First Advent Sunday has just passed..... and there's so much to be thankful for :)
mom got diagnosed with cancer a little more than 2 weeks ago. She found a 2cm lump on her left breast and a follow-up check at a private hospital here confirmed that the cells were cancerous. That week was probably the hardest week for us as a family. While everyone was trying to stay positive about her condition we were all in a state of shock and to be honest..no one really knew at that point what it meant.
Cancer used to be something i read about in the papers, in articles which i tend to read only the first few paragraphs before i got bored and move on to another article, or something i hear people i know talk about from time to time.
It used to be something we hear about....from a safe distance. i didnt think that someone in my family would actually be suffering from one. Dont get me wrong. I'm not so naive as to think that the Ukchukphan clan is immune to cancer or anything. It's just that we'd never really prepared ourselves for that possibility. It's just one of those things.
We were all there in the doctor's office when he broke the news to mom that the cells were cancerous. i stood behind her with my hands on her shoulders. She was clutching my right hand....hard...and i saw my fingers turned white...but i didnt care. The doctor was flipping through the file, took the x-ray out and turned on the lamp. I'd never been so nervous in my entire life...i cant imagine how mom must've felt. All i did was pray ...Lord have mercy..Lord have mercy...Lord have mercy....
and then without pausing the doctor just turned to us and said..."i'm so sorry...the test shows that the cells were indeed cancerous..." and i my heart dropped. everyone was so quiet and i dont think anyone really listened to the what the doctor said after that.
my elder brother, who's also a doctor..immediately called up a few doctor frens of his right after that. He wanted to look for the best surgeon to operate on mom. And after a few phone calls, he managed to get some of his frens in KL to put mom in the list for surgery at UMMC (University Malay Medical Center).....a government hospital...gasp! The surgeon, a lady professor, was supposedly very much sought after, and one of the best in the field.
So all of us went to KL the very next day. Mom got warded and she was supposed to be operated the day after. She was really quiet and it was pretty obvious that she was really really scared. She'd never been the strong one when it comes to things like these. The room she was in was a really small one and she shared it with another patient who had family with really really bad attitude. They were complaining all the time about the nurses and the doctors and all, blaming them for every possible thing. It was really depressing, so mom requested to be transfered somewhere else. Thank god there was another empty bed in another room nearby :)
The new room was a much bigger one. the were four beds in the room and all of them were cancer patients. The old lady opposite mom's was also scheduled to be operated on the same day by the same doctor.
all of us put up at our my uncle's. on the day of the surgery we went really early to the hospital. Mom was scheduled to be the first to be operated that day. She was really nervous and it broke my heart seeing them push her into operating room. I prayed and prayed for the good Lord to take good care of my mom.
The surgery took less than an hour! The professor was really skillfull. The previous doctor from the private hospital in Penang had previously told us that a mastectomy would take at least 3 hours! The purpose of the operation was the remove the infected breast and also the surrounding lymp nodes to check if the cancer has spread.
Mom slept most of the day after the surgery. She looked really pale and it really scared me. She woke up around 6pm that day and vomited a couple of times. Things did not look good at all.
The old lady (Sook Yee from the name above the bed), woke up around the same time and vomited too. She was all alone without any relatives and i felt really bad for her :( But i could i see that she's a really strong and independent old woman. She just took a plastic container to vomit in and cleaned herself a little bit before dozing off again.
Things got better the next day. Mom was speaking like normal again but she's still pretty weak. Sook Yee on the other hand, was already up and walking about! Both of them had this plastic container with tubes leading into the chest meant to drain out excessive fluids, and it was strapped to their bedframes. Sook Yee however took her plastic container and put it in a plastic bag so that she could carry it around and walk about! haha :) smart woman. Mom whispered to me and said "i didnt know u could do that!".
we learnt more and more about Sook Yee throughout that day. We didnt actually speak to her but overheard her conversations on the cellphone, and conversations she had with her church friends who came to visit her. We learnt that she lives alone, and that the cheap cellphone she was using was a gift from a church friend. She had never used a cellphone before and someone was teaching her to recharge the batteries and enter names into phonebooks and stuff. Never too late to learn! haha. She's a really smart old woman :)
Cancer used to be something i read about in the papers, in articles which i tend to read only the first few paragraphs before i got bored and move on to another article, or something i hear people i know talk about from time to time.
It used to be something we hear about....from a safe distance. i didnt think that someone in my family would actually be suffering from one. Dont get me wrong. I'm not so naive as to think that the Ukchukphan clan is immune to cancer or anything. It's just that we'd never really prepared ourselves for that possibility. It's just one of those things.
We were all there in the doctor's office when he broke the news to mom that the cells were cancerous. i stood behind her with my hands on her shoulders. She was clutching my right hand....hard...and i saw my fingers turned white...but i didnt care. The doctor was flipping through the file, took the x-ray out and turned on the lamp. I'd never been so nervous in my entire life...i cant imagine how mom must've felt. All i did was pray ...Lord have mercy..Lord have mercy...Lord have mercy....
and then without pausing the doctor just turned to us and said..."i'm so sorry...the test shows that the cells were indeed cancerous..." and i my heart dropped. everyone was so quiet and i dont think anyone really listened to the what the doctor said after that.
my elder brother, who's also a doctor..immediately called up a few doctor frens of his right after that. He wanted to look for the best surgeon to operate on mom. And after a few phone calls, he managed to get some of his frens in KL to put mom in the list for surgery at UMMC (University Malay Medical Center).....a government hospital...gasp! The surgeon, a lady professor, was supposedly very much sought after, and one of the best in the field.
So all of us went to KL the very next day. Mom got warded and she was supposed to be operated the day after. She was really quiet and it was pretty obvious that she was really really scared. She'd never been the strong one when it comes to things like these. The room she was in was a really small one and she shared it with another patient who had family with really really bad attitude. They were complaining all the time about the nurses and the doctors and all, blaming them for every possible thing. It was really depressing, so mom requested to be transfered somewhere else. Thank god there was another empty bed in another room nearby :)
The new room was a much bigger one. the were four beds in the room and all of them were cancer patients. The old lady opposite mom's was also scheduled to be operated on the same day by the same doctor.
all of us put up at our my uncle's. on the day of the surgery we went really early to the hospital. Mom was scheduled to be the first to be operated that day. She was really nervous and it broke my heart seeing them push her into operating room. I prayed and prayed for the good Lord to take good care of my mom.
The surgery took less than an hour! The professor was really skillfull. The previous doctor from the private hospital in Penang had previously told us that a mastectomy would take at least 3 hours! The purpose of the operation was the remove the infected breast and also the surrounding lymp nodes to check if the cancer has spread.
Mom slept most of the day after the surgery. She looked really pale and it really scared me. She woke up around 6pm that day and vomited a couple of times. Things did not look good at all.
The old lady (Sook Yee from the name above the bed), woke up around the same time and vomited too. She was all alone without any relatives and i felt really bad for her :( But i could i see that she's a really strong and independent old woman. She just took a plastic container to vomit in and cleaned herself a little bit before dozing off again.
Things got better the next day. Mom was speaking like normal again but she's still pretty weak. Sook Yee on the other hand, was already up and walking about! Both of them had this plastic container with tubes leading into the chest meant to drain out excessive fluids, and it was strapped to their bedframes. Sook Yee however took her plastic container and put it in a plastic bag so that she could carry it around and walk about! haha :) smart woman. Mom whispered to me and said "i didnt know u could do that!".
we learnt more and more about Sook Yee throughout that day. We didnt actually speak to her but overheard her conversations on the cellphone, and conversations she had with her church friends who came to visit her. We learnt that she lives alone, and that the cheap cellphone she was using was a gift from a church friend. She had never used a cellphone before and someone was teaching her to recharge the batteries and enter names into phonebooks and stuff. Never too late to learn! haha. She's a really smart old woman :)
I felt that the good Lord had made that bed available for mom for a reason. To witness this remarkable woman that is Sook Yee, strong.... yet gentle, who has the same illness and is so much older, but possess so much energy and love for the Lord, it's truly truly inspiring.
Never once did she complain about anything, instead she praises the Lord on all the good things she encountered...for the good government who provided affordable healthcare to the less fortunate, to the excellent doctors who did their job superbly. The fact that she had cancer never bothered her, but thanked the Lord unendingly for the friends who came to support her and pray for her at the hospital.
She spoke with this cute cartoonish voice really really slowly, as if she's talking to a baby. i couldnt help but smile everytime i heard her :)
later that afternoon, she was on her cellphone again with that voice..."Hallooow...is this Evergreen Nursing Home?...I am Sook Yee and i am 74 years old and i would like to ask about your home...I am a cancer patient ...and i'm thinking of checking myself into your home for a few months....may i know how much is your monthly fees..?..."
My heart just sank and i felt so so sad. She's old..and alone and had to check herself into a nursing home :(
later that afternoon, she was on her cellphone again with that voice..."Hallooow...is this Evergreen Nursing Home?...I am Sook Yee and i am 74 years old and i would like to ask about your home...I am a cancer patient ...and i'm thinking of checking myself into your home for a few months....may i know how much is your monthly fees..?..."
My heart just sank and i felt so so sad. She's old..and alone and had to check herself into a nursing home :(
She's always smiling and was so upbeat and positive about everything, it's really infectious. I think mom got much of her energy from just listening and watching her...and i really really thank God for that. Before long, Mom was her old self again :)
On the third day all of the cancer patients went downstairs to attend a special meeting with a cancer support group. They had speakers who shared their experiences with them to let them know that they arent alone in this, and that cancer is not a death sentence anymore. The came up about an hour later with goody bags.
my little sister, the ever nosy one, dove into the bag and held up a round palm-sized sponge. my jaw dropped....and then she, the ever blur one proceeded to ask mom..."ma..what is this??" ... shoving it under mom's nose. My jaw dropped further, just when i thought it could not possibly drop anymore. i was stupefied really....felt like giving her a big smack on the back of the head. Mom was stunned for awhile... and then burst into laughter haha :) "put that back lah! so kepo (busybody)" haha :)
2 weeks later (thats yesteryday), Mom and Dad flew to KL again to get the results of the lymph nodes analysis. and they came back good :) The cancer hadnt spread. ..so she doesnt need to go through chemotheraphy and stuff...and i'm really thankful for that. I dont think mom could ever go through that.
I really felt the Lord's presence throughout this entire ordeal. The available empty bed (in a government hospital mind you!) opposite such an inspiring old woman. An exemplary Christian who lives her life seeing the light of Christ in every situation good and bad. I am truly humbled and ashamed of myself. The Lord provides, he truly does.
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