Dateline Buffalo

By Ernesto L. Yu, M.D., Batch 1965 Ernstyu49@aol.com

A non-debatable premise: Chinese is the race to bank on when it pertains to anything mathematical.  Flip any subjects on numerical symbols and the probability of the word Chinese popping up in everyone's mind will be an astounding two to one. However, like any hypothesis in life, there is always something that stands out as a lamentable exemption to this unwritten fundamental that boasts honorable ethnic badge among yellow skin.  I, for one,am devastatingly hypersensitive to any numbered data that command profound analytical thinking and smell algebraic.  In fact, while in primary grades, I have to utilize all my fingers and toes in order to cheat and ace arithmetic quizzes.  I've grown so dependent on my "anatomy calculators"  that I have to strip naked to be able to count to twenty one (Oops, just digest the joke as a laughing pill to stretch your longevity).  A glaring misery of my being a "Chinese unplugged".

And precisely the reason I despise rounds of Black Jack in public!

Life is a stage of make-believes. A tranquilized Jackie Chan (no bang and bong) in the making?

Welcome aboard, Dr. Do Little.
 

How uncanny it is that only in our last issue did our esteemed columnist from Buffalo, Dr. Ernie Yu, write a little satire about a kidnapping scenario in connection with the proposed Grand Reunion 2000, and now we received flash report through this Bulletin that an attempt to kidnap our fellow alumnus, Farley Sy, was made at his place of abode just a few days ago.

Although the attempted kidnap for ransom did not succeed and Farley Sy is safe, we can not say for sure who is the winner and who are the losers.  In this case everyone could be a loser.  For from here on, Farley's life will forever be different from his normal one.  At least in the forseeable future.  There will always be fear around his mind.  He will be moving around with bodyguards. One's precious privacy is forever compromised.

To be a victim of such a kidnap for ransom case is everyone's nightmare.  For me, personnaly it was the most traumatic chapter of our family life which is still so painful to revisit though only in memory.  It was mid-March of 1985 when my late father was kidnapped right in the front door of our Pala-o house.  It was night time and he was just coming home from one of the cinemas.  The incident was witnessed by many but no one dared to make a report. And the very sad thing was we in the family only realized about the gravity of the situation the following morning.

My poor old man stayed with his captors in a bamboo hut for seven weeks in the hinterland of Lanao before a breakthrough in the negotiation returned him safely to his family.  He lost a lot of weight.  His hair and beard were uncut for all those weeks.  And he was malnourished. But, thank God, he came home alive and lived for another 10 years.  For sure, such a tragic event in one's life as experienced by my father had affected him so much for the remaining days of his life.  His health just deteriorated.  He was almost 75 year old when he was held hostage for almost 2 months. I often wondered if such terrible thing did not happen to him, maybe, just maybe, he could still be with us today.

(EDITORS' NOTE: Loloy Tan's mention of the reported kidnapping attempt refers to the flash report in the Spectrum's Special Edition dispatched on 4-1-98 to our overseas subscribers for the benefit of our alumni abroad.  The report is not carried in our regular issue as the story already had extensive coverage in the national dailies.)

Sentimental Journey

By Henry L. Yu, M.D., Batch 1969

...that life is too short to be spent in negative emotions, like hatred, bearing grudges, magnifying petty things, criticisms, etc., which will only complicate life and make things worst, miserable nonetheless.
...that we will never be at peace in life if we have enemies, if we hurt somebody's ego, if we say something bad about people.  What this world really needs is love.  Yes, love sweet love, as the song goes.
...life is a cycle.  We were born after nine months gestation.  We grow up, we study, we make friends, we graduate, we land a job, we raise a family, we become parents, then grandparents, and the next thing we know, it's the final curtain.
...that as long as we live, there will always be ups and downs in life.  Nobody is exempted from having problems.  The only persons that I know of who don't have any are those peacefully rested at the memorial parks.
...that there is no good crying over spilled milk. What has happened is over, a part of the past.  What is important is for us to be able to stand up again, learn our lessons, and not to allow history to repeat itself.
...that we are all passing visitors.  Nobody carries with him an unlimited visa.  Just as we all came here with nothing, we shall also return home with nothing.  When we say our final good-bye, we will leave everything behind.  From dust to dust, so the saying goes.
...that God loves us  no matter how misbehaved we have become.  He wants to save us all.  That's why we have to call on Him everyday of our life.   We need Him no matter what time of day or how old we have become or what kind of life we are leading.  God loves us unconditionally.  "How much do you love me, Lord?" we asked.  And Jesus said, "THIS MUCH."  Then He spread His arms and died for us.

See?  Life is really simple.  Yes, as simple as the ABC or the One-Two-three that we learned from kindergarten.  Only if we call on Him.  Life has to go on no matter what happens.  "With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.  Be cheerful.  Strive to be happy."
 
 

Dear Dr. Do Little,

I've noticed that an increasing number of friends in Cebu and elsewhere, between the ages of 45 to 65, are having kidney transplants in Kwang Chow, China.  Generally, what causes kidney damage?  Do processed food, unsanitary water, or overdose of antibiotics and synthetic vitamins have adverse effects on kidney function?  How do we prevent kidney damage?  How are the best ways to keep our kidneys healthy?  Thank you for sharing your medical knowledge with your advice. --Lydia Sy Chona (Batch '65), Cebu, Philippines

Dear Lydia,

How are you and the family? It's nice to hear from you again.

Kidney transplant is becoming more common nowadays because of its success rate and longer organ survival. The reasons are the more refined surgical technique, the  efficient preparation & handling of the organ, sophisticated tissue histocompatility screening study and the more selective & potent immunosuppressive drugs used lately. This type of transplant can wait because of the availability of the hemodialysis machine thus it is not done with time pressure as with other organ transplant.

Kidneys serve as one of the most significant filtering system in the body.  They rid the body of toxic and useless waste products.  The body needs only 15% of both kidneys function for a normal day to day activities therefore the remaining 85% is just a reserve.  Renal failure is the inability of the kidneys to filter out body waste products.  The problem with this condition is that the present blood test available will only start to rise above normal when the kidneys have 15% normal function left. The 24 hour urine collection is more sensitive but entails more hustle especially in saving the urine excreted by the patient during one 24 hour period and soaking this collected urine in the ice until the following day. Every drop of urine counts.

Renal failure is grouped into acute and chronic. Acute means sudden while chronic is slowly progressive.  There is no common cause to the syndrome and there are lots of causes to the condition.  Chronic renal failure among children is usually due to glomerulonephritis.  This disease is the result of an infection by certain bacteria which could cause antigen-antibody reaction and the complex formed will specifically attack the kidney cells.  The process will take several years to incapacitate the patient and the worst part in this condition is that it will progress undetected until it's too late and there is not much you can do.  Only trained M.D.s can detect the condition during routine urinalysis and blood test and will be able to properly refer you to a kidney specialist (nephrologist). I am particular with glomerulonephritis because this is a case which is treatable at its early stage with a good success rate. Remember when we were kids, we thought that "nuka" or skin lesions is for the skin only and does not affect the kidneys?  This is the usual condition that we are able to extract from history that the child has on & off lesions on the skin and resolves without treatment.  Granting that you have the right micro-organism that causes the lesion, then it can cause glomerulonephritis.  Blood and waxy cell casts in the urine should not be taken for granted and should not be dismissed outright as nothing without proper referral to a nephrologist.

The key here is proper diagnosis and management.  The reason why I emphasize glomerulonephritis is that it is a subtle and expensive disease. Once you are at the late stage, there is not much to do but to put the patient on dialysis whether peritoneal or hemodialysis and we are talking lifetime here. Then of course transplant. At the same time this is a treatable disease and complete recovery is expected when handled early and properly.  Other causes for renal failure are direct physical trauma, iatrogenic, infection, drug toxicity, complication from other diseases, metabolic diseases, dehydration, etc.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  The most important point here is don't abuse your body but do things in moderation.  Water is still the universal solution that helps your kidneys in getting rid of body waste materials. Drink as much as 4 liters a day or more unless you're sickly.  Lastly, know your doctor who does your regular check up because it's not the things he does for you but what he can do for you. This is why medicine is divided into specialties and subspecialties because more and more things are discovered regarding the functions of certain cells and tissues in detail.

Thank you for your letter and hope it has shed light to your inquiry.

Dr. Do Little

EDITORS NOTE: Watch for our 1st Anniversary Issue next week, April 13, 1998!