Zsa Zsa writing her bucket list

ZSA ZSA Padilla

Zsa Zsa Padilla started writing down her bucket list shortly after she was diagnosed with kidney cancer, according to close friend Gary Valenciano.

Gary, who was one of the first people whom Zsa Zsa contacted after confirming her illness, reported that the singer-actress was nevertheless in “high spirits.”

Zsa Zsa announced that she had stage 1 kidney cancer on her Facebook page last week, on the 40th day of the passing of her longtime partner Dolphy. She is scheduled for surgery on August 27 at the Cedar Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.

No to chemo, radiation

Gary first got a text message from Zsa Zsa about her condition on August 19. “She said she wouldn’t be needing radiation or chemotherapy sessions,” he told the Inquirer on Thursday.

Zsa Zsa will undergo a procedure called laparoscopy, in which a thin, lighted tube is put through an incision inside the belly to locate growths and infections. A growth the size of a ping-pong ball was earlier found in her kidney.

Gary said Zsa Zsa’s text message also read: “I need to rest only for a month and then I can go back to work. I just need a follow-up (checkup) in six months, then a checkup here (in the United States) every year.”

His response

GARY Valenciano

Gary’s response to her message: “The enemy is on a rampage. He is relentless … his job is to kill, steal and destroy. Our God came to give you not just life, but life in abundance.”

He continued: “Yes, the big C stands for cancer, but the bigger and most outstanding C is for Christ. Against His promise, cancer has no match.”

He reported that Zsa Zsa was surprised at how well her children Karylle, Zia and Nicole were handling the situation. “I think when they talk among themselves, they say, ‘Mama has to undergo surgery again.’ Parang gano’n lang (It’s just like that).”

Zsa Zsa went under the knife a few years ago due to scoliosis.

Missed screening

If she feels bad about anything, Gary said, it was that she will miss the first screening day of their movie “I Do Bidoo Bidoo” on August 29.

Gary promised “to be with Zsa Zsa before, during, after and then way after” her operation, through prayers.