Cancer & Family: Tuesday, October 30, 2007

FINALLY!

My LAST CHEMO!!

I left the hotel at 8:00 for my 8:50 PT Scan. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a cab right away. Business people were lining up. So, gotta beeeeeee patient a tiny bit. When I finally got a cab, told the driver to speed up a bit. Well, they don't drive like the way I drive. Singapore always has rules for this and that including speed limit. But it was a rush hour so not much can do there lah! It was almost 8:50 when I got in the cab and Ivan was in the hospital already waiting for me. He's an on-time baby. God knows how many times he checked on me just to make sure I was in the bloody cab. Of course I was late when I got there and he was in the lobby with his laptop browsing I dunno what. Gave him a good morning kiss on the head, left him there again, and ran straight to the Imaging Center.

First thing to do in the hospital was to get the CT Scan done. I'd been fasting since 6:30 in the morning, and felt so hungry and thirsty by the time I arrived at the hospital. Believe me, even my boyfriend's thumb looked so yummy. After I registered at the Imaging Center, they gave me this yellow colored drink. The nurses said that it wasn't suppose to taste good. Hell with it! I was thirsty and according to thirsty Stephanie: GOOD!
If I thought about it over again, it was actually taste like a stale Lemon Juice. YUCK!
So, drank that 09:30. Enjoy the drink? Gila apa..???? Blagak enjoy aja dech. My Ivan aja yang kept asking: how's it, sayang..? enak, sayang..? Dalam hati gue: abis ini loe yang gue seret buat chemo. Bolak balik nanya lagi..

While waiting for the next drink at 09:50, I went up to the 8th floor to get the FULL blood test. First torture of poking the needles begun. CRAP! These people don't know how to find my veins. Sure, they kept telling me: oooh, you have such fine veins.. it's a princess (whatever lah!) Tapping my arms just to get the veins, it's just soooo.. blah.
It's very different than Indonesia. The nurses in Indonesia are able to to find my veins in a second, and... it doesn't hurt.
Tapi gak segitu kerasa kali ini. Mungkin karena around me there were Ivan and my sis. Yeah, as usual, my sis ya sibuk sendiri. Sibuk ambil photo sana sini. Terutama ambil foto gue pas lagi disuntik. Dan selalu nge'guyon gak jelas. Meanwhile, Ivan mukanya sudah memelas gak tega liat gue ditusuk2. Tapi apa dikata, blood test must go on.

After the blood test - and still couldn't eat yet, I went back down to the Imaging Center to get the CT Scan. Drank the last gulp of the pee-like drink, changed and used the robe, and wait there along with the Singaporean grandmas and grandpas. Begitu dipanggil.. jantung gue rasanya dah mau copot. I didn't remember that they were going to INJECT something again to my hand. Duh! How can I forgot. I did this on my first chemo. And now I had to do it again. Ya uwes. Pasrah aja dah loe.
Tusuk lagi.. tusuk lagi.. Enakan ditusuk di tempat lain kali yah daripada ditusuk di tangan pake jarum.. HAHAHAHAHAHA..
Tangan gue rasanya sakiiiiiiit banget waktu dimasukin cairan buat highlight seluruh badan gue. What worse was that they were going to put some liquid into my anus to highlight the pelvis. Bayangkan! ada botol yang harus dimasukin ke pantat gue. Gila, bo!!! Anal sex aja gue tolak mentah2, itu lagi.. Go to hell, dude!! Tapi setelah tawar menawar, akhirnya gak jadi juga.
PHEW!
Kalo sampe kejadian mati lah gue.. Gak tau lagi bakal jadi apaan gue. Jalannya dah pengkor kali..

Anyway, done with CT Scan. I could finally eat!
Damn, I was so hungry. I ate roast hainamese chicken rice, Ivan ate nasi Padang, and my sis ate Yong Tau Foo. Lunch was good, as well as the talk. Disini gue bener2 bisa liat that they, Ivan and my sis, really care for me. Mereka selalu memastikan that I got enough nutrients. Ntah mereka maksa apa gimana tapi gue dipaksa makan buah mulu. Telen aja deh. Dari pada rame..

To kill the time till 2 PM, me and Ivan sat down on the sofa at the lobby. Cuddle up in public, make everybody jealous (gak penting deh!), relax.. serasa dunia milik kita berdua yang lain cuma numpang. Ahhahahahahahaha.. Sampe TENG! dah waktunya naik - belum banget sih.. tapi Ivan gak mau telat aja. Duile, bo! dari lobby ke lantai 8 doang gitu.. Again, ngikut aja dech. BTW, yang di chemo gue kenapa yang semangat dia yah..? *garuk garuk*

Akhirnya kita ketemu sang dokter juga. Setelah di tensi.. cek sana sini.. Baru dech masuk dipanggil dokter.
Dokternya yaaaa.. lumayan lah. Buat ukuran orang Singapore mungkin he's quiet a catch. Hehehehe.. Tapiiiiii.. asal pitaknya ditutupin. Every time my sister and I went to his practice room, he looks happy. Ada hiburan gretong kali yeh.. Si mbak lagi, wuiiiih.. kalo nganterin gue ke dokter atribut dandan dan gaya gak pernah lepas. Kadang pake belahan dada yang ampun ampun bikin dokter pusing (tukang taxi aja puyeng liatnya..). Meanwhile, gue ala kadarnya tapi masih tetep oke lah (gak mau kalah bener dah gue..) Hihihihi...Dasarnya aja gue gak mau repot. Abis itu tangan kebas, bo. Have mercy, dech..

So, what did the doctor said..? *dug.. dug.. dug..*
He said that that everything was good!
From the scan, it shows no spread of of cancer cells.
EVERYTHING IS FINE!

yeeeeeeeehhaaaaaa...!!!!

I couldn’t be happier.
Especially my sister – Ibu Bandar hehehehe.
Well, Ivan didn’t hear the whole thing since he was outside waiting. I think he just couldn’t bear listen to whatever the doctor would say about me.
I couldn’t even picture how happy I was. Happy but still confuse: is that it??
I realized that the label Stage 3 Colon Cancer will always be with me for the rest of my life. Even though I’m free, but it doesn’t mean that I’m completely free. It’s a heditary disease, so I better watch out. It is now the part that I really have to pay attention to everything I do.

BTW, I don’t know when my sister find the time to send SMS to everybody in her phone book about this good news. But this is what she sent:

We thank God 4 our Good News.
Final CT Scan of Stephanie showed NO evidence of cancer spreading J
Penyebaran sel2 kanker berhasil diSTOP.
Bersyukur, hari ini Chemoteraphy yang terakhir.
Thanks untuk doa yang diberikan.

Now, chemo time!
Ivan was next to me holding my hand when the nurses were trying to find my vein. I was squeezing his hand so hard that he couldn’t stand it anymore and called my sis to take his place. Hahahahaha.. I just don’t understand why the nurses started with my arm instead of my hand. It was supposed to start with my hand first, then if they still cannot find it they should go up to my arm and so on. Ah, they know better.. what do I know except screaming my heart out?

After the needle went in, Ivan has the guts to came back to the chemo booth.

There we sat for about 2 hours long. Just me & Ivan. Waiting for the chemo infusion to finish. He was surprise to see how strong I was (according to him) that I didn’t scream and was able to pull myself together. He said that I was strong. Really? I didn’t realize that.
It was nice to be accompanied by someone you love during that painful time.
Numbness on my left hand started just 30 minutes before the chemo was done. And it’s time to take the needle out. Phew!
Wait.
No “phew”.
It was AARRRRRRRRGGGGHHHH….! Breath in, breath out.. Hold your breath..
Even Ivan had to hug me from the side, closed my eyes and didn’t let me see the whole thing until the needle was out. And finally it was out. And by 6 PM we were out of the hospital, heading to the Grand Hyatt by cab. My sister dropped us at the looby, and she went straight to the mall did some shopping.

Ivan & I just relaxed for awhile in the room. Hey, couldn’t do much here. Left still numb and in pain. So, we just wait in the room till we get hungry. Take some pics just like banci foto getoooooh…