Since October 2010 is declared as the Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I thought if fit to write this article to pass on the message of hope and goodwill to all to the women who are suffering from Breast Cancer and their affected families.
Ours is a small middle class family consisting of my wife, my daughter and myself. I am 51 years of age, my wife 46 and our daughter 22 years. Our daughter Archana has just completed her post graduation in Organic Chemistry with distinction recently.
It was Thursday evening on the 1st of February 2007 I was relaxing at home at about 7 p.m. in the evening. Pramila, my wife, calmly sat next to me and said she wished to say something. I looked at her face, it did not seem to be a serious matter, I said “ please go on”. She said she had been observing a growing lump on her right breast over the last month or so and wanted to let me know. My heart skipped a beat since I could sense something seriously wrong. I took her immediately, to a gynecologist near our home, at Sitafalmandi Secunderabad. The moment the Doctor came out of the examination and I saw the grave expression on her face, my worst fears seemed to be coming true. The doctor advised an immediate a biopsy to be sure of the cause of the problem and referred us to one of the best laboratories of Hyderabad,
One look at the report and the Doctor, confirmed that my wife was having cancer. I was alone with the doctor at the time. I did not have the courage to go home and break out this news. I paced up and down on the road. Somehow I mustered the courage. That night all the three of us were crying and praying and seeking God’s help. I tossed and turned all night without sleep.
The next morning I opened the Deccan Chronicle news paper and the headlines in the supplementary edition read “There is hope for Cancer”. Was God trying to tell me something? I discovered it was World Cancer Day.
We consulted Indo American Cancer Hospital and Yashoda Hospital Secunderabad and took the opinion of different specialists. We were told that the tumor was pretty big and it had to be removed by surgery and then followed by radiation and chemotherapy.
As a family we decided to face this problem with faith and courage and not to allow fear to overtake our reasoning. My major challenge was to convince my wife that I was with her in this fight through thick and thin. Once my wife accepted the situation and agreed to co-operate with me half of my battle was won.
Next begin our saga of suffering on account of the painful treatments of surgery, followed by 5 weeks of radiation and 8 cycles of chemotherapy. The cancer had already entered the third stage and we could not avoid any of the three treatments. The whole treatment period started in the first week of February 2007 and went on till the end of September 2007..
The Chemotherapy treatment involves intravenous injection of toxic drugs into the body, which is supposed to attack and kill the multiplying cancer cells in the body. In the process it also kills the multiplying good cells of the body especially in the hair follicles, bone marrow and stomach lining. As a result, the patient loses all body hair, fall in the count of white blood corpuscles and stomach burning sensations etc. There is 21 days gap between one injection and the other to enable the patient to regain normal blood count and be ready for the next dose.
Throughout this period, we put our trust in God and submitted ourselves to his will. We prayed for all the suffering cancer patients in this world. Whenever we went to the NIMS we silently prayed to God to bless all the other cancer patients who had come for treatment. Our hearts wept to see young children less than 12 years suffering from blood and brain cancers and taking chemotherapy treatment.
My wife has subsequently recovered and is leading a normal life. She continues to suffer from edema of the right arm on account of the surgery, for which she needs to regularly do physiotherapy. She is able to do her normal household chores. She has become more spiritual and there is an aura of grace in her face.
My message through this article is to all the readers is that “ Please do not give into despair in moments of tragedy. Remember that every experience in life is an opportunity to learn and grow in wisdom and grace. Every suffering and adversity is only temporary and will pass away like a dark cloud. All major illnesses of the body can be defeated or controlled with the strength of the spirit. It just requires us to believe in the strength of our spirit and on the mercy of the almighty God who is always there for us. We only need to reach out to him like a child to a parent.”
