When is the best time to have CT / MRI scan for treatment followup
For me, I will not force myself to stick on the the appointment date .
Toward appointment date, if I am feeling very good , both physically and
mentally , I will procced with the scan . It can be a week or few days before the appoitment.
Meantime, if there is some body condition changes while waiting for the appointment,
be it one month or more before the appointment. I would suggest to proceed for the check-up once body system back in good condition .
Why ?
Most of the scan need to inject some contrast agent into our body , inorder to get very clear scan image . And these agent will somehow cause some side effect to patient .
Therefore, it is better to take scan when our body system in top condition.
Meantime, if we take the scan when we are in good body condition with good mood, we
can face the result of scan report better. Even if the report show some negative result , we can handle it better .
Take your time to plan for the best day for your coming scan follow-up and pray Lord will bless all of us always have a good scan result .
God bless
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Be patient , healing take time .
Many of us expected to be healed or cured immediate .
I am one of it too .
But, after read and understand how's cancer happen , I accepted the word " PATIENT ".
As cancer patient , we have to be patient with the healing process from treatment .
Be it cancer or any other chronic diseases, i.e. heart disease, stroke, chronic respiratory ... . It take months and years to happen , it's not happen overnight .
Therefore, to reverse our body system and rebuild our healthy body condition, it will not happen overnight too . It take time , it can be months or years .
The chemo drug, radiotherapy, surgery and all the aggresive treatment is to help in controlling the critical condition and thereafter, we have to do our part in improving our diet , change life style in order to reverse or repairing our body system .
Let us be patient,live happy and do our part ( live a healthy lifestyle ) to receive the full healing ... be patient and have faith with God , it will happen .
God bless .
I am one of it too .
But, after read and understand how's cancer happen , I accepted the word " PATIENT ".
As cancer patient , we have to be patient with the healing process from treatment .
Be it cancer or any other chronic diseases, i.e. heart disease, stroke, chronic respiratory ... . It take months and years to happen , it's not happen overnight .
Therefore, to reverse our body system and rebuild our healthy body condition, it will not happen overnight too . It take time , it can be months or years .
The chemo drug, radiotherapy, surgery and all the aggresive treatment is to help in controlling the critical condition and thereafter, we have to do our part in improving our diet , change life style in order to reverse or repairing our body system .
Let us be patient,live happy and do our part ( live a healthy lifestyle ) to receive the full healing ... be patient and have faith with God , it will happen .
God bless .
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Living with lung cancer ... is life the same as before ?
For me, it is not the same and I do not think it will ever be the same anymore .
No matter how hard I try, try to live as similar as possible to life before treatment, it is just not possible .
It is a matter of fact that life after treatment is different .
Life ... living with cancer is different .
The change of diet is not an issue , as it is good for us to change our diet .
The change of lifestyle also not an issue , as it is the right thing to do . To live healthy lifestyle,sleep early , rest when tire , no smoking , no alcohol , eat healthy , regular execise , less stress and so on .
But, the body changes because of the after treatment side effect and the extreme alert to symptom,
i.e. chest pain , tired , headache, cough , bone pain , weight loss and so on , is something that make life different .
Meantime, have to be mentally strong to deal with all the " What if ... "
- What if situation getting worst .
- What if the cancer start to spread and growing in our brain , bone and other organ
- What if it the tumor cause bleeding or cause us to be breathless
- What if we have to hospitalise immediately and become immobile
There is so many "What if ... " and uncertainty . It is STRESSFUL when all the " What if ... " start come to our mind .
So , life is different , as living with cancer is actually living with anxiety , with worry ...
But, on the bright side, life after cancer treatment also bring us good .
- I am more healthy then before , except that I hv to live with cancer and to deal with all the side effect .
- I have more time with family and more time to do things that I want to do.
- I get to receive all the warm love , blessing from family , friends .
- I learn that how important is it to Love and to Forgive.
- I appreciate life more .
And the most valuable is I accepted Jesus Christ and he bless me to have peace mind , he touch and strengthen me, lead me out of darkness to light, guide me how to face the changes in life that I have to go through.
Well ! Life will be different , it will not be the same anymore and we just have to accept it and move forward .
Whenever the bad feeling trouble us, we just have to get it away fast and pray to Lord for peace mind .
I pray to Lord for his blessing to us, who is living with cancer , be blessed to live without fear & worry and guide us to find peace and joy .
Be HAPPY and live with the changes with a JOYFUL heart , never give up and we can make it .
God Bless
SK
No matter how hard I try, try to live as similar as possible to life before treatment, it is just not possible .
It is a matter of fact that life after treatment is different .
Life ... living with cancer is different .
The change of diet is not an issue , as it is good for us to change our diet .
The change of lifestyle also not an issue , as it is the right thing to do . To live healthy lifestyle,sleep early , rest when tire , no smoking , no alcohol , eat healthy , regular execise , less stress and so on .
But, the body changes because of the after treatment side effect and the extreme alert to symptom,
i.e. chest pain , tired , headache, cough , bone pain , weight loss and so on , is something that make life different .
Meantime, have to be mentally strong to deal with all the " What if ... "
- What if situation getting worst .
- What if the cancer start to spread and growing in our brain , bone and other organ
- What if it the tumor cause bleeding or cause us to be breathless
- What if we have to hospitalise immediately and become immobile
There is so many "What if ... " and uncertainty . It is STRESSFUL when all the " What if ... " start come to our mind .
So , life is different , as living with cancer is actually living with anxiety , with worry ...
But, on the bright side, life after cancer treatment also bring us good .
- I am more healthy then before , except that I hv to live with cancer and to deal with all the side effect .
- I have more time with family and more time to do things that I want to do.
- I get to receive all the warm love , blessing from family , friends .
- I learn that how important is it to Love and to Forgive.
- I appreciate life more .
And the most valuable is I accepted Jesus Christ and he bless me to have peace mind , he touch and strengthen me, lead me out of darkness to light, guide me how to face the changes in life that I have to go through.
Well ! Life will be different , it will not be the same anymore and we just have to accept it and move forward .
Whenever the bad feeling trouble us, we just have to get it away fast and pray to Lord for peace mind .
I pray to Lord for his blessing to us, who is living with cancer , be blessed to live without fear & worry and guide us to find peace and joy .
Be HAPPY and live with the changes with a JOYFUL heart , never give up and we can make it .
God Bless
SK
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Good news and bad news
Good news ...
X-ray today show condition under control and show some improvement
" Some of the opacities in right mid and lower zones are smaller in size " compare to last X-ray in end Jan '11
Liver ; Kidney function all well
Feel Good ! ... :)
Bad news ...
Tumour marker - CEA still moving up ... :(
Discussed with doctor and he is happy with my X ray report and overall condition, except for the CEA reading, which is still a concern . decide to continue watch and wait with close monitoring for another two months .
Thanks Lord and pray for continue healing and blessing . Lord is great !
X-ray today show condition under control and show some improvement
" Some of the opacities in right mid and lower zones are smaller in size " compare to last X-ray in end Jan '11
Liver ; Kidney function all well
Feel Good ! ... :)
Bad news ...
Tumour marker - CEA still moving up ... :(
Discussed with doctor and he is happy with my X ray report and overall condition, except for the CEA reading, which is still a concern . decide to continue watch and wait with close monitoring for another two months .
Thanks Lord and pray for continue healing and blessing . Lord is great !
Friday, March 18, 2011
Treatment decision, what is the right thing to do ?
I personally feel that the most difficult thing for cancer patient is to make the right decision for treatment.
As the right decision will make a good start .
The right doctor ; right type of treatment ; right drug is all very very crucial and important .
Therefore, patient should not be too panic and rush in for treatment that they do not know or do not aware of the risk , side effect and what to expect after the treatment.
Most of the time, doctor will rush patient to proceed for treatment ( surgery or radiation or chemo ) as soon as all the scan and biopsy report ready and confirm it is cancer .
In some cases, patient been ask to proceed surgery by surgeon without refering to oncologist for proper treatment assessment.
In my personal opinion and non medical view, I think that the right person to assess a cancer patient and finalise the right treatment with the patient , should be the oncologist. As they are the expert or specialist in medical field for cancer treatment.
My suggestion to all cancer patient or their care taker is to check on the information of cancer in http://www.cancer.gov , to understand what is cancer and to have the guidance of what to ask, when meet up with the doctor or oncologist .
Get prepare and be ready to have a proper discussion with doctor/oncologist to ask and understand all question you have in mind, before making your final treatment decision.
meantime, I also suggest patient to atleast get a second opinion , or , if finacially affordable, then, get third or fourth opinion, before start treatment.
Singapore is very near to us and most of the oncologist in Singapore ready to give second opinion .
If the patient is very sick and in very serious condition , where immediate surgery needed to remove tumour, patient should proceed with it without fail.
But, for most of the patient, body condition is still good and therefore, it is not really have to make immediate decision.
When I am diagnosed with cancer, it took me about a month to start my treatment. Doctor told me that the cancer tumour is not there over few days, it take many years for the cancer cell to grow until it can be shown up in Xray , CT scan or PET scan .
I pray that Lord will bless us with wisdom and guide us always, especially during the time when we need him to guide us to find a good hospital , good doctor and the best treatment option .
As the right decision will make a good start .
The right doctor ; right type of treatment ; right drug is all very very crucial and important .
Therefore, patient should not be too panic and rush in for treatment that they do not know or do not aware of the risk , side effect and what to expect after the treatment.
Most of the time, doctor will rush patient to proceed for treatment ( surgery or radiation or chemo ) as soon as all the scan and biopsy report ready and confirm it is cancer .
In some cases, patient been ask to proceed surgery by surgeon without refering to oncologist for proper treatment assessment.
In my personal opinion and non medical view, I think that the right person to assess a cancer patient and finalise the right treatment with the patient , should be the oncologist. As they are the expert or specialist in medical field for cancer treatment.
My suggestion to all cancer patient or their care taker is to check on the information of cancer in http://www.cancer.gov , to understand what is cancer and to have the guidance of what to ask, when meet up with the doctor or oncologist .
Get prepare and be ready to have a proper discussion with doctor/oncologist to ask and understand all question you have in mind, before making your final treatment decision.
meantime, I also suggest patient to atleast get a second opinion , or , if finacially affordable, then, get third or fourth opinion, before start treatment.
Singapore is very near to us and most of the oncologist in Singapore ready to give second opinion .
If the patient is very sick and in very serious condition , where immediate surgery needed to remove tumour, patient should proceed with it without fail.
But, for most of the patient, body condition is still good and therefore, it is not really have to make immediate decision.
When I am diagnosed with cancer, it took me about a month to start my treatment. Doctor told me that the cancer tumour is not there over few days, it take many years for the cancer cell to grow until it can be shown up in Xray , CT scan or PET scan .
I pray that Lord will bless us with wisdom and guide us always, especially during the time when we need him to guide us to find a good hospital , good doctor and the best treatment option .
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Just Feel Great !
The healing from Lord and his blessing for me to receive wisdom, make me feel GREAT .
Thanks for all the prayer from my family , friends, cell member . And thanks Lord for answering our prayer .
Since decided not to continue with chemo therapy, after two cycles in Oct and Nov '10 , I been monitoring very closely my condition with proper follow-up with doctor and daily prayer to Lord for healing.
No doubt body condition getting on well, where I manage to have a nice Christmas and Chinese New year celebration with my family, but, with blood regulary show up in phlegm everyday when coughing, further with the reading of CEA tumor marker still increase for every blood test, it is really a great concern for me .
In end Jan '11, I took an X ray , the result is encouraging, as there's not sign of any water/fluid build up in my right lung and infact it's slightly clearer in comparing with the previous X ray in Nov '10.
With this report,I discussed with doctor and decided to continue my watch & wait approach for time being and promise him I will have very close minitoring with immediate follow-up with him as when I feel not well .
Then, sometime in mid Feb '11, right after Chinese New Year , when we shop around in the mall after dinner, I came across one book about some kind of exercise to stretch our ligament( 拉筋 ). Reason I bought the book is for my wife, as she did practice it after we watched one of the Taiwanese TV show , where the SIFU 箫宏慈 teach some of the basis steps to stretch our ligament to help in some sickness healing.
After I read the book at home and found that the book is write by the same SIFU, so, I start doing the STRETCHING as per instruction given and it turn out that the result is good for me .
For the first few days, cough and phlegm increase ( actually there is more fresh blood in the phlegm ) But, slightly more than a week, phlegm getting less and there is no more sign of fresh blood in phlegm .
For until now, I feel good, feel better and basically less phlegm , no fresh blood and seldom have any sign of blood . ( it is about one month by now, since I start the 拉筋.)
If anyone want to know more, you may seach internet for 拉筋 or go to site http://lajinfa.taobao.com/.
Praise the Lord and pray that Lord will continue to bless us to receice wisdom and knowledge . And pray that Lord will continue his healing power to touch upon me and guide me for treatment , diet and type of exercise to strengthen my body system.
SK
Thanks for all the prayer from my family , friends, cell member . And thanks Lord for answering our prayer .
Since decided not to continue with chemo therapy, after two cycles in Oct and Nov '10 , I been monitoring very closely my condition with proper follow-up with doctor and daily prayer to Lord for healing.
No doubt body condition getting on well, where I manage to have a nice Christmas and Chinese New year celebration with my family, but, with blood regulary show up in phlegm everyday when coughing, further with the reading of CEA tumor marker still increase for every blood test, it is really a great concern for me .
In end Jan '11, I took an X ray , the result is encouraging, as there's not sign of any water/fluid build up in my right lung and infact it's slightly clearer in comparing with the previous X ray in Nov '10.
With this report,I discussed with doctor and decided to continue my watch & wait approach for time being and promise him I will have very close minitoring with immediate follow-up with him as when I feel not well .
Then, sometime in mid Feb '11, right after Chinese New Year , when we shop around in the mall after dinner, I came across one book about some kind of exercise to stretch our ligament( 拉筋 ). Reason I bought the book is for my wife, as she did practice it after we watched one of the Taiwanese TV show , where the SIFU 箫宏慈 teach some of the basis steps to stretch our ligament to help in some sickness healing.
After I read the book at home and found that the book is write by the same SIFU, so, I start doing the STRETCHING as per instruction given and it turn out that the result is good for me .
For the first few days, cough and phlegm increase ( actually there is more fresh blood in the phlegm ) But, slightly more than a week, phlegm getting less and there is no more sign of fresh blood in phlegm .
For until now, I feel good, feel better and basically less phlegm , no fresh blood and seldom have any sign of blood . ( it is about one month by now, since I start the 拉筋.)
If anyone want to know more, you may seach internet for 拉筋 or go to site http://lajinfa.taobao.com/.
Praise the Lord and pray that Lord will continue to bless us to receice wisdom and knowledge . And pray that Lord will continue his healing power to touch upon me and guide me for treatment , diet and type of exercise to strengthen my body system.
SK
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Praise the Lord ! I am off treatment again
After the chemo treatment in Nov '10, follow by CT scan in early Dec '10 (right before the 3rd cycle), I again make decision to take a break from treatment , after discussion with doctor.
Doctor accepted my request with condition that I have to monitor very closely and back to see him immediately if I feel anything wrong .
Praise the Lord ! It is by God's grace and his healing power that I am here and doing well .
My wish for 2011 ...
Another year of no chemo treatment and live well with everything under control . Pray for my watch & wait approach works well and may the healing from God continue to touch me everyday and with the healing power flow thro' my body , I will be heal and set free from cancer. Thanks God , in name of Jesus , Amen.
God Bless.
SK
Doctor accepted my request with condition that I have to monitor very closely and back to see him immediately if I feel anything wrong .
Praise the Lord ! It is by God's grace and his healing power that I am here and doing well .
My wish for 2011 ...
Another year of no chemo treatment and live well with everything under control . Pray for my watch & wait approach works well and may the healing from God continue to touch me everyday and with the healing power flow thro' my body , I will be heal and set free from cancer. Thanks God , in name of Jesus , Amen.
God Bless.
SK
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