a miracle!” you might think of. Well, the major healing source were her own energy and mental power, especially the pain; because as the palm is to the back of hand, so the pain is to the energy in her body. One should not kill the pain, his own energy, if possible.
Some people had committed suicide for they could not bear the pain, and that’s why the doctors have to prescribe pain-killers for their patients to take, whenever they are in pain. However, it is the patient’s choice --- to kill the pain (the energy) , or to cure their illnesses.
In late 1984, I worked for the Columbine Elementary School as a volunteer, at the nurse room. And a registered nurse of the Boulder School District told me that, “From Monday through Friday, in five days, I have to serve at six schools, including elementary schools and high schools.” No doubt, that’s why the schools needed so many volunteers. Comparing to the schools in Taiwan, whether elementary schools or colleges, at least there were a full-time nurse and a part-time physician were employed by each school. It made me wondered that, “Was I in America or Africa?” The following stories might be of interest to you.
In 1986, a 26-year-old nurse (Kathy) was recommended to me by Susan, for she had PMS（Premenstrual Syndromes.）A week later when she came back for the second treatment she told me that, “Susan has encouraged me to let you know about my ankle problem. So far in my life I have tried to ski twice, the first time when I was a teenager and the second after I got married, but I could not make it for I fell immediately as I started each time.”
According to Kathy, her parents were told by doctors that she was born with a severe heart problem and needed to undergo a heart surgery otherwise she might die in a year or so. Her parents did not accept the idea and she had survived except with an ankle problem.
An ankle problem for twenty six years and no one was able to help? Wow! Could you believe it, which was happened in America, not in Africa? In Taiwan, if people had sports injuries, included strain and sprain, they used to see the Gong-Fu Master instead of the physician or go to the hospital.
As a boy I had learned some Shao-Lin Gong-Fu, and was already able to fix most of the minor sports injuries. Therefore upon hearing of Susan’s ankle problem I started to massage her ankle. Fortunately it did not take me too much time to fix it, and she was able to ski properly and happily the next day, for the first time in her life.
In Taiwan, the Gong-Fu Masters were/ are good at fixing strains, sprains, and fractured bones, even though most of them might not practice acupuncture. They respect the patients’ natural healing power, and it’s the major key leading to the cure of the injuries.
I have been practicing Qi-Gong massage, Chinese medicines, and acupuncture for decades, and the story of “Go Back to School” that followed is one of the dozens of thousands cases. For detail please refer to my book, Medical Revolution (1) A Magic Doctor, published in 2004.)
On September 23 of 1987, Mrs. C told me that, “My daughter, Sally, fell down on a flight of concrete steps …landed with all her weight on her left ankle, which was twisted under her.…it was suggested that she might need X-rays….but we come to you instead.”
After massaging Sally’s foot, ankle, shin, and upper leg for ten minutes, I told her to stand up. As she discovered she could stand on both of her feet, it made her face brightened. Then I told her to walk around, jump up and down, and run. With laughing and giggling she did all of the test , ………..so I told her to go back to school.
Guess what! The next day Mrs. C told me that her daughter was strangely silent as they were getting back into their car. Next, she told Mrs. C that, “Mom, I can’t go back to school now, otherwise the kids would think I had been faking.”
Well, If I told the Taiwanese the true story by an ending --- the kids said that Sally was faking, then they might said that the kids were faking.
P.S. --- For education purpose this true story had been posted in both English and Chinese several times since the 1990s, however to protect the patient, David is not his real name. Besides, you should bear in your mind that the Eastern Medicine and the Western Medicine are different approaches, and you are responsible for your choice.
One day, in the early 1990s, Wendy flew from California to Washington, D.C. because her younger brother, David, had asked her to co-sign some documents for his neck surgery. But when they met each other, David told her that he had changed his mind. He wanted to come to Boulder, Colorado for acupuncture treatments instead of having a neck surgery as scheduled.
“Are you crazy? Don’t you know that the best healers live here, in Washington, D.C.?” said Wendy. However, David came to Boulder to see me and after one treatment he told people he was cured in just thirty minutes. Personally, I believe that there were many other acupuncturists around the United States could cure David’s problem and it was not necessary that the best healers lived in Washington, D.C..
It is said that Wendy had bought two airline tickets, one for herself and the other for her daughter, so they could take good care of David in turns after his neck surgery. Those tickets were neither refundable nor reschedulable. So David had to buy Wendy and his niece another two tickets and sent them away to Toronto, Canada to visit their younger brother, Tim. Then, he flew to Boulder the next day, Monday, as scheduled a week ago.
David, 31 years old, a waiter of the biggest Chinese restaurant in Washington, D. C.. His right shoulder had chronic pain, sometimes it was mild and sometimes quite severe. The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)of his neck showed that C 2 and C3 were crooked a little bit. Therefore, his doctors had recommendedthat he needed a neck surgery. Also, he was told that itmight get involve with high risks such as, one eye blinded and/ or one hand disabled as a result of the surgery. He lost twenty pounds in three weeks after he was scheduled for the neck surgery.
To cure the pain in David’s shoulder, first of all, I had to give him a moderate massage as part of my diagnosis. Second, I explained to him that in Taiwan, I had seen many people who had crooked necks but their necks had hardly caused them any pain in their shoulders, arms, elbows, wrists, or hands. As a matter of fact, the pain in his shoulder had nothing to do with his neck according to my findings. Certainly, during his initial acupuncture treatment, the pain in his shoulder was gone. That night he called his sister, brother, and co-workers and told them, “I’m cured, I’m cured! My shoulder pain is gone in just 30 minutes.”
Was David’s shoulder pain cured in just 30 minutes? However, David was scheduled for six treatments, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, two weeks in a row. But during the fourth treatment he asked me if he could go home after the fifth treatment on Wednesday morning because he wanted to drive and visit friends on his way home. I reminded him of his sister’s concerns and suggested him to complete the six treatments we had scheduled . On Friday at 5:55 PM just before I should close my clinic,David called me from a cellular phone, “Pao, wait for me, wait for me!” He went away for two days and eight hours and only slept for six hours, the rest of the time he was either driving a car or visiting friends. What’s more, he didn’t have any pain since the initial acupuncture treatment was done.
A month later, David called me to send him 100 packages of Chinese herbs which he had took during his acupuncture treatments in Boulder. I asked him why he wanted to take so many packages of herbs, and he told me that he wanted to buy them for his co-workers and friends, not for him. I told him that without an appropriate diagnosis I won’t prescribe any herbs to strangers. It is better for them to consult with local acupuncturists and/ or herbologists.
(If a butterfly ran into a spider web, no one would blame the spider; how about if someone had chosen to undergo a surgery and was hospitalized？Let’s review Tammy’s case history, which may give you a better idea for your healthcare.)
About 18 years ago, Tammy’s husband (Bill) pushed her into my clinic with a wheelchair for her feet were red and painful to walk. During the initial visit they told my wife and I that, “Tammy had been hospitalized twice in Mayo Clinic, Wisconsin, but her condition didn’t get any better.” Who should be blamed?
Let’s talk about a common sense first --- If you want to drive to Montana from Denver, you can take Highway I-25. But if you take I-25 South instead of I-25 North, you could not reach your destination. Similarly, in healthcare if you have chosen “99% doctor-care & 1% self-care”, the result would be different from that of “99% self-care & 1% doctor-care.” Tammy’s painful feet is just one of the numerous case histories I have ever encountered. Her painful feet were cured with two acupuncture treatments, some Chinese herbs, and the secret of “99% self-care & 1 % doctor-care.” How?
A week later Tammy came back for her second treatment, on Saturday. Even though her condition was improved but it was not as great as what we have expected, so we made an appointment to visit them at home for no extra charges. We wanted to know what was wrong with her at home. During the visiting, Bill showed us his work place that included a machine for cutting and sanding rocks. Next, Tammy led us to walk on very soft grasses at their backyard. We could not find out any evidence, which might cause her feet so painful. It was weird!
Fortunately before we left, Bill told us that Tammy had eaten 1/2 to 1 can of sour pickle everyday, and there were about fifty cans of sour pickle in the kitchen cabin. Why? We had already told them that Tammy was not supposed to eat any sour or spicy foods, included sour pickles.
My wife tasted the pickle, and assured that it was pretty sour. Therefore we suggested Tammy not to eat the pickle for one month or so, and she healed herself without advanced acupuncture treatments or Chinese herbs. Tammy’s tongue was unable to tell the sour pickle was sour, it was similar to another patient of mine, Lisa, who was unable to taste that Vitamin C is sour.
Lisa, a massage therapist who took vitamin C whenever her roommates, co-workers or clients had a cold or flu, which caused her lips to crack and bleed all the year round. No one was able to cure her illness --- the weakness of her spleen, until she came to me and tried alternative treatments.
It is very easy for those practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), to figure out the causes of Tammy’s and Lisa’s problems, for they practice “When-in-Doubt, Figure-it-Out” therapy, but not “When-in-Doubt, Cut-it-Out.” In other words, if Tammy had consulted with a TCM practitioner, she might not need to be hospitalized twice in Mayo Clinic; and if Lisa knew that vitamin C might cause her lips to crack and bleed, she would not over used it.
On Thanksgiving day of 1994, Thursday, an 86-year-old woman fell on ice and broke her right humerus, which was between the surgical neck and the deltoid tuberosity. It was a simple, complete, and oblique fracture. She was x-rayed twice on two Thursday in a row, prior to seeing me on the 11th day of the accident. The doctor did not give her any treatment or medication, except supported her forearm with a sling. I wondered, was she too old to be treated by the doctor?
During her initial visit, her right arm, from the shoulder down to the fingers were black and blue, and swollen. It seemed to me that her right arm was dying. Therefore I had to use blood lancets to prick her skin to let the dead blood and yellowish fluids come out through the skin directly, instead of letting them to circulate inside her body.
Next I inserted two needles on her legs, at St. 36, and then massage her right arm thoroughly again and again for over an hour. At the end of the treatment, we prescribed three packages of Chinese medicines for her to cook and drink, which gave her more energy and better blood circulation.
Two days later, when she came back for the second treatment I made a herbal poultice to hold her elbow and keep the two pieces of broken humerus back to one. Then when she came back again for advanced treatments in every 3 to 5 days, I removed part of the poultice each time. And on the day 18, when the poultice was completely removed, she was able to comb her hair with her right hand.
Totally I treated her 8 times in four weeks, as well as gave her 22 packages of Chinese medicines to drink, and her arm was healed. I did follow-up phone calls for three years, and her right arm didn’t cause her any trouble.
But sometimes later, she was hospitalized for three days, due to lowerback pain. Neither any doctor came to treat her nor any nurse gave her medication, so finally her son brought her to see me again for one acupuncture treatment accompanied with some Chinese herbs, and her lower back pain was gone.
It’s weird, why the doctors let her lay down on the bed in the hospital for three days without treating her? Was she too old to be treated?
