Letter of departure to patients of LLU clinic in Highland, California

September 26, 2015

Dearest LLU Patients:

I thought it would be best to write you a letter to let you know about a decision my family & I recently made. I write this letter with great difficulty because I’m not sure where to begin or how best to write what I have to say…

After a few years’ discussion & for multiple family reasons, our family will be moving away to the Santa Ana area in the next months. While originally our plan was that I’d commute to our Highland clinic from Orange County, in the end we decided the commute would be too much of a strain on the family, & I accepted a job offer with a non-profit clinic closer by. Accordingly, my last day in our Highland LLU clinic will be Tuesday December 1, 2015.

One reason I wanted to write you was to let you know how much I have appreciated you. For those who were at Highland when I joined faculty in 2004, you may recall that my time with LLU was originally planned to be a short 2 years as I prepared to serve fulltime at a hospital in Niger (west Africa). Painful personal issues, & then important family concerns altered that course dramatically, but little did I realize that in lieu of a life of adventure overseas, I would be given 11 ½ years of adventure serving you here in my own hometown of Highland/San Bernardino.

I want you to know that I have considered it a great honor to serve your families (in many cases 3 generations at once!), to watch you enter different stages of life, to learn so much about life from you (eg: phrases in your native tongues), and to share your sorrows & your joys as we worked through many difficult medical conditions together. I have considered my role in your lives to be a sacred calling, & I pray that God used me to touch your families with a kind of wholeness that includes physical health, to be sure, but extends far beyond.

Another reason I wanted to write was to assist in the whole transition process. In case you need to tie up any medical issues with me, please be sure to go forward quickly with the studies & referrals we have recommended, and set your follow-up appointments with me as soon as possible so that we can formulate a clear care plan before I leave December 1.
For my pediatric patients, please know that I leave you in the very caring & capable hands of my pediatric colleagues already well established here at Highland. For my adult patients, you may recall that we Med-Peds (combined internal medicine & pediatrics) doctors are a rather rare breed here in the West, so our transition plan is still in flux. Please see the attached letter for information from our department regarding this transition. Your patience with us in this whole process is greatly appreciated, & you may check in with Highland’s front desk staff for any updates.

Again, thank you for the honor of serving as your physician during this very meaningful season of my life. I pray for your continued growth & health, & I’d very much appreciate your prayer as well during our transition as we care of present family needs as well as plan for the future (overseas service is still our hope). In a very real way, I will miss you.

Blessings Until We Meet Again,
Sidney Wu, MD, FAAP, FACP

"Christmas 2014" letter

May the Showers of Christmas JOY Bring Blossoms of LIFE in the New Year!

Dearest Friends & Family:

     Thanks so much for your patience with our “Christmas 2014” letter, though admittedly I should probably call this an early Lunar New Year letter!

     In the past we have told you that each year felt like a blur.  2014, in contrast, felt like it flew by in a blink!  Too many things happened through this year for me to recount, but here are a few of our more memorable moments as a family:

Peace in Pieces

     Back in April while our family was in the car, Evangelina (3) – as often is her custom -- was singing quietly to herself while the rest of us were talking.  She started one of the songs we often sing to her, a song of blessing: “The Lord bless you & keep you…”, but as she continued with each line of the song her singing became louder & louder, with the last line of the song being repeated over & over (& over!).  It got so loud that the rest of us had to speak louder & louder as well just to hear each other.  Pretty soon we couldn’t hear ourselves over Evangelina’s singing: “AND GIVE YOU PEACE, & GIVE YOU PEACE, & GIVE YOU PEACE FOREVER!!!  AND GIVE YOU PEACE, & GIVE YOU PEACE…!!!”

Nervous Observation

     Another time, Evangelina was playing rough with me (Sid) & knocked into my face & glasses.  We’re pretty strict about the kids not touching our glasses (primarily because we've had so many pairs broken when Jadon was a baby), so I gave her a stern look with my glasses knocked down to the tip of my nose.  I was waiting for her to say, “Sorry Daddy for touching your glasses.”  Instead Evangelina, wanting to break the tension, gave me a nervous smile & said, "Hey, you’re like a Grandma!"  This & many other funny comments she made from her growing understanding of the world left us in stitches throughout the year.

Following the Bottom Line

     As for Jadon (8), one thing we’ve continued to enjoy is watching him think “outside the box.”  In September we got dinner at Chick-Fil-A which included a kids' meal that came with a compass!  He was excited to start using it, & marveled at how its needle always points north.  It was a good review of directions (north, south, east, west) for him, & how each direction relates to the other.  As we were driving home, we tried to reinforce his learning with some friendly drills: "What direction are we facing now...?  How about now...? Which direction is to our right...?"  He was finally getting the hang of it, so we decided to throw in some of our customary goofball questions: "Now which way are we heading?"

     "South," he replied.

     "Very good! So which way is our butts facing?"

     We expected him to say “North."

     His innocent response?  "Down."

Rock, Paper, Superlatives

     Later in the fall, Jadon was playing Rock-Paper-Scissors (in Chinese: "Jian-dao, Shi-tou, Bu") with Daddy in creative ways.  While at the YMCA pool, we started playing a version such that whenever we're underwater, the rules are 'upside down': scissors beat rock, paper beats scissors, rock beats paper.  Another time while we were playing in the car, we started coming up with new objects to beat the other: we both came up with the “bomb” (which beats rock, paper, & scissors)... then quickly went on to more zany objects.  It went like this:

TOGETHER:

Jian-dao, Shi-tou, Bu!

(ALMOST SIMULTANEOUSLY)

JADON: earthquake!

DADDY: the sun!

Obviously, I won that round, to Jadon's chagrin. Then, with Jadon's eyes widening with the determination to beat me...

TOGETHER:

Jian-dao, Shi-tou, Bu!

(ALMOST SIMULTANEOUSLY)

DADDY: galaxy!

JADON: God's hand!

Needless to say, the game was over with Jadon victorious & both of us howling with laughter… what else could beat God’s hand?

Entering the Kingdom of God

     A more poignant story comes from one of the times we dropped in on Jadon while the kids were at their local Bible club.  Jadon’s teacher asked, “How do you enter the kingdom of God?” to which Jadon replied with a list of good things he had to do, including "listen to your parents."

     I (Sid) was truly saddened at hearing Jadon’s answer.  Thankfully his teacher corrected him and pointed him to trusting in the work and person of Jesus, but I couldn’t help but think to myself, “What am I doing wrong?"  It struck me that it is an uphill battle for us to teach our children the truth, not simply with words but with day-to-day living, that entering the kingdom of God is simply receiving the gift of what King Jesus has done for us in his life, death, & resurrection.  Weren’t we ready to travel 1000s of miles to live in another culture and speak in another language with the intention of sharing this very, very good news?  How had I failed in sharing this news with my own children?
     To be sure, the things Jadon listed in his answer to his Bible club teacher were good & right in themselves.  God in His Word even tells us to do them (I especially like the "listen to your parents" thing!), yet we know that it aches His heart when we think that by following a list of dos & don'ts we can earn enough merit to enter His kingdom.  Our Heavenly Father's unyielding desire is to trust in Him & what He has accomplished for us.  Where was the "disconnect" between my words & my practice before our children?  Was Jadon seeing in me a frantic life of self-reliant, self-centered dos & don'ts?
     Dear Friends & Family, JJ & I are grateful for your love & are often a bit embarrassed at how difficult it is for us to stay in touch with most of you given our limitations.  We pray that your own Christmas was a season of pondering God's gifts, & that your new year is filled with living out the joy & thankfulness (&, as Evangelina will remind us, PEACE!!!) that comes from God's great gifts to us.

With Blessing,

Sid for the Wus