A Tiring Day

Yesterday morning, I went for my acupuncture therapy. I had to wait more than 1 hour over before my turn came. There were just too much patients in the queue. I have been seeing this acupuncturist for about 20 years now. While waiting for my turn, a lady in her 60s whom I thought was a Malay because of her features spoke to me in English. She asked me if I was Chinese and I said yes. She said I had some caucasian features on my face and was not sure if was Chinese. This is the first time I heard someone said I had such features. Anyway, we chatted about our knee problems. She then asked if I am working and I told her no, for I am a cancer patient. She then asked me about my religion and then said since God made us, He can heal us. She asked for my name and said she would pray for me at her church. Just then, it was my turn for treatment and before I left, I told her, "Thank you very much for your prayers." What a kind lady.

I took the opportunity to ask my acupuncturist why I have floating legs. He said this is due to my weak back. He suggested that I sleep on a hard surface for at least 5 minutes a day to strengthen my back.

After acupuncture, I left for OUG to meet a friend, Joanne from New Zealand for lunch. She is in town for a short holiday and also brought me some iron supplements. As a cancer survivor herself, she has urged me to strive on no matter what. I told her I admire all the cancer survivors. I know because it's not easy to become a cancer survivor. She then took me to a vegetarian shop nearby that serves precooked food. I took brown rice and three vegetables dishes while she took brown rice and four vegetables dishes. The price was RM2.50(US$0.83) and RM3.00(US$1) respectively. Chinese tea is on the house. This must be the cheapest vegetarian shop in the whole of Malaysia!

When I came home in the afternoon, I felt very tired and my head was sort of bursting with pain. I was not feeling very good and had to lie down on the carpet for while. I took the opportunity to rest my back as well. I use both my thumbs to apply pressure on the temple of my head to ease the pain. I think I slept briefly and felt better after that. Although there are no pain on my legs, but the legs felt very tired. I was practically limping when I got up and had to massage the thighs. In the evening, I did foot reflexology and became very tired after that. I was also coughing the whole night with whitish phlegm.

Jade, which gave the talk on the Emotion Code had emailed me yesterday evening and told me that she has release trapped emotions (TE) on three areas which are directly related to my cancer on my behalf. She said, I should have some healing reaction in the coming week and asked me to be aware of my body changes and mood swings. I think the headache was one of the reaction. Yes, you can hire a therapist to release TE for you. The therapist can be in another country and you don't have to meet the therapist personally though you need to communicate with the therapist about your problems. Energy knows no boundaries. She did it as a favor for me. The rests, I have to do myself.

The Gender Factor in Cancer
WHEN cancer looms, do men and women react to it differently? Are the issues they deal with similar, or unique? Does gender really matter when it comes to cancer?

In an article, Psychology of cancer, published in a US quarterly magazine for cancer patients, writer Leslie Johnston wrote, “How people adjust emotionally to that reality depends on a number of factors, including type of cancer, stage of the cancer, the patient’s age, marital status, ethnicity, culture, profession and – perhaps the most important of all – gender.”

However, Johnston continued, “where the cancer strikes makes a difference”. He then quoted Les Daroff, the director of psychoneuroimmunology and mind-body medicine at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America, to explain.

“If it is stomach cancer, it is perceived as an attack on their stomach, not on their identity,” said Daroff. “However, if it is breast cancer, uterine cancer, prostate cancer or testicular cancer, it attacks their whole psychosocial identity, their way of life and their relationships. Everything they have known is up for grabs.”

There is, however, one subject that patients are reluctant to talk about even when the doctor makes time to offer information. Sex. “This is a big issue, but nobody talks about it openly. When patients come in for consultation, 95% never talk about their relationship with their spouses. They never discuss sex, or other personal issues because they see it as an embarrassment or a taboo,” said Dr Mohd Ibrahim (president of the Malaysian Oncological Society and a consultant oncologist). If they do talk about it, and they rarely do, they might prefer to talk to their nurses as they find it difficult to speak to their doctors directly.

In April 2006, a BBC report of a UK qualitative study by sociology professor Clive Seale noted that men in the study were found to be primarily concerned about treatments, tests, symptoms, procedures and the side effects of drugs.

Women, in contrast, “were more likely to seek social and emotional support, share personal experiences and talk about the impact of cancer on relationships and family.”

You can read the full article here.