Eric's Break of Silence

My name is Eric Yeong. About 5 months ago my family and I discovered I had cancer. Cancer is a fairly scary word. A loaded word, I'd say. I say this because whenever people hear the word cancer they think, "Woah, someone's gonna die!" I can tell you now, though, that I will not die. At least not from this. After catching our breaths and doing some research we learned that Hodgkin's lymphoma although being a cancer and although being worse than non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, was a "nicer" cancer and wouldn't take my life away. God has given me an opportunity to be around a little longer. We caught it early enough that it wasn't very serious but I still had to do chemotherapy, 4 months of it, (8 treatments every 2 weeks = 16 weeks.) and 3 weeks of radiation. (5 treatments each week. I guess even cancer takes the weekend off). My last treatment is August 10th, just 8 days away.

All this information, I wish I could tell to the little, old lady at the radiation clinic. Sadly, even after 5 years of Thai study I can't communicate well enough to be the other half of an intelligent Thai conversation. Maybe Thai isn't my forte and maybe I wasn't paying enough attention. It's the past and now I'm taking Spanish.

Today is my mother's 49th birthday and we started the day EARLY, much too early for a summer day. I woke up, skipped the shower and stumbled to the car. We drove up the mountain to eat breakfast at Lanna Resort, as well as enjoy the scenery. I was much too tired to enjoy anything except go back to sleep but we walked in the garden and my mother asked us to ask God for ways to bless her. We ate a breakfast of ham, eggs, toast, and sausages. As we drank our hot chocolate, we prayed and blessed my mom, sharing what each of us had heard from God. Afterwards we drove back down the mountain and I caught up on lost sleep while my family went to go do their own thing.

Later that day my mother drove me to the hospital for my daily radiation treatment. I was a little late because I had watched a movie earlier at the mall with some friends. I watched "Avatar: The Last Airbender" and like the reviews said it wasn't one of M. Night's best but I do disagree with people saying that it's racist. Because of my lateness, I had to wait longer than normal but because I was waiting, I got the opportunity to see the little, old lady and stumble through some form of communication. On most days I'd pass her on my way out and I'd give her my best smile. She'd return my smile and give me a thumbs up. Today she stopped me to try and say something to me. She couldn't talk because the radiation was affecting her throat. I also have a sore throat, courtesy of the radiation. She told her friend to tell me, from what I understand in Thai, that I was good for being alone. That's exactly how it translated but I think she meant something more like, "You're brave or strong for being able to go through treatment by yourself." She may also have been addressing the fact that I'm so young having to do treatment. She may have noticed that I was the youngest person in the cancer treatment ward. I was glad to be able to communicate with her and maybe in the future I'll be able to say more. I'll try to give her a note that I can copy off of Google translate.

My mother was able to enjoy the rest of her birthday by taking us to eat a meal at a new pizza and pasta place that we had not tried before. The food was very flavourful and we all came home satisfied with a couple of slices left over. We're all glad to have had her for all these years and hopefully we'll all see many more together. I'm glad to have been able to write you all tonight and I thank you for all the prayers and thoughts you've dedicated to me. I am truly grateful, touched, and feel very blessed. God bless you all.