Dr. Chen is on The Recovery Path

After more than 7-month-long illness, I finally saw my GI specialist to give me a complete thorough diagnosis through blood test, endoscopy, CAT scan, ultrasound, and colonscopy. The diagnosis results are: (1) negative on cancer; (2) moderate gastritis, and bacteria infection positive; (3) negative on auto-immune problems (4) liver and pancreatic look fine.

I have finished my antibiotic treatment and continued on proton pump inhibitor treatment. I am also managing my stress through meditation, chiropractor and acupuncture treatments.

Although the recovery process could be very long, I do expect a complete recovery of my health to be productive again for my life.

I thank everyone from NCHU colleagues, students and UWGB colleagues and students, from Taiwanese friends in the US, and from friends of Memorial Presbyterian Church in Appleton for their expression of kindness and concern during my struggling with the illness. Many thank to you all.

Acid Foods or No Acid Foods? Dr. Chen is Completely Puzzled

Back in the fall of 2009, Dr. Chen had an endoscopy with a surgeon. The diagnosis was the acid reflux with Barret esophagus, and mild gastritis. The treatment was proton pump inhibitor, anti-acids, and avoid all acidic food. Well, I have being doing exactly like that for the last seven months, and the symptoms do not go away.

On Feb 2, 2010, Dr. Chen had another endoscopy; this time was with a GI specialist. The diagnosis was the severe gastritis over the duodenum area. The specialist gave me a new medicine, Sucrafate which is a medicine to treat ulcer. This medicine requires stomach acid to form a protective layer over the stomach lining. The medicine would not work if there is no acid in the stomach.

So, at this moment, Dr. Chen needs to juggle between acid food, alkaline food, medicine that needs acids, and medicine that reduces acids. It is quite a mind-puzzling management.

I will report to you how does the new treatment go.

Dr. Chen Adds Acupuncture and Chiropractor into His Treatment of Chronicle Illness

When I was in Taiwan, I received both modern and Chinese ancient medical treatments when I was sick. Taiwanese medical insurance recognizes the values of both treatment. Things are different in the United States. The medical insurance in the US covers modern medical treatments and chiropractor service. For acupuncture which I believe its treatment effectiveness, the US medical insurance does not cover the cost for its service.

Seven months into the modern medical diagnosis and treatment and only get the control of its illness prognosis, I decide to take a proactive approach for treating my chronicle illness: add acupuncture and chiropractor for treatment. I had both treatments this week, and I do feel somewhat better after the treatment. However, even the doctors believe that the effectiveness of the treatments and to wait for at least 1-2 weeks; I will report the progress of my conditions in a few weeks.

I had my latest blood test results down few days ago. The blood sodium level has improved from 124 to 131 to 134 (the latest results) against [135-155]. Both ALT and AST (liver enzyme)have dropped to the normal range. But direct bilirubin value is still stubbornly hanging high at 0.40 against [0.00-0.3]. My doctor told me not to worry about it. I will have another blood test down in 2 months, that will be in March. I will report the results then.

I did feel somewhat better these days. I had more energy swimming which is a real gauge of my medical condition.

Friends, thank you for your prayer and concerns. I will report to you my conditions one way or another.

Coping with Chronicle Illness, Dr. Chen's Way

Coping with chronicle illness is easy. With Dr. Chen more than 7 month of illness, everyday, and every meal is a struggle. If not coping correctly, it is easy to set in some irreversible vicious cycles which would end up with self-destruction. I write this down to share with my friends; not for you, because I hope you would never have to go through the suffering I am at this moment. But if you have relatives who are suffering from chronicle illness, this note may be useful.

What are the possible vicious cycles with chronicle illness ? First, the malnutrition vicious cycle. The reason is pretty simple, because the patient has no appetite. Malnutrition can create another problems in addition to your current illness. For Dr. Chen, I am fortunate. I have a dietitian relative who happened had read my suffering story. She called and advised me to drink a complete nutritional balance drink, called Ensure (manufactured and marketed by Abbott Lab.). This drink is not cheap. It costs approximately $1.10 per bottle. But, every time I drink Ensure, I feel somewhat reassured for future recovery.

Second, the depression vicious cycle. The patient has a tendency to withdraw from the social cycles and become self-pity and bitter about life. One way to overcome that is to find a support group. My wife had helped me out to take me out to participate in church choir. I also pray earnestly. Praying forces to articulate what I can find something to be thankful in each day's struggling. I also keep myself busy in preparing my spring semester teaching, because I know that finding the meaning of everyday life keeps me on the track.

Other therapies which I find useful are doing exercise, watching funny shows in the TV. Exercises help me improve appetite at least temporally. Laughter is the best medicine. Find anything funny and laugh the gut is a good therapy.

I share this thought with you. I also need you to continue to pray for me. Anything you do is very comforting to me and I really appreciate it because I know I am not suffering alone.

New Year Greeting and Dr. Chen Needs a Miracle for 2010

Happy New Year, The Year of Ox, 2010.

Friends, I wish I have good news to tell you about my health situation. But, I don't. In fact, since December 21 2009, my health situation is spiraling downward. Before that, although my appetite was not any good to start with, but I still could eat some. Although I felt stomach distress, I never felt nausea. Since December 21, I have lost most of the appetite and I feel nausea more frequently.

I had a blood test on December 28, the initial results were alarming: My blood sodium level was only 124 against a normal range of [135-155]. In fact, this is called the hyponatremia, a medical term describing the disease of low blood sodium. Since sodium ions control the osmotic pressures for all physiological function, this low sodium level could explain the loss of appetite and nausea symptom. Doctor's immediate prescription is to order me restrict fluid intake and liberate up salt intake. I had another blood test on January 4, 2010. The blood sodium level was 131 against a normal range of [135-155]. This new reading is still low, but somewhat better than the results done on December 28. My wife and I had immediate celebration together. I bought a bouquet of flower to her to thank all the care she had given to me over the past 6 months.

Other than somewhat uplifting news of new sodium level, the liver profile was not too uplifting. My AST results was 80 against a normal range of [0-38], total bilrubin was 1.1 against a normal range of [0.3-1.0], direct bilrubin was 0.4 against a normal range of [0-0.3]. Although it is still not a liver crisis, it indicates that my liver function is already compromised.

Meanwhile, I am struggling every meal, and every day and be just glad to be alive one day at a time. I am trying to distract myself from too conscious about the health situation by swimming and playing recorder. The rest of the time, I am in pain.

Friends, I need all of your prayer; not just for me but also for my wife. This illness had caused a lot of stress on my wife, and she needs all the support you can give her.

That is all I want to update you for now. I will tell you more when more diagnosis results are back. Good bye, friends.

Season Greeting From The Chens

Greeting to you all,

2009 is an exciting but also a challenging year for the Chens. But, we are so thankful for all.

The first exciting news is that Kaitlyn Chen was born on September 5, 2009 to Peggy and Leo Chen in New York City. She is the first grandchild to Meeilei and Frank and also to Peggy’s parents. Yes, she will be really really spoiled. Meeilei has been in NY twice already since September. Peggy’s parents were there to attend Katilyn’s one-month old celebration also. We are all very excited about having her as the newest member of our family. Leo is always holding her and said ‘Oh, she is so cute, oh, she is so cute!!!’. Yes she is so cute when she is not crying but when she screams, she is not THAT cute J but we all love her anyway.

After 23 years of service at Kimberly-Clark, Meeilei retired at end of June. Meeilei had a very good career and made a lot of close friends at Kimberly-Clark. After retirement, she is tending for her garden, knitting, playing recorder music, and volunteering several charity organizations. But the best deal she got is she can go see her granddaughter anytime she wants to.

The stories of recorder playing in the Chens’ family goes way back. Frank has played recorder for over 7 years. He used to play the soprano recorder. Meeilei started to learn recorder in 2008, She had made tremendous progress in the recorder playing. She can only play soprano recorder because her hand is too small for alto and up. Because of that, Frank switches to the tenor recorder. Since then whenever time permits, Frank and Meeilei will play tenor-soprano recorder duet together. We have tremendous fun playing together. Sneak by our house and you will often hear the recorder practice in the living room.

Leo and Peggy all embark on the education career. Leo was a freelance video-film maker while Peggy worked in a non-profit organization. Being a free-lance video-film maker, his income was limited and inconsistent. With a baby coming a consistent income is a must. Leo got a teaching job at a private school in NYC this fall. He loves his job. Although she is very capable and had made substantial contributions to her employer, Peggy’s employer was in a financial crisis due to the economic recession and was about to let her go. We are very thankful that Peggy was able to find a new employment at the same school Leo is teaching. They both enjoy their jobs and are able to afford a nanny in the house to take care of Kaitlyn during the day.

Victor and Jill continue to have great careers at Ann Arbor, Michigan. Victor is a teaching scholar in his school teaching chemistry to high school students. He really enjoys his job. Jill is a medical faculty at U of M hospital. The couple became a home owner last year. This summer, they went to Montana and enjoyed hiking in the magnificent Glacial National Park. They claims that that is the BEST national park of all.

Frank concluded his sabbatical leave in Taiwan. He has learned so much about Taiwan and has made so many Taiwanese friends in Taiwan. He is very appreciative to Taiwanese hospitality that made him quite felt at home while living alone in Taiwan. During one year sabbatical in Taiwan, he had explored Taiwanese history that was not taught when he was in school many years ago. He is especially appreciative to the Hakka’s culture and their stories. He also re-discovered Hatta Youichi, the Japanese who built Wu-Lai water dam which has transformed Jai-Nan plane into the most productive rice field of the Southeast Asia. His friends include faculty and staffs of the National Chung-Hsing University, faculty of Jau-Yang University, Chi-Kong practice friends and fellowship community in the Wu-Feng Presbyterian Church. He still maintains contact with his friends in Taiwan.

This year is also a great challenge for Frank. He has been ill since June. He has been diagnosed as having the Barrett esophagus, a pre-cancer form of the esophagus, as well as hiatus hernia, and gastritis. He has lost substantial weight. Managing his illness has been very challenging and has consumed much of the time and energy of Frank and Meeilei. Despite this, he is very thankful for finding out this problem early enough before it becomes really unmanageable. He still teaches at UW-Green Bay. In fact, teaching is becoming a very important therapy for managing his illness because of the feeling of accomplishment. Besides that, he had discovered meditation and exercise. With great patience, he believes he will get well soon.

In conclusion, the Chens are very thankful to whatever had happened to us. With thankfulness, we also wish you have a great holiday.

Best Wishes for a peace and blessed year.

Frank and Meeilei Chen

Wisconsin Governor Declared Snow-Day for UW-Green Bay on December 9, 2009; But,...

Wisconsin Governor Declared Snow-Day for UW-Green Bay on December 9, 2009; But, Dr. Chen's car was in the ditch the first time in the United States.

I have been at UW-Green Bay since 2002. Even I had gone through many blizzard, UW-Green Bay never closed its school. But the blizzard on December 9, 2009 was a bit of different. The Governor of Wisconsin declared a snow-day for UW-Green Bay campus.

Dr. Chen, however, was ignorant about checking the news in the computer in the morning. I left home for school at approximately 9:00 AM. Actually, the road conditions were not that bad in Appleton. However, as I was driving into the Brown County, the visibility drops almost to zero and the road was actually not drivable. As I passed Exit 156 on North-Bound Highway 41, I went into the ditch. Fortunately, I had my celluar phone with me. Calling-up 911, a police car came and took me to a near-by gas station. This is the first time that Dr. Chen drove a car into a ditch since he had been in the United States in 1971.

Beyond that 'exciteent' evreything else was fine. The car has to be towed on the next day. I am safe and fine.