Tag: colon cancer

#sharestrength at The Laureate Signature’s Genetic and Cancer Event

Recently, I attended a talk organized by The Laureate Signature, a wellness center that offers genetic profiling test, among other things. Mei Sze talked at the event as a special guest. She spoke about her cancer story, from pre-diagnosis to treatment and new norm after cancer.

Frankly, that was my first time hearing her talk about her cancer story in person after meeting her for 1.5 years now. I have to say that the sharing was heartfelt. Ah the clingy Big-C that stays on your mind all day even after it leaves your body. So much feels. Continue reading #sharestrength at The Laureate Signature’s Genetic and Cancer Event

5th Quarterly Follow Up Consultation with Oncologist

The Big-C pretty much never left my mind since 20 Jan 2016. But this past 2 weeks, it was especially hard to take it off my mind because…

  1. I went for my 5th quarterly follow up since completing cancer treatment. That’s exactly 1 year since I started my post-treatment follow up and aspirin drug study too.
  2. My cancer story was published on Humans of Kuala Lumpur. As a result, strangers reached out to me for support. The story was long overdue so I had a throwback moment when it came out too.
  3. I attended a talk about genetics and cancer, where Mei Sze shared her cancer story. I exchanged stories with a few people, whose stories I want to remember.

Continue reading 5th Quarterly Follow Up Consultation with Oncologist

1 Year After Completing Cancer Treatment – First Anniversary Reflections

Milestone posts prove to be hard to write. I’ve never written any during my first anniversary of cancer diagnosis, my first anniversary of completing surgery, my first anniversary of starting chemotherapy and I’m a week after my first anniversary of completing cancer treatment.

It’s hard to write because these milestones are significant in its own way. They each represent a very distinctive life-changing event — super emotional ones in vastly different ways.

Here’s what each of them meant to me… Continue reading 1 Year After Completing Cancer Treatment – First Anniversary Reflections

My First Relay for Life Malaysia

I wondered why Relay for Life has to start at 6pm until 10am the next day. I think I understood over the weekend as I joined my first Relay for Life Malaysia as a young cancer survivor, a week before my 1st year anniversary since completing cancer treatment…

The anticipation for Relay for Life started to build up about 3 weeks before the event as 4 other young cancer survivors and myself gathered for our dance practice. We volunteered to represent the young cancer survivors for a dance performance. Continue reading My First Relay for Life Malaysia

Qi Gong for Cancer Patients in Klang Valley

If I can only choose to recommend one thing to fellow new cancer patients who approach me for wellness advice, it would be to practise qi gong. This coming from a mid-20 city girl says quite a lot, doesn’t it?

When I first heard about doing qi gong every day at dawn from a TMC practitioner to complement my conventional cancer treatment, I was skeptical. Skeptical because qi gong sounded mythical — like something done by people who have reached nirvana or sort. Skeptical also because qi gong sounded old — indeed, the qi gong center I went were mostly people above 50. Moreover, who starts exercising in the stadium at 5.45am every day?!

I went anyway for my first class upon his recommendation. After all, when I first started, I was on a 6-week medical leave and I wasn’t sleeping well. Might as well check out this qi gong thing.

Continue reading Qi Gong for Cancer Patients in Klang Valley

A Day at Hospital for Follow Up Consultation with Oncologist

I’m glad I wrote about how I felt 3 months ago when I went for my 2nd quarterly blood test post cancer treatment. Because I feel very different this time round.

I was excited to be back in the hospital for the check up. So excited that when an apologetic colleague called me when I was at the hospital, she commented that I sounded too upbeat for a person visiting a hospital. Continue reading A Day at Hospital for Follow Up Consultation with Oncologist

How Post-Treatment Cancer Follow Up Feels Like

So I completed my Stage 3 Colon Cancer treatment (surgery and chemotherapy) 5 months ago, cleared my first follow up blood test 3 months ago, cleared my first follow up colonoscopy 2 months ago and just cleared my second follow up blood test today. I’m still in remission, which is a great news. Yay!

If you are interested to learn how cancer survivors feel about going for check up post-treatment, here’s my experience. Not the same for everyone but I feel this way. Continue reading How Post-Treatment Cancer Follow Up Feels Like

My Recent Colonoscopy Experience

Many years back, perhaps when I was religiously reading Reader’s Digest during my commuting days to college, I came across an article about colonoscopy. About how a man vividly describes the explosive bowel prep he went through before a colonoscopy that he remembered almost nothing about.

Not very sure why that article left such a lasting impression on me but it definitely came in handy when I went for an unexpected colonoscopy almost eleven months ago.  Continue reading My Recent Colonoscopy Experience

#sharestrength – Chemotherapy #12 (Final)

So. I’ve finally completed the 6-month chemotherapy journey. As I’m writing now, it has been 3 weeks since my final treatment that started on 14 Sept and ended on 16 Sept (Malaysia Day).

I felt like a veteran chemo patient by the final cycle. The chemo needle felt so normal. Going to the washroom every 20 min during chemo (because I was prescribed with med to make me pee more) felt normal. Leaving the chemo ward with needle on my chest felt normal.

Continue reading #sharestrength – Chemotherapy #12 (Final)