I saw this in one of the chain emails my friend passed along and she forwarded it because what's said in it really is very true! I agree with it!
And it's especially meaningful.

"Work as if it was your first day.
Forgive as soon as possible.
Love without boundaries.
Laugh without control
and never stop smiling."

Don't you think this is so meaningful? And something I personally subscribe to too. No matter how tough life is, there are definitely moments of happiness. It may even be as short as a few minutes or seconds, maybe a hug or smile from someone you love, it's something that will be etched in our memory for a lifetime.


Another issue I would like to bring up would be health. Everyone, please do go for regular health checks. You'll never know when any disease or illness will hit and early detection is always better. If you have the time, do read this story. It's a personal story written by one of the 987FM DJs, Desiree Lai.

The C Word

Think about this for a moment.What is the first ‘C’ word that comes to mind? Could it be the usual; cash, career, condo, car and credit card? Ok that’s two words. Naughtier C words perhaps?

But I’m willing to bet that this one particular C word that did a Kramer and barged into that head of yours was not the word Cyst. When you’re still in your 20s, that’s probably the last word you’ll think about. At the age of 28, I had to go under the knife twice for ovarian cysts removal. I hated it and seriously do not want anyone to go through what I went through… due to ignorance.

I was first hit in 2004 at the age of 22. I didn’t think anything was wrong with me because, heck, I was only in my early 20s. But alarm bells started ringing when I experienced this acute pain in my lower abdomen. The pain was coming from my bladder (not U.T.I) or probably the organs surrounding that area and it felt like someone drove a sharp knife into my tummy. It was unbelievably painful! I tried not to think much of it but the pain kept coming back. In the end it got so bad that it couldn’t be ignored anymore. I made a trip to my family doctor the next day and boy, my GP’s expression almost gave me a panic attack. He felt a huge lump and told me to go to the hospital as soon as possible.

After enduring 5 hours in the freezing cold A&E section of SGH, not forgetting having to shuttle back and forth between different rooms to consult numerous doctors of various specialties, they finally discovered that I had a huge lump in my right ovary. How huge? Roughly 8 cm in diameter and that is the average size of an orange. Eeek! Doctors explained that this ovarian cyst had to be removed as soon as possible due to its size. This “thing” was big and for it to be so large at the age of 22, it meant that this thing was growing inside of me since I was a young teenager. The doctors told me it might be “moving” slowly, twisting my ovary, and that’s what is causing the pain. If it weren’t for the sudden “stab”, it would have probably remained undetected.

At this point, my brain started to swell with questions. Was my ovary salvageable? Will they have to remove it; decreasing my chances of having a baby in the future by 50%? Worse still, was it benign or malignant? Will this alien ball kill me? That week before the surgery was probably the scariest, most tortuous point of my life. I wished I had been admitted there and then after the discovery of the cyst so I wouldn’t have the time to dwell on the unknown.

Now let’s fast forward to the day of the surgery. Naked on the table. Freezing. Terrified. One of the nurses prepared the intravenous drip needle on my left hand. Damn that thing hurts. Not to mention the anesthesia they inject just minutes before they cut you open was an experience I could do without. Once injected into the bloodstream, you can actually feel this burning sensation travel up your arm and into the rest of your body. Soon after, your insides feel heavy and then, lights out. Tip: Don’t watch movies like Awake starring Hayden Christensen before any surgery.

The doctors managed to remove that “orange” from my ovary, which I had named Simon for fun. But here’s the shocker. They found a twin; another cyst that was also in my right ovary and this one was freaking huge! If memory serves me correctly, it was 12 cm in diameter so that would make it the size of a grapefruit. There are many types of ovarian cysts and these were dermoid cysts; cysts that according to Wikipedia, contains developmentally mature skin complete with hair follicles and sweat glands, sometimes clumps of long hair, and often pockets of sebum, blood, fat, bone, nails, teeth, eyes, cartilage, and thyroid tissue. Nasty, nasty, nasty stuff! Thankfully, the test results came back good. They were benign and even though the two cysts added together were the size of a young foetus, my ovary was saved.

This whole cyst removal incident was a massive scare and as fate would have it, I had to go through it again 6 years later. But here’s the difference: early detection. Thanks to regular visits to the gynae, we found 2 more cysts in their infant stages. Pun intended. They were both 3cm wide and this time, they conducted keyhole surgery rather than open surgery, which meant that recovery time was shaved by half!

Here’s the thing that many don’t know. Every woman after puberty gets them. Ovarian cysts are extremely common and even when benign; these abnormal growths can cause other health problems like infection and infertility. You can get these cysts as young as 14. So it doesn’t matter how many wrinkles you have on you face or how many A’s you got in last week’s term test; things can take a turn at any point in your life. I cannot stress enough the importance of regular check ups because with early detection, it could minimize the hassle, stress, discomfort and not to mention, save your life.

To all nurses, doctors and other medical staff especially those from SGH and KK hospital… Thank you.

— desiree lai —