Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Camaraderie at The ATTIC

During the weekend the National Cancer Society of Malaysia extended an invitation to volunteers who took part in the Relay for Life KL ’08 to an afternoon of sumptuous lunch and camaraderie.

The gathering was held at the The ATTIC, Bangsar. The President of NCSM, Mr Anthony Skelchy and I entered the place together and we were greeted with the aroma of food and chatting of people.

We, of course, had the bar in boutique to ourselves and the ambiance was cozy with everyone being relaxed. The friendly waiters and waitresses made sure we had our glasses filled with drinks or wine at all times.

Many volunteers, staff and survivors attended the function. Some brought their family too. One survivor cooked her signature mutton dish, which everyone enjoyed. Later we found out it was her 51st birthday and with quick thinking & action a birthday cake was produced. We sang the birthday song and she then cut her birthday cake with a wide smile.

As the networking went on full swing…the place was filled with laughter and music. We also had some lucky draws, games and of fun in the form of line dancing. The ladies and some men enjoyed themselves to line dancing rhythms and beats following the survivors who were familiar with the steps.

In the midst of all the merriment, we had survivors who are going for treatment for reoccurrence of cancer. I must take my hats of for these ladies for the enthusiasm, eagerness to take part and to still have a good time.

The President gave a short speech thanking everyone for their support and contributions. He concluded by adding the survivors were and inspiration to others and to keep their spirit high.

I had a good time on a Sunday afternoon, as I got to meet fellow survivors on other occasions beside the day of the Relay for Life.

I took some photos which will be posted later.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Leave me alone

I have been worried sick for the last few weeks as I had experience some pain and throbbing sensation on the area where I had the surgery. Of course all horrid thoughts were running in my head including whether I was also having problem with my heart! It was also a coincidence that during this time I was due for a six month’s once ultrasound examination on my right breast and breast clinic check up.

I had my ultrasound on 1 Aug and followed by the check up last Wednesday. During the ultrasound, as usual the radiologist had to wait for the chief radiologist to confirm that everything was fine on my right breast. As the examination took some time, I completely forgot to tell them about the pain on my left side and decided to speak with Prof. Yip my surgeon with whom I had an appointment the following Wednesday.

Prof. Yip assured me that the pain and the discomforting sensation are normal to be experienced by a survivor even after few years of surgery. I was really happy to hear that and left her room smiling from ear to ear.

Nowadays, I am in one of these moods of “leave me alone”! I was asked to give an interview for a leading women’s magazine for the October issue. I just declined and told them to look for other cancer survivors. I was told that sometimes it is difficult to find cancer survivors who want to be interviewed. I just admire survivors who can always appear in the media and in public and talk about their experiences.

Monday, August 04, 2008

Falling on the tracks

I finished my traveling trips nationwide and the last training was held in Kota Kinabalu. It has been an interesting project and I would miss the traveling.

I came back home and received some sad news. My fellow survivor and blogger Raden Galoh has developed a recurrence and is undergoing treatment. I also found out another young fellow survivor and active volunteer is also going through treatment for recurrence.

It is not really easy when you hear friends you know developing recurrence. They are in my prayers for a good recovery.

I have started tai chi workouts which I have skipped for the past 4 months due to the traveling. Many of the ladies wanted to know the reason for me for not attending the workouts for such a long time but were glad to see me in their midst.

A month ago while I was waiting at KL Sentral to take the commuter train home after work, I heard a loud thud. Suddenly, the crowd including me saw a girl lying on the railway track. Some men nearby, quickly jumped down from the platform and picked her up. She must have slipped while standing at the edge of the platform, busy “smsing” as she was still holding on to her handphone when she fell. Luckily during that rush hour the trains were delayed on that day. I have taken the train for over a decade now but this is the first time I have witnessed something like this. Hope the girl did not have committing suicide in mind. She may have suffered some slight injuries, as her neck and head had hit the tracks. How fragile life is and how carelessly some people can meet with accidents and that too because of a handphone.