In the first week of November, my family received bad news.
After several check-ups & scans with a doctor at Singapore General Hospital, my dad was diagnosed with Colorectal Cancer.
My dad has never had side effects other than on and off diarrhea for more than 6 months ever since he came back from overseas work in China. There was not even a hint of blood in his stool. So we did not really paid much attention and took it has bad food intake while he was there.
When we had our ‘family meeting’, he showed the report of his diagnosis.
He had a 6.4cm x 4.7cm size tumour in his large intestine which is near his bladder. Not only that, clusters of cysts were found in BOTH of his kidneys; biggest is 7mm. The rest of his organs are healthy.
On the second week, my Sis and I followed my Dad to an educational talk on Colorectal Cancer pre & post surgery. It was a great talk, from prepping for surgery, what to expect after, diet to follow through and maintaining the scar & stoma. There were even 2 cancer survivors in the room to share their experiences.
Imagine living the rest of your life with a stoma.
[Stoma/ Colostomy is a surgically-created opening in the large intestine that allows the removal of faeces out of the body, bypassing the rectum, to drain into a pouch]
The next day, my Bro accompanied Dad for his official doctor consolation. The main focus would be on the tumour and that the cysts in his kidneys are harmless. Tests shall be done on the tumour to verify which stage of cancer. If it is Stage 3, he has to come back to SGH for chemotherapy.
20cm of his intestine will be taken out.
On the third week, 15th Nov, Dad was warded and operated on the next day. We managed to see him after his operation which lasts for 5 hours. Besides asking for my Mom and grandchildren, all he said was that he was thirsty and it’s painful.
[Taken a few days after the OP,Dad rarely smiles in pictures and he looks sad here but he is actually okay lor]
Naturally, we visited him the next day which also happens to be Hari Raya Haji. To my surprise, Dad was talking normally as if his stomach was not sliced open, intestines cut out with 3 tubes poking into his body! I was amazed with his tolerance of pain. He hardly uses his morphine and was a chatterbox.
He even showed us his staples and stoma.
[I will show the stoma later just in case some people are queasy]
On the 2nd day after operation, he stopped taking morphine and was talking small walks (as advised). He said it’s not that painful. -_-
On the fourth week, Dad was discharged since he is recovering smoothly after 9 days not before Sis and I learnt from the nurse how to clean and change the dressing for Dad’s stoma.
Yes, we have to work around his stoma & his exposed large intestine. Well, somebody has got to do it right? Luckily we have to change it once a week if it is taken care properly. The doctor said he will close the stoma after 6 weeks. So 6 times is not THAT bad. =S
Anyways, Dad is doing well despite of the controlled diet (low fibre diet), staples etc. and I hope he will have a speedy recovery.
Now, the stoma with the large intestine peeking through. It't not THAT bad when it's covered by the bag. When you see without it, it's all raw looking.
P/S: Almost didn’t blog with photos because I believe it was inappropriate to take photos when someone is in pain but he was the one who asked us to take photos for memory. haha
Hope your dad has a speedy recovery!
ReplyDeleteThanks Benjamin :)
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