PET Scan and Selamat Hari Raya 2012

          Hi every one , its been a while. Time has endlessly passed by; day turning into night and back to day again. And I am still here every day !! Some great thing have happened which I need to share with all of you.
First and formost is the PET - CT scan which I did last week. The "GOLD" standard of cancer detection in the body ( there are some exceptions tho). The scan is clear with no signs of cancer in any part of the body. Which means I have a clean bill of health. I just need to repeat this for the next 5 years and then I will be clinically declared cancer free. At the moment I am in what is called remission. The taste buds are still AWOL but I am eating well. The weight has stablilised at 168 lb or 71kg's, not too bad I think.
         Today is the first day of Raya and I have been overwhelmed with SMS wishing me a great year a head. I thank every one for their kind thoughts. Most touching was from Kumar from Madras. My old school pal. We spent many periods at his Lorong Travers house in Penang.
         Uploaded a raya pic for everyone. Marisha spent her Raya in South America (Peru). So I took the opportunity to Photoshop the images together and make it into a family photo.
          There are many anonymous who have followed my journey and there are some who need encouragement along the way. My blog is open and my e-mail is available. Please share with me any concerns that you might have.

" The road is long, with many a winding turn 

That leads us to - who knows where, who knows where,

and so .....

It's a long, long road, from which there is no return 

While we're on the way to there, why not share"

Thanks guyz and SEALAMT HARI RAYA IDIL FITRI 2012.

6 months later......

Hi every one,
Its now 6 months since I started my tonsil cancer treatment. Its been a long arduous journey with many ups and downs. And now 6 months later I can only remember the good times. The last week has been an almost a great revelation that life is back to normal. I played in 2 golf competitions over 18 holes in the hot blazing sun and I am back to my normal facilitating CRM at work. The energy levels are back to where it should be.
My routine is 2 hours in the gym and swimming for 30-45 minutes in the mornings of my off days. THe afternoon is is relaxing and then followed by a round of golf at 1630 hrs for 9 holes.

The days that I work is an all day affair and so nothing gets done. This keeps me mentally occupied and physically consumed. I don't really mind it at all. Here is something that I did over the last week at the CRM instructors course. Check it out.
This is a 5 minute video on speaking skills that I demo during the class. Everyone has 5 minutes to do it. The 3 things that I look for is the story message , the visual message and the physical message.

Looking at this video and the previous video, I can see the difference in the facial appearance. This looks more like me 6 months ago albeit 15 kgs lighter !!. 

My medical review for  renewing my flying licence is getting nearer and nearer. I will have to show the medical review board that I am fully recovered from the effects of chemo and radiation. This needs to be supported by medical tests namely a PET scan, and ENT report and the usual ECG chest X-ray and audio-gram plus the full spectrum blood test. This I will have to do starting at the end of August or the beginning of September 2012. I hope all goes well. 

8 weeks later....

8 weeks later

              I have been getting many e-mails and calls asking if every thing is OK with my recovery and recuperation. I appreciate your concern for my well being and I am glad to pen today that I am in great shape physically and mentally. Just to justify that I have uploaded the latest pic of me. Check out my 5 min speech as well!!

             Its been 10weeks since I finish my radiation and chemo and how time flies. I am almost into daily routine now. Usually a workout in the gym, 30mins of cardio and 60mins of weights and strength building followed by 30 min of relaxed swimming. On alternate days I go cycling around the house for 30 mins. I have noticed the difference in my physic, more muscles and trimmer body. The weight has stabilised around 160 lbs or 74 kgs, almost an ideal BMI weight for my height. The evenings are reserved for golf (9 holes) that I play with Kat regularly. The rest of the night is exclusively for EURO2012 football till 2 am !!. Usually I watch the first match live and record the second game to view the next morning.

             I am back to work as well but not flying ...yet. I do about 10 days of classroom training for the pilots and the rest of the month is off. The flying can only be commenced when I do my pilots medical in September. Prior to that I will have to satisfy the medical board that I am fully fit and recovered from the the radiation and chemo. For that I need to show medical reports from my health providers and as well as a PET scan to show that the cancer is under control. This process is long winded and time consuming. Then I will need to reactivate my pilot license and further training in the simulators and actual cockpit flying. All in all it would take another 6 weeks or so. 

            So every one following me on this post, I am glad to say I am back to almost normal, save for my taste buds that are still missing and dry mouth that I will have to get used to for the rest of my life. Other than that life is almost back to normal.

I am going to upload some pic as I took just for the records. Have a great day every one.!

Lying on the MIRT Machine

The control room for IMRT radiation

Using lasers to align the body and the machine

Yes ! I am back to work...

          Finally the I crossed the finishing  line. There was no yellow jersey waiting of me to wear, no trophy to carry and no crowd to cheer. Its was an eerie silence. Chris and I had gone to see Dr Lum on the morning of the  2nd of MAY for the final check up. It was good news all over. The treatment had officially come to an end. The prognosis was good. The next appointment was 1 year away. The medical pesonal that I need to see on a regular basic from now are my dentist and ENT specialist. And that would be on a 6 and 4 monthly basis respectively. So that was it. By noon it was all over. Bye bye DSH ! and we drove home feeling rather elated and yet subdued. Elated because it was all over, especially for the care giver, Chris, and subdued because what the future holds. There is no guarantee in life I guess and I have learned this very very quickly and the hard way as well.. 
        My mind turned towards the CRM meeting scheduled for tomorrow. I was fit and eager to attend the meeting. Driving to the LCCT airport wasn't a problem as my vertigo has disappeared mysteriously as it appeared. So the wind direction changed and again I made a swift tack into wind. My goal was to continue where I had left off. 9 weeks of hiatus hasn't made my brains rusty. If fact it seemed to be recharged to engage the next challenge. My only worry is that I am not putting in enough exercise as I should. Well this will be my priority from this week onward. 

       I will take this opportunity to thank each and ever one of you for reading this blog, for your well wishes, concern, SMS, calls, prayers and support. I will wind down this blog and only update it as and when required. Anyone on the same journey that needs help and support please feel free to e-mail me and I will get in touch. Thank you all, with much love and affection...Shakil

             

CRM Team

A little reflection....

                             Let me reflect on my journey today. Where was I 8 weeks ago? Where am I today? How 8 weeks make the difference!.Time heals! When I first was diagnosed with tonsil cancer, Sally called me up from Penang  to have a supportive - motivational - inspirational chat. In that conversation something struck me deeply and reverberated in my head since. What was it she said? "Shakil soon every thing will be in the past, nothing is ever permanent, and time will heal."  Wow ! Time has passed and its ever so healing! . Today I feel I am no longer a cancer afflicted. I have crossed the threshold and now a new beginning, I am on the road of recovery. The hill climb and the rough ride is finally over. Its past. Now I can look forward to a new destination, The weight has been steady for the last 4 days at 77 kg, That's good news.
My appetite has improved and now have progressed to semi solids.Taste buds are dead, just waiting for the day when they spring back to life!.Perhaps its a good time to start taking the supplement that so many people brought over.I have Japanese Green Sea Weed to consume and a case of Brand Essence of Chicken and Sabah Snake Grass ( my brother Aziz brought this over to plant in my garden and consume the leaves,)
          The weekend saw many friends dropping by to say hello and catching up with old tales. Sunny and Sally dropped by on Sat whilst Gerad Gunter came by to say hello to Chris and I.. Sunday saw the PPC gang drop by for tea. Many thanks to all for dropping by the house.

We have come a long way

My first golf game....yippeeeeeee!!

     Wow! I have recovered from the worst, from now on it will only get better and better. My throat is almost 90% OK, able to swallow...no problem at all with minimal pain or discomfort.and day by day I am getting bolder in trying different stuff around the kitchen and pantry. The appetite is slowly improving. My diet is now semi -solids, so all that is good news. Had Sabri & Wati send over Kelantan food for Sat's lunch. Not that I could taste anything but I certainly ate my favorite nasi  kukused in banana leaves.dono what its called but it  was great.. My sense of smell is acute and so stuff like soy, sesame oil, curry all smells good. Sadly though my taste buds are non existent.So whether I get to eat sweets tau foo fah or delicious chicken soup noodled makes no differenence. I just wack it to survive. My weight has stablised, thank God, 77kg now.
      My voice is slowly coming back and so is the energy levels. Gone are the days where I would sit in front of the TV aimless surfing the sports channels to keep me occupied. Now I am back in front of the computer screen  doing what I do best and that is designing new materials for the lecture and presentations. I am updating the CRM manual and that is challenging and frustrating at times as I run out of ideas. Hope fully if my vertigo subsides and I am able to drive the car without endangering my self or others on the road, I will go back to work soon. Yeah....saw the ENT fella last Friday and got more medicine to stablise the  vertigo. Now it not so bad but still I can feel it that its still there.
       On the subject of driving, I drove to the golf course today around 5:30pm. in my old car WAR9394. Wow, no problem at all driving. Got to the golf course around 6.00pm and had just enough time to play 3 holes and work out a sweat. Not bad after 8 weeks of layoff. Yes after 3 hole I got pretty tired and my legs started to ache. Yeah I am pretty unfit. But the fact that I was able to drive my self and play golf just shows that the future is bright and the nightmare is slowly fading into history.
       I am already planing my exercise regime for tomorrow. I was advised by KAT to take it slowly, perhaps walking being the best exercise followed by swimming. The gym has to wait for a while.
Well its 0130 hrs and I better get some sleep. So bye every one. Goodnight!!

Its a topsy turvy world for awhile

           Recovery is slow and steady. The neck area has completely healed even though it does get itchy at times. The aleo vera from the garden ( a present from Annette) came very handy. Chris extracted the gel and spread it evenly over the neck area during the evenings and bed time remedy was to massage the area with virgin coconut oil. All in all it worked well and All's well that ends well.
           I am able to eat better and now venturing into semi-solids, but still no taste. Wondering when that will return? The weight has stablised at 169 lb or 77 kgs just on my ideal BMI weight index of 24.7. Hope fully I will regain the taste buds sooner than later.
           Now that the chemo and rad is over I am in a better condition to see and welcome friends, relatives and colleagues. Last weekend my old school mate Tiong, Chai, Huat, Sunny and Sally all dropped by to say hello and bring great spirits of laughter and fun. Not forgetting Madi and Kat for their constant "eye keeping" on my condition. Thank you guyz.
            The road to recovery is still rocky and bumpy topsy turvy. One of the side effects of the chemo drug "Cisplatin" is amongst a whole list is vertigo and dizziness. Somehow last 2 day I got afflicted to it and it can really make the world go round and round and round. It got so bad that I had to lie down almost the whole day. I have to be very careful walking. Bathing in the morning is done seated. Luckily the toilets in my house has grip bars installed and so that helps. I called Dr Lum and told him about my condition and he prescribed some pill. "Stugeron". This pill when taken makes you really drowsy. So now I am sleeping more and more during the day. The vertigo comes and goes and I notice it usually hits me if I move my head rapidly or change the position of my head from vertical to horizontal vice versa. So my movements are literally restricted until I overcome this. Well this is the Easter weekend and my wishes goes out to everyone celebrating Easter especially Karen & Linda plus family in Australia. Have a Great Easter Weekend and hope the Easter Bunny will bring greater fortunes and even more chocolate cookies over the year.