My pillar is sick, she is down with esophagus and gastro cancer.

Just wanna get it off my chest.

My pillar is sick, she is down with cancer.

I don't remember if I ever mentioned that my sister is my pillar, my role model and basically a very important person in my support system. 

She have been supporting the family, so that I can have the freedom to do gig work and slowly put my life together. Whenever I need some support, she is always there for me.

However, sometime during January this year, she has been feeling unwell - feeling food is "congested" in her esophagus. It got worst from there and she started vomiting whatever solid food she ate and even some molten/soft food. 

She went to a GP and was told it's probably GERD or acid reflux. But she didn't improve after all the medication. Instead, she started puking more and couldn't keep even molten/soft food down. We made her mashed potato, congee and soft boiled eggs, yet she can't eat those without puking at least half out.

It dragged for 2 weeks. And it's partly because... Well, Singapore high pressure work environment - that made most working adults delay/afraid (to) seeing a doctor till weekends or "after the busy period" or when they can no longer tolerate.

She went to the Emergency department and was scheduled a session with the Endoscopy team. The session was a waste of time, just the doctor asking questions which we answered ample of times already and then she said "Oh, then we need to do a scope.". 15 minutes and it was over. The scope was scheduled to be a month later!

At that point of time, we didn't know it's cancer, else we won't have waited! Anyways, it's a torturous 1 month wait because she just kept getting worst and lost a lot of weight. I think she dropped from 40ish kg to 38kg. Mid point, we did went to the Polyclinic again, because we didn't feel right about her vomiting so much, but because we had a scope scheduled, they're more of "I give you more medication" and "just wait for the scope!"

It's frustrating! But nothing we can do also.

Source

Then came the day of the scope, and they said she had a tumour in her esophagus that caused a blockage. There is only a very small passage for food to flow down. They diid a biopsy and we're told to wait for results. She was put on liquid diet and scheduled to see a dietician, who recommended her a nutrition packed drink - Fresubin. It's fragrance but very sweet and so thick you'll get sick of it very fast. But she had to drink 5 bottles a day.

Obviously she can't. She will start to get so sick of the drink that she will puke after the 3rd bottle, 4th bottle on good days.

Things moved faster from there. They called up to inform it was cancer and the next few tests and doctor appointments was put in place within a week or so. 

Apparently, since she is considered young (39-45), she have more options and could take strong treatments. But it's also because she is young, her cancer is more aggressive. But fortunately for her, her cancer is regional (not spread to other organs) so it's operable. She still needs to go through Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy to try shrink the cancer before surgery.

That's all for now. Honestly, it's a scary ride, seeing how the pillar is getting weaker by day and then finally confirmed it's the worst case scenario.