Day 1 Sun 12 Dec 2010
Boarded Tiger Airways TR2986 at 5.45am. The flight took off at 6.20am and we arrived at Baiyun Aiport at 10.20am. The taxi ride to our hotel Pengda was a mere 20 minutes. We checked into our room 1003 and made plans for lunch.
After a hearty lunch at the restaurant across our hotel, we proceeded to Tianhe Square bookstore. I bought CDs and books galore. Spent $500 in one afternoon! An hour and a half of shopping gave me lowerback pain and jelly legs. Time to head back for a nap.
6.15pm met at hotel lobby with classmates to meet an ex-teacher 吴庆光 who taught us 中药学in our 2nd year. Had a sumptuous 15-course dinner.
Day 2 Mon 13 Dec 2010
1st day of practical... I did not hear the alarm go off and woke up late! Panic! Fortunately, I still made it on time. We gathered at 8am at the hotel lobby but the teacher came late. Then we proceeded to the hospital where we were split into different groups.
Dennis and I were assigned to 龚东方主任 in Room 7 who specializes in female problems especially breast lumps （乳痈）. When she was examining a patient, she beckoned us to move forward to observe. When Dennis saw the lady patient, he literally jumped back in shock - she was half naked. But he soon got over it and we just stood and watched as teacher examined the breasts for lumps. Two acupoints were used to treat this - danzhong (月亶中) and qimen（期门）. For infertility, two points at the abdomen were chosen - sanjiaojiu（三角灸）- they form an equilateral triangle with the belly button and the length is based on the length of the patient's lips.
Interestingly, bees were also used to sting the patients' acupoints （蜂针）. It was pretty tricky. One student who was trying to capture a bee with her tweezer opened the sliding panel too big and another bee flew out and stung her on the chin. Ouch!
The treatment for each patient was very comprehensive and took at least an hour. It included needles, electrical impulses, hot lamp, cupping, and ear tags （耳贴）, which was a tiny square sticker with one small lump of medicine （王不留行）.
We only left at 12.45pm though the session was supposed to end at 12noon. Tired and hungry... only the 1st session!
Afternoon session: 何新芳主任. She was a sweet and friendly doctor who actually conversed with us. She specializes in pain management. The patients had different problems like lower back pain, knee pain, rhinitis (鼻炎) etc.
My lower back was aching after a few hours of standing... killing me!
Full body massage at night plus buffet dinner - only RMB118! What a treat.
Day 3 Tue 14 Dec 2010
Morning: 赖新生
A renowned professor who recently went to Chicago. Has written a few books and specializes in brain problems, such as kids with developmental problems.
He is just like a surgeon waiting for the assistants to hand him the tools and needles. He has this amazing way of pricking the needles, he holds them by the tip and the needle flies in.
One child who was 13 months old could not walk or talk properly. The mother was very anxious. Professor Lai advised her to bring the child for treatment everyday for 4 months. He administered acupuncture to his head, hands and feet.
Afternoon: 王琴玉
Another doctor who specializes in kids with developmental problems. The kids were crying non-stop - it was heart-breaking. After a while, you do get immune to it. After the needles, electrical impulses were administered. Needles on the hands and feet are removed after half an hour while those on the head were left on for an hour. We helped to remove the needles when time was up.
Day 4 Wed 15 Dec 2010
Morning: 林国华
Another renowned professor with a crony of 10 students and more than 80 patients in the morning!!
By the time we arrived at 7.50am, the room was already in full swing. The first set of 11 patients were already on the beds with needles. Since no introduction was made, the doctor had no idea who we were and certainly did not bother since he was overwhelmed with patients.
When I tried to help remove needles, one student in white garb stopped me by saying, 'oh we do it one at a time'. Attitude problem. After a while, it got boring. Dennis left to join another group. I hung around and tried to be helpful. The teacher used two big rooms and rotated between poking needles and talking to patients. When the chance came to remove needles, I jumped right in. For one patient, I removed the head needles too fast and did not check. She started bleeding and I had to go back to attend to her. There was quite a lot of blood. Got to be more careful next time. Time crawled by.
At 11.30am, when I had enough of being invisible, I joined the other group. Dennis and I hastily completed our assignment and got Dong teacher to sign it for us. At least we accomplished something!
Afternoon: 邝慧玲
We decided to introduce ourselves to the teacher at the start. That was an excellent move. The teacher warmly welcomed us and instructed us on what to do. When I mentioned that we could help remove needles, she was delighted.
This was the best teacher by far. She acknowledged our presence and even praised us at the end of the session for being very helpful. In between, she even told stories about her daughter jovially and joked with us. My new friend Luo Qiong was in the same room as us. Kuang teacher acknowledged her as doctor Luo and told us to assist her.
The weather had turned cold. It was rainy and windy but that did not dampen our spirits. After work, I asked Luo to join us for dinner and massage. It was a wonderful and enjoyable evening.
Day 5 Thursday 16/12/2010
Morning: 赖新生
2nd time following this teacher. We got into the rhythm of work very quickly and the morning flew by. At the end of the session, the professor chatted with all of us sitting around the table and shared his experiences and opinions about the importance of philosophy. He recommended we read the works of German philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche.
Afternoon: 王琴玉
Teacher Wang was severely short-handed today. Only Luo, Dennis and myself were attached to her today. So we were given the opportunity to poke needles. After administering needles to the boy's head, Teacher Wang told me to administer needles on his hands and feet. The boy was wailing in pain and I was feeling apprehensive. The mother hovered around anxiously, asking, "Have you done this before?" She clearly did not trust me and asked the teacher to check if I had done it right.
I had the chance to poke two other patients, the little girl who could not talk and a young man with Bell's Palsy. I missed some acupoints on the man's face and feet and Dennis added the needles later.
Teacher Wang specializes in the use of scalpel (小针刀) for treatment. While I was standing next to her trying to assist her, I accidentally touched the scalpel and she had to replace it with a new one. I felt like a total klutz.
It was indeed a fulfilling session as we had gained some hands-on experience.
Evening: Took a cab to toastmasters meeting. Met Tracy, Yolanda and Goldwater and many others. I was the Table Topics Master and had prepared topics on love, joy and peace, the chosen theme for the evening. The quotations were quite difficult for a few but most managed. Enjoyed the speeches by Nikki (P1) who used a creative Q&A game format to introduce herself and Tracy (AP1) about embracing change using 4Ps - Picture, Plan, Purpose, Participate. Phil's evaluation of Klaus' AP5 on managing controversy and handling a hostile audience was outstanding. He recommended the use more 'we' and 'us' pronouns to build solidarity and to limit the questions to 3 to allow time for summary.
Day 6 Friday 17 Dec 2010
Morning/Afternoon 潘文宇副主任医师
Teacher Pan specializes in dieting, skin problems and the embedding technique(埋线) where minute needles (which will eventually melt) are inserted into the body. Embedding can be repeated every 7-10 days. Patients are advised to come regularly for a minimum of 2 cycles of 10 sessions each.
One patient was not even fat, but she wanted to lose weight. The teacher advised her against unrealistic expectations and would not comment on how much weight she could lose within a specific timeframe since every patient's case is unique.
One patient had big patches of red, pus-filled acne on her face. The teacher used fire needles to poke at the acne then proceeded to squeeze out the pus. It was gross. Then she applied some ointment on the patches.
By late afternoon, most teachers and students have left. Even Lixuan had nothing to do at the hospital and left at 3pm. We zipped off at 5.15pm and headed to city for our karaoke session. Time to sing our hearts out!
Day 7 Saturday 18 Dec 2010
Shopping day! We took bus 470 (only RMB￥1）to Sanyuanli train station and from there took trains to Changshoulu station. There were shops galore lining the roads towards 上九路 and we bought jeans, tops, shoes and other stuff.
By 3pm I was feeling sleepy. We walked for another 2 hours before heading back in a cab. Rounded off the evening with a session of full-body massage and buffer dinner. Bliss! Now to squeeze everything into the luggage.
Day 8 Sunday 19 Dec 2010
Decided to visit a church this morning - 基督教光孝堂 near 西门口 station. Too late to take the train there so I took a cab and arrived 5 mins after 9am. The Pastor spoke about God's gift of love to us through the verse John 3:16. It was in Cantonese translated into Mandarin. God's gift is priceless, of the highest level and a matter of life and death.
Walked across the road and had fish porridge and char siew changfen for breakfast. Yum! Took a bus to 中山八路 and after some walking and searching, finally found the 步步高 company to buy the missing stylus pen for RMB￥30. Mission accomplished. Time to head back. Spent the rest of the day in the hotel room alone, reading, writing and listening to music till my friends came back from their shopping spree.
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