During May 2017, all of a sudden my brother-in-law started having acidity. We didn't take it seriously. But from mid-June, he started having severe backaches. He lost his appetite too. At that time, he was working from home. So we thought that the health issues might be due to his sedentary lifestyle. They looked like symptoms of generic gastritis. But when the symptoms aggravated, he went to the hospital to do a check-up but the test results were all fine. The USG report came clean too. He took some prescribed medicines and recovered. So, we were not worried at all.

Ensuing Issues:

But it didn't end there. Again his back Pain started to increase. By the end of July, his condition worsened. We were very worried at that time. Either the 5th or 8th of August he was admitted to the hospital. All the test results came as clean. But we didn't stop this time. He went through biopsy, laparoscopy, and Endoscopy also and there was no indication of cancer in the results.

Doctors were also unable to find the cause of his symptoms. But they said it looked severe to them. It scared us but what could have we done without any indication. Imaging techniques and sonography were also applied and those results also didn't indicate cancer.

The Quandary:

We were worried because the local lab results indicated cancer but one of the famous labs in Mumbai indicated no signs of cancer. Though we were confused, the lab result of a famous pathology center comforted us. Meanwhile, I was researching myself about the symptoms and found about SRCC or Signet ring cell carcinoma, a rare form of highly malignant adenocarcinoma.

I also came to know that advanced techniques are needed to detect that, and in India, the availability of these techniques is very rare.

Anyhow, all these procedures were going on until the 26th of August, and he was discharged on that day. Later on, due to the severity of his health condition, on the 16th of September, he went through another round of tests, and again the results didn't indicate cancer. But we were so scared this time, we went to another doctor on the 18th of September, one of the famous doctors in Lower Parel, Mumbai.

Detection:

Just after looking at him and having a glance at the reports the doctor told us it was 4th stage Pancreatic Cancer. We consulted the doctors in the previous hospital and decided to start the Cancer Treatment there only. His Chemotherapy was going to start from 25th September, but on 23rd he started to have breathing issues. Doctors decided to start Chemotherapy from 24th September. But on the 24th morning, suddenly he became unconscious and was moved to the ICU. After 25th September, his condition worsened.

Metastasis:

All the organs started to fail. The kidney stopped functioning as the creatinine level was very high. He was on life support, and continuous dialysis was ongoing. Doctors told us he may survive for a couple of hours to a couple of days only. We knew the seriousness of his health condition. But who can bear this kind of situation? After some time, he went into a coma. Unfortunately, doctors told us there was no point in keeping him on a ventilator. We decided to remove the life support on October 1st. On October 2nd, at 1:20 am, he passed away.

The Irreversible Loss:

It took a lot of time to recover from that loss. We were so angry that due to a lack of proper diagnosis, my brother-in-law's condition worsened, and he died. We consulted so many doctors multiple times. We lost all hope for oncologists in our country. When former Chief Minister of Goa, Mr. Manohar Parrikar, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, we hoped he would recover. It would be a ray of hope for people suffering from this. But he died too.

Parting Message:

So, that is why I would suggest everyone go through multiple tests when facing this level of severity. Seek consultation from multiple doctors. That can only help you. Don't neglect the symptoms until you are very sure. It has changed my life significantly. I started to read about cancers, the symptoms, and available treatments. I also began researching alternative therapies for cancer treatment. Now, I am preparing for the management entrance examination, and I aim to join the top colleges in our country, which can help me make a further contribution towards cancer patients.