Newsletter No. 367

10 No. 367, 19.11.2010 Prof. Tony S.K. Mok 下回〈十方吐露〉將訪問魏雁濱教授 Prof. Ngai Ngan-pun, will be featured in the next instalment of ‘TEN QUESTIONS FOR’. 預告 Coming 1 如果你主持大學醫科入學面試,會挑怎樣的學生? If you are in charge of the Faculty of Medicine’s entrance exam, what kind of students would you pick? 如果可以從面試判斷的話,我希望在醫科生身上找到溝通能 力與正義感。臨床工作需要良好溝通,包括言語表達和身體 語言。醫生是助人的行業,遇到須在病人與自己的利益之間 取捨,當以病人為先,所以我會尋求一份正義感。 If one can judge by the entrance exam alone, I’ll be looking for communication skills and righteousness in the candidates. Clinical work requires good communication, including verbal and body language. Doctors are people who help. When faced with a choice between the patients’ and their own interests, they should choose the patients’, so righteousness is crucial. 2 醫生、教授、研究員、作家、食家、電視節目主持人─這 麼多的帽子,各給你怎樣的滿足感? Doctor, professor, researcher, writer, gourmand, television programme host. What kinds of satisfaction do you derive from your different hats? 我是多而不精,但滿足感正來自「多」,慶幸我尚算業有專 長。單就可在業餘嘗試擴闊生活的面向,接觸不同層面的工 作,不同類型的人,已給我很大滿足。 I dabble at many things and am good at none. The sheer quantity gives me satisfaction. But I do have a specialty. I’m happy to be able to expand my life, acquaint myself with people of all types, from all walks, after work hours. 3 可有遺憾某些帽子太大了,叫人認不出你的真面目? Do you regret that some of your many hats have blurred the real you? 甚麼叫真面目?其實這一切都是我的真面目,我並沒刻意營 造一個電視主持或作家的形象。唯一有點兒影響日常生活 的,便是在街上會給認出來,有時也會成為狗仔隊的偷拍對 像。不過,我也不是甚麼大人物嘛,到節目完了,這些也會很 快過去的。 What do you mean by the real me? They’re all real. I never purposefully portray myself as a television personality or a writer. The only impact it might have on my life is being recognized on the street or on occasion, being shot by the paparazzi. But I’m not anyone famous. It’ll blow over when the programme’s finished. 4 形容味覺和食物可有詞窮之感? Do you run out of words to describe how food tastes? 我盡量避免在飲食節目中發出「很好吃!棒!」這類讚嘆,通常 是靠美女主持補救。我的角色是提供資訊,事前與廚師溝通, 了解菜餚的烹調法、食材來源及營養價值等。例如吃的是海 參,我便先看看海參的生物知識─原來牠是靠肛孔呼吸的。 I try to avoid exclaiming, ‘This is absolutely delicious!’ My co-hosts do that. My role is to give information. I usually talk to the chef ahead of time about the recipe, the ingredients and the nutritional values. For example, if the dish is sea cucumber, I would read up on the biology of the sea cucumber, which by the way, uses its anus to breathe. 5 寫專欄五年了,甚麼時候開始感受到寫作的欲望? You’ve been writing a column for five years. When did you start having the desire to write? 一開始是零欲望。《明報周刊》來約稿,我說,我上一篇文章 就是〈我的志願〉,而且我十六歲便到加拿大,沒寫中文多年 了,你們真要我寫嗎?最後即管一試,沒想像中困難,遣詞造 句是比較生澀,也會執筆忘字,但編輯可以幫忙。寫着寫着, 很多意念跑了出來,不記下來的話,可能便消失於無形,每周 一篇,不失為整理這些故事或哲理的好方法。 I started off with none. Ming Pao Weekly invited me to write. I said, the last thing I ever wrote was ‘Who I want to be when I grow up’. Besides, I had left Hong Kong for Canada at 16. I hadn’t written in Chinese for a long time. In the end, I decided to give it a shot. And it turned out to be easier than I had expected. My sentence structure was a bit stiff and I forgot how to write certain characters, but the editor helped iron those issues out. Eventually I had so many ideas that I had to write them down before they disappeared. Writing a weekly article is a good way to make sense of the stories I encounter and of the philosophies of life. 6 《醫生會哭》一書作者簡介說:「人生路上,曾力求真我 而不得其所,唯有遊戲人間。」指的是甚麼? Your author biography on Even Doctors Cry reads, ‘I tried to find the real me but to no avail, so I took up a playful stance.’ What were you referring to by that? 我曾在宗教上打滾多年,尋問「我是誰」卻尋不着,有點失 望,其後我的人生座右銘便帶點遊戲人間。話雖如此,我也 盡量爭取每一點有價值的東西,例如家庭樂、跟病人的接 觸、與朋友玩樂吃喝。人生很多美好事物,與其追尋來生,不 如追尋今生有價值、能嚮往也能享受得到的事情。 For many years, I tried to find my own identity through religion and was disappointed, so I decided to lighten up. Having said that, I value things that matter, such as familial bliss, contact with patients, time spent with friends. Rather than live for the next life, why don’t we engage ourselves fully in this life, in the many important things that we enjoy? 7 你認為自己在哪方面做得最好? Which role are you best at? 始終最喜歡當醫生,觸動別人的生命、產生改變,是最美妙 的。我也會挺身為病人爭取權益,這不是要跟制度對着幹, 只是一個小人物在一個小環境裏做的小事,雖不是對世界的 大貢獻,但對我來說很有意義。另外最滿意的當然是年前在 《新英倫醫學期刊》發表的「表皮生長因子受體(EGFR)」 抑制劑的研究;因為這個研究,全球四五十個國家批准口服藥 吉非替尼註冊為晚期肺癌EGFR基因出現突變的全線療法, 代替化療,總算在癌症治療的里程碑上留下一個小名字。 I enjoy being a doctor the most. It’s fantastic to be able to touch other lives and bring change. I also campaign for patients’ rights. I don’t try to tear the system down. I’m just Joe Doe doing his bit in his tiny world. It won’t change the world or human civilization, but it means a lot to me. I’m also happy that my research on inhibitors of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) was published in the New England Journal of Medicine . Some 40 countries have approved the registration of oral Gefitinib as a therapy for mutations of the EGFR in late-stage lung cancer, in place of chemotherapy. It means that I’ve made a small contribution to cancer treatment. 8 很少看到你穿着醫生袍出現,不怕影響專業形象嗎? You’re rarely seen in a doctor’s coat. Would that affect your professional image? 醫生的專業在於以病人的福利為依歸,給病人最好的治療方 法和資訊,而不在於區區形象。如果病人要求,而穿上袍子會 令他好過一點的話,我也會穿的。但直至現在,我沒聽過一 個病人要求說:莫醫生,還是把醫生袍穿上吧。 A doctor’s professionalism is tied to his patients’ welfare, in how he gives them the best treatment and information, not how he looks. If my patients think a doctor’s coat would make them feel better, I would gladly wear one. But till now, not a single one has said, ‘Doctor Mok, wear a coat, will you?’ 9 你甚麼時候會感到失敗?又如何從失敗的情緒中走出來? When do you feel that you’ve failed? How do you recover from failure? 做任何事情都可能遇到失敗,申請研資局補助金不果、論文給 打回頭、女兒進不了我心儀的大學、早前嘗試競逐在港舉辦全 球最大的肺癌會議但最終輸給悉尼……,都是失敗,但我很看 得開。年紀愈大,益發覺得沒甚麼大不了,情緒上也沒甚麼應 付不來。當然,在競爭之前採取這種態度的話,是未戰先降,但 失敗後必須這樣平衡負面情緒。我這一生真正緊張得手心出 汗、心跳加速的,就是領取女兒成績表的時候。其他的,管他! Failure is always a possibility. Not getting RGC funding, having my thesis rejected, daughter not getting into the university of my choice, losing to Sydney in the run to hold the world’s largest lung cancer conference ... all failures these. But I’m fine with it. The older I get, the better I am at handling it. Of course, if you adopt this attitude during the race, then you’ve lost before you’ve begun. But it’s good for calming yourself down after you’ve lost. The only thing that can raise my heart beat is getting my daughter’s report card. As for the others? Whatever. 10 癌症令人談虎色變,病人最大的敵人是甚麼? Cancer is a much feared illness. What is a cancer patient’s biggest enemy? 是無知和恐懼,不知道癌症是甚麼,恐懼死亡及其過程。能 撇除無知,減去恐懼就是最有效的治療。作為腫瘤專家,在 病人生命裏的某階段,我成為他重要的夥伴,提供最有用的 資訊,避免可以避免的死亡。不是保證永不死亡,只是讓他充 分了解各種療法的運作和成功率,理性的下決定。無知可通 過教育改善,但一般人都不願面對死亡,逃避考慮。如果能 衝破禁忌,鋪排和預備便可有不同。人生就如一場宴會,當迎 賓的當然開心,而我就像負責送客,只不過是在服務對象的 人生稍後階段幫助,留下一點微光而已。沒人能拒絕死亡,當 預知死亡是不可改變的事實,也得歡迎他吧。 Ignorance and fear. People don’t know what cancer is about and they fear death and its process. The best therapy is getting rid of ignorance and reducing fear. As an oncologist, I am an important partner at a certain stage of a patient’s life. I need to give him the best information, so that he can avoid avoidable death. I can’t make him immune to death, but I can help him make a rational decision based on a full understanding of the ways different treatments work and their effectiveness. Education can cure ignorance, but no one wants to admit they are dying, so they avoid thinking about death. But if they can overcome the taboo, arrangements and planning can be better. Life is a banquet. It’s great to be the one welcoming the guests. I am, on the other hand, responsible for seeing guests off. I enter at the end of their lives, leaving a faint glow. No one can close the door on death. When Death becomes inevitable, you have to welcome him too. 莫樹錦 腫瘤學系教授 Professor, Department of Clinical Oncology

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