Love thy body.

Recently, I signed up an online course in biology. This self-study program may not be for everyone. But for me it is the way to go for a learning moment that can stay with me for a lifetime. After I waded through streams of foreign concepts and Latin terminologies, I did feel a bit smarter on the facts of the life that my parents had never told me. The study of life also left me in awe on how well and perfectly a human body is made of and organized. According to the text book, “Inquiry into Life “*, a human body is made with billions of wiggling cells. These tiny organisms, invisible to the naked eyes, are the basic components of a perfect body. Fueled by nutrients from carbohydrate, protein, and fat, as well as chemical elements, fresh air, and water, they grow into becoming parts of the eleven organ systems in a human body. Except the appendix, each biological system built intricately of cellular tissues performs its own unique function that is conducive to the well-being of its bodily host. While other organs work on getting foods digested, nutrients transported, excess energy stored, wastes removed, and genes accurately replicated, the central nerve system together with the hormonal glands is busy coordinating the works that others did to help the body grow, regenerate and reach its maturity. In addition, the human body is equipped with a homeostasis mechanism that keeps the body’s internal environment in a perfect balance. When the body’s internal condition is out of the kilter, for instance the blood chemistry is offside from its norm, the body will get sick. A human body is also imbedded with a built-in advance warning system. The body has the ability of manifesting its feelings when it is being pushed over a tipping point. - Ayee *Tenth edition by Sylvia S. Mader.

Another one bit the dust.

I had just recycled a digital answering machine at a neighborhood thrift store. Hopefully, someone else can still get some good uses out of this electrical contraption before it becomes part of the heap in the landfills. It looks like that leaps and bounds in telecommunication technology had claimed yet another victim. With features like voice mail, call waiting and caller-ID included in our regular phone service, this 20th century invention is no longer a must-have item in our bustling and hustling life. Our friends and family members have not left any message on our machine for ages. They can contact us instantly through many wireless devices. The messages left in our machine these days are mostly from the telemarketer. Portable answering machine, like what it did to the personal answering services industry, itself becomes redundant and obsolete. Now I wonder which e-gadget will be the next casualty under the fast moving technological cloud? - Ayee

$430 Million of False Medicare Claims*

When I heard the arrest of many healthcare providers in many US cities on fraud charges, I had two thoughts come to mind. First I felt sad for the perpetrators who would commit such despicable crime. What they did to the Medicare program is not only criminal. It is also immoral. We always think that only the destitute resolves to crime to survive. But many arrested are professionals, like doctors, nurses, and administrators. My second thought on this massive fraud case came upon the question on how the costs of the government sponsored medical services are determined? Many years ago, healthcare industry started “de-bundling” their services. We all know when a service got de-bundled, invariably not only the cost to the users of the service rises, so is the complexity of the underlying service. Based on this real life experience, it is not hard for me to speculate perhaps the de-bundling of healthcare plays a pivotal role why oversights and abuses are prevalent in a government program like Medicare. - Ayee *“Medicare Fraud Crack Down,” The Nightly Business Report, October 04, 2012

Number can be misleading.(II)

Yes, indeed. According to what is reported in the news, in 2011 Mitt Romney paid a whopping $1.9 million income tax at the rate of 14%. Personally, I think based on the amount of taxes Mr. Romney paid to the US treasury, not at what the rate he was paying, the public should commend him being a law-biding and productive citizen who contributes to the country’s fiscal well-being. One-million-nine-hundred thousand dollars are a lot of money. It can make some definitive difference in the looming government deficits. When we think mathematically, we will realize that it will take 99% of us, myself included, despite at higher income tax rates, many, many, many years, even life times, to pay $1.9 million in taxes. So let’s pay attention to the actual amount, not the rate, and be fair! - Ayee

Another Simple Solution

Recently, I learned from an Internet posting in Chinese(1) that the old standby mixture of salt and water(2) can help us prevent periodontal disease, a common dental complaint. I remember before the advent of store-bought oral rinses, we often mixed salt with water at home and used it as a mouth wash.

Periodontal disease is a gum ailment caused by the bacteria in the mouth. These invisible germs can infect the gum around the teeth and cause the gum to bleed. Infected gum is the reason why many lose their healthy teeth prematurely. And the bacteria in the month can also infect body’s other organs and tissues such as heart and blood vessels.

Therefore, it is important that we keep our gum free of these harmful bugs. To do this, whether we like it or not, we visit our dentist periodically to get our teeth cleaned. During the many sessions in a dentist’s chair, we are also subject to a procedure called “root planning” that involves digging below the gum line of each tooth to keep the gum around the root firm and healthy. And these preventative measures hurt not only our pocket books. Simply, the thought of the next dentist’s appointment makes me grimace with fear.

Now according to this unknown writer’s angelic dentist, there is a simple and painless measure to ward off periodontal disease: Just remember to rinse our mouth twice a day with salt water. - Ayee

Notes:
(1) Author unknown
(2) For individuals on a low/no-salt diet, check with your doctor before switching your month rinse to salt water.

Encouraging Statistics

The other day, I took a few household items to a charity’s thrift store to be recyled. One of my fellow patrons in the store asked me if I could be of help to one of the other shoppers there. She and the store cashier were having problems understand each other. Unfortunately, neither of us could step up and be helpful. But this chance encounter at a recycling store got these two transplanted Chinese talking. And I felt privileged at what this robust senior had shared with me.

The tall fellow attired in simple and airy summer outfits, happened to be a retired Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM doctor. This explained why he was buying those rare amber-colored glass bottles with tight lids that are hinged on heavy metal levers. They are for his home-brew herbal teas, of course! The TCM doctor with a Ph. D. degree in biochemistry comes from a family of many health care practitioners. Now in his retirement, he still sees a few patients with terminal illness like cancer. At first, I thought he was bragging when he proudly told me of his 70% success rate on cancer patients. Then I realized there were no comelling reasons why he would want to impress a stranger whom he just met at a thrift store.

Regrettably, the impromptu chat between the two strangers was short. But I will definitely look out for this learned retiree the next time when I visit that same thrift store. - Ayee

“Bessie’s Doll”*

This is a bitter sweet story between two innocent village kids. Unwittingly, the innate empathy they had for the others had helped turn a cruel world around them into a gentler and happier place.

Being neglected by his own parents, Tommy was unkempt and a mischievous boy. By no means, he was the one his neighbors would open their welcoming arms to. This was the very reason why Miss Octavia, one of the villagers, always shot Tommy away whenever she spotted him near her well-tended flower garden.

But for Bessie, a disabled girl next door, Tommy was the world for her. Not only he was her best playmate. Tommy also protected her from being bullied by others. When they first met, Bessie’s sweet greeting enthralled Tommy. Being a village’s poor urchin, there was never anyone else had ever welcomed Tommy like what Bessie had to him. From then on, Tommy became Bessie’s best friend.

One day, after Tommy took Bessie to see a doll in a blue silk outfit in the window of a village store, Bessie made Tommy promise that he would take her to visit the doll in the store window every day. Even though neither of these kids could ever afford to buy the doll with golden locks, Bessie decided to call the doll with “uncanny brown eyes”* Roselle Geraldine. And it broke the feeble little girl’s heart and body when she learned Roselle was sold.

Since Tommy was the one who showed Bessie the doll in that store window, he felt miserably too. While wondering about the village trying to see how he could mend Bessie’s broken heart over the loss of Roselle, he overheard that Miss Octavia was away and the unexpected frost overnight would definitely ruin the dahlias plants she had in the garden. Notwithstanding the many unpleasant face-offs he had had with the owner of these prized plants, for his love of flowers, Tommy decided to cover Miss Octavia’s plants with old newspapers.

When his neighbor returned and discovered what Tommy had done to save her plants, Miss Octavia had a change of heart on this unkempt kid living in the poorer side of the town. She asked him if there was anything she could do for him. Yes, Tommy replied. He asked for a doll so he could give it to Bessie.

To reward Tommy’s unselfishness, his providence must have worked overtime. Miss Octavia also happened to be the one who bought that coveted doll from that village store. - Ayee

*Against the odds: tales of achievement by L. M. Montgomery, 1993 edition edited by Rea Wilmshurst