Kindest Readers,
I believe you might have come across this article because you are trying to seek comfort either for yourself or for someone close to you experiencing the trauma. Remember You Aren’t Alone.
Worry not, I am here to share my story with you and provide this platform to anyone who’s in a similar situation and needs someone to listen to their concerns, doubts, share their fears and even their winning journeys.
So, let me take you to my wonderland, a land where something I never ever dreamt of in my wildest imagination somehow became my present reality.
This is about a 30-year young, independent and fierce Indian woman living her life to the fullest on her own terms and conditions. In 2023, this free bird was traveling the world, achieving career goals, enjoying time with her friends and family. I am a tea-totaler, pure vegetarian and a non-smoker right from the very beginning. Post my return from the United States in November 2023, I witnessed some allergic spots on my face, as a result of which I contacted the best of the dermatologists to get rid of the same. After multiple diagnosis and treatments for almost four months, my allergies didn’t subside and I had to undergo oral steroid treatments (even this was futile, so I stopped the treatment). Suddenly, on one fine day (February 2024), while I was heading for a shower, I noticed a slight lump in my right breast and this seemed uncommon to me.
Now let me share some context with you: I am a super-vigilant person when it comes to health and would often push my mother to get her mammograms and PAP-Smear check ups done on a regular basis. So as soon as I noticed the lump, I immediately called my mother and informed her about my situation and mentioned that I have scheduled an appointment with my gynecologist. My mother asked me not to worry considering my age and given the fact that we don’t have a family history. I drove alone to the doctor’s and got the lump checked via ultrasound and CA-125 blood test. The ultrasound reports came out to be normal indicating there’s a 3 cm tumor in my right breast which appeared to be benign. The doctor asked me to wait for the blood test reports before we proceed for biopsy. Being a science student, this word (“BIOPSY”) triggered me the most, and before I could utter a word, the doctor started asking me ample questions like – Are you Married? What are your thoughts about Family Planning? Have you considered living alone? etc. These questions left me slightly disturbed because I had honestly not thought about any of these in detail. I couldn’t wait for my blood tests report to come back and immediately booked my tickets to my parents’ place. That very evening, my CA-125 reports came and they were slightly outside the normal range. While I was still looking at my reports, I received a call from my brother who had no clue about what had happened to me the entire day. I picked up his call and with tears in my eyes said to him, “Bhai, Mujhe lagta hai ki Mujhe Cancer ho gaya hai” (Translation: Listen brother, I think I might have CANCER)” and messaged the reports to him on his phone. Next day, I was with my parents hoping for the reports to come back normal, yet we didn’t wish to waste any further time so we had already booked our appointment with the best oncologist available.
The oncologist examined my reports and asked me to get a biopsy done. This started my first series of trauma – “MULTIPLE BIOPSIES – YES, YOU READ IT RIGHT!” Oops, I forgot to tell you one thing, actually 2 things:
1. I am hell scared of needles, injections and most importantly hospitals.
2. I was praying to everyone around me including God, doctors, my family, friends and anyone close to me if there’s potentially a way to not undergo chemotherapy and not have mastectomy done.
