A personal Narrative..!!

Patient Name: Mrs Rajshree Bhattacharjee
Max ID: SKDD.648284

I am a 40 years old lady from Delhi and mother of a ten year baby girl. I got married in 2006 at the age of 28. I am Hypothyroid positive and on Thyronorm since year 2005. I was diagnosed with endometriosis in 2011 and went for laproscopic clearance in 2012. Since then, I have been on IUD (Marina) for last four and half years.

I was on regular clinical check-ups of my breasts under an experienced Gynaecologist in Delhi as after almost three years of endometric surgery, some whitish fluid discharge used to be there from my left breast accompanied by slight itching. That time, my Gynaecologist advised for Prolactin hormone test, the result of which showed rise in my Prolactin level. Some medicines were prescribed and suggested for a follow up after three months and a breast scan.

In between, I was infected with Chikungunya and suffered for almost two months and thus missed the breast scan. We also didn’t give due importance to the scan as whitish discharge from breast ceased and at the same time, didn’t inform the Gynae about these developments, which now we feel as the biggest mistake of our life.

One fine day, around six months from the date of our last meeting with the Gynae, I suddenly felt a big lump like thing in my left breast which could even be felt from outside. The very next day, I along with my husband went to the Gynaecologist to seek her advice. She suggested for an immediate Mammography and was very upset with us because of the fact that we missed the breast scan.

Next day we went for Mammography test in Mahajan Imaging at Defence Colony in New Delhi. Initially the concerned doctor in the imaging centre was not ready to do the Mammography. She was insisting for breast ultrasound scan only as I was below 40 years old at that time and Mammography for patients less than 40 years of age is not allowed to be done. However with the intervention of our Gynaecologist the Mammography was conducted.

In the evening of Mammography, we again met the Gynaecologist with reports of the test. After going through the reports she immediately referred us to a lady general surgeon cum breast disease specialist.

The lady surgeon clinically checked the lump and asked for an urgent MRI of both the breasts. The MRI was accordingly conducted next day at Sanya Diagnostic in New Delhi. The MRI suggested possibility of presence of low grade DCIS.

Based on both Mammography and MRI reports, the lady surgeon asked for instant removal of the entire lump followed by Biopsy of the same. The lump was removed with one day hospitalisation in Apollo Spectra Hospital in Kailash Colony after all necessary steps like Blood tests, PAC etc., and the lump was sent for biopsy to Onquest Lab. The biopsy reports came after three days which confirmed “Invasive Carcinoma with DCIS”. We were then referred to Dr Harit Chaturvedi, Chairman – Max Institute of Cancer Care in Saket, New Delhi.

Next day morning, we met Dr Harit Chaturvedi and he immediately advised for Bone Scan, few blood tests and FNAC of Auxiliary Lymph Glands. The results of these led to the conclusion of a non-metastasis case. It was followed by Auxiliary Lymph gland biopsy, which was also negative (6/0).

After conducting all these tests, we were referred to Dr Alok Gupta, Medical oncologists. Dr Gupta while going through all the test reports identified that there was another lump in the left breast based on MRI report. He then instantly discussed the case with Dr Harit Chaturvedi and the lump was evaluated by FNAC followed by lumpectomy. It also showed DCIS. So the team of Doctors consisting of Dr Harit Chaturvedi, Dr Alok Gupta, Dr Shubham Jain discussed the matter and advised us for Unilateral Simple Mastectomy of the left breast and the same was done.

The test like Auxiliary Lymph gland biopsy led to development of lot of issues like numbness in the entire upper left side along with swelling in the auxiliary lymph gland area which worsened after mastectomy. I was refered to a physiotherapist and she suggested exercises and wearing of a customised sleeve which gave some kind of relief from these problems.

After two weeks of mastectomy, we met the Medical Oncologists Dr Alok Gupta and he advised 4 rounds of Chemotherapy on TC protocol followed by 5 years of hormone therapy along with removal of IUD. Under his guidance, the 1st cycle of Chemo was initiated on last week of March’2017 and subsequently all the cycles including the fourth one was completed on May’2017 in Max Hospital, Lajpat Nagar and New Delhi. I had few side effects like constipation, skin eruptions, slight fever, nausea, hair loss but with the advice of Dr Gupta all these were treated with urgent and immediate care which resulted in speedy reduction of my sufferings.

Mental Trauma

As i was continuously in touch with my gynaecologist and seriously followed all her advices from time to time, sudden emergence of such a shocking disease literally shattered the mind-set of my entire family. It took obviously few days to build up our mental strength.

Once the disease was diagnosed we were not sure about my survival rate initially and much tensed. However when we came in touch the team of Doctors in Max Hospital, we received huge support and logical inputs regarding forthcoming treatment which made us comfortable and relaxed. We understood that “Cancer is a critical disease but it is treatable and curable”.

Our major challenge was to ensure that our baby girl who was in class IV at the time of diagnosis should not miss her regular schooling and subsequent studies because of all these happenings. At the same time, since my husband is in Private Sector, his job should not get disturbed because of my treatment schedule. Fortunately the School of my daughter and husband’s office, both were very co-operative & supportive and we could manage smoothly the entire treatment including four surgeries and equal cycles of chemotherapies over a period of almost four to five months.

As far as co-operation from society is concerned, i feel myself very fortunate as whoever listened about my disease extended tremendous moral support to me and always suggested to remain positive in this journey of my fight against cancer.

Motivate self and family

I feel that best motivation generates from within. I always used to look at my daughter and husband and wanted to live up-to their expectations. Although I am an introvert sort of a person but all the times i knew that I am quite strong from inside. A sturdy mind-set coupled with enormous desire of my husband and daughter to see me in sound health helped a long way in keeping a positive approach towards Cancer and its treatment.

In this context I would like to thank the entire team of Doctors at oncology in Max Hospitals, especially to Dr. Alok Gupta, the Medical Oncologist, who always kept my moral boosted with all inspiring and transparent guidance regarding treatment. Platforms like seminars arranged by the Max oncology Groups worked a long way in inspiring me to keep an affirmative perspective towards the disease as it provided me a unique opportunity to meet plenty of cancer patients and to listen to their pile of fights against cancer and how they were managing it successfully.

Side effects

Post-surgery the side effects started to creep in. First major issue was after SLNB. My entire left-side had heavy swelling along with pain. On doctor’s advice, we got in touch with a physiotherapist and after following few exercises as per her suggestion, i got some kind of relief. However the same problems recurred after Mastectomy and on a bigger scale. I am yet to recover from this but doing regular exercises as suggested by the physiotherapist.

All rounds of chemotherapies were followed by some kind of side effects like tendency for vomiting, skin eruption, bacterial infection, sometimes little fever, weakness, complete hair loss etc. But with proactive guidance from my medical oncologist i.e., Dr Alok Gupta all those side effects had been treated and cured with utmost urgency and care which lead to drastic reduction in my sufferings.

Moral boosting message for someone diagnosed with Cancer

During my journey with cancer i always kept two proverbs in my mind viz.,
“Optimism is the foundation of courage”
and
“God is never unfair with his people. He has never created a problem which has no solution. Keep faith in him, as he has surely written something better for you in future.”

I also urge to all cancer patients to bear these two proverbs always in mind and never lose hope as the word “IMPOSSIBLE” itself says “I M Possible”.
All the Best for your fight against one of the most dreaded disease “Cancer” and Stay Blessed.