Goodbye

Today early in the morning, we received news from my cousin that his father (67) was going to leave this earth anytime soon and at 11.20am it was confirmed that my maternal aunt's husband had passed away in the hospital. We then conveyed our most heartfelt condolences to my aunt's family for their loss and let them know that our thoughts are with them although we can't be there to pay our last respect to our late uncle.

Again, this reminded me that life is indeed short and therefore we must treasure and use each moment as if it is our last. The last few months have been a very trying time for my aunt and cousin but it all happened so quickly. I do not know the details but I will list down here whatever I know in memory of my late uncle's brave journey.

      Oct 2013 - Felt a bit dizzy in USA and so returned to Taiwan.
30 Nov 2013 - Did blood test. Result: cancer markers are high. Did not have any appetite.
02 Dec 2013 - Did endoscopy and colonoscopy. Nothing major found just minor lesions in stomach.
09 Dec 2013 - Did CT scan.
13 Dec 2013 - Result of CT scan: Suspected Pancreatic Cancer. Set appointment with oncologist Dec 19.
14 Dec 2013 - Aunt and cousin returned from USA.
17 Dec 2013 - Couldn't write smoothly and had trouble speaking so was sent to the hospital.
18 Dec 2013 - Confirmed mild stroke.
19 Dec 2013 - Appointment with oncologist cancelled in order to treat mild stroke first.

02 Jan 2014 - Did biopsy.
08 Jan 2014 - Confirmed 4th stage Pancreatic Cancer. Cousin persuaded his dad to go for chemotherapy.

Between these two dates (8 to 17 Jan), uncle fell down from his hospital bed at night despite having a personal nurse (hired by aunt) and after that the personal nurse felt so bad that she resigned immediately. Doctors diagnosed another mild stroke. Uncle couldn't feel one side of his body. Did physiotherapy to regain using his whole body and when it seemed ok, started chemotherapy low dosage first.

17 Jan 2014 - Chemotherapy 2nd time. Cousin sent us youtube video of uncle doing physiotherapy to walk.
29 Jan 2014 - Things were looking good. Uncle went home and walked regularly to exercise in the park.

06 Feb 2014 - Chemotherapy 3rd time. I believe the dosage was upped this time. During the night, uncle was in tremendous pain (should be the side effects of the chemo) but managed to sleep. The next morning, cousin found uncle unconscious. Admitted to ICU, was another mild stroke, a feeding tube was inserted into the nostril (Nasogastric intubation) and he couldn't speak due to the mild stroke.

21 Feb 2014 - Uncle woke up this day and pulled out the feeding tube. It must have been very uncomfortable.

24 Feb 2014 - And today we got the sad news. Uncle is in a better place now. May he rest in peace.