Hoping for a miracle..

It was not easy accepting when someone in your family is having Stage 3 Colon Cancer, especially when that person is your father.

I went back to KK right after my colloquium, thinking that it would be fun catching up with old friends and go for Jaff&Fifah's important event, and yes I managed to get my insurance policy done. I was at the edge of informing all my friends that I’m back and would like to meet up, when mom told me dad is having a black stool for over a week and the night before we brought him to his doctor, he didn’t have a good sleep because he was complaining a diarrhea.

I have no knowledge of the implication of having black stool but I know it was not something good. I called Jack, my bro and told him that he has to take dad to Dr.Raj. I managed to persuade dad to go to his doctor to have him checked. I thought it was just the food my father ate. Clear enough, it was a very bad sign and he has to be admitted to QEH asap.

Fyi, Dad is a heart patient since early 2000 and was hospitalized for more than a month when doctors found out he’s a Stage 3 heart patient in 2005. IJN (Institut Jantung Negara) couldn’t do much for him as the success of operation or bypass gave him a slim chance to survive. He was given an anticoagulant medication called Warfarin to prevent blood cloating. Dad was taking that medication since then.

It was good for my dad until recently the specialist found out that he is sensitive to Warfarin and the medication has to stop, which means there will be a risk of getting stroke. But that was not all, when dad went for endoscopy test the next day after he was hospitalized, they found something unusual in his colon. Second endoscopy test involved taking a sample or what they called biopsy to confirm the case. Dad went for CT-scan and a lot of tests were done and finally, it was confirmed that dad is suffering from – Stage 3 Colon Cancer.

I couldn’t breathe after sister Lid told me the news, and at that very moment I was having a presentation meeting with my research group where my supervisor Prof.Salmijah and Dr.Talib were also there. I tried to keep myself cool, maybe I was having a bad hearing since I was in a meeting when I was told about the news through the phone. It was already 10.30 P.M. I told my labmate, it’s already too late for me and I am too tired to stay for another 2 presenter, so I went back and called everybody to get a clear information and yes my hearing was good!!

The option is to go for surgery but we are not sure if that is the best option since dad is a heart patient and the risks are there to consider. Other options would be chemo and radiation therapy and I have little information about that.

Anyone with information about this cancer, I really need it. I’ve done some reading about it, and the only thing I can do now is to hope for a miracle.