On Wednesday (Jan 13), former Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong took to social media using some rather interesting metaphors to describe another one of his radiation sessions.

Mr Goh wrote that when the radiation therapists snapped the mask in place, he “felt like a trapped Spider-Man being zapped by invisible high energy rays”.

Sharing a photo of the mask that was used during his therapy, Mr Goh added: “No swallowing as the zap is in progress. Fortunately, each zap lasts less than 10 seconds. My worst side effect from the radiation therapy is a mild sore throat which requires effortful swallowing”.

“Four more sessions to go and I will cross the finishing line with a victory smile. In fact, I am already smiling as I took this selfie in my office”, he wrote.

The 79-year-old Mr Goh has been very open with his health challenges in the past few months, in part to advocate for taking health screenings, because the early detection of a particular health condition could make a big difference in one’s survival rate.

He had first gone to hospital in late November to remove a kidney stone, only to return a short while later to biopsy a suspicious nodule in his larynx.

Mr Goh explained then that squamous cells had been found in the nodule in his larynx, but, “fortunately, after excision, the MRI of the neck and the CT scan of the chest showed no trace of these bad cells”.

The session on Wednesday (Jan 13) marks his 13th session of radiation therapy, out of the required 20 sessions. /TISG

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