A Fight Against Breast Cancer

Just last June of this year, my mom was diagnosed to have a breast cancer. We went to Medical City in trinoma (just a clinic which is closest to our place) to have my mom's breast checked because she was telling us that it hurts. She told us that she can feel a lump for both breast. Good thing was we had this checked right away. The first doctor checked my mom's breast and told us that the moment she land her hand on the left breast she was able to feel it. She was shocked because it was huge. According to her the size of the lump was same as the cap of a regular size alcohol. For the right breast, it took her 3mins to locate it. It was smaller than that of the left. Doc said the lumps should be removed and have it undergo a biopsy(a process of checking whether the lump was malignant or benign)The doctors were telling us that we shouldn't draw our conclusions yet until we see the results of the biopsy. Dra. referred us to another doctor (if I remember it right, he was Dr. Jorge) which is a surgeon. So Dr. Jorge checked my mom's breast and explain the situation which we are already aware of. He asked us which kind of biopsy we want because we can choose either Incision or Excision (not sure though of the spelling ahaha..). Im not certain about the meaning but as far as I know the other one means to remove the whole lump and the other one means to get a part or a tissue of the lump. We asked for the Doctors opinion and ask which is the best. In the end, she had to undergo both types. They removed the whole lump for the left breast(which is huge) and since the lump on the left is pretty small then the doctor suggested that they will get a part of the lump for testing. So the following week my mom had a minor operation for the biopsy and waited for another week to get the result the we are all dreading.

Mom was diagnosed to have a stage I Breast Cancer and Grade 1 (Grade 1=malignant cells multiply slowly; Grade 2=Moderately Fast and Grade 3= Fast) for the gravity of the malignant cells. I was with my sister and with my mom when the break the news. Of course we were in shock but in calm condition (me and my sister talked about this before going to the clinic and we agreed to stay calm and never show weakness in front of our mom if the result will be bad). My mom wasn't able to absorb it right away until we went home. My mom was in tears during our way home. All we can say was nothing but power words and encouragements that she can get through this, WE can all get through this. We inform our friends and relatives to pray for our mom atleast for spiritual help and moral support. Angela did some research about my moms condition while I asked my collegues (mostly certified nurses) about the information they know.

My cousin's wife Ness called Angela the moment she heard the news. Her mom was a cancer patient before and was a survivor. She told us the doctor that took care of her mom was her friend and she recommends that we seek assistance with the same doctor. Doctor Precilla Cagiua was a resident doctor in University of Sto. Tomas and also in St. Lukes hospital. She told us that Dra. Precy was good so immediately we went to UST for consultation. Dra. Precy told us everything we need to know and in the end we were advised to have moms both breast removed. Dra. precy is an Oncologist and dont do operation so she referred us to Doc. Olalia which is good because he was a maxicare affiliate doctor. Mom had to stay in the Hospital for five days for the operation. The expenses were covered by the health card and Philhealth so we didn't encounter much problem(although the card was maxed out and we need to cash out P60,000.00 for the professional fee and other expenses in the hospital).

After a month, mom was able to recover about last operation and was ready for the next step. Actually to be honest, we thought we're good after the operation but we are dead wrong. The breast that they got from mom undergone some testings. They found out what exactly is mom's status. They told us that mom's Breast Cancer stage was II and the gravity of the malignant cells was Grade 3. Dra. Precy suggested that mom undergo six cycles of chemotherapy to make sure that all the malignant cells in moms body will be removed. So come August mom had her first cycle of chemotherapy. Dra. prescribe some medicines that will somehow help my mom suppress some effects of the chemo drugs. But as expected, she lose weight and wasn't able to eat well. She also lose her hair as well which for me is too painful. It gives my mom a mark that she was not well and she was medicating. All the our neighbors found out our moms condition which we want to avoid because we don't want them to talk to our mom differently and we don't want them to ask about her condition because that would only let our mom dwell in sorrow and maybe she will feel sorry for herself. During the course of her chemotheraphy, she was advised o use a facial mask and was advised to avoid eating fresh foods to avoid getting bacteria and the like. On the 4th, 5th and 6th day after each cycle she is advised to inject a Granocyte (which will help her boost her immunity or enhance the production of white blood cells). Every monday of the 3rd week she needs to take a blood test just to check the status of her blood and during tuesday or thursday(which is the schedule of Dra. Precy in UST) she will have her regular check up. She sometimes had some problems like having extremely bad tooth ache that alarmed us because we saw our mom in tears because of the pain. She can't take meds that are in the family of mefenamic acid so the doctor prescribed other pain reliever.

And on this day, my mom just had her 6th and final cycle of chemotheraphy. We are all happy for our mom. She made it. WE made it. We did not let our mom fight in the battle field alone. We were all by her side during the entire battle. Each member of the family had their own contributions whether its big or small. All take their part and cooperated well. We were a team. I Just realized that during this times you will never let a member of a family down. You'll do everything and anything to save reason why you're here. If my father would see us, I know he'll be happy and I know he'll be proud of what we've done and what we've accomplished. I just wished he was still here. But wherever he is right now, I know he's looking for us.

"In the end all will be okay. If its not yet okay then its not yet the end."