How It All Started

Food is right at the centre of my universe. Not just how it satisfies my gluttonous soul, but also how it is so integral to our wellness. I am a borderline health fanatic, try and stick to all things organic, don`t consume fizzy drinks, hate fast food and love to cook at home. I am by and large a healthy person and am quite vigilant about my health.

Two years back, I felt a certain hardness in both my breasts. It alarmed me and I immediately rushed to a gynaecologist. She suggested a sonography and some tests. A little concerned with the outcome of the tests, she further suggested a mammogram. To everyone’s relief, those ‘nodes’ (as I later learned they were called) turned out to be nothing more than fibroadenoma. Fibroadenoma of the breast are noncancerous tumors composed of fibrous and glandular tissues. You can read more about it here

(https://www.breastcancercare.org.uk/information-support/have-i-got-breast-cancer/benign-breast-conditions/fibroadenoma).

Being the sceptic that I am, I wanted a second and possibly even a third opinion. I consulted with the HOD of Gynaecology in a prestigious hospital in Mumbai. She literally chided me saying almost every woman has something or the other like this and that my first doctor was stupid to suggest a mammogram at such a young age (I was 28 then). Back then I was relieved to hear this. In hindsight though, it was probably the worst thing to have happened to me. The indifference of such a highly recommended doctor made me nonchalant about these residents of my breast.

I therefore did not follow up with the routine sonography last year. I was moving to Canada then and that occupied all my mind space. At the beginning of 2015, I felt a certain hardness on the lower side of my left breast. I was in Canada at the time and accessing doctors there is quite a headache. Anyways I was mighty sure that once again it would turn out to be nothing and I would be shooed away by my doctor.

Due to some unexpected turn of events, I landed in India this summer. I happen to reside a stone’s throw away from a renowned hospital. So I felt it wouldn’t be too inconvenient for me to undertake this drill of doctor visits again. I met this new gynaecologist, told her about why I was there and also added a few lines about how I feel it’s nothing. She suggested I go for a sonography and to, I guess, set me at ease, said it may just be some fat deposit. 

As you all may have guessed, it was not nothing this time around. It wasn't just a fat deposit but carcinoma of the left breast that had spread to the lymph nodes. What makes this whole episode even more bizarre is that I am 30 and very healthy for my age. I have no other co morbidity and there is no history of cancer (breast or cervical) in my immediate family.

Through this blog, I intend to document my experience of making sense of this disease. I’m also quite aware of the limitations of modern medicines and would be looking at ways to supplement my treatment naturally. I hope to find like-minded people through this blog and spread awareness about this crazy disease and its wonky ways. 

A!