colon cancer – Page 4

How Chemotherapy Ward Is Like At UMSC

Before I started my chemotherapy treatment, I wondered how the treatment room would look like. Will there be beds? Does it look like an inpatient ward? How many nurses are there? What will the patients look like? What will the patients be doing to pass time? And many more questions.

Unfortunately, most online search returned US-based results so I didn’t have a clear picture. But at least it gave me a glimpse of what to expect. And now, let me tell you how the chemotherapy ward at University Malaya Specialist Center (UMSC) is like.
Continue reading How Chemotherapy Ward Is Like At UMSC

#sharestrength – Chemotherapy #4

In the midst of my fifth chemotherapy now but let’s talk about my forth chemotherapy first. Honestly, I don’t remember much about the forth because I was too distracted with the attention from the release of the video by AXA and National Cancer Society Malaysia.

As usual, I went to the hospital on Tuesday for my blood test; that normally takes less than an hour so I dropped by during lunch break since my office is just 10 minutes away.

blood test umsc — Brave enough to take a photo this time because the nurse was good. Barely felt the needle going in.

Continue reading #sharestrength – Chemotherapy #4

#sharestrength – Chemotherapy #3

I was aiming to blog about each of my chemotherapy cycle at the end of my chemotherapy weekend but I missed the third cycle. I’ve already completed my forth cycle but here I am trying to recollect the experience of my third cycle because as a chemotherapy patient, I enjoyed reading the progress of each cycle of other patients; it gave me a glimpse of what to expect at different stage of the journey. It’s reassuring so let’s do this.

During my third cycle, I learned that I’m just quite hopeless when it comes to productivity during chemotherapy and that hair fall is something I need to deal with at least until my treatment ends (FYI, colon cancer chemotherapy does not cause hair loss).

Besides that, RK learned alongside me that life is as usual even with chemotherapy, just like what my doctor told me prior to treatment. We went to the mall after my hospital visit. We caught a movie 2 days after finishing my third cycle. And I went for a 3d2m shopping trip to Bangkok a week after! This explains why I have less time for my blog now. Continue reading #sharestrength – Chemotherapy #3

Why I Decided to Film for AXA and National Cancer Society

The response received after the release of AXA’s sponsored video for National Cancer Society has been overwhelming. Mei Sze posted the video and article on her blog and Facebook page on Thursday and encouraging messages have been coming my way non stop since the posting. I’m glad that the video and article are making an impact even though I wasn’t expecting anything when I signed up for it. In fact, I didn’t know what I was signing up for when I got the email and SMS from Mei Sze one fine day.

No one asked me why I had decided to be featured in the video. Was it obvious? Or it’s just a no-brainer to take part in the project?

Why I Decided to Film for AXA and National Cancer Society

No one asked me why I had decided to be featured in the video. Was it obvious? Or it’s just a no-brainer to take part in the project?

Continue reading Why I Decided to Film for AXA and National Cancer Society

#sharestrength – Chemotherapy #2

My first chemotherapy felt like forever. My second chemotherapy felt like a blink of an eye. Seriously, I don’t know where time flew. I didn’t realize I have been away from work for almost a week until late this morning.

I have to say that the second cycle felt less intimidating because I already had a gauge of how my body would respond to the drugs. What I have forgotten however, was that I now have increased dosage of drug in my body. What this means is that side effects will be worse because of cumulative effect.
Continue reading #sharestrength – Chemotherapy #2

#sharestrength – Chemo Port Surgery & Chemotherapy #1

So it happened. 7 weeks after my colectomy surgery to remove 26 cm of my colon, I went for another surgery to commence my chemotherapy. This, however, was a minor surgery. So minor I was fully awake throughout the whole 1-hour procedure.

Awake? Yes, I was awake.

For my colectomy surgery, I was unconscious at the waiting ward. I did not see the operating theater. I did not see my surgeon’s face before the surgery.

For this minor surgery to implant a chemo port in my chest, I climbed onto the surgical table myself and even chatted with the surgeon during the surgery. It was surreal. It was scary just because. Continue reading #sharestrength – Chemo Port Surgery & Chemotherapy #1

#sharestrength – Back to Work Post-Surgery

It has been a while since I updated my blog, hasn’t it? That’s because I got back to work (finally) after 6 weeks of Medical Leave. The 6 weeks flew by quite fast though. Didn’t notice that I was away for so long until I filled up my MC form.

car selfie — Driving on the first day back to work.

Anyway, getting back to work makes my days pass even faster. I wake up at 5am for qi gong at 5.30am. I’d be home at 7am and need to leave for work ASAP. I’d try to leave work at 5.30pm so that I can be home for dinner at 6.30pm but I never made it in time. I’d normally be home at about 8pm and my bedtime is supposed to be at 9pm.

So yeah. No time for anything. My day feels so short. Continue reading #sharestrength – Back to Work Post-Surgery

#sharestrength – Thoughts on Chemotherapy (Pre-Treatment)

“Chemotherapy” is a scary word. It’s probably the most dreaded treatment of cancer because of its infamous side effects and damages done to the body. Fyi, chemo kills fast growing cells regardless if they are healthy or unhealthy cells; cancer, hair follicle, lining of gut, bone marrow, etc.

Before chemo was prescribed to me, I’ve heard many chemo success stories so when I first saw my surgery report stating that I need chemo, I thought, “If everyone else did it, why can’t I?”

The hopefulness and strength didn’t last long though. Once news about me being prescribed with chemo went out, somehow stories of people avoiding chemo or of people being devastated by chemo started surfacing and alternative treatment started taking center stage. Fear engulfed me every time I thought about undergoing chemotherapy and this was evident through my mood swing. Continue reading #sharestrength – Thoughts on Chemotherapy (Pre-Treatment)

#sharestrength – My Colorectal Surgery Report

For my colorectal surgery (colectomy procedure to be accurate), I was warded in the hospital for 9 days, excluding the pre-surgery admission to prepare my bowel. When I was discharged 9 days later, my surgery lab report was still not ready apparently. Dr Samuel Tay, my surgeon, asked me to go home and enjoy Chinese New Year first.

As much as I didn’t want to be too anxious about my colorectal surgery report that’d tell me more about my malignant colon tumor and if I need any adjuvant treatment, I believe subconsciously, I was anxious. I didn’t have much deep sleep and woke up early (as early as 4am sometimes) for the 1.5 week leading to my appointment with Dr Samuel Tay to review my report. Continue reading #sharestrength – My Colorectal Surgery Report