My dad's nose

(Dad's watching the TV in the living room.)

The nurse called us on Wed evening. She said the result is out and the doc wants to see us first thing in the morning. It's not good news according to her.

I cried myself to sleep on Wed night. Thinking that my dad's nose is going to be cut off soon. Wondering how he is going to breathe, talk and eat without a nose. Worrying that he might have to wear an ugly artificial nose like Michael Jackson to cover up 'the hole'.

I had nightmare the whole night long. My brain kept playing and re-playing me the image of Michael Jackson's nose with lots of maggots trying to crawl themselves out from the cavities. So disgusting can die!

The next day I went to work looking like a newly imported panda from China while mom and sis accompanied dad to see the doc at the hospital.

The unknown and uncertainties made me feel like as if I was sitting on a needles-filled carpet instead of a comfy cushioned chair in my office. I still couldn't shake of the image of Michael Jackson's maggots-filled nose from the night before. By 11ish AM, I tak boleh tahan anymore. I called up my sis and urged her to tell me the result.

"Got many patients now. We are still waiting for our turn. I'll let you know once I've got the result." She said.

I put down the phone feeling dejected. I've never been so worried in my life before. Lunch tasted like sand to me. I couldn't swallow a thing.

At 12.41PM sharp, my sis sms-ed me, "Da tumour is confirmed to be cancerous. Nw need to perform CTscan to knw wat stage. It's radio-sensitive, so radio-therapy wil b used 4 treatment."

I quickly gave her a call back to enquire her further about dad's condition. The first thing I asked her was, "Does dad's nose need to be operated?"

"Operate what?!" I can hear her laughing like a hyena on the other side.

"Of course the nose laa! To take out the tumour!" I replied her matter-of-factly.

She suppressed her laughter and asked me, "Ah Jie, do you know what is radio-therapy? Do you know that not all cancer patients need to be operated?"

"..."

"According to the doc, dad just needs to go for regular radio-therapy sessions for treatment because the tumour inside his nose is radio-sensitive." She continued.

"Phew~ Thank gawd. No Michael Jackson's nose." I said to myself in a hush tone.

"What? Come again sis. What did you just say?" She asked again.

"Nothing." I giggled, paused and heaved a sigh of relief. At least my dad's nose will remain intact for now. :)

Ed note: Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes, the CTscan result shows that the tumour in my dad's nose is a curable early stage cancer. :)