Admitted into hospital Ramadhan again

Alhamdulillah, well and fine, and able to see another Ramadhan :-) I'm able to fast at ease, cook food for the family, perform tarawih prayer at the masjid at ease; basically leading a normal life.

Relating to the previous entry, Pak Andak Gerik doesn't work with me eh.  Too many pantang, I just cannot cope with it :-) HA HA HA

Soon after, I came across an ad of a local hospital looking for clinical trial patients for HITV immunotherapy.  I was a bit excited about it and approach them to enroll.  As usual, I have to go through many procedure to see if I'm qualified.  I had mammo for the unaffected breast, ultrasound, and PET CT scan.  A few trips made to the hospital and in the end, the doc emailed me telling me that I'm not qualified because I have done iodine seeding before.  The iodine seeding was done last year and it could not possibly be in my body anymore.   Well, it could be a blessing in disguise ~ while waiting for them to say yes or no, I received news that a friend who did the same procedure at a private hospital here, passed on.  The night before, he sent me the image of his PET CT showing the before and after HITV.  His cancer is almost cleared, yet he did not survive.

So what will be my plan b?  Looking back at the treatment that I have gone through so far, I can say that the B17 injection was effective.  Therefore, I have ordered my own supply through online and waiting for it to get here.  I figure, if I do it during this fasting month, it would be more effective.  During fasting month, cancer cells are starving too and while they are at a weaker state, I give them B17, hopefully they will die off.

In the meantime, I'm trying the butterfly tea, from the butterfly leaves.  News has spread around that the leaves, when boiled, can cure lots of sickness and there are also success stories on cancer patients too.  Why not give it a try eh...

Pak Andak Gerik

Some of my friends were curious to know the outcome of my last visit to the onco clinic.  Well, nothing much from the visit; they merajuk already to treat me coz' I declined the medicine they recommended.  Hence, they refuse to order a ct scan for me.  Never mind, too much radiation from the ct scan is not good anyway :-)  As long as I'm healthy, I feel healthy, it is a blessing already.  They don't even set my next appointment date; they say if I need to go to the hospital, just call.  Like that punya attitude also ada la ~ haiyyyaaaa, gini macam how am I going to inform my employer of my current state?  Like this I can tai chi all the way la :-)

No worries, I've been taking care of myself since day one.  I don't take any hospital medication now but I supplement myself with the herbal products namely himalaya products and shaklee of course.  I tried cellmaxx recently, but it did not ngam with me, pain here and there again, so no point of taking.  Sari agegard also tuang-tuang now.  I had my blood test done recently for CA15-3.  The reading was 40.0 U/ml.  Normal should be below 39.1.  I'm a little bit above the normal eh, but still ok la, my reading at Fuda last December was 46.  Still got improvement maaaaaa...

I'm planning to go to Fuda again for the cancer stem cell vaccine.  But at this moment, $$$ doesn't permit.  I have heard a lot of success stories about Pak Andak Gerik ~ stage 4 pun boleh baik.  Wah!  apa kata I give it a try.  Actually I have heard about this since last November, but since I have already bought a ticket to Guangzhou, I thought I should try this Pak Andak after I came back from Fuda.  I managed to convince my husband to go last weekend.  Driving from my place to Gerik was like 4 and a half hours, not so bad eh, but I myself have to drive from Behrang to Kuala Kangsar and from Kuala Kangsar to home coz' my hubby was not feeling well.

That is Pak Andak's house, easy to find coz' his Singaporean patient has kindly donated signboards at junctions to his house :-)

We reached Gerik around 12:45 pm, went straight to Pak Andak's house to get the number.  Our garmin was very reliable this time and brought us in front of his door.  There was no one to entertain us, just a list of names and guess what, I got no 87.  Quite a long list eh, and those names are from all over, mostly Kelantan, Terengganu, Selangor, & Penang.  The treatment starts at 3:00 pm til midnight (everyday except Monday and Tuesday).  So we thought we'd better check in the hotel first, freshen up and get something to eat.  My husband has already booked Sri Inai Inn, so we checked in.  The receptionist kind of know already we came for treatment and we, being over peramah, probe further about the treatment.  Guess what, this Inn is fully booked every time because of Pak Andak.  At times, when some dato'-dato' came for treatment, they had it at the hotel, import Pak Andak over (but of course, after midnight when Pak Andak finished treating others at his home).  As for Pak Andak's patients, some came in an ambulance, on hospital beds, wheelchair,  the hotel staff would know how to handle.  They can even prepare meals for orang sakit :-)

That's the Inn :-)

We had lunch at the nearby restaurant.  I had rice with fish asam pedas and some ulam-ulam.  I was quite surprised to see the bill but when we asked the owner what was the name of the fish, we understood why.  We had tenggalan fish, an exotic fish, fresh from the river.  It was really tasty and worth it!  After lunch we went straight to Pak Andak's house to find out what number was on.  It was really pitiful to see the people who came for treatment; some of them are still with tubes on, some with long surgery scars, some with canes and true enough, they wore sour faces, no mood as they were in pain, hoping for cure.

People waiting for treatment.

We registered at Pak Andak's kitchen, collected my number and asked them when would the treatment be.  They advised to come back after Isyak prayer.  We went back to the hotel, and get some rest after touring the town.

After dinner, we went back to Pak Andak's house.  So the story begins.  His treatment is to transfer the sickness to a chicken.  We don't have to bring our own chicken as Pak Andak and the crew will source out the chickens from the village.  Whoaaaa 100 over patients a day, that many to source out, habis ayam satu kampung :-)  But we still have to pay for the chicken and the price is depending on the weight of the chicken.  As for me, on the first treatment, I got the 'virgin' chicken and it costs me RM18 only.   On the second treatment the next day, I had a cock, a real big one, and it costs me RM30.  After treatment,  these chickens will be freed and usually they will die within 3 days.  At times, for a really cronic patient, during treatment, the chicken died already, and they will have to find a replacement to continue the treatment.

Besides chicken, we can buy plain water sourced from the mountain for Pak Andak to recite some doa, and we bring home to drink and to wipe at the painful area.  The 5 liter bottle costs rm7, and the 1.5 liter bottle costs rm3.  The water tastes good, full of minerals.

Since there were many patients, it's impossible to treat one by one, so he did it in groups.  One group consists of 10 people, separating men and women.  We gathered in a room, Pak Andak will recite the doa to make the 'air tawar' first, then only he will treat one by one using the chicken with Mak Andak's help.  He will scan the area with cancer, collect them at one area (in my case, the br**st) where he will put the chicken for a while there.  I was worried that the chicken would poke my face, but trust  me, the chicken was obedient :-)  When done, I just pay for the chicken and cengkuk/sedekah some to Mak Andak.  They did not set any price for treatment, just sedekah how much we desire.  How much does it cost to treat cancer at the hospital? A bit of sedekah to Pak Andak is alright la eh, to honor his expertise.

By the time I'm done, it was already 11:30 pm.  The earliest we can register for the treatment next day was at 2:00 am.  So we decided to go back to the hotel and tried to get some sleep.  When we came back at 2:00 am, some have already registered and I got number 22, hoping to get treatment before night time so that we can make the trip back home before it gets dark.

On the next day, after check out, we went straight to Pak Andak's house.  I got into the treatment room around 4:00 pm.  This time around, Pak Andak said, "tinggal sikit lagi ni eh, lepas-lepas ni badan akan rasa ringan".   In shaa Allah... Usually after first treatment, we will feel painful, but as for me, I just felt my br**st throbbing but after drinking the water, it feels alright.  At the point of writing, I can also feel pain, but manageable.  There are some pantang that we have to adhere, the main one is, not to take any hospital medication.  The rest of the list is as attached below.  The pantang period is around 2 weeks, some say 3 months.  But as long as we feel alright, just go ahead and eat.  Actually I don't like to pantang (refrain from eating), I did it once and my weight dropped until I was really skinny ~ 46 kg.  That was really scary! Some items in the list, like pisang (banana), which is my favorite, I cannot refrain from eating, good source of potassium eh.  What more pisang goreng ~ certainly my favorite!

So much about treatment in Gerik.  Pray that it works so that I don't have to make trips to Fuda again :-)  Even if it doesn't, it was a great experience and certainly it will be in one my chapters in my book.  When? Just wait and see...






  


    

Celebrating 24th Wedding Anniversary

Pengantin lama :-)

Alhamdulillah, blessed with 24 years of marriage...pray for many more years to come.  The above photo was taken during my cousin's wedding last Saturday.  It was a kampung style wedding with rewang, own cooking and of course the pelamin was homemade too :-) Not bad eh!

Being a kampung style wedding, lots of things need to be done.  Luckily we are from a big family, each person contribute a bit, and we managed to make it happen.  On Friday morning, I help put up the pelamin, we make do with what my aunt had like curtains and so on and the result was not bad :-)
In the afternoon, I helped clean the chicken ~ 70 of them! It was a dirty job but somebody has to do it.  The next morning, I helped in the kitchen, preparing food for almost 1000 guests.  The point is, I have the energy to lend a hand.  That was a proof that my health has improved and I thank Allah for it, Alhamdulillah.

Family from my mom's side

Spot me if you can :-)  This is just part of the members from my mom's parents.  It was quite tough to gather everyone in the hot sun! Uncles and aunties as well as cousins were happy to see me well and healthy.  This wedding acts as a reunion for us and we really enjoyed each other's company.  Actually the wedding reception is for my mom's youngest sister's son.  The wife must be amazed of the big family and she sure wouldn't remember each and everyone of us.  I myself don't get all the names of my cousins since we usually met during raya time only.  But now, thanks to the advanced technology whereby we can communicate through Whatsapp ~ a group has been created :-)

From my mom's side, there was less cancer occurrence.  Only my sister and I got cancer, and my cousin's son has leukemia.  14 of 15 siblings of my mom, are still alive ~ common sickness are osteo-arthritis for the ladies, and back pain for the men.  Another common occurrence was stone in gall bladder of which, some have had them surgically removed.  My grandfather died at the age of around 100, and my grandmother died at the age of 80 plus.  The eldest, my mom is now 78.  Hopefully we will follow their trait and live longer even though we got cancer.

Around ten days from now, it will be 6 years since I was diagnosed and confirmed with breast cancer.  Health wise, I'm alright.  My next check up will be on 18/3/15, when I will request for a CT scan to see the progress so far.  The new semester will begin soon and I hope I will not be stressed out with the workload...

Follow me to fight against cancer - Prof Xu

Latest pic - kawan belanja makan la, kat café Canseleri

Few weeks in the office, quite enjoy seeing faces of my colleagues ~ their expressions are like seeing someone rising from the dead :-)  hah! stage 4 can recover meh???

With Allah's will, and strong determination to get well, in shaa Allah, whatever stage you are, you will recover.

Nothing much at work, just preparing for next semester, after two years leave, banyak sudah lupa beb! really need to get back in track.  In the meantime, I'm translating the book by Prof Xu - Follow me to fight against cancer.  I'm delegating the other book (Nothing but the truth) to my daughter since she is on her semester break now.  Don't know how much can she do but at least I can get something going.

In the meantime, if you need the English version of the books, I have some copies with me.  Whatsapp me at 014-371 4574 (data line only).  It's rm20 per book, and postage is rm6.  I can send poslaju to you as well.  Fuda is kind enough to let me distribute the books, which can help me cover my medical expenses.  Every month got to pay credit card for the medical expenses charged, surely no new clothes and nice tudung for me eh!

On another note, the books serve as a very good eye opener on the modern technologies available in treating cancer now.  Too bad, there are doctors out there who thought that cryo is to freeze the cancer cells to stop it from spreading, which is not the case. It actually kills the cancer cells coz' cancer cells are fragile too, if its too cold, they will die, if its too hot, they will die too.  What I prefer most, is the less aggressive treatment, I still have both bouncing.  Had I follow the conventional treatment of mastec, chemo & radio, I may have lost one.  Not balance eh :-)

I enclose the pics of the books and their contents.

 

 

 

I hope this will be an eye opener for the doctors here too.  Go and learn these new technologies and adopt them here.  These technologies are not in China only ok, it's worldwide.  Since China is the closest and the cost is rather affordable, China it is!  With more and more people becoming aware of this less aggressive treatment, more and more people are seeking treatment abroad.  Too bad we have to let the money flow out of our country.  But what to do???

 

Another trip to Guangzhou

Six months after my treatment in Fuda Cancer Hospital, I had the opportunity once again to go to Guangzhou for immunotherapy treatment. Immunotherapy is a procedure to strengthen the immune system in the body. For cancer patients, their immune system is not as strong as ordinary people whereby the t-cells that act as soldiers to destroy cancer cells have been reduced. For this immunotherapy, 60 ml of blood is taken from our body, get the t-cells and culture to propagate the t-cells.  After eight days, the cultured t-cells will be infused back into the patient's body. Hopefully the bone marrow will then make new cells with lots of t-cells, which in turn, will destroy the cancer cells in the patient's body. The body's immune system will function normally and will destroy cancer cells naturally.  As the result, the patient will be free of cancer.

In front of Fuda South

My trip to Fuda this time took two weeks.  This time only me and my sister went there and we took Airasia and as usual, the representative from Fuda came and picked us up at the airport.  We arrive at the hospital at night and felt a bit strange because it was not like the hospital we experienced before.  The next morning we knew that we were in South Fuda, the first Fuda hospital, rather than in North Fuda.  Apparently, doctors and nurses on the 6th floor of Fuda North, moved to South Fuda and we followed suit.  Facilities offered are approximately equal to Fuda North, but there is no halal corner in Fuda South.  Therefore, we have to cook our food at the roof top of the hospital building.

When a CT scan was done, they found a lump of 3.9 x 2.7 x 2.4 cm.  Possibly during the first cryo-run, there was still lagging nodule which has grown bigger.  I did not take the hormone treatment or oral chemo after the first cryo, which explained the existence of another lump.  Since I still have my menses every month, and my cancer is estrogen and progesterone positive, it gave the opportunity for the tumor to regrow.  Cryo was performed on December 17, 2004.  This time I did not opt for iodine seeding, on the other hand, they put in alcohol to cater for the lymphnode area.

The cryo was performed on Wednesday, and in the next three days, they infused some medication for fast recovery. Oddly enough this time, both sides of the breast engorged though we did not feel any pain.  While waiting for the t-cell to culture, we flew to Beijing for three days to visit the Great Wall of China and some other attractions in Beijing.

BRCA Stage 4 sisters manage to climb the Great Wall of China :-)

At Forbidden City

At Summer Palace

When we return to Guangzhou, my swollen breasts have experienced a bit of infection.  My affected breast was red and swollen and secrete watery discharge with unpleasant smell. I was given drips of antibiotics to address the problem.  In addition, the cultured t-cells were also infused.  The immunotherapy package that we chose was the cheapest one which costs RMB18,000.  Therefore, only two bags of t-cells drip was given.  The infusion went smooth, and I pray that the immunotherapy in successful, and my immune system will become stronger to fight my cancer.

With Prof Xu and the team

While at the hospital, Prof Xu, the chief President of Fuda, who is also a liver cancer survivor, came to my room for a visit.  He has written two books on treatments and success stories encountered in Fuda, namely "Nothing but truth" and "Follow me to fight against Cancer".   I am honored to be given the opportunity to translate the books into malay.  He said. "when it's done, we can print it and you can distribute it to help cover your treatment cost in Fuda".  How nice :-)

I'm now back at work.  Colleagues who have not seen me for quite sometime, were amazed that I got through this ordeal and I look really healthy and glowy.  To the readers out there, I'm just sharing my experience in this blog and I don't intend to persuade anyone to go and have treatment abroad.  I did it because it is convenient for me and I prefer a less aggressive treatment.  You are free to explore it, and in fact, three of my friends are having their treatment in Fuda now.  It is not for sure that you will get 100% cured, after all, it's Allah's willing that I'm at the stage where I'm at now.

I still go for check-ups at HKL.  In fact, I have an appointment with my onco next week.  To see the success of the immunotherapy, is quite early to tell.  As long as I'm fine and the cancer does not bother me too much, I'm thankful ~ Alhamdulillah...I still have both breasts bouncing :-)

Fuda Guangzhou experience

Done with fasting and Eid celebration! I promised in my last posting that I will write about my experience in Fuda Cancer Hospital.  I would say it was an excellent experience for me and my sister ~we had less invasive treatment of cryoablation and iodine seeding of which I can feel that the tumor has shrunk tremendously.  My sister also has made an excellent progress.  Before going to Fuda, she was using a cane and she had to use a chair while praying.  Now she can move around without a cane and she can perform her prayers just like a normal person, Alhamdulillah.

In front of the hospital

We spent around one week in Fuda as per the itinerary.  I brought along my eldest daughter who was on her semester break, to help us around.

Day 1 ~ Took MAS 9.35 am flight, reached Guangzhou Baiyun International airport around 1.35 pm. The flight was smooth, the funny thing was, my daughter cried of ear pain close to landing. The fare to & fro was rm1,420 per person.  We were greeted by a young lady at the airport, who took us to an ambulance van to bring us to Fuda Cancer Hospital. The trip took around an hour passing through highways and even dark scary tunnel. When we reached the hospital, we were brought into a single room with 2 beds. It was a very comfy room with clean toilet! All accessories were around like towels, shower creme, shampoo and even toothbrush & toothpaste! Slippers were also provided. We met Ricky, an Indonesian chinese who work there at the hospital. He can talk malay, what a comfort! We were greeted with orange juice & bread too. The registration process began, and I have to swipe my card for deposits for two persons, me and my sister. After that we had a tour around the hospital and to my surprise, they have prayer room for muslims too. Adding to my surprise, they even have halal corner at the canteen where we can have our breakfast, lunch dinner. They cater from an arabic restaurant and true enough, we have arab food in China! I was expecting chinese food here but it's ok, as long as we have food, it's really good enough. The surprising thing is lunch & dinner cost RMB50 each and the serving was quite big, even though the three of us shared food, we still have leftovers to bring into the room :-) When stomach is already full, the best thing to do was to get a good night sleep after a long tiring day.

Day 2 - The room was also equipped with tv and this morning my daughter discovered that they have channels including CCTV, CNN, some indon channels and to my daughter's surprise ~ the movie channels! At least she would not feel bored accompanying me at the hospital.  As for treatment, we had our blood, urine and feces taken for tests, and in the morning we went through ultrasound and x-ray.  We were free in the afternoon and took the opportunity to walk around the hospital for sightseeing.  There was a market nearby where we bought some fruits including lychee.  Usually we had lychee as a canned food, and we had it fresh while we were there :-)

At the hospital lobby ~ I look more like a tourist than a patient :-)

Day 3 - We were a bit worried that they never mention when the cryosurgery would be performed.  I then told them that I have already bought flight ticket on the following Sunday and I was worried that they cannot perform enough procedures during the time as I was made to aware that after the cryosurgery, I may need two days rest before the iodine seeding can be performed.  To my relief, they informed that the cryosurgery and the iodine seeding would be performed together the next day.  We had CT Scan in the afternoon for them to mark where they can poke in the needles for the cryosurgery and iodine seeding.

Day 4 - My case was the first one and was requested to be ready by 8:00.  They were very punctual indeed and sharp 8:00 they wheeled me to the OT for the procedure.  They put me on GA, and I felt that as as soon as I doze off I was woken up again and they were done with the procedure.  It was 9:30.  I was then put into and ICU for recovery.  I was attended by a Malaysian doctor who studied there and worked there as well.  When I was done, my sister was wheeled to the OT for her procedure.


I was supposed to stay in the ICU for a day, but since my condition was ok, I requested to go back to my room as I had to perform my daily prayers and it would be convenient to perform it in my room.  I managed to go toilet by myself for the ablution, the breast felt a bit sore but the pain was manageable.  Had I go for mastectomy, I'm sure I could not get up real soon (based on friends' experience of mastectomy).

After the surgery ~ can still smile!

The scar healed very fast coz' there were only three holes ~ two for cryo and one for iodine seeding.  If you wonder what a cryosurgery is, it is actually the freezing of the cancer cells to like minus 46 degree celcius and it was done by inserting the argon gas on the tumor to freeze it, followed by helium gas to bring back to normal temperature.  Cancer cells die off when in a very cold condition.  The dead cells would then be removed by the body through the normal elimination process of dead cells in our body.

As for iodine seeding, it is actually a low dose radiation in the form of seeds, the same size of a grain rice.  The purpose is to kill the cancer cells that has spread to other parts of the body.  I had five seeds inserted, while my sister had 30.  We were not supposed to be near babies and pregnant mothers as a precaution.  

Day 5 - Another resting day ~ I was given drips of chinese medication, they said ~ to make me stronger :-) I had a chest x-ray in the afternoon.  The rest of the day, we just browse the internet for our next mission before we leave China ~ shopping!  We mentioned to the nurse about our intention, and the doctor said they could only let us go the next day as we need to take another round of chinese medication day after.

Day 6 - I removed the bandage by myself and the wound healed nicely.  I had a good shower, excited over the fact that we could check out and head to Beijing Lu for shopping :-) When we were done with the drips we packed our things and ready to check out.

The final bill for me was around RMB 35,000 ~ I'm very pleased as it was much cheaper than I expected.  My sister's bill was around RMB 40,000 coz' she had more iodine seedings and other medication than mine.  We then took a cab to a hotel near Beijing Lu.  Feeling quite lost because we don't know any mandarin but were pleased to have discovered the road that was like a shopping heaven  :-)

Beijing Lu!

The mission continued on the next day.  I was quite surprised that only three day after a surgery, we managed to walk a long distance and long hours, shopping, in and out of outlets to find souvenirs for our family as well as place to eat.  We went out around 10 am, came back to the hotel around 6 pm, and  went out again at night til the shops closed at 10 pm.  Just can't imagine where the energy came from :-)

In front of one of the shopping centers 

On the next day, we packed our bags and checked out around 11 am.  Such an excellent customer service, the hospital driver picked us up at the hotel and drove us to the airport, and brought us to the check in counter for us to fly home :-)

All in all, it was an exciting experience and I'm really satisfied with it.  Friends that has not met me for quite some times, say that I look good, much better than before.  I plan to go again soon for the immunotherapy.  It is a procedure to strengthen my immune system so that in the future my immune system can fight the cancer cells by itself.  And for it, I need two more trips, to extract my blood out for them to culture and boost my T-cells, and a month after, to infuse the T-cells back into my body.

At the hotel lobby ~ ready to go home!

I’m proud to be the first Malaysian malay to have treatment at Fuda Cancer Hospital :-)  Few weeks back, there was a news saying that one of our MPs died while receiving cancer treatment in Guangzhou.  I checked with Fuda and they had no patient by his name, thank God!  There are lots of cancer hospitals in Guangzhou and various treatments available, and we have to do our research to find out which one suits us.  But then again, if God says it's our time already, regardless of where we are, we still will 'go'.  Just have to be prepared all the time...

Progress so far

Months of silence! I'm alright, alive and kicking, Alhamdulillah. Updating from the previous post, few month after I'm done with the chemo, I got my menstrual again. This is certainly not a good sign since my cancer is ER/PR positive. Sad to say, the lump grew bigger again. In October 2013, I began to feel the pain on my back again. I began to see this Ustaz who practise using Qur'an recitation to transfer the cancer cells to a kemboja plant. It sounds silly but it works! I went to see the Ustaz every week day by day the pain went away and as at now I don't feel any pain anywhere. Though I went for an alternative treatment, I still seek the conventional method. During an appointment with the surgeon, he advised for another round of chemo to shrink the lump before having a mastectomy. I have no other choice and agreed to his proposal.

I started on an oral chemo with six cycles of xeloda. During each cycle, I took three tablets in the morning and three at night for 14 days, rest for one week and continue on next cycle once the blood report is alright. I had to take some b6 pills to counter for the side effect of numbness on hands and feet. I did not take it regularly in the beginning coz' I don't feel any numbness anywhere. But when I got blisters on my feet, I began to take the b6 regularly :-) Other than that, the skin got extra dry that I need to apply mosturiser frequently. Appetite was good throughout ~ proven by the weighing scale :-) I'm now 57kg, gained 10 kgs from the worst reading recorded during my sickness. I'm now done with the oral chemo and the lump has shrunk to a good size for surgery. But I'm now thinking twice whether to have the surgery. Trying to run away again eh!

Sometimes in March, as I lay on my ceragem having my daily massage, I came across a blog ~ "I'm keeping them", story on an American who preserved both breasts by going through cryoablation instead of mastectomy.  Cryoablation is a procedure whereby the tumor is injected with argon and helium gas to freeze the cancer cells.  Needles are inserted to the tumor, guided by CT scan.  Once frozen, the dead cancer cells will be absorbed and removed from our body through the usual removing dead cells process.  As if I found the light at the end of the tunnel, I contacted the author for further leads and I came across Fuda Cancer Hospital where the cryoablation can be performed.

Once I got the contact, I began emailing the consultant for details.  My concern was the $$ that I would have to spend for the procedure.  They required that I do a PET/CT scan to see my current stage.  PET/CT scan was done in May and at that time the size of the tumor was around 4.5 cm.  When I sent them the result, they estimated that the cost would be around RMB 50K - 60K.  I decided to proceed with it for these reasons :

• My OKU daughter has just gone for a hip surgery which required her to be on cast for three months.  I have to manage her ~ carry her to the bathroom, bath her, feed her and basically do everything for her.  If I go for mastectomy, I wouldn't be able to do all the chores,  and who would?
• Most of the cases that I came across, who went for surgery, had recurrences on other places.  Loosing the breast is a sad thing, having a recurrence is double the blow! 
• People I know who went for surgery, had a tough time during the healing process.  It was really scary to learn about other people's experience & I can imagine myself going through it! I chicken :-)
• And one last thing, as long as I live, I'd rather spend my hard-earned money to my benefit :-)  Believe it or not, people tend to take advantage over our sickness ~ I nearly lose some money due to a dishonest buy & sell transaction!

Got to stop here, will update on my experience with the cryo :-)