Recently i find the Article here which is exciting & Gives confident to every Person Who wanted to come out from the cancer or Who wanted to prevent Cancer ,
This articles wrote for You !
MY DAYS WITH CANCER
….G. K. GHOSH
Before I talk about me and my experience with this dreaded disease, I would like to give brief background of my family. I belong to a family coming from a village called Mahanga in Cuttack district of Odisha. Fourteen generation back, sometime during 1640 A. D., the family migrated to this region of Odisha. My great grandfather used to live here and was a police man. My great grandmother, his wife Taramoi died of uterus cancer during early years of 20th century. The couple had four sons and two daughters. Eldest was my grandfather, Radhakanta Ghosh was self-made man and helped family to grow. He became lawyer and then joined Judicial Service under Calcutta Presidency. He served as District Judge in various districts, was Registrar High Court, Calcutta and for few months Acting Judge in Patna High Court, finally retired in the year 1928. He settled down in Cuttack under whose care we all grew. In the year 1943 he was detected oral cancer. He used to smoke traditional gadgada, clean teeth with gudakhu a tooth paste made with tobacco and used to consume beetle leaf with tobacco preparation known as gundi, popular in Odisha. Anyway, by then Tata Cancer Hospital just started in Bombay (now Mumbai) so he was taken there. A German doctor predicted he will live for another five years but he contracted saying he will live for 15 years with his will power. He died in the year 1957. He had three sons and one daughter. Eldest RamaniKanta had diploma in Printing Technology from England and was head of Government Press, Patna. He used to smoke heavily and used to consume oily foods. He died of liver cancer many years after retirement. My aunt only daughter of my grandfather, Swarnalata was widow at early age, did her B.Ed in England and was founder head mistress of Girl School of Baripada in Mayurbhanj funded by Maharani. My aunt died rather young some say it was tuberculosis while some opined it was cancer. My father, Srikanta, youngest of all siblings was Inspector General of Police, Odisha. He used to smoke heavily and used gudakhu to clean teeth. After retirement he settled in Kolkata and at the age of about 80 he had problem of urination thus had to undergo prostrate surgery. Only after surgery it was detected he had cancer and it was found it had already spread elsewhere. He died after 12 years with pains. We are three brothers and two sisters. Eldest sister died of breast cancer even when my father was alive. My grandmother also died of cancer. Youngest sister of my grandfather died of stomach cancer. Three of cousins of my father too died of cancer. My first cousin PritiKanta, who was a Professor of Management in the USA also had Prostate cancer but was cured with Radiation Therapy. I referred this story to a well-known Doctor in Oslo and he opined though genetic reason may be one of the reason, but major reason is lifestyle.
With this background my story begins. I was a chain smoker, started smoking since my student days. My food used to be usual Bengali or Odia food with high temperature cooking, no salad, rarely consuming fruits and frequent consumption of trans-fat. I left smoking in the year 2007 due to frequent coughing. I retired from service in the year 2008 and changed my lifestyle switching over to healthy diet. I planned regular checkups and with right diet controlled cholesterol, blood pressure etc., lived without medicine. I started checking PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) that indicates cancer. My PSA used to remain less than 4 for years till in the month of June 2016 PSA reported was 7.42. This is alarming.
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Meanwhile, thanks to Ratan Tata, Tata Medical Center was started in Kolkata in the year 2011. I reported to TMC (Tata Medical Center), in the department of Urology/ Oncology. I was advised for repeat PSA after 15 days and result was 9. I was asked to report to undergo biopsy. I was admitted for a day for the purpose. But biopsy caused infection and I had fever, thus was admitted. Before I was discharged, biopsy report came and I was told out of ten samples taken one sample reported cancer. I was detained for a day more to undergo MRI and Bone Scanning. Next week report came and I was told that because of my timely action it is still inside prostate. I was offered two lines of treatments, 1. Surgery, 2.Radiation therapy. Both do have side reactions such as incontinence, impotency etc., and all the details were explained to me. I was asked to decide which line of treatment to be chosen. I took second opinion from another reputed Urologist besides my Surgeon cousin Dr. S. K. Ghosh who lives in Rourkela. Finally I decided to go for surgery. On 25th August 2016 I was operated upon and my prostate was removed. Biopsy report of the portion removed shows I had Gleason count of 8 which is alarming but biopsy around periphery shows I am free from cancer. Higher Gleason count indicates, in case cancer returns it will grow faster.
I was asked to report after 45 days with repeat PSA. My PSA was 0.18. m doctor said it is not good because removal of prostate should have had PSA reporting ‘undetected’. This report indicates a portion of prostate still remains in my body and it may be malignant or may be benign. We need to keep watch and if it grows beyond 0.2 we must think of action. I was asked to report after 45 days with repeat PSA. This time it was 0.19 so nothing alarming. I was asked to report after 60 days. As advised I reported with repeat PSA, it was 0.49. This is certainly alarming. I was asked to report to Head of Radiation Oncology. Doctor of this section said it is might not be alarming but it is better to go for Radiation therapy with milder dose. I agreed and I had to undergo scanning. I was advised 35 sittings of Radiation, one in a day. Appointment was given from 29th February onwards. Radiation therapy completed by end of April and I was advised to report by end of July with repeat PSA. Before Radiation therapy started I was explained side reactions such as burning sensation in rectum, bleeding during urination, and possibility of cancer in another place due to radiation. This happens because radiation while killing cancerous cells also damages healthy cells and if healthy cells fails to repair itself it will lead to cancer. Only way to prevent it is to lead healthy lifestyle improving immunity. Anyway, doctor assured me at the end of radiation therapy that he assures 85% cure.
I may be questioned what benefit I got by following healthy lifestyle depriving me from pleasure of tasty food. Apart from what is indicated in previous paragraph my experience during surgery and after may be discussed. Surgery of prostate was a major surgery since my abdomen was opened. It too over 5 hours and obviously there was good amount of bleeding. My hemoglobin fell to 8 and I had respiratory problems. I was kept in ICCU for two days, followed by surgery ward and finally to common cabin. Some of the doctors proposed infusion to blood but my surgeon said, there is no need since he was aware of my lifestyle. He said since I led medicine free life I will recover naturally once solid food is given. I was given normal diet from fourth day and discharged on 6th day. I was not prescribed any medicine back home neither antibiotic or pain killer and advised to choose food that ensures normal bowel movement, normalizes blood pressure which fell after surgery and shall raise hemoglobin. When I reported next everything was normal.
Incontinence however continued and I was advised to go for floor exercise. In the month of April this too normalized and there was no need for adult diaper since then. In between I attended get together of 1969 batch of REC, Rourkela during January ’16. However I needed to report for examination for days to come till end of my life and need to take action as will be advised from time to time.
During radiation therapy I met number of patients in the waiting hall. Many of them were cured even from fourth stage of cancer. What I observed cancer is no longer incurable. It can be cured certainly and there is no panic. I also observed medical insurance is not popular in India thus if such diseases attacks many families were ruined financially. I got full support from mediclaim and except non-medical claims almost everything was settled. Medical insurance should be encouraged since India is one of the few countries having no support of social security.
One of the major reasons of ill health is self-medication. Even for minor reasons we must not consume medicines without adequate knowledge or consume medicine as advised by sales person on counters of medicine shops. This is one of the major reasons of illness including cancer.
Purpose of sharing this article is for following reasons:
1…Persons suffering from cancer in Eastern States such as Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and North Eastern States do not know about existence of this hospital and usually run for Tata Cancer Hospital, Mumbai which is overloaded. They may approach this hospital instead.
2…Cancer is a disease certainly can be cured and no one must be scared of this.
3…Timely action and early detection helps. All male members must go for PSA once in a year after age of 50 and must report to oncologist/ urologists once PSA crosses 4.
4…Medical insurance is not investment as normally conceived. It is an expenditure for future protection. Please do not ignore but must go for right policy.
5…Healthy lifestyle helps in many ways. Must follow to the extent possible avoiding junk foods, high temperature cooking and prefer fruits and salads. Go for DASH diet or Mediterranean diet.
6…Self-medication itself is a disease in India and must be avoided.
Lastly I must say good wishes poured for me from my school friends, college friends, my friends from my earlier office and so on. I retired in the year 2008 and it was amazing to experience my office friends come to me with good wishes and even helped me in many ways. My school class mates came from Cuttack to meet me, wishing my cure. Two of my REC class mates came from Mumbai to wish me. Greatest pleasure was when my teacher Prof. G. K. Roy wished my cure on telephone. It was a blessing which ensured my cure. My senior SandipDashverma of 1965 batch regularly talked to me from USA and encouraged me. It was he who advised me to share my experience for everyone to take action and stay healthy. I trust this will help everyone to stay healthy.
You are the Person , who changes the world !
Safe Regards
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