This is a link to my Botox video from 2015. In this video, I inject my father who agreed to be the subject of this video and the background music is that of me playing the violin and Dr. Tammy Wu playing the piano. My Botox technique does change from time to time and I keep trying to get better. Thus the way I inject today may be slightly different than what’s shown in the video. This was filmed on my iPhone on the spur of the moment when my parents came to visit me in Modesto, California. It wasn’t a planned video. I rarely ever plan my videos. I am mumbling and I don’t think I say anything important. And I wanted to attach some of my music to a video to see what that was like. Amazingly the video ends just as the music ends. If anything – I hope you enjoy the music.
I’m sorry I haven’t updated much of my webpages. I’m waiting for wordpress 5.0 to come out and see if that would be my editor of choice for the future.
We had a good time dressing up in scrubs and playing the violin at Doctors Medical Center in Modesto, California 6/6/15.
I had an opportunity on Saturday to spend some time with two amazing brothers who have passion for violin and aspire to become surgeons. I heard about them through social media, and I wanted a chance to meet them. Doctors Medical Center and the Modesto Chamber of Commerce helped to set this up. We were able to give them a brief tour of the operating room areas, and we had a private concert in a large operating room which is used for storage and backup in case of disaster trauma. We played some violin for each other. I was especially intrigued that they wanted to become surgeons. I wanted to give them a friendly taste of surgery life. I especially enjoyed giving them a chance to try out our surgical outfits, and I think they enjoyed spending time in an operating room – in a non-threatening way. And I wanted to impart that performing surgery is much like performing musical instruments. Jorge and Sebastian have a great deal of potential. I am honored to be able to spend a few moments with them.
I also got to meet a very talented Modesto Bee writer. She says she normally writes crime stories, but in this case I think she’s wearing a different hat:
Getting interviewed by Modesto Bee’s Erin Tracy.
Below is the article from the Modesto Bee (text copied and texted), please visit the link below for the actual website which has a video and many other pictures. The pictures and videos in this blog are my own. But the article belongs to Erin Tracy and the Modesto Bee.
First, some of what I played that day on the violin:
Modesto Bee Article by Erin Tracy:
Operating room becomes concert hall for two Modesto boys
The operating table became a music stand, surgery lights transformed into stage lights, and forceps and scalpels were replaced with violins and bows for a special concert at Doctors Medical Center on Saturday.
Two Modesto boys – Jorge Mendoza, 12, and Sebastian Mendoza, 8 – had a booming business at the hospital last month during Lemonade Day, a nationwide program designed to educate children about business.
When violin-playing surgeon Dr. Calvin Lee learned the boys intended to use the lemonade stand’s profits for summer music camp and to save for a violin, he was intrigued.
When he was told Jorge also was interested in becoming a surgeon, he decided he had to meet the boys.
“I think playing the violin helps you become a better surgeon,” Lee said. “Because of the dexterity skills and the ability to break complex tasks down to a simple thing.”
He wasn’t able to make it to Lemonade Day, but with the help of hospital staff the doctor arranged for something even better: a concert in one of the operating rooms.
Jorge was dressed for the occasion in a sharp pinstriped suit, and Sebastian looked handsome in a blue plaid shirt.
Before entering the O.R., though, they covered up with green scrubs to match Dr. Lee. He taught them to tuck in the drawstring on the pants.
“Only the TV doctors let them hang out,” he said.
After a brief tour, the concert began in operating room 12.
Jorge and Sebastian first played a duet by Mozart, followed by a Beethoven solo by Jorge and Sebastian’s rendering of “Dragon Hunter” by Richard Meyer.
Then, Lee wowed the boys with Bach.
“As a trauma/general surgeon, Bach meant a lot to me,” he said. “When I hear the music of Bach, sometimes I feel like there’s somebody looking over me, guiding my hands.”
Lee worked as a surgeon at Doctors Medical Center from 2003 to 2006 but since has opened a plastic surgery practice, Surgical Artistry in Modesto, with his wife, Dr. Tammy Wu.
Wu was in the audience Saturday, along with the boys’ parents, Jorge Mendoza Sr. and Erika Mendoza, Modesto Councilwoman Jenny Kenoyer, Modesto Chamber of Commerce president Cecil Russell and hospital spokeswoman Tiffani Burns.
Jorge said he was initially a bit nervous about playing for Lee, “because I could tell he was going to be better than me and I’m so used to being really good since I only play at school.”
On Lemonade Day, he and Sebastian made a gross profit of $933.
After paying back the loan from their mother for overhead costs, the boys donated $125 to the Make a Wish Foundation. Sebastian bought a remote-controlled car, and Jorge used $190 to pay the balance owed for music camp after receiving a partial scholarship.
The remainder was put into savings accounts; Jorge is saving up to buy a violin, and Sebastian will use his to attend music camp with his brother in a few years when he’s old enough.
I got this great question today: “how much is the unit” of Botox?
I guess I get this question every day. For some reason – I have trouble answering it with just one sentence. Maybe I could say that the unit of Botox is free! Wow! But we charge a certain price to have the units injected by our Surgeons, etc. Thus we charge a certain price per injected-unit. So I really think the question is how much does it cost per unit to have the Botox injected. I guess it’s obvious that the Botox by itself doesn’t do anything except take up space in my refrigerator.
Here’s the answer I gave today:
Botox in a catalog for Medical Doctors to buy.
Hi! Thank you for asking! I always wonder how to best answer that question of “how much is the unit.” I guess it’s a question on price! But I need to explain that the price per unit and the price-per-unit-which-is-injected are different. I get my Botox from Allergan USA directly. They charge me about $6 per unit. It is shipped to me on dry ice in 100 unit vials which is stored in my strictly monitored refrigerator. I could also get it from an official Botox medical supplier such as McKesson Medical or Moore Medical and they charge about $7 per unit. There is also a 50 Unit vial which is available and I believe that it costs more per unit.
These vials of 50U or 100U Botox is only at maximal strength for a few hours once reconstituted. After that, I feel that it weakens in power. When injected at full strength, we charge $12/unit when injected by me as of the writing of this blog. I try to be as efficient as possible with my injection; I like to use the freshest Botox and the least amount possible for maximum effect and duration. Precision placement helps in achieving this goal. Prices vary, even in our office, depending on who’s injecting it. Each practitioner has a different reason for their injection charges. But I’m the main injector at Surgical Artistry. I hope this answer helps! Please contact us for more info or current info: www.InjectionArtistry.com
To confuse issue even more:
I have received ugly looking faxes – almost every week in fact – which advertise illegal black market Botox from foreign countries which offer Botox at less than $3.50 per unit for “Botox”-injectors to buy. And to confuse issues even more, there’s Dysport and Xeomin in the USA with Botox-like effects. And one needs about 3 times the amount of Dysport Units for a similar (not same) result.
Botox is my Violin!
Dr. Calvin Lee on the Violin.
Dr. Calvin Lee as Guest Concertmaster in Taipei, Taiwan
I allude to my post about Dysport vs. Botox. In the end, I conclude that the injector makes the biggest difference – not the product itself. Botox is like my violin. I paraphrase the last part of that link here:
The injector plays the biggest role in the outcome.
It’s the violinist that makes the sound, not the violin. Just like it’s the surgeon that makes the surgery, not the scalpel. Thus we can debate on and on regarding which violin to use or which scalpel to use. As long as the violin is of high quality and the scalpel is too, then the results lay on the shoulders of the artist or surgeon.
Here’s a quote from master violinist, Jascha Heifetz:
After a concert, a member of the audience went up to Jascha Heifetz. He said, “Wow, your violin sounds really great.” Heifetz then held the violin up close to his ear and replied, “Funny, I don’t hear anything.”
