For several months, we had been trying to understand a series of strange symptoms.
There had been episodes of dizziness.
Moments of confusion.
Brief memory lapses that seemed unusual but difficult to explain.
Despite medical consultations and even a brain MRI, no clear answer had been found.
Then, on the evening of February 3, 2024, everything changed.
It was a little after 9:00 PM.
My wife was standing beside me when she suddenly said that her legs felt weak.
Before I could fully understand what was happening, she slowly collapsed to the floor.
At that moment, I knew something was seriously wrong.
This was different from the previous episodes.
There was no time to hesitate.
I helped her into the back seat of the car and drove as quickly as possible to the Emergency Department at Raffles Hospital.
Looking back, I believe she was still conscious and able to communicate during the journey. However, when I asked her about that night much later, she had no memory of the event at all.
That remains one of the most unsettling aspects of the experience.
The person who lived through it could not remember it.
After arriving at the hospital, the medical team performed an initial assessment and admitted her for further investigation.
The following day, she underwent a full-body MRI scan.
At the time, we were simply hoping to find an explanation for the sudden weakness.
We had no idea that the scan would reveal findings that would completely change our lives.
The MRI identified two areas of concern.
The first was in the brain.
A small lesion measuring approximately 7 millimeters was detected in the left parietal region of the brain, accompanied by mild surrounding swelling. The radiology report stated that the finding was suspicious for a metastatic lesion and recommended further imaging with contrast-enhanced MRI and additional investigations.
The second finding was in the lung.
Although only part of the chest was included within the scan range, a nodule measuring approximately 2.5 centimeters was observed in the upper lobe of the left lung.
The report suggested that this lesion required urgent evaluation to determine whether it represented a primary lung tumor.
Further investigations including chest imaging, PET-CT scanning, and tissue biopsy were recommended.
There were also several minor findings noted in the report, including age-related small vessel changes in the brain. However, these were not considered the primary concern.
Most importantly, no aneurysm or major blockage was identified in the brain’s major blood vessels.
At the time we received this information, we did not yet fully understand its significance.
The possibility of cancer had been mentioned, but no diagnosis had been confirmed.
The doctors proceeded cautiously.
Rather than immediately sending us for a PET-CT scan, they first arranged a chest X-ray to further investigate the abnormal finding in the lung.
When the X-ray confirmed that something unusual was present, the next steps became clear.
Additional MRI studies were ordered.
A whole-body PET-CT scan was scheduled.
And further investigations began to move rapidly.
I remember my wife becoming increasingly frustrated with the repeated MRI scans.
Each scan required more waiting, more uncertainty, and more questions without answers.
At that point, we still hoped there might be another explanation.
Perhaps an infection.
Perhaps an inflammatory condition.
Perhaps something less serious.
But deep inside, I think we both sensed that our lives were about to change.
We simply did not yet know how much.
In the next chapter, I will share the PET-CT results and the series of tests that ultimately led to the diagnosis that neither of us expected to hear.
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