11/26/2025
Patients often ask why I keep these two old books on my desk—especially in a world of Google, AI, and instant answers. So here’s the story behind them.
The year was 1989. I had just graduated from Thornhill Secondary (back when we had Grade 13). There was no internet, no streaming, no smartphones. If you wanted knowledge, you went to the library and searched for it the old-fashioned way.
While many teenagers were busy with typical high-school hobbies, I found myself drawn to the medical shelves at our local library. The human body fascinated me, and I couldn’t get enough. That curiosity was my fuel.
I worked at a small computer store that summer, saved every dollar, and bought my very first medical reference books:
📘 Mosby Medical Encyclopedia
📙 The Merck Manual
Those books became my “internet.” They were my teachers, my mentors, and my window into the human body.
I highlighted, underlined, scribbled in the margins, and studied every page like treasure. Those books shaped the way I understood health, disease, and healing—long before medical school.
On the first page of my Mosby Encyclopedia, in handwriting that barely looks like mine today, I wrote a sentence that would unknowingly become my life’s mission:
“I want to be a doctor who truly heals—helping patients live to their fullest potential by integrating the best evidence-based natural modalities.”
I didn’t know it back then, but I was writing my future.
35+ years later, these books still sit on my desk. Not because I rely on them—but because they remind me where it all began. They keep me grounded, grateful, and connected to the kid who dreamed of becoming a doctor long before AI, functional testing, or integrative medicine existed.
Medicine has transformed—but my purpose hasn’t.
Healing still begins with curiosity, compassion, and understanding the human being behind the symptoms.
And that’s why these two books will always stay with me. 📚✨
