blog archives
Dad's Battle with Cancer
Daffodil Day
Today is Daffodil Day, The Cancer Council Australia's fundraiser for cancer research. To do my bit, I bought a daffodil pin for $5. ... more »
In Death, the Celebration of Living
Today's my dad's funeral. We all got up early for the preparations. People arrived early, some just to pay their respects before they went off to work, particularly those who couldn't make it the night before. Last night, we had a huge thunderstorm and in addition to that, the city council had closed off a major intersection leading to our housing area for the 'opening'... more »
Monday thoughts
After my father took his last breath, everybody was gathered around, not knowing what to say or do next. We thought we needed to get a doctor to certify his death, and called the hospital but they told us to call the Police instead, which we did. Since this was a natural death, Police said to go to the station during office hours. We then... more »
Death of my Dad
I was awakened early this morning to be called to my father's bedside. We supported him and gave him assurance and he finally passed on peacefully at 4:30am, this Sunday 19th September 2004. It was a relief to see him calm and relaxed, happy that his family was all around him. The shock still hasn't really settled in. I'm feeling a bit numb to the... more »
United
My uncle from canada, and aunt from singapore arrived this morning, and they came over to our place. It was a tearful moment as everybody was hugging and crying. The Poh family is now complete, and I'm sure my dad is happy for that. He's going down really fast and mom tells me he says he's ready to go, to let go. He's refusing even... more »
Expect the Worst, Hope for the Best
Here I am in my parents' bedroom. Mom is feeding dad some rice porridge. He's feeling hot inside, and the palliative care nurse who was here a while ago says it's the pyrogenic (heat-producing) cancer cells, because earlier today dad was telling me he felt like he had a fever, but when I took his temperature, it was normal. After a long day of traveling... more »
Stressing out
Events in the past week have been driving me mad. For one, my dad's condition is getting progressively worse and mom's been calling me nearly every day to update me on his situation. She sounded anxious on the phone on Sunday and I was going to try to go back mid-week. But I too had some loose ends here to tie up before I leave,... more »
Goodbyes
It's my last day in Malaysia for this trip and my dad is in hospital at the moment. It's extremely trying on the nerves and emotions having to leave the country without knowing if my dad will be well. I won't go into details on his condition until we know more about what's going on as the doctors themselves are a little baffled. I'm going... more »
Back home
I just arrived back in Ipoh yesterday afternoon after making a quick decision of come back when I heard about my dad's degrading health. He's been in and out of hospital a few times in the last few weeks for various conditions. Thankfully he was discharged yesterday and he was looking well when I got back home. I don't know yet how long I'll be... more »
Sunrise over St. Kilda
I got up rather early today, and in a rare instance of spontaneity, I decided to go to the beach to watch the sun rise. Braving the 6 degree chill at 7am, I made my way down to St Kilda and took a leisurely stroll along the shore, nursing a nice hot Long Macchiato. Sitting on the pier in quiet contemplation, listening to the... more »
Dad's Treatment Ends
Today marks the last day of my dad's 5 1/2 week chemotherapy and radiotherapy course. He isn't exactly feeling great after being bombarded with radiation and literally having poison injected into him, but he seems to be coping just fine. I'm sure he'll recover soon enough now that it's all over. He'll still need to go for regular checkups though.... more »
Radiotherapy Simulation
Tomorrow, dad will be undertaking a simulation of the Conformal Radiation Therapy [orclinic.com] (thanks mom for the link) where they will take a three dimensional CT scan of his body and pinpoint the exact target for the radiation beam and also make a cast which will immobilize him which is used everytime he goes in for treatment.... more »
The Next Step
In season?
I just received a call from one of my friends, Lee Kin, and uncannily enough, she told me her dad has a tumor too. In the brain. What is going on around here with all the abnormal growths? I just went through the whole ordeal and can understand the distress. Lee Kin, hang in there and don't worry, your dad will be fine.... more »
Dad is back
He just arrived back just over an hour ago. The journey wasn't too bad according to him. He's glad to be back home, and so are we.... more »
Out of hospital
Dad has been dischaged from Gleneagles today, so I have been informed by my mom via SMS. Will be looking forward to his arrival back home to Ipoh today. I hope his journey back won't be too uncomfortable.... more »
Dad's Looking Good
Back in KL today to visit my dad. I went back to Ipoh on Tuesday cos now I have to do the rounds of taking my brother Tristan to school and back. Since he finished early on Fridays so we drove down in the afternoon and went straight to the hospital. Dad is looking great today. He was sitting in the armchair looking out the... more »
Out of ICU
Dad is finally out of the ICU today. He's must be really glad to be back in the general ward cos he looks a lot happier today. Still got various tubes coming out of his body but slightly less now, and more will be taken out in the coming days according to the surgeon. His recovery is good and on track, and though he was... more »
Recovery part deux
Yesterday morning dad was feeling all perky and bright, and having cravings for his favourite foods like Laksa and Ais Kacang, but later in the afternoon and evening he started getting really tired, and his breathing laboured. He's fighting a tough battle and his body must be busy rebuilding itself. He's still in the ICU today.... more »
Surgery Successful
It was a very tense day for everyone. Dad's friends, family, my mom, brothers and myself. Waiting and waiting for someone to give us the news. He finally came out of surgery at around 3pm, that means the surgery took about 7 hours to execute. The tumor had actually grown from 3cm (not 3mm as previously noted, my mistake) to a whopping 7cm. Normally tumors... more »
Anticipation/Anxiety
Well tomorrow's the big day. Everyone in the family is anxious about the operation my dad will be going through, most of all my dad himself. There's really nothing much we can do about it. He needs the op no matter what, and the best we can do is just hope and pray that the surgery is successful without any complications arising. Mr. Maha has... more »
Recovering
Went to see my dad at the hospital early this morning. His jaundice is all but gone and he's looking much better. Was walking around and i think he's started eating 'normal' food again. All the better. Mom's staying in the hospital with him and this morning she took him to the hairdresser for a haircut in the hospital lobby (yeah there's a salon, a... more »
Day Six
Nothing much to report today. Dad's fine, considering the circumstances. He's off the IV drip and is allowed soft foods but he hasn't been eating or drinking much. He's still feeling a lot of 'wind' in the tummy and burps when he sits up. He could walk about and finally got his first look out the window of his room, overlooking Jalan Ampang and the... more »
Looking Better
Dad is already looking better today, even before the ERCP. The ERCP itself was very fast and painless according to him. It took only 20 mins and he was under anesthetic which is a stark contrast to what he had to go through a few days ago in Ipoh. An 8.5 cm stent was inserted into his bile duct (and partially into the gall bladder... more »
Dad's in good hands
The spiral CT on my dad this morning has shown a very small not so tumor, 3mm 3cm in size in the pancreatic duct. This little bugger is the one causing all the trouble. As before, it is still unknown if it is cancerous in origin until a sample can be taken. We're now in KL and he's been admitted to Gleneagles on Jalan Ampang.... more »
Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography
This is the procedure (often abbreviated to ERCP [jhu.edu] ) was what my dad went through yesterday for a grueling 2+ hours. Not a very pleasant experience, and I thought my endoscopy was bad. Good news is he's back at home this morning, but all is not well and he still needs to go back for that Spiral CT [jhu.edu] scan tomorrow. Until then his... more »
My dad is in hospital
More bad news.. Just came back from the hospital visiting my dad who was admitted yesterday. He had a 2 hour long internal examination and it seems his pancreatic duct has some blockage which has made it swollen to the point it's blocking the bile duct next to it. This is preventing the pancreatic enzymes as well as bile (from the liver) from reaching the... more »