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Po Ling: Breast Cancer (English translation of Cantonese-language recording)

Recorded June 11, 2002

Listen With 8 minutes, 08 seconds. (Cantonese-language recording)

Greetings. I am Po Ling. I used to live in Hong Kong. I have been making movies since I was a kid until present. It has been 30 or 40 years. How old am I? I think it is unnecessary to go into detail. If I said I was 30 years old, you wouldn't have believed me anyways, right? I used to live in Hong Kong, and then I moved to Taiwan and stayed there for 8 years. Then I came to Canada about 14 years ago.

Before coming to Canada, I had been making movies. I think you all know about it. Before I was living a life of making movies until I came here more than ten years ago. Although I no longer act in movies, many people still care about me. They call and ask me to go on stage and things like that, so sometimes I will work a little bit. It all depends on the situation, doing it with good friends; it is more like working for the fun of it. Since we have come to Canada our lives have been very peaceful and very leisurely. My husband plays golf. He plays it everyday. I didn't play at first, but now my husband and I play together. Please don't get me wrong, we play golf to maintain our health. We are not being extravagant, but [we] just enjoy it. I can tell you that in Canada playing golf is very common; average people can certainly afford to play golf.

Currently I am living with my grandchildren--my two grandkids and my oldest son and daughter-in-law. My two grandkids are very adorable; indeed they are very lovely. Living together has brought us lots of happiness, especially the two grandkids. They hang around our room all of the time, and take over our television. Of course, we watch cartoons with them. We all are very happy.

During Happy Times, a Cause for Alarm

However, during these happy times, suddenly something unhappy happened. I had only had two gynecological checkups since coming to Canada more than ten years before. Then last year I met a friend through golfing; she is a female gynecologist. We were talking about the topic of cancer when we were in the locker room of the golf club. She said let me check for you, and she checked my breast. I joked that it was a good thing that nobody had seen this; otherwise people would wonder what we were doing. [laughs] I was very lazy about going for checkups and seeing doctors. In the restroom, while she was pressing on my chest, she said: "Po Ling, do you feel something in here?" I touched it and it seemed to be so, there was a small hard lump in there. She said, "You need to take a film [have a mammogram] and get a checkup." So I went for checkup, and it was fine. I continued to play golf, and disregarded it. I also took trips. After several months, I returned to Toronto and I felt the lump again. It seemed to be growing bigger, and the area seemed to be getting larger. I took it as nothing at all. Later on, when I played golf with her again, I told her: "It is bigger; it seems to be getting a little bigger." She said: "Oh, it is bigger." She wanted me to have a checkup and to take a picture [have a mammogram]. I did, but it didn't show. "Under the circumstances," she said: "It is not right to have a hard lump there; you'd better have it removed, to take out a section for testing [a biopsy]." She helped me to schedule an appointment with a doctor. I went in and had the surgery; it was a very small procedure.

I went back and played golf again five days after surgery. The report seemed to take a very long time. During that time, many friends called and asked: "Has the report come back yet?" "Not yet? Why is it taking so long?" Some friends said: "Don't worry, no news is good news." I certainly hoped so; I put the issue behind me and continued to play golf. Finally, the physician friend told me that she had found something. For safety's sake, she sent me to a specialist for further exams. There was something that she found; she said some bad cells. I took the report and sent it to my friends who were also physicians in the United States. They all care about me. After reviewing the report, they all felt that there was something that was not good, but it was in very early stage. Even in an early stage, I had to make a decision.

To Face the Diagnosis of Breast Cancer

After the first surgery, something was discovered. To go on with the second surgery was a big decision. I had to take a bigger section out for testing, or remove it [the breast] completely, including the lymph nodes. That was the safest way. Of course after that I might need to get radiation--a month long radiation, one hour each day. I was torn between the options--the complete removal or just half of it. It was a big decision. My sons and my husband they went to the specialists and many people offered their suggestions. Of course some said this and some said otherwise, everyone might have good points and so did the others. My husband had his opinion, of course. I myself thought that I would do whatever is safe, and do whatever I could do.

Finally, I decided to remove [the breast] completely. Why? First of all, I am no longer a young girl, so it doesn't matter. Of course, the main concern was my health. I should do whatever needed to be done; therefore, I had the complete mastectomy.

Following the mastectomy, I was discharged from the hospital after a 10 day stay. Within those ten days, the doctors taught me how to exercise and I followed. When I was in the hospital, I didn't feel any pain. You can say that it went quite smoothly, even up till now. After I returned home, my mood and everything recovered rapidly. Now I play golf everyday, just as if nothing had happened.

However, there is one thing which I want to urge all women to do--you need to have routine checkups. Don't be lazy. Take me as an example; I discovered it because I had the checkup. Otherwise it might have been neglected until years later and it would have been too late. In many cases, [cancer] doesn't hurt or you can't feel anything, right? You wouldn't know if you didn't go for checkups. So you must go for checkups, detection is the earlier the better, right?

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