January 19, 2020: My mother was diagnosed with mouth cancer. Mouth or Oral Cancer is the cancer of the lining of lips, mouth, or upper throat. It usually starts as a painless white patch, later developing into red patches, ulcers, and continues to grow. We went for a couple of rounds of Chemotherapy, and the first two operations took place in Hinduja Hospital, Mumbai. Chemotherapy drugs interfere with a cancer cell's ability to divide and reproduce more cells.

This can be done by a single drug or a combination of drugs. It is an invasive treatment and has a considerable impact on the body. The treatment can often lead to loss of appetite and my mother had started to eat very less. The cancer being in her mouth imposed further eating restrictions. After the third round of treatment, she opted for oral Chemotherapy, which has a huge advantage over the parenteral route because the drug is administered orally as a pill or capsule.

There were quite a few things that were therapeutic for her during the treatment. My mother was engaged in Yoga and she wanted to be physically active for as long as possible. She would often listen to meditative and serene music and found it very peaceful. Kahlil Gibran said "Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life, bringing peace, abolishing strife."

This is extremely true as it brought her happiness in times of difficulty and pain. I was able to find a couple of treatments that had been proven useful in certain studies, but my mother was bedridden before anything could be executed. She was quite old and rightfully sceptical about some medications like Cannabis oil. Even though the oil was going to be used for a specific medicinal purpose, its usage is taboo in our society.

Most doctors stick to diet plans and traditional therapy and many pathways are not explored. There have been more than 18 million cancer patients and less than half of them survived the condition. We live in a privileged world where the answers to all our questions lie seconds away from us and knowledge can be spread faster than ever. It is important to discuss more possible solutions since there is no fixed cure for this disease.

We lost our dad in 2016 and sadly next year my mother was diagnosed with cancer. She was sixty-two years old when she passed away in 2019, and she fought until the last moment. It was a tough 3 years for us.

Cancer must not deter you from your will to live. It is not necessarily a fatal disease and there are several methods of possible cure being discovered even today. So always be prepared for the worst and hope for the best!