First 2 Weeks – The Unexpected Diagnosis

Before everything to Day 1 of diagnosis

The diagnosis was unexpected. What started as check up for leg pain turned out to be a cancer diagnosis.

Weeks before the diagnosis, Dad went to his regular GP (Dr Koh) that have known him for decades, because his leg hurts. Dr Koh hasn’t met Dad for 1-2 years and saw that Dad had lost quite a bit of weight (10-15kg) since they last met.

Dr Koh thought the weight loss was unusual, so he asked Dad to lie down so he could check his body. Dr Koh felt a lump near to where the liver is located, so he asked my Dad to go for X-rays and ultrasounds.

When the X-rays and ultrasounds reports/scans were out, they found a mass over the right kidney.

Dr Koh then referred Dad to his friend who’s a kidney specialist (Dr Tan) at Mount Elizabeth for further investigation.

At this time, none of the Doctor said anything about cancer. At first, we were told that the mass could be removed and it is curable. They scheduled Dad to do a CT Scan.

Dad did his scan at Mount E and was advised to do a CT scan the next day and that they would like to schedule a meeting with his family after the CT scan is out.

Dad was out of his scan. Dr Tan came to the ward and said the report is out and asked if we would like to take a look at the standing computer outside the ward (near to the reception). The 3 of us (Dad, Sister & I) were standing in front of what feels like a high traffic place where people were walking pass behind us and rolling hospital beds in and out) as Dr Tan scrolls through the scans showing and explaining to us what this and that was. While we were all comprehending what we were looking at, Dr Tan broke the news to us “so, it’s cancer.” Upon hearing those serious words in such a casual setting was unexpected.

Dr Tan was quick to guide us to an answer that gives us direction in our disoriented state of mind. He shared that he knows a few great oncology doctors in Singapore and he can recommend to us, and we can select the Doctor that we’re most comfortable with. And he will call the Oncologist to come to meet us at the ward.

We asked him to go ahead to arrange for the Oncologist he recommends (Dr Toh) and walked back to the ward that’s about ten steps away.

Lunch was served. Dad asked us to go over to Paragon to have our lunch while he has his. It was a good call because all of us needed space and time to process the news. Especially Dad.

After lunch, we went back to the ward to wait for Dr Toh to arrive.

We met Dr Toh, and he explained to us briefly what treatments is usually recommended, and also briefly explain to us what to expect.

They ordered a biopsy and MRI for Dad. Dad got to do all of it within hours. (Private hospital is fast). Dad had to stay the night; this was to make sure that there’s no bleeding after the biopsy.

The biopsy will show us what type of cancer cell it is. Knowing the type it is will determine which treatment will be more effective.

From the day of diagnosis to starting treatment was in a span of 2 weeks. In these two weeks, we did all the following in preparation.

• Met up with Dr Toh at Curie Oncology (Farrer) for a very informative and detailed meeting where he explains what to expect, what treatment he recommends, what drugs, what is the duration, how often it is, the cost and everything.
• I asked him to write down the treatment, the drugs etc. for us so we could seek a second opinion for it. Dr Toh is very opened to the idea of us seeking the second opinion.
• We managed to get a second opinion at National Cancer Centre (government) as we would like to know the difference in price and everything. We met Dr Ravi, and he assured us that Dr Toh advise the best for our case and if we have private insurance, we should go to private hospital as it’s faster since time is of the essence now.
• At the same time, we were heading down to insurance companies, to know what can be claimed etc (which believe or not, they couldn’t give us affirmative answers to what we can or cannot claimed). Why is it when we buy insurance, they can tell us if this or that happened, you can claim. And when something like cancer that seems totally qualifiable for an insurance claim, suddenly we have to go ahead with our first treatment first (pay for it) and then submit a claim, and from there could they then let us know if it’s 100% claimable.
• Dad bought insurance that covered private hospitals. Yet us deciding to go with a private hospital seem like we had to go with trust and faith, and not fact and assurance. We are talking about $19K+ treatment for every three weeks.
• At the same time, we also went to TCM (used by people we know who also have or had cancer), to understand what TCM can do as well. The TCM Doctor was straightforward to say that they are mainly going to help tackle the side effects and balance the body from the treatment.

We decided to go with private (without the assurance from insurance).

Everything went smoothly.

Exactly on Day 14. Dad begins his first treatment at Curie Oncology.

Diagnosis: 11th Feb 2020

1st Treatment: 24th Feb 2020

About the treatment in the next post.