IT WAS a beautiful Sunday morning;just perfect for lunch outdoors. As we settled into our seats, I was struck by how beautiful Devika looked with her face-framing ebony hair now growing back quite thickly. “You look great with short hair.”
She chuckled “Thanks, it’s just great to have hair again”. I touched my own newly-cut hair imagining what it must feel like to be bald.
Sitting opposite me that Sunday morning in December was a woman who had just completed the exact treatment I was now facing. Devika Tinsarran was officially diagnosed in April 2015;in 2014,before her diagnosis she had done the fine needle biopsy which had assured her that it was just a giant fibroadenoma.However,during this time she would complain about excruciating pain in her breast, tiredness, vomiting and weight loss.This led her to have a lumpectomy done to remove what should have been a fibroadenoma but,much like mine, turned out to be a malignant tumor.
As we started on our meal,Devika shared her emotional experience of finding out she had cancer for the first time. “What did you do? Did you know what stage then?” Mom and I rattled questions off to her. With a smile on her face she said “When I was told I had breast cancer, I became numb, I looked at my doc as he continued to speak and I just heard myself stop him.I said stop whatever you’re about to say right now,wouldn’t make any sense to me, give me a couple of days and i’ll come back and we can go from there. I didn’t want to do chemo, but I decided to after a lot of consideration, and my doc telling me that my cancer was extremely aggressive and within a year’s time it will all be too late.”
Because of our age,it is very likely Devika and I have both been genetically predisposed to cancer. “What was the chemotherapy like?where did you do it?”, I asked. “My doc had recommended GPHC.I was skeptical at first but once I got there and met everyone in the Oncology unit,I felt comfortable and decided to go ahead with treatment.” Devika responded.
I didn’t like the idea of GPHC for any sort of treatment. It wasn’t the lack of good medical practitioners that concerned me, it was the lack of care from the nurses that worked there. I shared my experience with Devika,“ I visited the GPHC trying to enquire how to join the chemo clinic just last week and I came home frustrated by the apathetic nurses I met at the various surgical,diabetic and general clinics. I felt as though I was disturbing the nurses from something.”
Devika explained to me that the Oncology Unit of the GPHC was located in its own building behind the Accident and Emergency area. There was no signage,at the time I visited,to indicate this. Devika sang the praises of the nurses in the Oncology Unit. She assured me that her treatment at the GPHC was comfortable and recommended that I do it there “ and it’s free” she added. Chemotherapy can cost as much as 150-200,000 per cycle at private institutions. I was reminded that services like free healthcare is one of the reasons why we pay taxes and we should take advantage of them once in a position to do so.
Each round or cycle is administered intravenously and the procedure lasts up to three hours each time. There is a break of twenty-one days between each cycle for the patient to be able to build their white blood cells up and to maintain a healthy immune system through vitamin and food intake. Devika told us a bit about the different chemo drugs and how they affected her.
“I did 8 rounds, I did 4 AC and 4 Paclitaxel. AC made me so sick, I was vomiting every time I ate or drank anything.I was so tired all the time, lost my hair after the very first round!It was emotional to see my hair fall, I had long beautiful curly hair! I knew it was going to fall so I started to cut it off bit by bit. Then one morning I woke up and I took off my sleeping cap, and the entire front of my head was bald;the hair was all in the cap. It was then I decided I didn’t want to see that every day. The real touchy part was that moment I decided to have my brother shave it all off;I cried for the first time when I saw myself with no hair.Paclitaxel made every bone in my body ache… I couldn’t walk on my own for days.”
We spoke briefly about radiation,which she described as tiring and not being able to shower for a month during radiation,as well as the severe burns and scarring she experienced after. Speaking to someone who had survived what seemed like such an ordeal and in good spirits was very promising to me. Before leaving the restaurant I asked her how she was able to get through it all;I was overwhelmed just imagining her struggle.I realize that life can be taken from us just like that, I live everyday trying to help as many people that will let me help them fight this disease. I wake up every day thankful for all that I have.I forgive easily now and I don’t let anything bother me, I laugh as much as possible. (Cont’d Next Week: My first round of chemotherapy)