Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Anorexia Nervosa or Bereavement: Bach Cello Suit.


The BBC this morning played Bach's Cello Suit in G-major and it reminded me of my patient:

Cape Floristic Region (CFR) of South Africa
 ©Am Ang Zhang 2005


The Cape Floristic Region of South Africa and South Western Australia are two of five areas on Earth with a Mediterranean-style climate which have been designated ‘biodiversity hotspots’ by Conservation International. The others are central Chile, California, and the Mediterranean basin.


In The Cockroach Catcher I got my Anorectic patient to play the cello that was banned by the “weight gain contract”:



                 Jane got on well with me.

          She had to, as nobody understood that to her achieving was not a hardship but something she secretly enjoyed. She was no longer allowed to pick up her books as she had not put on any weight since her admission.
         
          Cello would be banned too, if her nurse was to have her way.

          For the unit to function the nurse must have her way. After all I was not there all the time to watch her. To watch if she was eating, vomiting, exercising or whatever else they did to avoid gaining weight.
          But I was determined that it would be the first privilege she would get if she put on half a gram.  Or any excuse I could think of.
          Brutal confrontation is often what happened in many adolescent units dealing with Anorexia Nervosa. The brutality is not physical.
          But these patients are intelligent and have such strong will power that confrontation generally fails and the failure can be a miserable one.  Yet it is the kind of condition that hurts. It hurts those trying to help. It hurts because these patients deserve better for themselves. It hurts because they are not drop-outs of society. 
          Was it too hard for Jane to keep at the top academically? Someone offered that as an explanation. Perhaps she should be moved to a state school.
          The idea horrified me.
          A fourteen year old non-smoking, non-drinking, non-drug taking, intelligent Audrey Hepburn look alike virgin turning up at your local comprehensive.  It sounded like a major disaster to me.
          I had to take the matter into my own hands. She did put on some weight and at the earliest opportunity I decided she should get back to the cello which had always been by her bed at the unit.

          She missed the cello, the only thing she could use to shut out her worries.


          Fourteen and carrying the burden of the world.


          Then she started playing.


          “Ah. The Bach G-major!”


          “So you know it.”


           Of course I do. The hours I spent listening to Yo Yo Ma and it was such amazing music, melancholic and uplifting at the same time.

          For a moment I forgot that I was her psychiatrist and she forgot she was my patient.


          “My grandma gave me Casals.”

          I knew Casals was even more emotional than Ma, but Ma is Chinese and he was less affecting, allowing the listener to tune in to his own mood.

She played from memory. What talent! What went wrong?”


          “I wish my dad could hear me.”

          It was the first time she could talk about her father. They had a very comfortable life in South Africa when father was alive. It was very difficult to imagine what he would have looked like. It was never clear what he did but he was involved in a number of ventures. The plantation Jane’s grandfather ran was sold when apartheid came to an end. He was involved in some private reserve and he was a photographer of sorts but my junior told me that mum started to cry when she talked about him so she did not pursue too deeply.


            Jane was home when her father died in mother’s arms with a massive haemoptysis (coughing up of blood, a rare but not unknown effect of lung cancer, generally a massive bleed).  It must have been very traumatic.

           How dim of me. That was bereavement, a slow suicide by someone who felt less worthy to survive. 



BBC March 27:

Johann Sebastian Bach

Cello Suite No 1 in G major, BWV 1007 (Prelude, Allemande & Courante)

Performer: Mstislav Rostropovich.
  • J.S. BACH: CELLO SUITES 1, 4 AND 5: MSTISLAV ROSTROPOVICH. 
  • EMI. 
  • 01.


Cockroach Catcher-Seven Minute Cure












AMAZON-UK    The Cockroach Catcher II: Attempted Living



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Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Cockroach Catcher II: Attempted Living---- Review from Hong Kong.

 Pleasurable Challenge


To me, it is an honour as well as a challenge to be requested by Am Ang to write a review for his new book - - The Cockroach Catcher II Attempted Living. I found it an honour because even as a layman to the medical field I was assigned with this grand job of commenting on the masterpiece of a renowned and accomplished medical practitioner! It is a challenge as I wonder whether my career as a teacher and later a principal of a government secondary school could provide sufficient support for me  to handle this big task! After reading and ‘chewing’ the whole book, not only was I enriched with tremendous medical knowledge but also informed of a  wide range of interests! I found that I had practically been invited to a house of treasures and was given the privilege of taking away as much treasure as I prefer! As such, the imaginary challenge was turned into real pleasure! 


“A New Home “

Of all the chapters in Am Ang’s book, I was specially impressed by the one titled ‘A New Home’ which not only caused fascination to but also envy from schoolmates of Am Ang’s age!

Here readers were given a detailed account of Am Ang’s early life when he first came to Hong Kong from Shantou of China as a refugee at the age of four! In spite of the initial stage of having to stay in a flat above an abattoir amidst a marketplace in the urban area of Kowloon, Am Ang, upon his father’s joining the family a month later, was soon to move to a cottage house in the countryside of Tai Po, New Territories. The pleasant living conditions in the new home out in the village prompted a new and happy start for Am Ang’s life journey! There also came the joy of dwelling in a refreshing place, in much contrast to living in the crowded city previously experienced! Readers would just be carried away by Am Ang’s vivid description of his new home at Tai Po!

It will be deemed a luxury to have such a living environment in Hong Kong these  days ! It was a cosy, comfortable and joyful experience living in individual houses with a terrace and yard in front, planted with all kinds of fruit trees, similar to those of an orchard! The fruits borne were of different kinds, thus supplying fresh fruits for the family throughout the year! There were also freshly laid eggs by self raised chickens for the family diet. The house was facing large stretches of rice paddy fields which would present a soothing view of a green sea when wind was blowing at the growing rice plants! Readers could imagine how happy life could be during Am Ang’s childhood when the living environment was so much embraced by the beauties of nature! Free time was so much fun by engaging oneself in healthy pastimes such as swimming, snorkeling, fishing, hiking and kite flying…….! I would recommend readers to discover more enjoyment by reading this chapter intensively!



Another point of attraction from this chapter would be the heart warming and mutual caring family relationship Am Ang was enjoying!
The tender love from mother, the wise guidance from father, the strong bondage among relatives and intimate friendship with neighbours all made up for fond and indelible memories for Am Ang. The reasons why Am Ang had developed such a gentle, optimistic and dignified character might also be discovered here!

Family education and parenting skills are crucial and beneficial in shaping a respectable personality!



Accolade to an accomplished child psychiatrist

From Am Ang’s  book, we learned that it was his childhood experiences, gathered through an early exposure to the natural world, a cultivated enthusiasm in living things and the environment around together with a sincere compassion for people’s illnesses that prompted him to pursue a medical course as his career.

While Am Ang’s dream was realized by having become a medical practitioner specializing in child psychiatry, it was his devotion to the job, determination to overcome obstacles, shrewd analytical ability and courage to try out new ideas that finally made him an outstanding and accomplished child psychiatrist with spectacular achievements!

As readers went along with the ways Am Ang adopted in solving knotty and unmanageable cases (to psychiatrists in general) they could not help but marvel at Am Ang’s perceptive analysis of cases and the courage to try out innovative healing methods! Many a success in healing was achieved not by medication but by observation, intervention and analysis! This is what made Am Ang’s book so educational, entertaining, captivating and even amusing! It is comparable to reading detective fiction in which there were many suspenseful plots with endings that could not be surmised until the very end!

Relaxation

There were times when readers, amid reading the suspenseful ‘detective stories’ would be brought to another world of wonders. As a lover of traveling, Am Ang would take readers to tour the rarely visited places around the world! In each of the places visited, Am Ang would introduce its peculiarities, viz. its custom, culture and what not for a deeper understanding of the spot! Coupled with pictures taken by Am Ang’s skilled photography techniques, readers were practically provided with a’VR’ (Virtual Reality) feel!

Alongside with introducing the charming scenery of the places Am Ang would lay out his excitements from drinking the rare wine and trying the local cuisines. Undoubtedly, the wine lovers and food lovers would find it a source of interests and attraction!



Last but not least, music lovers, photography lovers and golf players might also find a share of enjoyment in Am Ang’s book! All in all, no one seems to be left out and there was something after one’s heart to be offered in reading Am Ang’s book!

Concluding remarks

Am Ang’s book is good to read and worth of reading! It is no exaggeration if the book is deemed to be casting magic spells on readers! It is so captivating that one cannot help but keep reading it until it comes to the end!

The book’s cross-discipline contents reveal the affluent aspects of Am Ang’s life - from childhood to schooling, journey to become a medical practitioner and a lively living style after retirement!


From what was narrated, readers might understand that Am Ang’s character building was highly influenced and shaped by his family education in which his parents did set a very good example of dignity, righteousness and benevolence. His career achievements as a successful child psychiatrist was prompted by a true understanding of how mental disorder and emotional distress could be more detrimental than physical sufferings. That drove him to work hard on digging the root causes for mental diseases and finding ways to cure them without having to revert to medicine as far as possible. From the cases recorded, Am Ang showed his painstaking efforts and determination to avoid using traditional healing methods and courage to venture on innovative healing paths! As such, Am Ang has revived hope in many a desperate soul and brought back numerous tragic lives! Life was turned bright and shiny because of you, Am Ang!


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