青柳诊所手记38

天冷起来了。清晨在阳台上做气功时非得戴上手套和绒帽不可了。弹指之间这一年又悄悄过去，很快又是圣诞节了。

是的，今年圣诞我们的诊所照样开门。新年也照样开门。

不是我们想赚钱想疯了，而是我们担心在这样的特别的日子里，有人需要我们，哪怕仅仅是帮到一个人，也是值得的啊。

还记得几年前的一个圣诞日。正是新冠期间，大家都躲在家里，街上几乎没有什么行人，出来买菜的都很少，更何况是来光顾诊所的呢？那时的大家，觉得去任何诊所都是一件危险的事，更别说还是一个大风大雪的天。

一个中东来的老妇，不懂英语，我给浑身都有风湿痛的她做推拿，快做完了也不知道她到底感觉如何，她却忽然褪下她戴着的口罩的一角，微笑着用布满青筋的手指触碰了我的脸一下，然后又把口罩轻轻戴上。那时候，我的眼泪差点掉下来了。那天她是我唯一的病人，但她送给我的一个微笑就让我觉得在这风雪交加的天气为她一个人而开门是完完全全值得的。

我们总是希望病人们不要送给我们任何礼物。每年人家送给我们的巧克力和购物卡都被我们转送给别人了，因为我们并不看重这些物质上的回报。

能够有缘治疗那些需要我们的人，岂不就是上天给我们的馈赠？

这里我征得一个老人的同意，把他写进我的诊所手记中。他的幽默、慈悲、智慧常常让我们微笑、感动。

他是来自于前苏联的教授T。虽然都快80岁了，但依然鹤发童颜，两眼炯炯有神。他的声音有些嘶哑，他说有一次给人打电话时，对方说：“你的声音听起来有些怪怪的啊”。

他就呵呵笑着答：“你还没有看见我的脸呢”。

记得第一次他来找我们，我问他有什么问题时，他嘻嘻一笑：“啥问题都没有，就是需要一个大脑移植。你们可不可以做这个手术？”

我在他的脑门扎针时，他就装作严肃地说：“小心哦，里面是空心的，针有可能从一头穿到另一头。”

每次他一来，诊所里就笑声不断。大师兄平常是不善言辞的，但只要这个老人来了，他就变成了另外一个人，一老一小比赛似的，放声高歌。一会儿是《喀秋莎》，一会儿是《山楂树》，一会儿是《莫斯科郊外的晚上》。他们的笑声，把诊所都沸腾开了。我把我的治疗室的门关得紧紧的，怕影响到我的病人了，谁想到有一次有个病人还特意叫我把门打开，并好奇地说：“他们的笑声真有感染力啊。我在想：王大夫今天治疗什么样的一个人呢？”

老人仿佛听到对方的问话了，竟然大声答过来：“那还用说，他治疗的是一个外星人！”

大师兄的深层按摩有时把他弄痛了，不像有的人笑着说：“王医生，你想知道什么秘密？我招！我招！”

老人却咯咯笑着：“好了，好了，我听话！我听话！”

他和大师兄都自称自己是老布尔什维克，两个人分手时，都毕恭毕敬互相立正行军礼，那一本正经的场景真是让人捧腹。

就是这个老人，自己用电脑打印出宣扬我们诊所的海报，贴在他常去的健身房里（健身房的工作人员把他数落了一番并叫他立即揭下来）；也是他急急忙忙去找他的眼科医师，告诉她世界上还有一个叫青柳诊所的地方也能看眼科；也是他把我们的名片复印了，一张张去发给他的朋友们；也是他最先主动在google review上帮我们写评论……

他做这些，全都是义务的，也没有事先告诉我们。做完了，我们谢谢他，他不过耸耸肩：“这是我爱做的，因为我想让人知道：能在温哥华遇到你们这家特别的诊所，实在是我的幸运。”

对于我们来说，此生中能够做这样一位患者的医生，实在是我们的幸运。

前天我们治疗完了一个印第安老妇，她合掌向我们致谢。临走到门口，又回过身来，再次低头合掌，让我们的眼睛都不由得湿润了。

昨天一个小女孩来了，递给我们两个小蛋糕，仰着小脸微笑着说：“这是我跟爸爸一起烤的，还热着呢，你们吃吧。”

今天治疗一个远道而来的医生，他一见面就说：“我这辈子救治了成千上万病人，但这是我第一次请求别人帮助我。我选择你们，是因为你们和你们诊所的能量跟别处不一样……”

他走时付给我们美金（第一次有人付我们美金），我们想要找他钱，他就说：“就当我是捐给你们诊所的好了。“

就这样小小的惊讶和感动，让我们觉得一年的辛劳都是值得的。我们还需要别的什么礼物呢？

有一个母亲一年到头都是忙忙碌碌，除了照顾丈夫和两个孩子，她还全职工作。她说今年她想破例给自己买一个礼物，问我有没有什么建议。

我想也不想就说：“每天给你自己三十分钟的寂静独处的时间吧？那就是给自己的最好的礼物。”

如果没有寂静，如何能在生活和内心中找到平衡？

寂静就是最好的休息。

寂静就是能量的源头。

寂静就是你内在的银行。

还有什么比它更好的礼物呢？

Whispering of Willows 38

It's getting cold. When doing qigong on the balcony in the early morning, I almost have to wear my mittens and tuque.

This year slipped by in a blink of an eye, and soon it will be Christmas again.

Yes, our clinic will be open on Christmas day, as well as on New Year.

It’s not that we are crazy about making money and ignoring traditional festivals, it is because we worry that on such a special day, someone may need us. Even if we can help one person, it is worth it.

I still remember a Christmas Day a few years ago. It was during COVID time, when everyone was hiding at home; few pedestrians were on the street. Grocery shopping was considered dangerous, never mind going to a medical clinic.

On a Christmas Day, a stormy snowy day, who would even think of coming to see us?

But someone did, a senior from the Middle East who spoke very little English. I gave her a treatment for her rheumatic pain which was causing problems all over her body. When I was nearly done, I had no idea how she felt, only to watch her suddenly open a corner of her mask, showing me a beautiful smile, followed by a gentle tap with her bulging veined hand, as she put her mask back on again. Instantaneously tears came to my eyes. She was my only patient that day, but her smile made my day. Yes, it was completely worth opening the clinic just for her, on such a stormy freezing cold day.

We often tell patients it is unnecessary to give us any gifts – their improving health is the best gift. Every year the chocolates and gift cards that we receive we simply pass on to others. We are grateful, but see ourselves as already blessed by the Divine just by having the chance to treat those who need us. If we have the opportunity to do what we love, how can we expect further rewards?

For example, Professor T is himself a beautiful gift shared with us. (I have asked his permission to write a few words about him in my Whispering of Willows). His humor, compassion, and wisdom often make us smile and always touch our hearts.

He is a brilliant learned man from the former Soviet Union. Although almost 80 years old, he still has a childlike face and glistening eyes. His voice is a little hoarse. He said once when he was talking with someone on the phone, the person mentioned: "You certainly have a peculiar voice."

He laughed and replied: "Wait until you see my face."

The first time he came to see us, I asked what I could help him with; he giggled, "A brain transplant is I need. Do you perform such a surgery here?"

When I inserted a needle into his forehead, he said seriously, "My Lord! Be careful, it is empty there, the needle may pierce through from one end to the other!"

Every time he comes, there is a riot in the clinic. Dr. Wang is normally reticent, but whenever this man is around, he shows his true colors; the two of them laughing and singing aloud, making a racket. Sometimes they sing "Katyusha", or "The Hawthorn Tree", or " Evenings in Moscow's Suburbs "…. Their laughter brings our clinic to a boil. Working with another patient at the same time as Professor T is with Dr. Wang, I worry my patient might be disturbed by their fun, so I often close my treatment room tightly. However, once a patient even asked me to open the door saying curiously: "Their laughter is so infectious, I wonder whom is Dr. Wang treating right now?”

Immediately the old man chortled his reply: "Undoubtedly he is treating an alien!"

Dr. Wang's deep tissue massage sometimes can be painful as if he is torturing his client, resulting in some patients joking: "Ok, Ok, Dr. Wang, what secret do you wish to know? I confess! I confess!"

But the professor chuckled: "Okay, okay, I behave! I behave!"

He and Dr. Wang joke that they were old Bolsheviks. When the two are saying goodbye, they both stand at attention and salute each other. The serious and humorous scene is really hilarious.

Meanwhile, it is this man who printed out posters with his own computer, trying to promote our clinic. He posted one in the gym he frequents and got a lecture from the gym staff, who made him peel it off; it was he who hurriedly went to his optometrist announcing to her that he had discovered a clinic able to treat eye diseases; it was he who copied our business cards and sent them to all of his friends; it was also he who took the initiative to write us a beautiful google review…

He did all this without even telling us what he did.  When we finally found out about it and thanked him, he just shrugged: "This is what I love to do; I want people to know so they can share my good fortune having run into such a special clinic in Vancouver."

For us, it is really so fortunate to have the opportunity to treat such people, for they are not only our patients, they are also our teachers.

Two days ago, after finishing my treatment for an Indigenous senior, she did not say much but clasped her hands in front of her chest. As she was leaving, at the door, she turned around and clasped her hands again, making our eyes moist.

Yesterday, a little girl hopped in, handing us two muffins, looking up at us with her smiling little face and said, "My dad and I just baked them. Eat, they are still hot!”

Today a medical doctor came from afar to see us. When we met, he said: "I have helped heal thousands of people in my life, but this is the first time I am asking for help. I chose you because of the special energy in you and in your clinic…”

When he left, he paid us American dollars (the first time someone paid us U.S. dollars!). When we were about to give him his change, he simply said, "Just consider it a donation to your clinic."

Such small surprises and episodes leave us feeling that a year of hard work was absolutely worth it. What other gifts could we expect?

And sometime we ought to give ourselves a gift.

An overworked mother always on the go taking care of her husband and two children, while also working full-time, said she wanted to get herself a gift this year and asked me if I had any suggestions.

I replied without thinking: “Give yourself thirty minutes of solitude every day; that is the best gift you can give to yourself.”

Without solitude, how can one find balance in life and within oneself?

Solitude is the best rest.

Solitude is the reservoir of energy.

Solitude is your inner bank.

After all, what better gifts than these are there?