Bone Marrow Stew

In my medical English class today, I learned an interesting tidbit of information about one's diet during an illness. One of the dialogs focused on a fracture and the patient asked, "Is it okay, if I have some soup with bone marrow, so that I can heal faster?" The doctor's response is, "Yes, it might speed up your recovery." I made a side comment to the class that this is probably not true.

However, my students informed me that when a patient has a health issue, be it liver dysfunction or heart problems, it is widely believed that eating the analogous part of an animal aids in the healing process. Thus, when you break a bone, you should eat bone marrow as part of a comprehensive treatment plan.

I think many American are finicky eaters and would never fathom eating the liver or heart of an animal. Also, I'm not sure how many would even believe that this type of diet would help cure their illness, as we live in a culture of pills and prescriptions.

My right thumb is numb

This past Sunday, Matt, Kevin, Jim, Jenny and I went to the underground arcade to bowl. We walked below into a haze of cigarette smoke and our faces were bathed in neon flashing lights and the soothing glow of various videogame screens. They had all types of fun things to do like pool tables, ping-pong tables, and a myriad of videogames.

Remember the arcade game with the big claw and you try to win a cute, stuffed teddy bear? Well, we saw a variation on this idea, that included both children and adults: Note the pile of cigarette packs in the lower right corner, so that children can't see them, oh wait, they're right at their eye level...

I recently read a statistic that 1/3 cigarettes made in the world are consumed in China. Its ubiquitous around Jilin and everyone smokes, everywhere. Its quite a shock to the system after being in a smoke-free environment for several years. I asked the doctors that I worked with about smoking cessations aids. The consensus was that there weren't any types of medications like Wellbutrin, patches or even gum. Assuming that people would want to start quitting, there'd be a huge market for smoking cessation tools here.

Anyhoo, the five of us bypassed the lure of the cancer sticks, and made our way to the bowling alley, where we had a grand time. Unfortunately for me, after a few frames, I noticed that the distal part of my right thumb became oddly numb. I think I compressed a small sensory nerve or something. It currently is still slightly asensational (is that even a word?) but I'm not too concerned as it'll probably take sometime for it to recover. I ended up bowling a decent game so the people who did not bowl so well had to buy Kevin and me ice cream.

We made our way to the McDonald's where I had my first encounter with a Chinese Ronald McDonald. It was kind of bizarre. Moreover, my friend pointed out they seem to be recycling ad campaigns from the past. Remember the suave McDonald's Moonman? He's been resurrected and making a full comeback in China!