My Cancer Story

Hey all,

I trust everyone’s doing well and keeping warm and Christmas was a wonderful time with family and friends :)

Most of you must be quite surprised to learn about my surgery and I figured I should lay it all out and give God the glory at the same time :)

I started experiencing severe abdominal pain during my one-month honeymoon in California this September. The pains would come on at about 2am each time and lasted about 3 hours. It was a constant and intense sharp pain in my upper abdominal area. This was nothing I’d ever experienced. Jess and I had pretty late dinners during our honeymoon and I figured it was indigestion. My tummy aches would come on about once a week.

Upon our return from our honeymoon in October, I was still experiencing my upper abdomical pains and it was more frequent, up to 3 times a week. As I was self-employed, I don’t need the medical leave and I don’t really believe in taking medicine, I kept delaying seeking medical treatment.

It was in late November when I accompanied Jess to see a doctor when she mentioned my tummy aches to the doctor who promptly sent me for an ultrasound test. The tests revealed that I had a distended gall bladder and several gallstones. I made an appointment at Changi General Hospital, the local public hospital closest to our home. My appointment was on Dec 9 but on the night of Dec 3 - my birthday of all days, the pain was so unbearable I popped painkillers to no avail. I’d also passed out fresh blood and that was enough to make me head for A&E at Changi General Hospital where I was warded just after midnight.

Once we discovered the gallstones, I’d shared with some of my church buddies it’s a spiritual attack as I felt the devil’s trying to hinder the new ministry that I knew God wanted me to be a part of. We prayed for Divine healing but God’s way is always perfect!

The doctors at CGH ran a couple of tests, which included gastrointestinal endoscopy and colonoscopy where they found a polyp in my sigmoid colon. They snared a sample of the polyp and sent it for tests.

It was Dec 6, 09, Sunday morning when the doctors informed me about the polyp in my colon before I took leave from the hospital to attend church. After service, I mentioned to pastor Jason, our senior pastor, about my polyp and he asked me if the polyp was wide or narrow based. Now I didn’t ask the doctors but winged it anyway and told him it was wide based. Pastor Jason himself a doctor who gave up medicine to serve God, then mentioned that it may be cancer. Being my goofy self, I joked with pastor Jason that I’d wanted to lose some weight without exercising and losing a portion of my colon would be a good way to lose weight in an instant :) During lunch, pastor Paul, our founding pastor who also gave up his lucrative medical practice to serve God, came up to me and shared that it was a good thing I passed out blood and it is cancer and I’m being prayed for. This was all before my histology report was out!!!

I thank God for that Sunday morning service where 2 visiting Americans gave a testimony of God’s grace, provisions and protection in their lives. I was greatly encouraged and knew whatever the hospital test results; God is with my family and me!

Up to this point, I thank God for His peace that surpasses all understanding :) My histology report confirmed the presence of cancerous cells in the polyp and I thank God the cells have yet to invade my colon walls. I understand from the doctors, they were pretty confident in removing the residual polyp and I should be in the clear. The only risk in this procedure was that they may perforate my colon and they’ll have to cut me up for open surgery should that happen.

Jess and my family felt I should seek a 2nd opinion and we went to Dr Goh Hak-Su, one of the top colorectal surgeons at Gleneagles, a private Hospital in Singapore. Before our visit to Dr Goh, one of our church friends, Dr Khoo Kei Siong who’s an oncologist practicing at Gleneagles met us at the lobby of the hospital and went through my medical reports. Kei Siong was very kind to have a word with Dr Goh just minutes before our appointment.

Dr Goh’s opinion was that even if the doctors at CGH could remove the poly without any incident, there’s no 100% guarantee that I’m cancer free as removing the poly involves burning it and one can’t effectively tests for cancer cells with burnt tissues. Given my strong family history of cancer on my maternal side of my family, he recommended we remove a portion of my colon where the polyp is to be 100% clear.

At this point, I was still at peace and comfortable with the doctor’s recommendation at CGH. The medical fees at Gleneagles would be 3 times more than CGH and this was an issue with me although I have medical insurance. Jess and I are expecting our 1st child and I haven’t been working for the most part of December and may be out of action till early February depending on how the surgery turns out.

One of the reasons why Jess and my family decided seek a 2nd opinion was because the doctors at CGH had conflicting reports about my polyp, I was told they removed the bulk - about 80%, of the polyp by one doctor while another mentioned that they only took a small sample for testing. The doctors at CGH were not willing to remove my gall bladder should there be a need for open surgery as well.

Anyway, the best thing I got out from my stay at CGH was from a fellow patient. He came out from surgery the night I was warded and he was in discomfort and pain for almost 2 days after his surgery. He kept beeping for the nurses like every 10 minutes. I didn’t know what he went through coz he kept to himself. On my 3rd day at CGH, the gentleman made his way to my bed. He shared that he had “the same thing” as myself 2 years and just underwent surgery. He told me it was very painful and not a joking matter as I’ve been joking with my visitors during my stay at CGH :) He had a pretty long scar along his abdomen about 20cm or 8 inches.

Back to Dr. Goh at Gleneagles. Jess, my family and I took some time to consider Dr Goh’s advice and recommendation. Dr Goh was very confident of a successful procedure and he will remove my gall bladder during the procedure as well. Dr God is a pioneer in laprascopic surgery and he told us my main surgical scar would on my about 6cm or 2.3 inches long with maybe 3 or 4 more 1-2cm incisions. The benefit of laprascopic surgery would be it is minimally invasive, there’s less complications and faster recovery. The downside is the really high surgical costs.

After a short time of prayer and discussion, we decided to bite the bullet and made a surgical appointment on Dec 14.

Now all this while, anxiety, panic or worries have yet to set in. Pastor Jason asked me to share with our congregation what’s happening on Dec 13, the day before my surgery and I thank God for His peace, joy and strength! During the 1st service, I’d shared that maybe reality hasn’t set in as I felt as if my diagnosis was just the common cold and not cancer. However, during the 2nd service, I shared that the reality is that I know God is with Jess and me and He’s in control of everything. He allowed this to happen for a reason and our responsibility is to find out His lessons in all of this!

During my stay at CGH, I was reading the book of Daniel and I drew strength from the testimonies of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego who refused to worship the statue of king Nebuchadnezzar. When threatened by the king, their response was:

“If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” – Daniel 3:17-18

I knew deep down in my heart God will deliver us from this “trial” but regardless the outcome of the surgery, Jess and I will praise God!

Life was still normal on Dec 14. I was till my goofy self and was actually late in admitting myself to Gleneagles. I was rushed to do another colonoscopy where Dr Goh injected dye into the polyp in order to locate it during surgery upon my admission. That’s all I could remember.

I woke up at 4am Dec 15 from surgery and I felt great!!! It was as if I woke up from a deep restful sleep. I felt no discomfort or pain. I immediately thanked God and buzzed for the nurse to help me walk as I remembered Dr Goh saying the sooner I try to walk after surgery, the quicker my recovery. The nurse came to me but it was way too early for me to be walking around the ward and I had 2 drainage tubes and a catheter attached to my body so any movement would be a huge inconvenience.

I asked the anesthetist who came by at about 9:30am to take me off the morphine as I was feeling nauseous and couldn’t keep anything down. Well, once the morphine was taken off, pain and discomfort set in. I could feel the tubes coming out from my body and I could feel the tightness and ache in my abdomen!!! However, I still thanked God for His grace and comfort. I wasn’t in very much pain like the guy at CGH :)

The nurse removed my catheter and one drainage tube later that morning and I managed to walk 2 rounds around the ward. I paid a price for my walk later that afternoon, as I felt really uncomfortable. They say the 1st day after surgery is always the hardest and they’re not kidding :)

During my hospital stay at Gleneagles, Kei Siong visited me every morning and I thank God for his friendship and concern :) I had to use the attached bathroom pretty frequently and I thank God the other patient in our room was immobile. While at CGH where I stayed at a 4-bedded room, I had to take laxatives to clear my digestive system before my colonoscopy and on that night, it was just myself and the guy who kept beeping for the nurses and he was in complete bed rest so I didn’t inconvenience anyone with my frequent bathroom visits. God is so good :)

Dr Goh mentioned that I could be discharged as soon as I move my bowels so I prayed that I would poop soon and thank God for answered prayers. I was discharged on Dec 17, 3 days after my surgery and it was great to be home!!!! Dr Goh also confirmed that I’m cancer free after the surgery.

One of my pastor friends had e-mailed me once he knew of my condition and encouraged me to seek the Lord and to learn of His lessons from this experience.

I’ve learnt a couple of lessons this past month.

One is that God is amazingly gracious, merciful and in control of all things.

Second, I still sometimes hold on to my financial security too much than to trust God for His provision and the medical bill is a huge chunk of our savings. We’ve yet to confirm how much my insurance will cover the hospital bills but Jess and myself have surrendered everything to the Lord :)

Thirdly, I’m learning to take things slowly and not be so impatient. I’m a type-A workaholic and I’m easily bored but I’m enjoying digging into His Word and learning to relax.

Fourthly, I thank God for Jessie, my wonderful wife. We’ve grown closer to each other and I love her even more dearly now. I never used to like the idea of her cooking at home as I find that she messes up the kitchen but she’s learning to cook and clean up really well.

One of the best blessing is through my hospitalization, my relationship with my estranged younger brother has warmed up and there’s light at the end of the tunnel in our relationship :)

There’s so many much more stuff to thank God for but the most important is for Jesus Christ, His Son Who died for all our sins and through His death, burial and resurrection, we can have His peace, joy and comfort during the best of times and most challenging of times :)

Happy holidays

Malcolm