Here's My Story

My dad underwent PET/CT scan  at Beacon Hospital. I was hoping that it would detect the primary site of the cancer to be somewhere where it's feasible to operate. However, it detected nothing abnormal or found unremarkable signs. So at that point, we thought that either the scan was incorrect or the initial diagnosis was incorrect i.e. the cancel cells did not originate from somewhere else and so the kidney was indeed the primary site. We then met the oncologist. Actually, he wasn't the oncologist that my dad was assigned to. I guess he was assisting the doctor in-charge? *shrug* We answered all his questions and before he went off to consult the doctor in-charge, I asked whether it was a good idea to get a second opinion on the test of cancer cells in the removed kidney. I blundered in the way I asked hahaha ("maybe the pathologist made a mistake?") but he got it in the end and said he would include that in discussion. However, after he came back, he merely r...

I find this amusing :)

After I became the fourth player to level up Grey to 20 , I tried to level up Gremolition too and aim for the last 2 slots i.e. 4th or 5th player. I knew, from the game's Discord channel, there was one other person trying the same and he was very close to doing so. So the moment it was announced a 4th player did so, I knew I had no chance and thus abandoned it. Honestly, I was looking forward to play other lancers because somehow I felt I wasn't contributing as much as I would like to as Gremolition. So next I aimed to level up Orion since there was only 2 too. I was a little hesitant because during Beta phase I was much better as Aurora and Quark. I fiddled about some mod combination and I finally found one that I am comfortable with. First off, the list of his abilities and available mods can be found in Prep Phase site . Far easier than reading my wall of text :) Mods I've been using are: (1) Devour Energy (default is Amplified Eruption) (2) Shared Agony (default...

Following the shocking news , our next appointment was with the colon specialist. By then, the tumour marker blood tests ordered by the urologist were already out: normal for liver and prostate normal for colon but was high prior to removal of kidney high for pancreas but was 10 times higher prior to removal of kidney Colon specialist was not particularly worried about colon but because polyps were discovered during the last colonoscopy done a year ago, he ordered for another scope done. Pancreas specialist ended with them (she consulted her "boss") referring my dad to the oncologist for treatment. They surmised that since previous scans couldn't detect cancer, it must be small and yet potent in spreading. After some discussion, aside from the 3-part CT scans (upper, middle and lower body) scheduled in Dec, my dad will be going for PET/CT scan soon. Thereafter, there will be follow-up appointment with the pancreas specialist and of course we'll show the re...

For Naruto fans. Enjoy the nostalgia :) I love it!

My dad's tumor markers for colon and pancreas cancer have always been high but subsequent CT scans, ultrasounds, upper and lower scopes, and biopsy had shown no indication of cancerous cells. By sheer coincidence, it was one of these scans/ultrasounds that picked up sign of kidney cyst. So our family are shocked to learn that the biopsy on the kidney removed during the recent surgery  revealed some cancerous cells. Not only that, those cells originated elsewhere i.e. they were metastasised from another part of the body. According a friend who is a doctor, he said that it's rare for cancer cells to spread to kidney. I later read an abstract of a research paper (found in Pubmed) stating, "Although the frequency of metastases to the kidney in cancer patients is 7-13% in large autopsy series, incidental discovery of a renal metastasis as the first manifestation of a primary tumor is a very rare event." One one hand, it is bad luck for my dad to get such cancer (becaus...

Apparently I misunderstood the "first 5 players" to level up a character to 20. Yes, they were watching out (and announced whenever it happened) for the first player to level up the respective 21 freelancers ("world first" and already done!), they are also taking note of the next 4 players for these freelancers. Once I knew this, I checked a list maintained by a moderator of the Atlas Reactor discord channel and concluded that I could possibly be among the first 5 players to level up Grey to 20. Henceforth, I played her exclusively and grouped with in-game friend whenever I could. I forwent playing any other games, notably Overwatch. Just very early this morning (I panicked after a 3rd player managed to level up Grey lol), I managed to be the 4th player to achieve this :) This was the immediate reaction when the broadcast was made at the end of the game (our team was steamrolled, unfortunately). This was the announcement made by the discord c...

One of our greatest collective weaknesses is a strive for perfectionism and imposing that on others, pioneering actuary and Rhodes Scholar Ian Pollard told delegates at the Institute's Leadership Development Seminar on Monday (8 August). - Actuaries Digital Hmmm food for thought.

All those who purchased Atlas Reactor before the official launch  were able to play earlier (hence the "headstart") since 30 Sep. On the run-up to this date, I dusted off Guild Wars 2  and started from scratch i.e. a new character since there were significant changes. I tried necromancer and quite like it. I now have separate builds for PVE (minion master) and PVP (condi + boon corruption) since boon corruption is usually useless in PVE. However, I'm sad that Arena.net (the developer) has broken the game with the introduction of the last expansion, Heart of Thorns ("HoT"), which comes with a new specialisation tree. It seems that (at least according to forum, reddit etc) it's always the case that the best builds utilise this new tree. That means non-HoT players are at a disadvantage especially in PVP. It also severely reduces the variety of builds. On top of this major flaw, they also increased the amount of grinding for opening up desired traits. This...

When I first saw this from afar, I thought it was just a normal advert for FF's bags. But on closer inspection... Those were actual bags! Though the small bags on the right didn't really fit together with the photographed scene, the backpack did. Clever.