Sunday 27 April 2008 - Reuben's dad, Richard, arrived from Brisbane at 6 am to help us supervise the kids and drive them to tuition etc etc. At church, many brothers and sisters rallied around to comfort us, pray with us. We are so blessed to be loved by you all. Sunday night we took the flight to Melbourne.
Monday 28 April 2008 - On arrival we drove to the home of our friends, Dr Peter Choong and his wife Kerry. We enjoyed their generous hospitality for 4 nights. Peter had made an appointment for me to see surgeon, Dr Michael Henderson 3pm.
With a few hours to fill, we went into the city, visited the Medicare office. Medicare is Autralia's universal health insurance programme for citizens and permanent residents. Since we are both citizens we thought we should apply for it. I could potentially enjoy free/highly subsidised medical treatment in Australa.
The process for applying for a Medicare card was not too difficult. One photo ID required and 2 documents that show home address in Australia. Unfortunately as we have not been living in Australia since 1991, we were not eligible. It was tempting to just produce some documents and get the card, but it was an integrity issue. I walked out heavy hearted.
After a hot lunch - Melbourne is cold! - we ran some errands before going to the doctors appt. In the meantime, Reuben's mum also arrived in Melbourne to give us support. Kristy, our sister in law went to the airport to pick her up.
Dr Henderson reviewed my scans, reports etc., and also recommended treatment chemo before surgery. I told him instinctively I wanted the tumour removed as quickly as possible. His answer in layman's terms. "No one ever died from breast cancer if it stayed in the breast. It's when it spreads to other organs that it can kill." So chemo was to kill off the cells that have escaped. More tests were ordered - blood test, cardiac imaging, MRI.
Met mum-in-law, Molly, and sis-in-law Kristy and our nephew and niece, Isaiah and Syrah in he cancer centre lobby. We had a lovely Indian & Chinese dinner at the home of Reuchlin (Reuben's brother) and Kristy.
