Operating Room

And so they it was that they walked with their arms around each other's shoulder after Beng's operation last 12 January 2007.


They removed two lumps from her left breast. One was slightly larger than a quail egg. The other was not detected in the preliminary test and was only seen in the middle of the procedure. That's why the half hour stretched to nearly an hour and forty-five minutes. I was getting worried in the waiting room of the OR. I was already starting to imagine the worst. I was alone there; my parents attended mass in the hospital chapel; Leslie got lost in the complicated hallways and Gang was still on her way. I paced and I paced and I paced. They finally came out, my sister looking disoriented and trying to smile away the discomfort. The doctor was grinning like he won the lottery because he got two lumps instead of one. I was just relieved to see her.


Later we had lunch at Chataeu Verde to kick start Beng's recovery. It was our anniversary too. The last time the four of us got down to lunch there was a year before, for Leslie's birthday.


We got the results of the biopsy. BENIGN. Thank God.


Please please please. Give yourself a breast exam. If you don't know how, click here for detailed instructions.