Sharing, from another Cancer Survivor - Mesothelioma Cancer

Clear Blue Sky. I "stop & look". 

At Last ~!!
I have finally found a bit of time to slot in a new blog page.
Over the past 6 months, many things had changed.
I quit my job, adopted a quality lifestyle & am enjoying every bit of life now.
I ran my first half marathon in my personal best time & started running my own little business.

My 1st 21km marathon. Penang Bridge Intl Marathon

My first 10KM run. Nike Run KL 10km

I have adopted to change for the better. To relieve myself of the mental stress, I am now operating a small courier service kiosk with additional business center services like printing, internet access & instant photo services as add-ons.
With the help of my family & parents, & not forgeting my friends, things have been running smoothly.
I have learnt many things like managing stress level, time management, anger management & most importantly, I have chose to live.

About 2 months back, I have received an email from a person by the name of Cameron.
He would like me to share his life story & experience with cancer.
His family are strong fighters & deserve all my respect on their encounter to overcome the odds.
Its a  touching story & will give many cancer patients out there a GOOD MOTIVATION.
As long as there is a will, there is a way.
Its never the END till you fight to your last breath.
Below is his story about his wife & her CHOICE TO LIVE.

A Cancer Diagnosis Affects the Entire Family

My wife’s diagnosis with mesothelioma was one of the most difficult times in my life.  I talked with her once about my experiences when I was caring for her, but now I would like to give a more detailed description of my experiences.                                                                                                                                           

As with all cancer diagnoses, my wife’s diagnosis was unexpected and unwelcome.  We had just brought our new daughter Lily home a few months earlier.  Our daughter’s birth was a wonderful occasion, but our happiness quickly turned to distress.  Hearing the doctor tell my wife that she had mesothelioma made me wonder how we would ever get through this situation.  Seeing the tears in my wife’s eyes let me know that she was thinking the same thing.

The initial diagnosis was such an unreal moment that I felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders.  My wife was overwhelmed with this news and so was I.  Regardless of how overwhelmed I felt about the situation, I knew that I had to be my wife’s anchor.

I do not believe that I have ever been as angry as when the doctor gave my wife her diagnosis.  Unfortunately, others around me felt my anger.  I realized that I could not continue to be angry, and I eventually found ways to keep calm.  I knew that the anger would be detrimental to my family.  I had to be strong and be there for my wife, but there were many days in which being strong seemed impossible to do.

I was suddenly forced to take on so many responsibilities.  If I had not learned to budget my time and resources, then I could not have made it through this ordeal.  Our friends were there to help us when we needed it. Their generosity could never be replaced, but even with their help, I constantly found myself on the verge of becoming overwhelmed.

After Heather’s surgery, I experienced the most stressful time of all.  Heather and Lily both stayed in South Dakota with Heather’s parents, as Heather got ready for another round of mesothelioma treatment: chemotherapy and radiation.  I felt awful being so far away from them.  I was so desperate to see them one weekend that I drove 11 hours through the night in a snowstorm.  Once I got there, I could only spend a few hours with them before I had to travel another 11 hours to go back home and get ready for work.

Being away from Heather and Lily was tough, but I know that by having them in South Dakota, I was able to continue working and providing for them.  If they had been at home with me, I would not have been able to work and take care of them at the same time.

I was so grateful that I was able to make choices that were beneficial to my family, but most of all, I was grateful to have family and friends to help us through our difficult time.  Through all of our struggles, Heather is still here and still healthy over six years later.  I hope that our story can be a source of hope and help to those currently battling cancer.

Cameron Von St James

http://www.mesothelioma.com/blog/authors/cameron/

Objective to Live - Mount Kinabalu Climb

When I wrote this, I had already scaled Mt Kinabalu, done my first 10km run & am now gearing for the half marathon on the 18th Nov 2012.
Honestly, sometimes I'm proud of myself & am glad of whatever happen to me happened.
Without the experience, I would still be my old self... working & scaling.... never stopping to watch      whats going on around me.
Its been so long since I last wrote.... mid Jul 2012?
GOSH~! I have been lazing in my blogging, but I have been SO SO SO BUZY to be where I amtoday. Things have been shifting & seems as though I'm in a train seeing the view running past my eyes while the sun stays at the far horizon , waiting for the night to ease the heat from this side of the earth.    


Let me recall what happened at Mt Kinabalu, my first physical challenge.
The idea was mooted at the end of 2011, when I came upon an article in the web. I was so eager to challenge myself to conquer my physical body which had never crossed my mind before... especially Mt Kinabalu.
I have never ever thought about scaling a mountain as it wasn't my cup of tea.
But after what I had been through, I wanted to experience something more challenging, something which I can test my confidence, my perseverance & importantly, my eagerness to stay focus & lead a great life.

Me & my Brother

Initially, I wanted to climb the mountain as early as Mar 12, but ended up going in early Jul'12.
I was suppose to go alone on the trip but at the end, my brother joined me to make the climb. Glad that he came along as the climb was physically challenging for my age(yup, even for my age).
It was a 4 nights 5 days trip, with 3 days at Mt Kinabalu, 1 day at Pedas for white water rafting & another short day at Kota Kinabalu.

The Group of Climbers

Prior to the ascend, I have light trained for about 4months and another month of hard training. Even with all the training, I barely scrape through. We joined a small group of 5 persons, Phoebe, Kean, Hong, Ian & Isaac to make the climb. All of them are outdoor junkies & are really fit for the climb.
I had lots of fun joining this group, they were full of enthusiasm and it really pushed my limits up.
The day we reached Mt KK, we took a long 2.5hrs van ride up to Sutera Sanctuary Lodge. The road was so misty(as it was raining) & at some point, we were barely able to see not more than 10m.
The hotel was surprisingly clean & pleasant. Had a hearty hot meal and was able to return to the room & repack our stuffs for the following day's climb. We each left a luggage behind & only took the things that we needed to use. Since it was a tiring day, we rest early & look forward to the following day's event.

Not even a quarter of the climb

We woke up to a chilly morning at 5am & got ourselves ready. Had a good breakfast at the restaurant & started our climb at 8am. My backpack was approximately 8kg & I had decided to challenge myself by putting the weight on my shoulder. We have the option of appointing a porter to help us on the baggage but I didn't opt for it. I believed in myself & did not want to give up.

Majestic View of the Mountains

Crossing from a mountain to another mountain

The Mesilau trail is longer by 2km compare to the shorter Timpohan trail. The view was fantastic & breathtaking. The air was cooling, just right when we hike up the mountain. The path was ascending & descending at certain points. Unlike the Timpohan trail which only consists of stairs made from concrete & stones as far as the eye can see, Mesilau Trail offers a climber to stop & experience the greens & mystical mist of the mountains. The plants & mountain view were a sight to behold. The view act as energy boosters when we are tired & lack of breath due to the high altitude.

This view didnt end for 7 hours

My brother & I reach Laban Rata at 3pm, which is the resting point before finishing the climb to the peak. The last 1km was so tiring & I had to zig zag my way up. The last 500m was killing me, with the rain pattering on my bald head for the past 2 hours, all I could do was to concentrate on every step that I make. At one point, I wanted to vomit & my brother helped me to carry my backpack for about 200m. When I regain my composure, I took the backpack & finished my way to Laban Rata rest pit. The rest of the team were half an hour earlier than us, sipping on their hot drinks & talking about the hike.
Took me about 30mins to regain myself as I couldn't even talk nor move my limbs the moment I sat down. I was thinking to myself, "What am I doing here? I dont want to do this again".

After spending 3 hours resting at the restaurant, we had our dinner & made our way up to our dorm which is about 150m away upward from the restaurant. As the climb was agonizing we decided to eat at our dorms rather than making our way down at 1.30am for breakfast.
The dorms were simple but clean. It was also freezing and pitch dark outside.
By the time we slept, it was about 8pm. Had to wake up at 1am and get ourselves ready for the ascend to Lows Peak by 2.15am.

Reached the peak at 5.30am

The ascend to Lows Peak was much easier compare to the climb to Laban Rata. Even with my 3kg backpack weight, I had no problem at all & did not suffer from short of breath either. Probably the qiqong exercise did help in circulating the oxygen in my body.
By the time we reached the peak, it was 5.30am & had managed to catch the sun rise from the horizon.
The peak was all jagged & the freezing wind piercing through our wind breakers. The feeling of accomplishing & standing at the top of South East Asia's tallest mountain was SUPERB. The altitude was 4095m. The view was majestic. My spirit was all fired up. This had made me set a new objective, which you will know on the next paragraph.

View from the Top

After spending 15mins at the peak, we begin our descent. We spent the early hours taking loads of pictures of the lighted trail & jagged mountain. On the way down, 3 of the members continued with their adrenalin rush with Via Ferrata, tight rope climbing.
I just got the link to one of our fellow hikers. His blog has full details on how exciting our trip was.
http://outdoorsmalaysia.blogspot.com/2012_07_01_archive.html
He even inspired me to try for Everest Base Camp Hike, a full 3wks hike to view Mt Everest.
Yes, this will be my new objective after I finish my marathon in Nov.

View of the Peaks (Lows Peak on the left)

Small plants can survive the harsh environment

The vast rock bed to the top.

After months of training, I managed to scale the mountain eventhough I'm a first timer in hiking. (I was never an outdoor person). Before I reach, I was so worried whether my legs will bring me up the peak, whether my lungs can stand the altitude(which surprisingly did not bother me at all). After the hike, I even went for white water rafting on the following day.
It was truly an experience to remember & I vow to scale the mountain again.

Padas White Water Rafting

Setting objective keeps a person going. It will keep the mind focus on what we need to achieve & not what we had experience before. No matter how much we worried of recurrence, we always need to look forward to achieve new goals. Wouldn't it be nice if a cancer survivor can have new objectives which keeps him going for years, until old age catches up (and not the cancer cells) ?
This is the power of positive thinking & keeping ourselves occupied. I always believe our mind plays a big part in combating cancer cells. Positivity keeps our mind sane, which in turn makes the body to produce the necessary agents to fight sickness.
It works superbly well with our physical body as long as it gets sufficient rest. With a positive mind & a fully functional body, sickness will not be able to break through the body's defenses.

Therefore, it helps to set objectives & trying our best to achieve it within our physical body means.
As for myself, I have ran a full 10km during a recent popular running event which attracted some 15K of people.  I managed to finish a decent 61mins for the full l0km.

I have trained for a few months before able to run long distance without resting. Its pretty challenging physically especially when age is catching up.
After this 10km in mid OCT'12, I'm going to join another run at Penang in mid NOV 12 for a full 21km run which I hope to finish withen 2.3 - 3hours. These are my objectives which keeps me going.

On my next blog, I will tell you on how I had done for the run.
I will also describe how I had stopped work & embark on a new relaxing working environment.
It will coincide with my 2 YEARS CANCERVERSARY(end of DEC 2012)
(can't believe it that its been that long).
As of today, my chest still bugs me especially when its rainy & cold. I will carry the scar & pain for the rest of my life. It will always remind me of how others had done for me, not how much I had suffer.
It opened my mind to a new dimension & the meaning of "stop & look".
God works in many ways. Mine imposes a big impact in life in order to make me see.
Be Glad & Seize the Day, every single one of it.

Summary, live your life with no hesitation. Cherish the things that we have. Cherish what makes us happy. Money maybe the basic of many things but we will never stop no matter how much money  
we have.
To all the cancer survivors out there, life isn't over when we had cancer.
Rather, its a beginning of many good things that we had missed till now.
Live it, enjoy it.

Trading My Previous Lifestyle for a BETTER QUALITY LIFE.

My last working day : )

Oops ...  I have been slacking.... lazy... 

Its been a while last I updated my blog. 

My sincere apologies to those whom had follow my path to wellness.

Over the span of 1 1/2yrs, I have met many people along the way. Cancer patients, caregivers, friends whom have someone diagnosed with cancer... all have the same question.

"What is the next thing to do when someone is diagnosed with cancer? " 

I might have wrote this in my earlier blog but I will just write it again.

Dealing with a person having cancer is a challenging feat. 

It takes a lot of courage, loads of patience & strong self determination to be a pillar of support. 

There are some whom were diagnosed early & some diagnosed on the late stage.

Whatever the stages, believe in what we are able to help & never give up hope. 

Everyone believes there is a higher "being" up there. Whatever that we are going through must had been pre-arranged as a challenge.

Its like a test to see how we are able to overcome it. 

Our emotions are always the first to take the impact. 

Feelings like sorrow, sadness, fear, frustration, anger, aimless are some of the common rejections that the person & the family will face. 

The sense of a fatal possibility is extreme & that's why many will break down.  Some will fall all the way if there isn't anyone to help them up.

My experience with cancer had put me in a position whereby I can advise based on what was good for me & what I think could had been better if I had did it in another way. 

I do hope that it will help them someway, to get better & overcome our fight against our common enemy. 

1. Supporting role of a CAREGIVER 

To me, the person or family whom are taking care of the person diagnosed with cancer plays the biggest role as they have immediate contact with the person.

Their fighting spirit, positive mentality, the supporting words, the vast knowledge to advise, the protective role, the clear mind to weight what is best for the person, the never ending patience and the love for the person are some of the needed qualities to face the challenge together.

As a caregiver, he or she needs to become strong, become the strength when another is weak, to be the one whom held them up when they fall, & to give them faith because we believe they will heal. 

2. Get a 2nd doctor's opinion to clear your doubt.

As you are the person paying the bill, you will only believe WHAT CERTIFIED DOCTORS say.

If you are unsure, go seek another doctor's advice.

It will settle your doubts and prepare you to face what is coming.

If you are sure on what you are facing & do not need another advise, then go ahead with the healing process with 100% faith in the doctors. Faith will carry a person a LONG way.

3. Have a CLEAR mind & choose what you need to listen. 

Believe me, when a person is diagnosed with cancer, many people around he or she will give tons of advise. These people care & love, that is why they wanted the best for them. However, sometimes the advise might not be exactly convincing. 

It could be " I heard that..." , " I found from the internet...." , " I know someone had the same thing & got healed..."... at the end of the day, a person can't be going around to try all healing methods, right?

If he or she does, they will purge like a water tap & the body will get very weak.

At the end of the day, the body might fail to fight the cancerous cells because it is not strong enough to strengthen the antibodies to fight.

Therefore, make up your mind to stick to the method which you think is best.

Once you have chosen, believe that it will work. 

Faith can do miracles to the healing process. 

4. Western + Eastern Cure

If you have done some research, you will find that eastern medication has good effects on fighting cancer as well.

Ayurvedic practice, yoga, meditation, acupuncture & herbs has its own effective ways of healing.

As for myself, I had chosen chinese herbs & twice weekly acupuncture to help my body to keep the cancer cells at bay.

Western medication kills the cancerous cells, as well as the healthy cells & its only short term. 

However, we can't be sure whether the cancerous cells are fully killed or not. 

On a long term, do remember that our body's antibody is the best agent to kill the cancerous cells.

My Driving Factor

5. Own Will Power

What pushes he or she to get better? You must find the answer for them.

Someone that they love? The feeling of not letting anyone down? 

Hasn't travel to the other side of the world yet? Or climb the highest mountain? Dive into the deep blue sea?

You must find a strong motivation factor to drive them & weather the hardship during healing.

As for myself, my son was the biggest driving factor. 

I know that he is still small & needs a father to love him. 

Thoughts of love is one of the strong motivational factor.

6. Know Your Medicine.

After seeing the doctor, a person will feel lost, confuse & disorganize. 

Whatever it is, he or she needs to start the process of healing... operation, chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

They must heal for the sake of the people around them, not for the sake of themselves. 

They need to be brave & face the challenge. 

To strengthen their confidence, know what they will be putting into their mouth or injecting into their body.

Its always good to check & know information like the medicine's origin, the side effects & the do's & don'ts during medication.

Many do not take the impact of the side effects well. 

Common side effects like loosing the hair gives BIG impact to some people, especially for ladies. 

It takes great courage for a woman to walk out of her house with a bald head. 

That's why during some of the cancer awareness events, some woman will volunteer & shave their head bald in support of the event. 

Know the medicine so that they are able to anticipate whats coming.

7. GET OUT from the house.

A person with cancer is not contagious. 

They do not need to confine ourselves in the house facing the 4 sides of the walls. 

Having cancer is not the end of the world. Rather it's a NEW BEGINNING to a chapter of their life. 

A trip to Bangkok with my friends

They need to go out & get some air. They need to mingle with other beings. 

There's always a positive advantage when they seek solace in others. 

Be proud of who they are & what had happened. 

Hiding isn't going to help the situation to get better. 

It's good to continue & lead a normal life, with lesser stress of course. 

8. Go for a walk. Exercise

Hey, even if their body is weak, doesn't mean that they can just sit there & be a couch potato. 

GET THEIR BUM up & start to move the body.

Exercising helps in many ways. It keeps the occupied. It helps the frail body to sweat. 

It keeps the body moving & make it hungry.

Do brisk walking. Or swimming. Or do some house work like sweeping or moping. 

9. Watch what you are eating.

Fresh salad but not too much

This is one part which is rather difficult. It always play tricks in their mind. 

Rule of thumb, watch what they eat.  

Western doctors will advise them to eat whatever that they could. 

Eastern doctors will only limit the choice to certain foods. 

Choose wisely & practice it. Get a certified doctor for advise. 

Especially when the side effect kicks in, the appetite will change like the wind. 

Eat the food that they could eat but don't engorge too much of it, especially food which they are not suppose to touch.

Taken at Kek Lok Si, Penang

10. Religion
If they have a religion, its always good to pray for body & mental strength. 

If they don't, they could consider believing in a higher being than ourselves. 

I have read a couple of books where cancer survivors used religion to heal themselves. 

Its pretty amazing & heart warming to hear that miracles can happen anywhere. 

BUT, DO NOT PRESS OR FORCE THEM. IF THEY DO NOT WANT TO HEAR, THEN STOP PREACHING.

It will only irritate them & they might shut themselves out from you. 

You don't know how dreadful it feels when we go through the side effects of the chemo or radio or even post operation. 

11. Patience

The healing process will take time. It depends on the number of chemo/radio cycles & the body condition.

Things will not happen overnight. Confide in them & give an ear to them.

They need you to listen to them & not the other way round. 

Be patient with them & patiently walk them through the process. 

From my experience, the above should do. If you need any advise, just drop me a mail.
I will advise the best that I could, based on my experience & capacity. 

Just to update what I'm up to now...

My last chemo was done on 10 May 2011.

It has been more than a year. Its really hard to believe what I had experienced.

Contrary to what I felt when I was diagnosed with cancer; I take the experience as a blessing & a life enrichment programme.

Life has never been that meaningful until I fell, bruised & started to look around myself.

Who are the important people in my life?

What have I achieved till now?

Have I climbed a mountain to be closer to the angels above?

Have I dive into the sea to the take a look? 

Have I spend quality time with my family?

Mt. Kinabalu

We, mankind do not realize how short our life is until we start to loose some important people or things in our life. 

We will never stop to chase after the riches that we had created for ourselves.

Instead, we can forget & forgo the body health which GOD has created for us.

As ironic as it sounds, you know this is true.

Every cancer survivor has a common fear.... a relapse of the cancer experience.

Whenever there's a pain or unusual feeling that we feel in our body, it automatically pops out in our mind... "Is this another cancer sign?"

Yes, it happens to me every time as well. 

Yet, after a while, I will forget & start to walk again.

I've come to understand that there is no point to live in fear.

Even if it did come, we still need to go through the process of recovery for the sake of our loved ones. 

Agree?

So, rather than tormenting our brain cells, why not adopt the "Preventive Maintainance" of ourselves?

That "Preventive Call" came to me &...VOILA!

I quit my job & started to lead a QUALITY life.

It's been more than a month now since I started to work on my own.

I traded my semiconductor sales job for a simple small business owner, doing instant photo, printing & business services kiosk.

Honestly, the responsibility is way much different compared to corporate life.

If we take a day off from the office, we still get our salary.

BUT being a business owner, if we don't work, we get nothing = '0' ~! 

The pressure is different.

Being an employee, we are pressured to deliver the results to the company.

BUT being self-employed, the pressure is to deliver a hot meal to my family with a proper roof above their heads.

At the end of the day, the quality of a person's life depends on how well he/she deals with the uncertainty. (I learn this from my buddy, Ryan Long. It was quoted by Anthony Robbins).

Secondly, Aerosmith sang this theme song from the movie, Armageddon.

It's called "Don't Wanna Miss a Thing".

3 of us at Cameron Highlands, again.

My feelings are just like the song. I don't wanna miss a thing that is important to me.

I don't want to miss the quality family time which I can have with my wife & son.

Not forgetting the quality time which I can have with my parents, siblings, relatives, buddies & friends.

All are very important to me, especially those whom had supported & helped me up during my 6 mths of recovery. 

I'm planning on a few holidays with my family too. It doesn't need to be fanciful like going overseas or spending a hefty sum of money to have fun. 

Instead, its the time which we will spend together.

To be able to sit down, talk casually, take artistic pictures, dine, swim & enjoying the moments together is so wonderful. These are quality time.

It's something which money can't buy as we can't turn back the clock.

Kellie's Castle

On our first trip, we went to Penang with Ryusei's godparents. It was a real good "eat your heart out" 2days trip. On our way down, we routed to Batu Gajah to see Kellie's Castle.

Ryusei wanted to see it as he had always read it in his school books. The castle was well kept & quite number of local tourist as well. Hope that it remains that way it is, full of mysteries at every corner.

Right after spending a couple of hours there, we continued our journey up to Cameron Highlands.

It took us like 3 hours just to reach the rest house. The traffic was bad due to the school holidays.

Again, the time that we spent there was just wonderful. It was so relaxing just sitting there reading books, surfing with the Ipad, taking short naps.... all of these makes me wonder why I didn't stop to look around me until I had cancer. 

Does it really take pain & suffering to wake a person up? I guess it does.

I'm very happy now & able to sleep tight.

I'm enjoying everyday.. its such a wonderful feeling. 

My next trip is coming very soon... Mt. Kinabalu Expedition.

Till then, I will write again.

Ta~ Ta ~!