Beautiful Shore

My dad's ashes were strewn at the sea on Saturday (11th July 2009). It was indeed beautiful to see his ashes flow with the flowers above the sea.

In the sweet, by and by
we will meet on that beautiful shore...

Once again, I would like to thank everyone for your support & prayers. May God bless you and your family abundantly.

You may keep yourself updated on the Woo family happenings on my blog.

Take care. :)

The beginning of a new life in Heaven

My dad left earth and gone to heaven to be with God at 4am, 8th July 2009.

He was the first man that I fell in love with, my mentor, the one I turn to whenever I'm faced with a problem, the one that would always pamper me, the one that I could sit down with without saying a word to him for a few hours, the one that corrected my English when I speak/write, most of all, the person that I admire the most.

I love him and I know he's up in heaven watching over us.

Even during the tough times, he could still teach me some "life lessons" and he left some sweet memories.

He was very grateful that I took days off just to take care of him. He was initially afraid that my decision would jeopardize my career. However, after taking care of him for a few days, he told me to share my passion for family with others so that everyone knows that family should always come first.

He told my husband that he loves him. That three simple words touched me as I would never have thought that my dad would accept my husband as his own son.

He told us not to procrastinate when we do things and always think carefully before making any decision.

There are many more sweet memories that will be kept in my heart forever.

I love you daddy and I know you are now in a more comfortable place. May you be with God and watch us from up above.

I miss you.
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Dear family & friends,

On behalf of my late father, I would like to thank all of you for your concern. For supporting him and my family throughout his life especially through the tough journey.

I thank you for being here with us to mourn our loss. Your company has made all of us stronger.

We will take some time to adjust to this new life. Please continue to pray that we'll be blessed with abundant strength from God.

Now that daddy is with God, may you remember him as a man that is as cheerful & bright as a sunflower, a man who loves technology, a man who is famous for his "dracula" teeth when he smiles, a man who only cracks intelligent jokes, a man who would always put others first before him, a man who would always give more than a 100%, a man who never likes noise, a man who always took care of his family & friends, a man who would never give up and the "gentleman" hunter.

Please forgive him for not allowing any visitors during the past 6 months. He would like all of you to remember him as the healthy Vincent Woo.

May the best memories of my dad stay with you.

God Bless you and your family.

Love,
Yi Lei

Rest in Peace daddy.
I love you. *hugs*

Mircale of Jeanne Jugan

Article taken from:
http://www.littlesistersofthepoor.ie/component/content/article/123

Cure of Doctor Edward Erwin GATZ
of an Adenocarcinoma of the Oesophagus


Doctor Edward GATZ is a retired anaesthetist who lives in Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States of America. He was born on 19th April 1937 in O’Neil, Nebraska.

At the age of 51 he began to feel dyspeptic (digestive) problems with a loss of weight and the appearance of growths on his hands. The diagnosis was interpreted as a paraneoplastic syndrome due to an occult cancer.

An endoscopy on 9th January 1989 revealed the presence of a cancerous lesion in the lower part of the oesophagus. Dr Gatz was hospitalised at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and had surgery on 18th January 1989 for a partial oesophago-gastrectomy. The biopsy showed a 3rd degree adenocarcinoma, and the examination specified that there was an aneuploid tumour. Doctor Gatz was advised to have chemotherapy but he refused. He also refused to have radiotherapy.

On the day that Dr Gatz’ cancer was diagnosed his wife spoke with a priest, Fr Richard D McGloin SJ to tell him about her husband’s illness and to seek some consolation. This priest encouraged Mrs Gatz to pray, and gave her the novena prayer to Blessed Jeanne Jugan, whom he knew through the Little Sisters of the Poor, since he had formerly been their chaplain at their Home in Milwaukee, and whom he held in veneration. Along with him, Mrs Gatz began to pray to Jeanne Jugan every day, even after the check-up on 8th March.

In fact, the first endoscopic examination took place on 8th March 1989. The biopsy showed the presence of chronic gastritis, but no signs of recurrence of the tumour.
All the doctors had agreed that Dr Gatz would not live more than “six to thirteen months”. Yet he is still alive and well today and plans to attend the canonization ceremony on 11th October with his wife.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Novena Prayer to Blessed Jeanne Jugan

Jesus, you rejoiced and praised Your Father for having revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. We thank You for the graces granted to Your humble servant, Jeanne Jugan, to whom we confide our petitions and needs.

Father of the Poor, You have never refused the prayer of the lowly. We ask You, therefore, to hear the petitions she presents to You on our behalf.

Jesus, through Mary, Your Mother and ours, we ask this of You, who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit now and forever.

Amen.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear friends,

You may not be a Catholic but I pray that you will pray for my dad.

If you are a Catholic, please recite the Novena Prayer to Blessed Jeanne Jugan every day with my dad in your mind.

We need all the prayers that we can have so that daddy will be blessed with a miracle.

I strongly believe in the power of prayer. May your prayer be touched by God.

Love,
Yi Lei

Blood transfusion went smoothly

Just thought I should update everyone that my dad's blood transfusion went smoothly.
He had to use 2 bags of blood. (Our relatives were kind enough to donate it back to the hospital.God Bless them.)

We are now praying that this blood transfusion will help my dad regain his energy level.

He still has discomfort with his back & bones which we hope, with the help of a physiotherapist, daddy would be able to get rid of the discomfort.

On behalf of daddy and my family, I would like to thank all of you for your prayer and concern.We truly appreciate it.

God bless you and your family.

Love,
Yi Lei

Say a prayer for daddy

Dear friends,

My dad will be undergoing blood transfusion today. Please pray that the blood that he will be receiving is free from any disease and there won't be any complication throughout the process.

May this blood that my dad will be receiving help him regain his strength, energy & health.

God Bless.

Love,
Yi Lei

Short update

Dear friends,

I have not been able to update you on my dad's condition as we were all busy as a family. Here are some good news.

My dad has been discharged from the hospital since last Friday (5th June 2009). He is still adjusting to the weather at home and we are doing our best to accommodate to his changing body temperature.

He received many calls and messages from all of you and he would like to thank all of you for your concern and your thoughts. He is currently still trying to adjust to things and it would be great that you visit him only when he has stabilized.

The other good news is that our family is now tighter than ever. We are all trying to adjust our lives (career & personal) to accommodate to daddy's condition and as we adjust we got closer.

We, the Woo family, thank all of you for your prayers. May you continue to pray for daddy to be blessed with abundant strength. 

God Bless!

Love,

Yi Lei

Dear Scribble Book...

I left an empty note book for my dad to scribble last week. He finally put it to good use. He started scribbling yesterday. His first 2 pages contained the list of food that he is craving for.

Daddy's Cravings!

In case you can't read his writing. Below is the list:
1) Chee Cheong Fun - sauce? (Dad is not sure what sauce he wants)
2) Stir Fried Maggi Mee
3) Potato Bun
4) Ham Chim Peng
5) Roti Canai + Dahl?
6) Omellete (plain?)
7) Japanese Spanish Mackerel
8) Yong Tau Foo (Tau Foo Pok, Bitter gourd, Brinjal)
9) Tau Foo Fah - hot
10) Cendol (no ice)
11) Coconut Water (Fresh Thai King)
12) Lo Hong Koh Drink
13) Ling Chee Kang drink (warm)
14) Red Bean soup (hot)
15) Kraft's Cheddar Cheese
16) Sweet Potato (whole)
17) Wan Tan Mee (dry)
18) Mushroom soup (Canned?)
19) Pumpkin seeds (organic)
20) Apricot seeds (organic)
21) Orange fruit
22) Peach fruit
23) Mango fruit
24) Bread (for sandwich) type?

He listed down 24 types of food that he would love to have. Well, it's now on his blog. So when he's back, he'll be able to take a look at what he was craving for and satisfy his cravings. :)

My dad also monitored his own progress yesterday. By jotting down what he had orally and how much milk he is taking. He's also monitoring his amount of urination. (The nurses jots down in his chart but dad would like to keep his own record.)

Daddy's progress on 26th May 2009

Tonight was a different experience for me and I think for all of us too. After dinner, daddy shared with us his experience last night and this morning. He had difficulty passing motion and also difficulty breathing. He gave credit to one of the nurses who was there to accompany him throughout his ordeal. After the ordeal, he felt much better but very tired. He then rested the whole day.

It came to his mind something that my sister shared with him last time. Happiness is about having something to do, someone to love and something to look forward to.

Daddy said he knows that he has more than just one person to love. So that's something that he already have.

He needs something to look forward to. He asked his dietitian to help him draft out a schedule of how he should be progressing, so that he has something to look forward to.

As for something to do, he found the "Scribble Book" a good way for him to keep himself occupied. He also thought of studying Sudoku. So he asked us to print out manuals or basic rules of Sudoku, so that he can learn a skill while he is resting and it will also help him keep his mind occupied.

Daddy also shared with us the new regime that he has worked out with the dietitian. They planned the regime properly and daddy is hoping that this new regime would help him.

Total of 1425 calories & 83 g of Protein a day!

I'm very happy that daddy manage to talk to us for a good 30minutes today. He felt much better pouring it all out. He said that he would love to do this every day provided that he has the energy to do so.

The moment daddy ended his sharing session, I thank God for all that He has done. He has given all of us strength & patience. I know that daddy may/may not share as much tomorrow but I'm just thankful that he was given so much strength to pour his heart out.

Daddy, you are indeed my hero! I love you daddy!

I'm confident that the day for you to say "I'M BACK!" will be arriving soon! :)

From 60 to 70

My dad increased his milk intake 2 days ago. He started off with 40ml an hour then the dietician increased it to 60ml per hour. Now he is consuming 70ml per hour. 

So far his body is accepting it well. We are thankful that daddy can take in more these days. He drinks half bowl of soup for lunch & dinner orally. A few sips of water orally every hour. 

His abdominal area is slightly smaller now. Perhaps the body has regained strength and the fluids will slowly drain out by itself just as how the Dr has said. Praise the Lord!

Prove of achievement! :)

Let's Exercise!

My dad is more hardworking now. He will make sure that he exercises every 1-2 hours. The physiotherapist would introduce new moves to him every morning and he will have to do "today's move" continuously throughout the day.

I believe I can fly!

Here's one of the "moves" that he has to do. 

He doesn't converse much these days because he will cough when he speaks. So he will usually just answer us with sign languages or if he have to, he will speak slowly. He wasn't coughing that much yesterday when I met him. 

Let's pray for his lungs to relax soon. :)

Let me check who texted me.

My dad playing with his HTC Touch. Keeping himself updated by logging on to the internet using his phone. :)

Updates: Small Surgery & Ham Chim Peng!

My apologies for not updating daddy's journey, it's difficult for me to update at night without my laptop at home. My dad is still in the hospital and every day he has something new. I shall just wrap them up from where I've left.

My dad went for a small surgery last Friday (15 May 2009). He had some pain at the end of his scar. When he showed the Dr, Dr immediately knew that it was the leftover thread that is inside his abdominal muscle. The thread was suppose to dissolve by itself but because my dad is skinny, it didn't.

So Dr performed a short surgery (only lasted for 20 minutes) on him on that very day.

WARNING: The image below may be too much for some. Do continue reading with a brave heart!

The part that caused the pain. Can you see the black spot? That's where the thread is.

After the surgery, my dad was given Antibiotics. The Antibiotics made dad cough a lot. He had trouble sleeping at night for the next few nights until he asked the Dr if he could stop taking the Antibiotics. The Dr grant him his wish.

One day, I was telling my parents about my dream. I woke up wanting to eat something. As I said "Hey mummy & daddy, I woke up from my nap and I thought of eating... " then my dad proclaimed "HAM CHIM PENG" before I could finish my sentence. (It's a chinese delicacy. Red bean covered with flour and deep fried.) That put a smile on my face. It's good that he's craving for food.

The next day, my mum told me my dad wants to have "Yau Char Kuey". His love for these fried fritters is back! Unfortunately, he'll have to wait patiently.

The next day, he told my mum that he would like to have some cake. :) My mum was craving for Pandan Layer Cake. So she asked my sister to get Pandan Layer Cake. So they had Pandan Layer Cake for dessert (I'm not a fan of Pandan Layer Cake.) and my dad got a few mouthful of it too. :) [In case you are worried, we have asked the Dr's permission before feeding daddy Pandan Layer Cake.]

YUM! Pandan Layer Cake time!

My dad is currently doing some exercises on his bed and also some recommended exercises standing up and walking by the physiotherapist. So far the exercise is helping him but it does make him cough. Perhaps his lungs are exercising too. 

I thank you all for your concern as I can see that many have visited the site and left with disappointment. My apologies once again and I will do my best to update everyone more often. :)

Day 12: Spanish Mackerel

We were watching tv in the hospital and daddy suddenly told me "I miss the Japanese Spanish Mackerel (Saba Teriyaki)."

I told mum and she said that I can buy it for lunch and let him have some.

Before having some Saba, he asked if he could try the hospital's Egg Mayo sandwich. I gave him one small bite and we have to keep reminding him to chew before he swallow. I had Udon for lunch, he asked if he could have a strand of noodle. So I gave him one. 

After 20minutes, he wants the Saba. I gave him bit by bit. After 3 bites, he asked if he could finish the whole fish. My mum went.. "NOooo!!! not everything!" (She's afraid that he may feel bloated.)

Then he decided to have a "look" at the fish and ask me to hand it to him. He said he wants to have the skin and again my mum stopped him. (The fish skin is burnt. No good for cancer patients.)

Mmmm...can I have it all?

Daddy feeding himself one last bite before mummy stop him. He didn't take anymore solids for the rest of the day. Not too much in one day. 

Bit by bit.. as the Malay saying goes "Sikit-sikit, lama-lama jadi bukit!" 

(Well of course, daddy can't have a mountain of food. :P )

Day 11: Shall we dance?

My dad is taking the tube feeding well. His daily intake is 1,500 calories. The dietician said that it's more than the expected calories per day. So he should be building muscles.

However, his belly is still bloated. Bigger than before he was admitted into the hospital. Dr said that the only way to take the fluid is out is through medication. He don't want to puncture daddy because it may cause complication and would make things worse. Patience is the key!

Here's daddy, taking his daily 15 minutes walk. The dietician suggested him to consult a physiotherapist but dad said he would do exercises himself. He does some stretching exercises when he is lying down or sitting down.

Shall we dance?

Daddy look like he is dancing with his feeding tube when he moves up & down holding the tube in one hand. :)

Day 10: No more drips!

The Dr removed the drips yesterday. Hopefully daddy's belly would be smaller now that there isn't anymore fluid pumping in.

Dr is happy with daddy's progress. He will start daddy on soft food and monitor him for a few days before sending him home. :)

Let me guide you!

Daddy asked the nurse to remove the tube from the machine because he needs to use the toilet. He had to teach the nurse how to wrap the end of the tube so that milk won't spill out. The nurses here are very humble, so they just follow his instructions. :)

AHhhhh.. relieved!

Daddy resting after using the toilet. He is sitting on a tube (the head nurse suggested him to sit on it whenever he sits on a chair). Spot his right hand? No more drips! :)

I can't wait for daddy to be home so that I can spend more time with him. Even though we don't usually talk when we are together (my mum calls it "heart to heart" talk). Silent but yet we understand each other the best. Probably because I'm not much of a talker and so is my dad. We can spend a few hours in the same room, not saying much. Especially in car rides, we can be silent throughout the journey. Yet, I'm daddy's girl. :)

Day 9: Room 6335

My dad was moved from Level 5 to Level 6 yesterday. Right after daddy moved to his new room, the nurses check his back. (Afraid that he may get a bed sore.) They saw red spots at this tail bone & pelvic bone and they immediately informed the head nurse.

The head nurse then came to suggest my dad to apply a certain type of cream to prevent his skin from rotting and change his bed to air bed (which cost RM39 extra per night). My dad agreed to her suggestion cause he wouldn't want to deal with another type of pain.

So far, he's feeling comfortable with the cream and the air bed. At least his backbone feels more comfortable now. (Thank God for the nurses. They are so caring! God bless them.Well, they could have just left my dad there and don't bother to check his back.)

My mum likes the view in this room. It is a better scenery. However, it is very warm in the afternoon as the sun would shine in. They will have to turn on the air conditioner.

The HTC boys!

Han asked daddy about an application on his phone (which is also a HTC). Daddy was showing him the application on his phone. (They look like they are playing a game together.. hahaha..)

Touch here then there. :)

He has been playing with his hp and also watching tv more often now. He even asked me to bring his spectacles today so that he could read the highlights shown on CNN. (He have to strain his eyes to read it at the moment.)

The dietician increased daddy's milk intake. She also added Prosure into the mixture. It gave daddy discomfort initially. He just started yesterday, so hopefully he didn't have any discomfort at night. Soon the Dr would remove the drips, which would help daddy to reduce the fluid in his abdominal area. 

Let's pray for daddy's body to be able to adapt to this new recipe. :)

Comments disappeared

Hey everyone!

I could not trace back the comments made on the previous posts. Something must have gone wrong when I was exporting and importing between blogs.

My apologies for the technical error. Your previous thoughts and wishes will be kept in my heart.

Cheers,

ce5nt's daughter

The end of the 1st of trimester..

My dad ended his first trimester taking chinese herbal medicine given by the Acupuncturist.

Here are some photos of him taking his chinese herbal medicine...

Herbal Medicine Tarik!

He will "tarik" the medicine himself so that the medicine won't get stuck at the bottom of the cup.

Daddy's favourite: Black Dates!

As he eats this, he would repeatedly tell us that this is the best food that he has ever tasted since his operation. It's easy to eat, nice and he don't mind eating it the whole day. The pleasure on his face when he eats it is priceless! He'll go "Mmmmm, this is nice! Mmmmm, this is the best!" :)

The start of the second trimester wasn't very interesting for daddy as he was admitted into the hospital. His treasure hunt mates convinced him to use the tube feeding and we are all very happy that they succeeded in persuading him.

(Thank you guys once again. Words can't express how much we appreciate you making the effort to help daddy to be brave!)

Checking in to the hospital wasn't easy this time around as there were so many emergency cases. We had to wait for nearly 3 hours before dad was sent to his ward. This time around they gave him a room in Level 5 which my parents did not prefer. They prefer to be at Level 6 because the nurses there are more experienced in dealing with daddy. 

However, Level 6 is currently under renovation. My mum "booked" a room for daddy to be moved up to Level 6 next week when the renovation is completed. Some of the nurses from Level 6 were at Level 5 and they could recognize my parents and welcome daddy to go to Level 6 next week upon hearing my mum's request.

Here's some photos to mark daddy's journey at the beginning of his 2nd trimester...

Day 2: Spot the tube?

He was listening to my sister. She was telling him about her first day at work.He didn't respond much because the tube was disturbing his throat. So he couldn't really talk.

The food and the gadgets to feed daddy.

Apparently Wyeth stop producing Enercal. So we had to grab whatever Enercal that is left in the market.

Day 3: Sitting down waiting for the nurse to feed him.

He could talk a little more by Day 3. He could instruct the nurse how much to feed him.

Manual tube feeding.

Daddy told me to snap a photo. I'm assuming that he wants me to snap it so that I could put it up on my blog to show his friends. :)

Day 4: Auto-feed

The dietician decided to use the machine to feed daddy. He gets more this way. The machine would pump in 10cc of Enercal every 15minutes. 

He was talking to Han when I snapped this photo. He could speak normally and we were surprised by his energy level as he kept giving Han advice. Praise the Lord! :)

Day 7: Getting used to tube feeding

Daddy had to change his tube yesterday because the tube slipped out when he was bathing. He made sure that the Dr used the soft silicon tube and also made sure that the nurses knows how to feed him.

Daddy is also on drips with Potassium to help him re-hydrate his blood and kidney.

I'm glad that daddy made progress. His lower abdominal area is still bloated. The Dr told him to be patient. He needs to regain his energy before his body can remove the fluid naturally. Daddy showed some signs of impatience initially but he is much better now. He could read the papers, watch tv, play with his handphone, answer phone calls (when he is comfortable) and he could talk to us with his normal voice. :)

I Thank you Lord for blessing daddy with strength and healing daddy. May you continue to shower him with your Love and the fruits of the spirit. Amen.

Daddy's latest menu

I haven't had time to take much photos of daddy these days.

Our family Dr's sister-in-law introduced an Acupuncturist to us. My mum brought my dad there yesterday. According to the Acupuncturist my dad has a lot of wind in his belly. Also agreed that he is lack of energy & nutrition. So she performed acupuncture on daddy and gave him some chinese herbal medicine & supplement. Her herbal medicine and supplement can be taken together with the western medicine.

Today is daddy's second day taking the herbal remedy. My dad started talking more yesterday. He could also talk to us about life, which is an improvement because he could hardly finish a sentence before he started this herbal remedy.

Daddy's daily food: Herbal Life ShapeWorks & Enercal.

Herbal Life provides the protein and Enercal provides the calories that he needs to rebuild his energy level.

Chinese Herbal Supplement.

My dad didn't find it difficult to swallow this. It's interesting because he finds it very hard to swallow anything even water.

Chinese Herbal Medicine
To be taken 3 times daily, every 4 hours.

He will never walk alone!
Spot that Liverpool logo? :) Daddy look a lot better today.

He is improving day by day even though he doesn't notice it himself. As care takers, we notice his improvement. So we only ask for you to pray for him to continue to be blessed with the strength to overcome this stage.

What will help him?

My dad has been home since last Thursday. Is he better?
If you ask him, he'll say "Nope. It's still there."
If you ask me, "Yes, his abdominal area is smaller."

I'm not saying things just to please/comfort him or anyone that is reading my blog. My family & I and the Dr do think that his abdominal area is getting smaller.

However, as the patient himself, he would probably tell you that he is good only when his stomach is flat. I don't blame him cause he is the one with the pain, not us.

We haven't lost hope in searching for something that might just help him. My mum has been looking out for herbal remedies. My sister & I researching online to see what are the things that my dad can do to make his pain go away. The Drs are helping him. One by motivating him, the other going all out to look for alternative remedies.

One of the things that I find that my dad not doing is doing something to occupy his mind. I asked him "Would you like to do something?"
Then he said "I don't feel like doing what I want to do."
It saddens me that the pain got to him faster that we can save him. So we could only tell him to keep talking to God. That is the only thing that he is doing every day and every time that he feels uncomfortable.

I'm now looking for previous Ascites patients. If there is anyone you know that has had Ascites, could you kindly ask them to share their success story? So that we may be able to convey the message to my dad. To tell him that patience is all he need. And perhaps the success story comes with a remedy that we could use it on my dad.

What else can help him keep his mind off the pain?
We are asking him to read books. Go online. Do what he likes to do at home. (However, his concentration level is not that high at the moment.)

Any suggestions on how we can help my dad?

Heal Me O Lord

My dad is currently having trouble with Ascites. Dr did a CT Scan, X-ray, Blood test for cancer markers & normal blood test- all the results were good.

My dad finds battling ascites tougher than cancer. My only encouragement for him is to pray. Keep praying and lay all his burden on God. I played him a song titled "Heal Me O Lord" yesterday. He fell in love with it. Even asked my sister to sing it when I'm not around. 

Today I heard my dad sing along as the song was played on my Ipod, it truly touched me. I could feel how much he's asking God to heal him, to save him and how much he praise God. He kept singing it til the song ended. 

We are looking for external remedies that could help him remove fluid from his lower abdominal area without having to consume anything. If anyone following my blog knows a solution that we could try, do not hesitate to drop me a comment.

It is painful to see him in such a situation but we have been very strong. At this situation, my dad is still being himself, protective of us. He kept asking whether we are tired, whether we are suffering. I guess his natural instinct is to protect us, so he can't help but think that we are in "pain". So we'll have to reassure him that we are doing good. We have faith in God and him. We know that our hard work will some how be fruitful soon. :)

I believe strongly in the power of prayer. Therefore, I would like to use my blog to ask everyone to pray for my dad.

To everyone reading this, let's pray together tomorrow (14th April 2009) at 3pm, for my dad to be healed, to be blessed with the strength to fight ascites and for him to be blessed with an open heart.

I would like to thank you all in advance for your prayers and love. May God Bless you. 

"Heal daddy O Lord and he will be healed. Save him and he will be saved. Heal daddy O lord and he will be healed. You are the one that he praise."

Happy Easter!

Our priests told us to rise from Good Friday and welcome Easter Sunday.

May everyone rise from your sufferings & past. :)

Have a Happy Easter! :)