AUGUST 20 — KL General Hospital (HKL) finally called me up to tell me when I start radiotherapy (this week) and apparently I will only be doing 15 days of it.
I’m not looking forward to having to juggle immunotherapy and radiation next week, enduring both on the same day.
Still, as I’ve been in a lot of pain, on various occasions, for various reasons — acid reflux/respiratory infection/knee injury/cancer/cancer treatments — it’s just one more grueling ordeal to survive and write about.
I count myself lucky that every experience on this medical journey, pleasant or not, I can document as part of my job.
Last week someone having questions about getting cancer treatment for their mother at HKL messaged me and I was happy to answer.
There just isn’t enough information available out there for people to navigate about what to do with a cancer diagnosis but far too many quack cures and dodgy supplements.
I wish it was as easy to find out what you need to do or where to go should you get cancer as it is to buy those damn soursop leaves people keep pushing at me.
Over the weekend I was also looking over at what I’d been spending, wondering where the heck all the money went and then, looking at a pile of items I’d bought to prepare for radiotherapy...it reminded me, again, cancer is expensive.
What exactly did I buy?
I have sunscreen, a thrifted hoodie with UV protection, a hat with a face covering, and a small mountain of creams and lotions to endure my boob being irradiated for 15 days.
As I’ll be more sun sensitive after the treatment and my skin cancer risk is already heightened just by being a cancer patient, I have to take extra measures and pray I don’t collapse from heat stroke first.
There’s a likelihood my irradiated breast will shrink and look sadly lopsided next to my healthy one, but I am at peace with it, as I’d always found my breasts to be appendages that were more trouble than they were worth.
If my boob shrinks I’ll just have to look for a good bra pad but as I rarely go out, it won’t be that big a deal.
Like when I was younger and pretty, I accept that I will never be as young, or as pretty, and the same applies to my bust.
Realistically though, all of this is hard on the mind.
On Facebook and Reddit I keep reading posts from panicked or near-hysterical cancer patients and honestly, who can blame them?
Cancer is terrifying.
It’s a complex disease with treatments that are so varied that it can get very overwhelming, very fast.
To keep my mind together I try to keep it happy with videogames.
Post-surgery I was playing a lot of Unicorn Overlord but now I’m venturing into esports, which is handy because hey it’s technically a sport that qualifies for tax rebates.
It is also more of a mental game than a physical one.
As someone who is technically disabled due to my chronic illness, being able to play a sport that doesn’t leave me exhausted and in a lot of pain is pretty enticing.
The Pokémon World Championships in California just ended and I was sad to hear that while 12 Malaysians qualified, not all could attend due to either finances or visa issues.
What’s exciting is that the new competitive game for next year is Pokémon Champions which will be a free download for both Switch and mobile, lowering the barrier to entry for new players.
No release date for the game has been announced so at least it gives me time to “study” Pokémon strategy.
I will likely never be good enough to represent the country but it will be a nice pastime and something to distract my mind from the body horror of cancer.
Until next week when you all get to find out how my radiotherapy went and since my life is a sitcom, there will probably be a funny story or two to tell.
*This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
