In her biography Dr. Lan, his wife Marjorie recorded: "It was here that David was called on to give his first operation. He spent much of the previous day reading up the case in his text books, but it was to be an ordeal for him and he slept little that night."
其夫人連瑪玉所著《蘭醫生》一書中有如下的記載：「他在福爾摩沙進行了生平第一次大手術，手術前一天，他又打開教科書細讀一番，整夜未眠。」