MY CANCER STORY - Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE - The Starting Point

I don't remember where all of this started, definitely not one fine day, it was a gradual process. The first thing I noted that my body is not the same was a long way back, may be 2 years back. I started getting a weird rash which was a red patch sometimes in my arm, sometimes in my leg and many times it was on my face. I also has severe myalgia and my ankle seemed to be swollen, I tested it myself and concluded it be pitting edema but no one knew the reason. I was studying in a medical institution and this made it a little worse, everyone around me had some knowledge about human systems, found that my symptoms seemed to correlate with rheumatoid diseases. This made me a little nervous, told it to my parents, went to my family doctor, he ran some tests and all the results came negative and the doctor said I was completely normal. 

But I knew something was not alright and this time the weighing scale took its turn to increase my anxiety. I have put on 10 to 15kgs suddenly and started to look like a balloon. My loved ones noticed me and told I look bloated up. My parents had their own answer to it, my mom told I am eating a lot and my dad told I don't exercise. So this time I started to exercise and I did cut down on my junk, my looks started to change everyone noticed some weight loss and my costumes also told the same. But again this time my weighing scale made me a bit more nervous, it never came down.

But my parents, friends and everyone around me convinced me saying "You are completely alright, don't worry too much about your health" or some will say "You are just obese, may be some exercising and dieting can help you". I got convinced didn't worry about my health, just had fun made myself completely active.

Years passed, I completed my UG exams and started my internship. March 2020, was about to complete my internship in about 40 days, the Government of Tamilnadu announced complete lockdown, Chennai city froze for the first time in real. Everyone stayed indoors, I thought I will be called for duty but as we were still students our hospital Dean decided to make us stay home. The thought of staying inside the house for days made me go crazy. I thought it was impossible and for a person like me I thought I will die. But took this as a challenge and started managing, to my surprise I stayed at home for 5 whole months. This period again had a health issue, had persistent cough and it was not manageable. Decided to take a professional's advice, thanks to Mr.Amal my good friend, he referred me to a Pulmonologist Dr.Hariprasad. Had an online consultation, again had some tests and was diagnosed with a throat issue and he treated me with some antibiotics. Eventually I got better but still my inner self knew something was not alright.

My internship started again, my 40 days were actually fun with my friends staying with me, away from my parents for the first time and a lot more. Someday in-between this fun my boyfriend spotted a nodule in my neck, I noticed it for the first time called my friends to examine it. My friend told "It is just a small node, don't worry much about it". This time even I didn't take it seriously, the nodule moved in all directions, so I knew it was not attached to a muscle and with the knowledge I had gained from 5 years of college I knew it was an enlarged lymph node. To my surprise, my boyfriend took it seriously, he insisted me in testing it and also told he had a similar one which was long back diagnosed as Tuberculosis. My internship days came to an end, my UG life ended finally, it was hard, had emotional breakdowns, not only did my UG life end but also my life in Chennai came to an end. Yes, my parents decided to shift to Coimbatore forever and I had to move too.

After UG, life will start being difficult, you need to make serious decisions, your parents' expectations increases and with that the society also pushes you down. So before facing all these, me and my friends decided to enjoy for a few days. We started our trip from Coimbatore, roamed around the state and finally ended it in Chennai. Again my health has started its play, this time the pandemic has taken up the world but I didn't fear it too much. Had severe cold and lung congestion, went to my Pulmonologist again, he asked me to take a chest X-ray, just to confirm it was not  COVID. To my great relief it was not COVID, after all that roaming, I was not infected. But something more than that happened, thanks to Dr.Hariprasad he found something was not alright with me and I needed medical attention. 

My life started to spin from then...