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 51^st 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.

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.

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.

Travelling

I just thought i will drop a few lines before I began a week's travel to Sarawak and Sabah due to work assignmnents. I got an sms from a friend who is on a work project in Europe (who read the blog), hoping that i am much better....and so i decided to post this before i catch a plane in a few hours.

My cough is much better though it is still there. I will just have to be much careful on the food i take while i am in East Malaysia.

A couple of days ago a friend of mine forwarded me this mail and i thought it was really good as it showcase of will power and faith of a man. These are the type of movitation we should be reminded oftern to get on with our daily lives. Happy viewing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF9wo9sVn2c

Bad chest cough

I have been down with a bad chest cough with thick phlegm for the past few weeks. What started of as a bad sore throat lead to more cough and sleepless nights. I have visited the doctors 3 times and stuffed myself with cough syrup to antibiotics. I also started taking some Indian traditional medicine.

Of course, now I am much better as the cough has reduced. During this duration, I also lost 2 kg in weight because of the coughs at night which interrupted my precious sleep…what away to loose weight...ha...ha!

Due to my job assignments, I also had to travel to deliver presentations in other towns. In fact during the presentations, I would just cough and then carry on with delivery. Luckily during these times some how my coughs knew how not to disturb me too much!

I went for foot reflexology over the weekend and was told that my shoulder muscles are all stiff at the back and on my shoulders. Of courselah…my muscles are stiff as I had to use 2 pillows to sleep to reduce the bout of coughs!

On Sunday, I met the lady who sells clothes at the morning market near my house. I was really glad to see her as I have not seen her after she had finished her treatment for breast cancer. I asked her how she was and she replied by saying that since she is back in business means she is okay.

Then as I was looking at some of the clothes in her stall, I overheard her saying that she is selling her clothes at a cheap sale as she need money to pay for her treatment.

Yap it is not only her health she must be concerned about but other matters including finance.

Relay for Life photos-Part 2

Here are more photos that I took during the Relay For Life. There are many more that I took but I thought these are the few photos that captured the essence of the event.

The final lap with the NCSM banner leading the way

Some of the great ladies of NCSM, including the organising Chairperson

Volunteers arranged the Luminarias much earlier in preparation of the Luminaria Ceremony. Once again i missed the ceremony this year.

Perak Breast Cancer Support Group

Survivors & supporters from Cancer Link Society of Kuantan

The group from UKM, one of the many college and university students who gave their full surport to the success of this event.

The banner belonging to the US Embassy " One World On Hope"

the supporters from Xixili, one of the many companies who took part in this event

The palm prints of the survivors from Relay For Life 2007, now carried as a banner by two survivors.

The first performance on Saturday night was by these youngsters who performed indian classic dances.

The final count down as the crowd cheers and feels a sense of having contributed towards the sucess of the event

The tired participants packing up after the event

Photos-Relay for Life-Part 1

The survivors all ready to start off the event with the survivors' lap

My mom and I all geared up for the survivors' march

Can you all spot me on my mardi gars constume?

One of the Sunday morning activity included the 100 metres relay. Cancer survivors too took part in this relay

Some of carrying a poster with our messages on Sunday morning. My message cannot be seen as I ran out of ink. The message was "Life short, enjoy most of it and laugh alot"

On Sunday morning these little supporters were seen with their parents. Age is never a barrier!

The beautiful ladies (all survivors)in thier colourful costumes at the opening ceremony

The crowd following the steps of the dancers on the stage on a hot Sunday morning

Some of the photos of the survivors pinned up at the Survivors Booth. I was busy so I had no time to submit mine

On Sunday morning the energetic women leading the crowd to the music.

The ladies marching with the crowd after the opening ceremony