Around this time last year, I didn't know whether I would survive. I was being wheeled into an operating room, and no one knew whether I would make it out alive. I was diagnosed with Colorectal Cancer a few months ago. It was completely unexpected.
I had lived an everyday and healthy life for 36 years. I was a working woman, and suddenly I was told I might have only a few more months to live.
My world was turned upside down. But I had to stay strong for my children, who are still young. And as for my husband, I made him promise that he wouldn't cry and neither would I.
It all began with uncontrollable bouts of bleeding last year. My first instinct was to visit my gynaecologist. She quickly dismissed the problem as heavy menstrual bleeding and gave me a few tablets. But the medicines didn't work, and I returned to her, and once again, she attributed it to a menstrual condition.
However, I knew something else was wrong with me, and it couldn't be just a menstrual condition, so I went to another doctor. He, too, couldn't figure out the problem; initially, they thought the bleeding could be because of a stomach ulcer.
For three months, I went back and forth from one doctor to another, but no one could diagnose what was wrong with me. I had no accompanying symptoms, such as pain, which confused matters. All I had was bleeding and the skin from my hands peeling off, but nothing apart from that.
Finally, when the bleeding didn't stop, I went in for a colonoscopy, and the doctors realized something was seriously wrong. They discovered that my rectum had been destroyed by cancer cells.
My husband, inside the OT during the procedure, was taken out of the room by the doctors; they told him it was most likely cancer. When he came back inside, he was crying uncontrollably; he could barely speak; I kept asking him what the doctors said, I asked him what the worst-case scenario was, and through his sobs, he told me it looked like cancer.
I didn't know what to say, but I knew then that I had to fight this. All I could think about was my kids. Who would care for them if something happened to me? And so we began our long battle against my Colorectal Cancer. And I say 'we' because my husband was me every step of the way; if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have survived.
The first step was finding the right doctor; we lived in Meerut and looked for oncologists in Delhi, thinking that the capital would have the best medical care. However, when I visited one of the best oncologists at a top-notch hospital, my experience was far from pleasant.
The doctor told me and my husband to our faces that I wouldn't survive beyond a few days, and even if I did, I would need at least 30 rounds of Chemotherapy.
Devastated, my husband and I travelled back home, but I was determined to get help, and that's when we found Dr Piyush Gupta in Meerut. Dr Gupta gave me hope and agreed to operate on me. Within days, I was being wheeled into the operating room, aiming to scrape out as much cancer as possible.
I made it out alive, but the days after the Surgery were the toughest; the stitches and the pain were unbearable. I couldn't eat for days before and after the surgery; my food intake was close to nothing because my stomach couldn't digest any food. There were days when all I wanted was to taste something.
The worst bit was that I had a colostomy bag attached to me after the surgery. A colostomy bag is like a small waterproof pouch used to collect waste; it had to be attached because my cancer destroyed the organs we use to pass stools. I was living without an organ and a faeces bag attached to my body.
Living with a colostomy bag was one of the worst experiences of my life; it is like being attached to your bodily waste all the time. A few months later, I underwent another painful operation, a reverse colostomy, to resolve this issue.
My intestines were connected to my anus so I could have normalcy without the colostomy bag. The operation was painful but worth it. Thankfully, I didn't need any rounds of chemotherapy.
Throughout all of this, my husband and my family stood by me. Although there were times when grief took over, and we would all wonder, 'Why me'. My children didn't know that I had cancer; they knew I was unwell, but they weren't aware of the gravity of the situation. After the painful surgeries, my brother and his wife formed an even greater support system for me.
Cancer is draining physically, mentally and financially. The only thing that kept me going through this all was my kids and my husband. I had to be around for them because no one else can do what a mother does for her children.
If I had to give one message to all those with cancer, it would be to keep reinforcing the idea of getting better. What's happening to you is terrible, but it will get better. Also, as someone whose symptoms were ignored for so long, I would say don't ignore your body's signs. If you think something is wrong, seek help immediately, find time for yourself and get checked.