A Center For Dental Excellence Blog

Year of the Dragon

Dr. Vu — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 06:54:02 +0000

Happy Chinese New year. This sign matches with mine so woohoo! I’m expecting a great year ahead. They said dragons are successful, self-assured (conceit?), passionate, brave, innovative, and quick-temper but they are to be honored and respected. Dragons are considered divine beasts, for they deliver good fortune and are masters of authority. With them, come success and power. They love to help but may have trouble receiving help. Oh.
Unlike those in fairytales, Chinese dragons are not to be slay. On that note, will someone please relay this message to my 2 y.o. boy? “Sword of truth, fly swift and sure, that evil dies and good endures.” Remember ‘em words? Sleeping Beauty. You would remember them too, if you had to read the 95 pages book at least 3x/night, every night for a few months. My kids couldn’t read yet but they could remember all the important quotes in the book because we read it THAT many times.

Welcome 2012

Dr. Vu — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 06:19:37 +0000

Happy New Year! I’m so glad 2011 is over. It was a hard year for this soul. There were plenty of goods, but also plenty of ugh. The only awesomeness was Timothy. My heart went through all kinds of emotions, ups and downs, drama, and shocks. I started the year with a diet of chicken wraps. My weight plateaued then finally dipped at the end of the pregnancy. One can only eat so much chicken wraps in a day before one starts to get repulsed by them.
Then a week after labor, I painted my house. As others are recovering from birth, I discovered a hidden talent, which was later used to elaborate the décor of my children’s rooms. Who knew…I got skillz. I never said they were great.

Okay, I had help with this room.

Remember, “ No good deed goes unpunished”? Why does it always seem to happen to me? I tried to do a good deed but I got punished. I now realize that reality distortion is more common than thought. Steve Jobs may have mastered it, but I know some people who are very good at it, too. These “victims” of societal norms are oblivious to facts. Then again, why I continue to call a liar a liar is beyond me. One more thing that makes you go, “Hmmm.”

Later in the year, my girlfriend lost her husband on their 11th wedding anniversary. For that, I have not much to complain about. At the funeral, she showed pictures of their world travels before kids. Then it was mostly Disneyland pictures after kids. Oddly enough, it was funny. My husband and I were deeply affected by his passing. We promised ourselves that we would enjoy the journey, not just the destination, take more rest stops, sway with the rhythm, allow our kids to pee on the side of the freeway, focus on being better helicopter parents, reduce outside influence, etc. Basically, we agreed to just make it the best possible journey for our family. Let me tell you, just that reiteration of the obvious made a big difference and it was fun.

Yes, we went to Anaheim for some R&R. However, R&R we did not get. I walked about 8 miles/day x 4 days. I was either carrying a 22lb baby or pushing 70lbs in a stroller. My arms and legs are tone. My hip still hurts occasionally but it was worth it. My kids had so much fun, they were exhausted by the time we got to the hotel every night. Theodore landed a kiss from Belle (of Beauty and the Beast) during our lunch with the princesses and he still remembers it. My daughter talked to her favorite princess. She even wore princess outfits during our visit. It’s amazing how these adults were really into their characters. So the fixed price menu was worth it. Just the look of sheer joy on their faces was great. These princesses were really beautiful. I didn’t post a picture with Jasmine because she was pregnant. Nice, eh?
Yes, the magic of Disney is still there. However, we need to remember it’s the second happiest place on Earth. The first should be your home. Enjoy!
I hope everyone a better 2012.

Growing Older

Dr. Vu — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 23:45:48 +0000

Lately I’ve been spending time with my dad to get his medical benefits together. There are so many penalties and fines for older people that it amazes me. You get penalized if you don’t renew your Medi-Care in time. They count each month that you’ve “lapsed” and add the fines onto your monthly payment for the rest of your enrollment time. There are many parts to Medi-Care, and they expire at different times. Once you reached the maximum allowances (not your co pay but their cost of the medicine that you purchased) on medications, you are required to pay up to 50% out-of-pocket for the retail price. Sadly, that could add up quickly, depending on if you buy generics or not. Kaiser Senior Advantage Plan is part of Medi-Care and they have all these penalties on our older members because they can. They claimed it was the law/rule of Medi-Care. So, I ask you…How does one know how the system work if no one ever explains it? It’s like me getting my non-English speaking patients to sign consent form for treatment. It doesn’t stand up in court. It’s illegal. I am fluent in English and I don’t understand everything that I read or explained to me. If you start talking about board circuitry or directions, I’m lost. Next! You know what I mean? Just tell me left or right, not north, east, south or west. So for most older people, medical verbiage is foreign. It seems so careless.
My dad was forced into retirement because his company went bankrupt. He wanted to work and be active, chat with friends, have a reason to leave the house, etc. When he retired, he called me three times a day for weeks, asking me if I wanted to have lunch with him. I declined 99% of the time. Then I finally booked him multiple vacation packages to hang out with his friends in different states, Hawaii included. Then he started to come by my office with lunch for me and the girls. He was that bored! He wants to go back to school but he maxed out on his community college units. San Jose State University is too expensive at approximately $100/unit. He now wants to help my father-in-law trim my yard. Yes, my father-in-law is also my gardner because he, too, is bored and needs something to do. FYI…we hired my father-in-law to be our gardner so we can mow the lawn, trim the bushes, rake the leaves, etc. This is the martyrdom of being son/daughter. We will continue to do this as long as my husband doesn’t complain about mowing the lawn or trimming the bushes and my back/arms/legs don’t give out raking the leaves or trimming the hedges. Or, I continue to have extension cords that I can accidentally cut into. The joy of having “help” from our parents.

A Legend Gone

Dr. Vu — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 20:13:16 +0000

Even in dentistry, we are sad to lose Steve Jobs. Not that his company employs our friends and family members, but his incredible outreach to the community. He made technology user friendly. You don’t have to be a programmer to enjoy the computer. It’s because of his vision, the world now can connect to the internet with ease. My 2 y.o. son and 4 y.o. daughter know how use the computer because of the ipad. So to lose such an amazing person brings sadness to all of us. May his soul finally find its enlightenment (because he’s Buddhist) and rest in peace.
P.S. Did you know he invented the “mouse”? How awesome is that? Then the touch pad..

Children’s Discovery Museum

Dr. Vu — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 16:35:05 +0000

My kids’ first school field trip to the Children’s Discovery Museum. The kids had a lot of fun. Here, Tiana and her classmates were in an ambulance, checking out the dashboard. A lot of parents took time off to chaperone. By lunchtime, we were all exhausted. On the ride back to school, most parents were asleep on the bus with their kids. We were there for 2.5 hours.

Flu Season

Dr. Vu — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 21:41:32 +0000

This is a reminder from your other doctor: Okay people…it’s time for your flu shots.

Welcome, Kaia

Dr. Vu — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 00:12:03 +0000

Welcome, Kaia (pronounce Kai-a)! She was born on 7/14/11 at 7 lbs. 2 oz. Bobbie and Kaia are doing great recovering at home. We get pictures sent to us frequently and this one was our favorite. Who could not love that smile? We wish both mother and daughter all the best and hope to see them soon. Bob thanks you for all your well wishes and presents to Kaia.
P.S. Do NOT drink the water in this office…for obvious reasons.

Tim-thy

Dr. Vu — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 22:34:28 +0000

He’s a happy baby. Please welcome Timothy to the clan. He was my reason for leaving. As the quote in that Jerry McGuire movie said, he, “complete (s) me.” Now, I have all the children I wanted. Every morning I wake up to a wide smiling face. Sometimes I feel his little hand scratching my arm when I lay next to him. It’s a wonderful feeling.
Theodore cannot say Timothy properly. He says, “Tim-thy”. So now we all call him “Tim-thy”. He knows his name and loves to listen to conversations. I just wish he realizes that I’m his mommy, not just his slave.

My Little Guy

Dr. Vu — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 22:01:28 +0000

Isn’t he so cute? He thinks his mommy is the most beautiful woman there is. I know, many people have told me to enjoy the attention until he doesn’t even want me around him anymore…which is in about 10 years! I read Sleeping Beauty to him regularly because there’s a dragon that he wants to slay. I’m Aurora and he’s my Prince Philip. Therefore, I’m always pricking my finger on the spindle and “slumber”. He got tired of kissing me to wake me up so many times, he sat on the book, looked in my eyes and said, “Mama, turn the page,” as his little hands cupped my face. LOL.

San Diego Zoo/ Safari Park/SeaWorld

Dr. Vu — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 20:38:32 +0000

I highly recommend any families with kids to visit these parks, especially SeaWorld for young kids. We should have just stayed there for a couple of days since my kids loved it so much.
Here is our view from our hotel room. My kids love standing on the bench to look out at the water and see the yatchs, airplanes and boats. Too bad none of them are ours.

Flamingos

At the Safari Park on our safari tour. It was freezing.

At SeaWorld…I’m always so amazed at these shows. It was fun to watch.

Tiana-pure joy.

Theodore having fun playing on the rims of the bouncing house.

Tiana having fun inside the bouncing house. Of course it was my daughter who refused to get out when her time was up.