A Doctor's Encounter with Breast Cancer

A physician friend of mine was detected with Breast Cancer a few years back when she was merely in her 30s. But the active person that she is, many of our friends still do not believe she has cancer.

I had always been pestering her to write her side of the story...to tell the world about how it feels like to be doctor who has been detected with cancer.

It's a combination of conflicting feelings one has.

At one end, you feel you are a doctor and you are very careful about your health. So cancer cannot happen to you! At the other end, as a doctor, you know cancer can happen to anybody...just about anybody. It is only another chronic disease needing lifelong treatment and care...like diabetes or high blood pressure or heart disease. And yet as a patient you know life is not the same anymore once you are detected with cancer.
You know you will lose hair with chemotherapy, you will feel nauseated, you may even throw up often...And you also know of all the other complications that chemotherapy brings along. At the same time, you also know chemotherapy will make you feel better as it will help destroy the cancer cells.

You are trying to show the world you are a brave person with a very positive frame of mind. Nothing, not even cancer, can pull you down! And then one subtle comment on your wig or your breast implant lets you down...makes you feel defeated and bereft.

Through these ups and downs of life after detection, my friend came out as a triumphant young lady. She went on to win a yoga championship and publish volumes of medical articles in journals. She continues to live  a wonderful life of a busy doctor, a caring mother and a loving wife. And she joins hands in spreading awareness about cancer.

Read my interview with her where she talks about her cancer and the changes it brought about in her life. What is it about cancer that makes people realize their own inner strength...an inner strength and beauty that they never knew existed?

To the strongest cancer patient I have encountered...love being your friend!

"Cancer is not a killer." What kills is ignorance, carelessness, delayed diagnosis, and late, improper or no treatment.


If you have encountered cancer at close quarters, do share your story with others. Your story may inspire others.