Coronary artery disease no more

Mr. G needed a coronary artery bypass operation – he had all three of his major coronary arteries critically stenosed from atherosclerosis, and was getting crescendo angina from this.

10.Dec.2009

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Tell me what you think.

It took more than a long fortnight of wait in the hospital before he was finally scheduled to undergo the operation the following week. The consultant cardiologist and I went to see him that Monday to tell him the good news of the confirmed operation date, but Mr. G surprised us completely.

He started off painting a rather awkward atmosphere talking about scars and the cross, then later declined the operation, politely but adamantly. He told us a friend from church had visited him over the weekend, and over prayer he now felt different – he was convinced that he has been spiritually healed.

“I have faith. Give me the chance to prove to you that I am right,” he said with a smile.

And I stood there – on my left was the consultant who didn’t immediately know how to respond from a cardiologist role, and on my right the patient whose claim couldn’t be explained easily with human wisdom.

At that moment, I suddenly wasn’t sure who to root for…
I have been thinking about it.

Promises of satisfaction

Have you ever looked around and realized that the world is just replete with promises of satisfaction? Think about it!

5.Jun.2009

This entry is filed under Miscellany and tagged , , . There are 10 responses to this post.

Tell me what you think.

Blockbuster movies, parties with friends, breakaway shopping sprees, travel trips, hunting for music, chasing good books, enjoying food, and all the colorful product advertisements everywhere – do they not all target at our search for satisfaction? And the world is just full of such promises of satisfaction – that it is blinding.

Many of them are short-lived. Some of them are lies. We all know. Yet it is easy to get lost, and in the process, all we end up thinking and speaking of is about ourselves. All of this is like “a chasing after the wind”, as the book of Ecclesiastes aptly puts it.

There is much more to say, but I’ll stop. It actually takes some effort to think about this in the context of our personal lives (yours and mine)! But tell me what you think.

Which is the right decision?

What if you (or your wife) had just got pregnant – but, by some reason difficult for us to understand currently, was diagnosed with a breast cancer.

26.Apr.2009

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Tell me what you think.

Chemotherapy is necessary, but it is also very rough and teratogenic – it will not go well with the expecting mum and the unborn baby. The problem was big and demanded a decision.

Here are two real stories about this – about real people in their real struggles:

1. Mum and dad decided to bite their teeth and carry through with the pregnancy without chemotherapy. The cancer spread in mom and she deteriorated quite badly over the course of pregnancy. Still she managed to barely reach 32 weeks when she was rushed to the delivery suite. She gave birth to a premature little baby boy via Caesarean section, and then received urgent chemotherapy in the delivery suite, then and there. The baby boy made it into the world alive and healthy, but mom passed away shortly a year after. Dad was left alone to take care of the newborn boy.

2. Mum and dad decided for an abortion. The lead-up to the abortion was fraught with many uncertainties, but the actual procedure was over way too quickly and easily. Mom and dad turned up together to the Cancer Centre a week later and began the chemotherapy cycles. The disease was as well-controlled as you could expect in modern oncology – but not without some sense of guilt that may never leave, no doubt.

But which is the right decision? Many circumstances in our lives are often just too hard for human wisdom. That is why there are so many regrets.

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