The intestines function to digest food that flows along and absorbs the digested nutrients. When the flow of the digestive tract is interrupted, the intestines stop functioning. This is a conditioned called intestinal obstruction.

What causes obstruction? Here’s a textbook answer: causes within the lumen of the intestines, causes in the wall of the intestines and causes from outside the intestines. The most common causes for small intestinal obstruction are cancer at the junction between the small instestines and the large intestines (called the caecum), an obstructed hernia, and something called “adhesions”.

“Adhesions” are sticky intestines, sort of. You can think of adhesions as “scars” in the surface of the intestines and the lining of the abdomen. These scars can be caused by previous operations, previous inflammation or blood collection in the abdomen. When the adhesions are thick and stiff, they can cause narrowing of the intestines but pressing on it or causing a kink (a very acute angled turn). This may end up blocking the intestines.

How do we treat intestinal obstruction caused by adhesions? Sometimes we just have to wait for the intestines to relax, reorientate and eventually flow again. Of course, in the meantime, the patient needs fluids and minerals via a drip and careful obsvervation. If waiting fails, then an operation is necessary to release the adhesions and relieve the obstruction. What are the signs that waiting has failed? When there are signs that the intestinal wall has been stretched to the point of danger. Or because the obstruction has not relieved itself although given the time.

Breast cancer is frequently-requested subject for public educational talks. Last week, a group of insurance agents invited me to give a talk on breast and other common female cancers. That’s nothing extraordinary. What was usual for me was that I gave it in Mandarin. It’s the second time ever that I’ve delivered a public talk in Chinese. Coming from a non-Chinese-medium school, I learned Chinese characters recently when my son started to learn Chinese in kindy. (Can’t let my son beat me, can I?)

How to do it? Just install Chinese fonts and input methods and use one of the many Chinese dictionary or translation web applications on the net to translate. I check with Chinese sites for Chinese articles on the subject matter and, occasionally, a knowledgeable Chinese-literate friend who can suggest the correct phrases for the context. And… voila! A presentation in Chinese. Of course, it may a take a healthy dose of “guts” as well.

Not to mention a huge serving of “enthusiasm”, just as the Prudential agents who attended the talk had.

As the Philippine grass in the garden is growing, unwelcome elements have crept in as well. Weeds have grown amongst the grass. What are weeds anyway? What defines weeds are what we want to keep and what we want to throw out. My question is which are the weeds, and which are the grass I want to keep? There are weeds that are obviously weeds. There are abnormal looking grass that still look like grass gone funny, but still grass. (I need to keep these.) And then there are blades of grass that don’t look particularly alike the Philippine grass that I’ve planted but yet not completely different either.

Sometimes we assume something is a “weed” because it’s different. Sometimes it’s just the same “grass” growing in different circumstances. Ever been in this kind of situation?

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