back to blogging

part of the reason i haven't been able to blog this past year was because there's been too much going on in my head regarding moving to kensington.

last summer in june, renee and maegen were looking for a place to live. they asked if i wanted to join them, and if i wanted to live in kensington. i said i wasn't ready to leave my roommate situation in chinatown yet, but if the opportunity came up to purchase a house in kensington, i would buy it and rent it to them.

a few days later i found myself w/ renee, ruth and tara walking around the neighbourhood, looking at homes w/ "for sale" signs and talking to the neighbours. we met a lot of memorable people, and i got to see what types of homes were for sale/compare what kinds of costs are involved.

anyway, an entire saga ensued.more on this later...

one year later, God provided a house and the funds to buy it, and i'm moving on saturday to tha 'hood. i guess i've always wanted to 'do missions'. so this kinda feels like that. but also not really. coz i just needed a place to live. and it's also my dream to roll out of bed and walk to work.

this move will definitely cause a lifestyle change. it'll be kinda like guatemala again, where i gotta be in by a certain time coz otherwise it's too dangerous to be outside. and so perhaps i will be a morning person. i'm going to have to depend on my neighbours, coworkers, church family A LOT, and learn how to ask for help.

since i will be a homebody (yay!)... hopefully... i will have time to read, write, pray, arts and crafts. maybe. or i may simply resort to my busybee, getting to know a lot of new people destiny. sigh.

on fear

just went to maui for ning's wedding. the first two nights i stayed with local strangers (jennifer and anaki) found on airbnb's website.
i told this to a few people at work, including a patient. they were all afraid for my life. to many people, staying with random people is cause for fear. it's not wise to be overly trusting because there are so many crazies out there. what if they harmed me? what if they were sketchy?

fear of the unknown is what's common to man, i suppose.

i tried not to think of "bad things that could happen to me" by couch surfing. 'tis true that i generally trust humanity, despite all the crap that i see in philly each day, and beyond philly as well. but, interacting with new people and strangers is not unknown to me, i suppose. i've done several homestays in countries not my own. i love and still keep in touch w/ my french and japanese families. they are a part of me. my parents taught open hospitality. we hosted several folks in our home for dinner/overnight stay simply because of taiwanese connections. i absolutely love staying in people's homes and exchanging cultures/stories.  anyway, i guess because i haven't been personally traumatized, this kind of lifestyle is easy for me.

my patient who was concerned with my safety definitely feared staying with strangers. some comments about his life - he's committed crimes, been to prison, did some tattoos on himself while in jail, currently lives in the inner city. how are these activities any less scary?!

btw, i asked him how he did tattoos in jail. an older patient once told me that he used ink from a xerox machine. this patient told me that he fabricated a tattoo gun by taking the motor from a CD player, attaching it to some batteries and using old guitar strings as a 'needle'. they would use graphite from a pencil as ink. it didn't always work as expected though.

oh, okay.

my north philly coworkers always tell me i'm a little crazy for driving 9 hours to michigan by myself. that's apparently scarier than growing up in tha hood hearing frequent gunshots. "at least there are people around!" i guess you have a point. perhaps the fear is being alone. if one dies from a stray bullet, at least there will likely be witnesses and "people around". sure.

the point is we fear the unknown. when i think about God and the being who created the universe, it's pretty fear-inspiring. when i think of God who is created time. who transcends time. who transcends human language, thought, imagination, and understanding. that is known to me. but still vastly UNKNOWN. i fear.

recently a friend from home group emailed everyone and said that she had an epiphany. that if she fears God the most, then nothing else is worth fearing. i remember first realizing that sophomore year of college when i was fearing my boss. this thought helped me overcome that fear. but, a decade later i am quick to forget these things and need these reminders.

blogworld sigh blogging

asked patient today, "so, do you like water?"...in reference to the big tattoo on his neck of the chinese character for water.

patient: "huh?"
me: "did you know your tattoo says 'water' in chinese?"
patient to assistant: "[mumbling something in spanish...]"
assistant to patient: "ella entiende!" ("she understands!")
patient: "es por el Latin Kings"
me: "oh, the gang?"
patient: "si" ("yes")
me: "cool! well, it also says 'water'."

...google image searching 'chinese character for water'...

me: "mira!" ("look!")

patient: "oh."
me: "well, i guess that part looks like a "K" right there... and at least it means 'water' instead of something awful like 'stinky cheese' or something"

ANYWAY, i never judge my patients for being in gangs. read up on some wikipedia articles on various gangs... very fascinating topic to me! hopefully none of them feel judged when they disclose this type of info to us. but, i sometimes wonder if they think i am judging their tattoos.

yesterday had lunch w/ a bunch of church family at one of our pastor's homes. of course, part of the conversation is dominated by dental questions. karen, a nicu nurse, mentioned that it is interesting to be so specialized, that my 40+ hours a week is consumed with problem solving and management with regards to teeth. just teeth. i thought about this and responded that i probably only think about teeth 15% of the time. the rest of the time is spent thinking about my patients' complex social issues, and the habit of having staff devotions each morning really helps me have eternity on my mind throughout the day.

today i did very little dentistry, but it was just as tiring as one of those days where it's just fillings and extractions all day long. today M came in with her son. J is the cutest and best-behaved. he had a rogue tattoo on his forearm. the tattoo was from bubble gum. (too much sugar!) anyway, he had a tooth abscess so we had to remove the tooth.

MEANWHILE, monin asked M about her teenage stepdaughter, N. N was supposed to come in january to have a crown delivered but didn't show up because she had run away from home. N is a commonly rebellious teenage girl, and her troubled relationship with step-mom, M, aggravates the situation. we've only seen them a few times. but within these few visits we've seen glimpses of dysfunction. having knowledge of how much dysfunction my own family has in the home compared to in public, i can only imagine the anger and frustration that N and M have toward one another.

-once M was upset that she had to stay in the waiting room while N was getting some fillings done. N is still a minor and needs a parent or guardian present to do any irreversible procedures. M broadcast to yoli that, "i don't understand why she needs a guardian present, if she's allowed to have sex!" whoa mama. N was in the waiting room amidst other patients who could hear this conversation clearly. this is all being said with a feisty spanish accent.

-when N did not show up for her crown appointment, monin spoke with M on the phone. she responded with, "i have no idea if she's going to show up. she's run away again and i have no idea where she is. i don't care anymore!"

-today, while we're doing a filling and extraction on J, M is pouring out her heart to us. poor J is getting his tooth pulled while listening to all this. "she's run away again. [...] i'm so upset that she was a straight-A student but decided to quit. who knows where she is and who she's hangin' with. i tried to tell her that if she is involved at the scene of a crime or is aware of her crowd doing bad things, the police will consider her an accomplice, so she'd better make better decisions. [...] she is currently dating another girl. and she's going to be 18 soon, so she can do whatever she wants, but i don't want her to bring her girlfriend into my home, where my children are - they are too young to see this. [...] she needs learn that things don't come for free, we work really hard to provide for the family. [...] i try to care for her, spend time with her and take her shopping. it's really hard to guide a child when her real mother isn't supportive and her father isn't disciplining her. [...] if she were my child i would pull her hair and give her a spank. but i can't do that because i'm her step-mother. [...] the bible says to take a rod to one's children. [...]"

-other things were said but my spanish comprehension couldn't keep up.

so i spent 45 minutes of my day processing this broken family saga.

and then i spent about 30 seconds thinking about how N is going months and months with a temporary crown in her mouth. and then another 90 seconds thinking about how maybe God let J have an abscessed tooth because He wanted M to come in and have a chance to vent her heart out to someone who would listen (monin did a better job at listening, since M's spanish is about 90 mph).

even though M is trying to be a good parent, there are so many circumstances and humanness that will cause her to fail at various moments. even though she does love and does care, she is unable to love and care perfectly. we might not all fall short this visibly, but we all fall short. and this is where grace needs to come in and do grace work. (versus human works).

she told us also that her medicaid was recently deactivated, so now she's not sure how to take care of herself, where to get care and how to get counseling, which she desires. i told her that she could continue coming to our clinic; however, without insurance she would have to pay on a sliding fee scale. i encouraged her to seek a church, and likely churches will have counseling resources. at the very least, she could talk to a pastor. (who hopefully has some counseling experience).

a thought that came to mind was that M does not have anyone in her life telling her that God loves her, or maybe that anyone loves her. whereas, i have multiple people, the Word hidden in my heart at a young age, and the Holy Spirit, telling me that Jesus loves and accepts me - multiple times a day .

God's challenge for me today is to share this good news in a sensitive way to all i encounter.

the liberty of doing things for Christ

-happy new year. still processing 2011. but glad 2012 is rolling along.

-'alejandro' is a little boy with severe autism. his mom is weary because she is home schooling him. he is unable to go to school because he is not yet potty trained at age 6. to his mom's surprise he let ada take his xrays. he also let me look in his mouth with a mirror only. a sharp-looking explorer he did not allow. cavities were found. there was no way he would let me drill his teeth. in this case i refer patients to a pediatric specialist, who can administer some type of sedative or anxiolytic. i was able to pray for alejandro and his mother. contrary to the way the world works, i felt soooo much freedom in being weak and incapable, when all i could do was pray for a patient in Christ's name. it is so burdensome to do things for results, to do things for the approval of others, or to do things for my own satisfaction. in the end i will be accountable to God alone. i want to do everything for Him. when i am surrendering control, He who holds the world in His hands is in control. when i am incompetent with my own strength, He who is all-powerful can work through me. and i am free.

friday around lunchtime we heard a patient next door moving some furniture and yelling violently. it lasted a few seconds. perhaps it was a child who didn't want to get vaccinated? we often hear crying children on our floor.

a while later we heard the patient again. this time everyone became silent to try to figure out what was going on. the yelling persisted longer. then we decided to peek down the hall to see what the commotion was.

i don't know any bad words in spanish. but monin told us that he was definitely cussing and also threatening to kill someone. people were paging security. and a couple male coworkers came down to offer help just in case he needed to be restrained. eventually the managers called the cops to take him to a crisis center.

speculation is that he was having anxiety/seizures, but also likely spiritual attack or demonic attack? the whole staff kinda stopped to pray for him. like laying hands style. hehe. micronesia flashback here...

we found out who this patient was. and i actually am very fond of him! he's always been chill with me and polite. when he was in prison, he got a bunch of tattoos, including half his face. including a spider web around his eye, and a skull/teeth/mandible, decorated with a baby cartoon red devil on his cheek. i wish someone would laser that piece off. maybe it was cool when he was 20. but 20-25 years later, i'm sure he regrets it.

the battle is real here.

ok this is gross.

one man's definition of love?
-i went to the front desk to make a copy of some forms and then i froze, mouth open, stared at a man in the waiting room popping his wife/girlfriend/sister/random stranger's zit on her temple. at first i thought, maybe he's giving a head massage. and then looking more closely i saw that he was indeed digitally draining her pimple.
blech!!!

so little did i know that this was my next patient.

he sat in the chair. and then told me about how much pain he's been having. then reached in his pocket and told me he was taking these pills to no avail, and showed me the bottle.

it was a bottle, labelled tramadol. but WAIT. the name on the label was cut off. totally not legal. anyway, no need to be indirect here, so i just directly asked him, "why is there no name on this bottle?!?!?!?!?" PORQUE?!!!!

his answer that the drugs belonged to his ex-girlfriend.

how is that a legitimate/relevant answer to my question? i'm not sure.

am i supposed to infer that his thought process was that he got a new girlfriend and perhaps she didn't want to see the ex's name anywhere, so she cut her name off the label? (kinda like the patient who turned his ex's name tattoo on his neck into some squiggly design? or the other patient who put a big black rectangle tattoo over his ex-wife's name tat on his arm?)

or... he had trouble getting over her, because her name just kept popping up everywhere, that he finally gave in and cut out her name.

anyway, at least we were eventually able to remove his rotting wisdom tooth, which smelled like rotting wisdom tooth.

had to look at a few pictures of puppies after that experience to feel better.