The Waiting Game

Today is the day before my PET scan and to say that I'm not anxious would be a lie. I get scanned tomorrow morning to see how much the tumor in my abdominal area has shrunk. However, I won't know the results until Monday afternoon when I meet with my oncologist so it's gonna be a few more days of waiting patiently. I am hoping for the best results possible-- that the tumor will be all gone or only some traces of it left and the two remaining chemo sessions I have left will kill off anything else. My oncologist is hopeful that this will be the case so I'll just have to keep thinking positive thoughts. I will update everyone as soon as I know.

I haven't updated this blog in over a week as the scan has preoccupied my mind and also because I've had a few relatives visiting me from Australia to check on my well-being. My support network reaches far and wide from Australia to Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia and it's great to know that even thousands of miles away, I have people thinking of me and rooting for me.

When my uncle and cousin were here, we just spent a lot of family time together catching up. As most people know, I spent my childhood years in Australia and still have a lot of family back there. I try to go back every 6-7 years, the last time was in 2012 when I took the whole family there. My son learned to walk while he was in Adelaide!

When my extended family get together, they always talk about the "old days" of living in Cambodia and growing up in Australia. This is how they reminisce, much like how my high school friends and I always talk about the good old Aragon High days when we get together. My uncle provided some insights about me that were really thought provoking. He said that I have three lives. I've faced enormous challenges in my life and now I'm facing another big one. The first one was when I was born. The doctor dropped me upon delivery leaving a bloody gash in my head (this may explain a lot of things about why I am what I am today). Everyone thought I wasn't going to make it but somehow, the wound healed and I survived. Guess I was just too stubborn to go away that easily and that thick-headedness that people know me to be was born at birth! The second life was surviving the Killing Fields. My uncle and mom said that during the war, I would go into the rice fields at night to steal rice grains which my mom would grind up to make me porridge soup. I must have been only 4 then because I don't remember much at all but this is what they said I did in order to have food to eat. I guess I was lucky that I didn't get caught or anything as they would have surely beat me to death had they found out. The third life of course is now and trying to beat cancer.

I guess what my uncle was trying to say is that I'm a survivor. Not that I would want to be compared to a cockroach, but I guess I am sorta like one in the sense that no matter how tough life has gotten, I've found ways to survive. You can't kill me off just yet! I've got too many things to live for-- my kids, my wife, my family, and my friends. These are all good things worth surviving for and for that, I will continue to stay strong and positive and beat this thing.