Thursday, June 26, 2008

Mum’s condition

Mum was discharged from the hospital two days ago on Tues evening, after the doc checked her. She will have to be back to remove her stitches in a week’s time and at the same time for her report on the test result on removed womb.

I was too busy at work, so sis took mum home. I called mum around 6pm to check on her, she didn’t sound good at all. She was complaining that her right foot is swollen and she suspected it to be caused by the over consumption of water before discharging from the hospital coz doc needed to check her urine but she didn’t have any, so the nurses kept asking her to drink more.

I visited her around 8.30pm after work. She didn’t look and sound good…still….She said the swelling is getting worse, and she looked uncomfortable and worried. We tried calling the hospital and contacting the doc but to no avail.

On Wed, around 3pm, finally the nurse got whole of the doc and told him mum’s condition. He suggested mum to have her right foot rested on a pillow while sitting down, and if the swelling doesn’t go off by Thur, then we shall see him on Friday.

When I told hubby about mum being upset and sounded depressed, he said it may not have been caused by the swelling at all. He said it could be due to the post-surgery of the removal of her womb. Though the organ has not been useful for last 10 years, it’s still a major organ in our body, so the removal may have somehow caused her depression. YEAH…I thought it could be true…How can I never thought of that?

I guess we all, as daughters, just have to be more patience with mum and spend more time with her, talk to her. I hope that will make her feel better…

Please continue to pray for my mum, pray for healing, not just physically but also mentally and emotionally…

Monday, June 23, 2008

An “eventful” week

16/06 (Monday)
Mum’s test result was out, so we went to gynae’s clinic first thing in the morning. Mum was surprised that hubby drove me when we picked her, and she was even more surprised when she saw sis came with bro-in-law & 3rd sis too….I guess by then she realized it must be something serious…

Gynae said this is Grade1 Cancer, where it’s determined by certain amount of cells from mum’s womb. This is really “pre-stage”, so he cant really tell how bad it is, until the surgery is done and the complete test on the womb is done, then we will know which cancer stage that is. Mum stayed calm.

This gynae recommended us to see the gynae-oncologist, Prof BK. But he said he will need to draft a letter & help us make appointment, so we will have to wait till the next day….

After some discussions among us, hubby said no harm seeing an oncologist who’s good, since he has some contacts, rather than waiting for Prof BK. So we arranged an appointment to see Dr Foo instead for Tue afternoon coz she doesn’t have clinic in the morning.

17/06 (Tuesday)
We went to see Dr Foo’s after lunch, mum still looked very calm. After she checked mum, she said we have to see a gynae-oncologist (recommended Prof BK again) to remove the womb first, then the test on the removed womb will determine if mum needs any radiotherapy or needs to come back & see her. Since hubby knows this doc, he asked if the doc can call Prof BK for us straight and get an appointment done. Dr Foo was really nice and kind enough to help us do that, and her one-single-phone-call to Prof BK’s mobile had definitely made wonders!

We rushed over to the other hospital where Prof BK was in, with Dr Foo’s letter. We waited for 2 hours and finally got to see him. He checked mum…and concluded that mum needs to go for surgery to remove the womb plus the limb-node as well soonest possible since she’s bleeding. But this is very early stage and since we found out early, it’s highly likely of 100% cure.

While the nurse flipped through his diary, we saw some totally full operation schedules….But he was kind enough to slot mum in for his upcoming operation day – Thur.

18/06 (Wednesday)
Mum was supposed to be admitted to hospital for her operation on Thur. But since there wasn’t any room available and her operation is scheduled for Thur evening at 5.30pm, the nurse told us to go home after the necessary tests and only come back around 12pm the next day. So after all the ECG, blood test etc, sis went home with her so she could rest.

19/06 (Thursday)
All 4 of us (daughters) accompanied mum in the hospital. We told mum this is nothing serious, as long as the womb is removed, things will be alright. She took it very calm, and she even joked with us while waiting.

At about 6pm, mum was sent to the operating room for anaesthesia and all. The surgery took 2 hours all in all, so mum was out around 8.30pm. She was half-conscious, but she recognized all of us ofcoz! The surgery was done well and smoothly….THANK GOD!

She did complain about the pain, but after the pain-killer drips kicked in, she felt better.

20-22/06 (Friday – Sunday)
We visited mum everyday ofcoz, and tried to spend as much time with her as possible. Her condition improved day by day and on Sun she can actually come down from the bed & started walking very slowly by herself.

Prof BK came checking her everyday and said she’s healing well, but can only discharge maybe next Tue or Wed cause he still needs to monitor her. The test result of the removed womb will be out by then too.

THANX for all your prayers. I’m sure God has His plan for mum and He will be in control of mum’s condition. Pray that God will continue to strengthen her faith in Him.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Heavy hearted

Been not writing lately due to the crazy work schedule, which I bet I’ve mentioned this more than once in my past blog posts….Have gathered plenty to write about, but just couldn’t find the time & energy to do so. But today, I just really feel like writing, for mum…though I’m writing with a extra heavy heart.

Yesterday lunch time, mum called telling me she had a bad morning. She woke up & went to the washroom early morning, realizing that she’s “bleeding” as though she’s having menstrual. She has reached Menopause since more than 10 years ago and so this should not happen! She was in the washroom for about 30 mins coz the “out-flow” could not stop…Then when she finally got out from washroom, she realised that she’s tired & exhausted.

After discussing with sis, we decided to send her to the gynae straight away. Gynae heard the symptoms and started shaking his head, which made sis really worry, but luckily mum didn’t pay much attention to that. After checking mum, he said mum has to do some kind of test (with very complicated medical name) to confirm if this is womb cancer! My heart dropped. Fortunately when the gynae mentioned “cancer”, mum was still in the changing room and did not hear that. We didn’t want to scare her and so decided to not let her know for now.

Hubby is from the pharma industry, so I called him to tell him everything. He confirmed that this is a clear symptom of womb cancer…My heart dropped, again…but whatever it is, we still have to wait for the test.

So today I drove mum to the gynae’s clinic & met with sis. Mum was put on GA (general anaesthetic) for the procedure of extracting some cells from her womb to be sent for test. While waiting for mum to recover consciousness, we spoke to the gynae. He said during the procedure, mum’s womb doesn’t look as healthy but the extraction from her womb doesn’t look like she has cancer too! So his conclusion is to wait for the final result from the test to confirm what should be done next.

Again, we decided not to inform mum about this, hoping that she can eat & sleep better in the next few days while waiting for the results. We just told her the test is necessary to find out what is wrong in her womb and the results will be out next week.

I prayed for mum, and will continue to pray for her. I hope she can find peace in God and willing to accept the treatments if she has to go through any…

Mum, pls stay strong, for we all love u, VERY MUCH!