Kuala Lampur, May 28 -- Since I'm still in the dark about how much my next 13 Herceptin infusions will cost in total, I decided to withdraw some of my EPF money "just in case".

It has reached a point I am too paiseh to solicit more donations when there are others earning less and suffering more than me, so why not try and use my own money, right?

No one told me it would be this challenging.

The good part: the Petaling Jaya EPF office is easy to get to, right across from the Taman Jaya LRT and it's run very efficiently at first glance.

At the reception counter, you get asked why you're there and then handed a number.

None of my multiple visits to sort out my withdrawal attempt took more than 15 minutes but here's the bad part: I had t...