Ready, Steady............

We are getting prepared, at least mentally, for our next step which is a session with Prof John Wong at the Cancer Center (National University Hospital, Singapore) at 8:30am on Monday, May 31.

Our first appointment with him was this Monday, May 24 at 6:30pm (brought forward from 7:30pm).

My question is, "when does he ever rest"? Maybe on his flights to wherever he is heading because his various jobs take him hither and yon?

Anyway since we arrived in Singapore we have heard nothing but praise for him - from patients and people who know him.

Lin is trying to eat at my insistence (nagging!). But he still eats like a sparrow.

On Monday we'll decide the type of chemotherapy and chart the path we need to take.

We took the decision to undergo chemotherapy in Singapore based on weight the pros and cons:

The pros for this are:

Home comforts (athough we do not have full time help in Singapore, we do have a part timer 3 times a week here and I do not have to cope with our "Einstein" who we left in Hong Kong!)

Transportation (we have a car and parking though limited at times is available)

Medical costs w/o insurance coverage (clinical, medicines and diagnostics coverage is laughable in his policy)

Teamwork and coordination within the Cancer Center

Prof Wong and the team are as up-to-date as anywhere in the world

The Center has the set up to handle possible side effects (and, god forbid, any emergency)

We have the support of close friends and relatives (as we have in HK and PVB!)

English is spoken here - my Cantonese is not up to par for dealing with medical terms in Hong Kong  (Singlish is the lingua franca)

The cons are:

Traffic (you cannot imagine how much traffic and how unruly motorists are in Singapore)

Taxis (thank goodness we don't need to use them often because they are hard to get and pile on all sorts of surcharges)

Carparks (sometimes insufficient at NUH where they are expanding like crazy, but they have valet parking)

As you can see, the reasons for Singapore are overwhelming as Lin would be a private patient at a private clinic or private hospital in Hong Kong. He is a private patient in a government facility in Singapore.

This is a pause to have our breakfast!

We'll let you know what happens after Monday.