Working towards Wellness

The radiotherapy block where Edmund had his RT treatment in the past six weeks.

The 30th RT session programmed for Edmund was completed on 5 February. Edmund is free from any RT & chemo medication in the next four weeks. This means that he does not have to go back to the hospital on a daily basis for the RT treatment. The oncologist has scheduled appointment for Edmund to have blood test every two weeks and to start the next phase of chemotherapy treatment on another six months cycle after the four weeks recess.

Healing is a gradual process. Edmund apologised of not been able to take up visits from friends & relatives for a while. He has to be given time to rest and to re-focus his life towards his usual routine slowly. While Edmund is wrestling with decisions about treatment and making plans for how to get going during his recuperation, he is keeping himself healthy, he eats & sleeps well & is taking good care of himself. He is confident that his doctors have given him excellent treatment.

Edmund would be updating you again whilst further treatment is taking. In the meantime, he would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for the great support especially the tremendous encouragement given to him through emails/ cards/ phone calls etc.

What can we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?
Romans 8:26-31

“雖有流水阻前路，助我渡過有小橋；不愁流水復流水，自有一橋又一橋。”

“我們也許都對將來充滿疑惑恐懼，然而在人生成長路上，能夠活在當下，心存感恩，快樂就在眼前。何時何地，謹祝願，當下的您：幸福快樂！”

Year of the Ox!

Make a Smilebox greeting

A Great Start to the New Year!

A Great Lunch Gathering on 3 January 2009

Make a Smilebox greeting

The radiation therapy (RT) treatment Edmund was prescribed was a 3D conformal radiation (3DCRT), i.e best for patient with conditions requiring treatments that can be extended to a margin around the tumor bed to account for microscopic traces of tumor cells. To ensure that the beams would target on the right position, Edmund has to wear a plastic mask with pre-designated mappings during the treatment. The radiation is very much akin to three or four flashlights pointed from different directions onto the same target, i.e. when the beams converged over the tumor bed, they would be added up to enough dosage to kill the tumor cells. During the RT treatment, the beam would be active only when the machine is switched on. As soon as the beam is off, the radiation is gone. The RT will not make the patient radioactive. This means that even immediately after the daily RT treatment, the patient can be near to children, pregnant women, and pets safely, without restriction. Fatigue, partial hair loss, skin irritation are the common side effects of the RT.Edmund was also prescribed with the radiosensitizer drug – Temozolomide alongside with the RT treatment. When combined together, the effect of RT & chemo-drug are greater than the sum of their parts and would kill tumor cells more effectively. Although the chemo-drug is often well tolerated, it could require close monitoring of fatigue, nausea, vomiting & blood counts while taking this drug.

In the beginning of the chemoirradiation treatment, Edmund had a low grade fever of 38.5 degree Celsius and he was often tired and needed to take short naps. After three days, he was getting used to the treatment and the fever had gone by then. So far, Edmund has been coping well with the RT and the side effect of the chemo-drug on him was tolerating.

On Wednesday, Edmund had taken a blood test as it had been 2 weeks since the start of his treatment at QMH. Edmund had seen the Doctor on the following day on 8 January 09. The oncologist was pleased with the blood test results and his treatment progress. This means that Edmund will continue on his current course of treatment for another 2 weeks and see the oncologist again for continuation of the treatment.

Edmund’s chauffeur departed Hong Kong on 9 January 2009 with a ease of mind after spending three whole weeks supporting Edmund and monitoring on Edmund’s reaction to the treatment. Without a chauffeur, Edmund is planning to take public transportation to the hospital for his future treatment in the following weeks.

Edmund is keeping himself healthy, he eats & sleeps well. He is very thankful for all your support especially the tremendous encouragement given & the valuable healthy tips/recipes you sent. He is moving on in his path of recuperation.

Happy New Year 2009 to you

"For God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

Happy New Year to you all!

Edmund has started his new therapy work on 26 December for his chemoirradiation treatment at the Oncology Department of Queen Mary Hospital. Edmund has to attend the therapy on a daily basis for six weeks - he has almost gone through one-third of the treatment. Despite the time taken to commute between home to hospital and back and the heavy road traffic, he is coping with the treatment gradually. At first, he had a fever & an uneasy feeling for the first few treatments, however, he is now getting used to the routine.

Edmund was able to overcome travelling the long distance to the hospital in his own car driven by his chauffeur - his son & daughter-in-law, Chester & Kaka who stopped by Hong Kong on their way back to Sydney after their two years of missionary work in South Africa. This has saved him the hassle of making his own transportation arrangements to the hospital.

Christmas at the Wong house

Edmund and Alice had a wonderful Christmas Day, surrounded by many family and friends who came to visit. Lunch was typical Hong Kong style - delicious and plentiful. We expect to be eating the leftovers for many days to come!

What's happened so far...

In November, some of Edmunds's family and friends noticed that his was less energistics and easily tired. He was presented with expressive dysphasia (i.e. misplacing words) and behaved differently to his routine chorus. Sometimes the non-stop hiccups had caused him trouble for over hours. This was the first alarm bell that convinced Edmund to go and see a Doctor. At first, the Doctor thought that he had had a minor stroke. However, after more examination and tests, they realised that Edmund had a tumour in his brain instead.

On Friday 28 November, Edmund had an 8-hr excision of the brain tumor under ultrasound stereotaxy done. By this time, the Doctors had realised that the tumour was necrotic in nature and deemed a 'high grade' (ie aggressive) tumour. The operation was successful in removing the tumour. The Doctors even tried a new treatment where chemo 'wafer' patches were implanted in the tumour cavity. The post operation showed he had no focal neurological deficit though he still need to undergo improvement therapy on his speech as well as physio & occupational therapies. The 38 stitches in his head were even been able to be removed after 1 week of his operation.

After the surgery, Edmund has continued to maintain a positive attitude. Due to the necrotic nature of the tumor, Edmund still needs to take series of follow-up treatment with the combination of chemo & radio therapies to fight for any residual malignant cells and also helps to prevent recurrence.

At first when he returned home, Edmund still had difficulties to express himself and he was allegy to one of the medication prescriped. But thankfully, he has made a good recovery so far. He has been eating better, walking regularly and even started to regain his humour!

We are so thankful for the Doctors at Queen Mary Hospital who have treated Edmund well.

Edmund at his recent graduation where he received his PhD. This was a few days before his operation.

Welcome to Edmund's journey

This blog has been created to update all of Edmund's family and friends on his progress. It will be updated on a regular basis, so please check this blog first rather than contacting Alice. As you can understand, this has been an emotionally exhausted and physically draining time for her too. Edmund and Alice apologise for not being able to return everyone's emails/phone calls/cards.

We welcome any words of encouragement, messages or prayers through this blog too. Please leave them in the 'comments' section under each post and we will make sure Edmund receives them.

Edmund and Alice would like to thank everyone for their continued support through this tough time. It has been a hard journey, but made easier through the love and care shown by many of you.