LIFE - A UNIQUE JOURNEY:- MY EXPERIENCE WITH A CANCER. :)

I got married after nearly a 5-6 year of deliberation. I had been pushing that decision for quite some time until finally parents said those golden words .."Go Ahead and stay blessed"!!

But then this experience is not about the marriage but something more interesting that followed roughly within a year!!!

Disclaimer:- Please don’t blame anyone for what has happen in my life & off-course not marriage it is one of the best thing which can happen to anyone it gives you courage to fight the toughest situation in life

"Damn, If only I had bought that SIP  from HDFC ERGO earlier in January .. " The scene from Snatch movie just flashed by .. "Now I'm properly doomed !!" It's amazing that while one part of the brain was not sure how to react to the diagnosis, the other part of the brain was searching for humour in this whole episode !! Thoughts were running wild and brain had already started prioritization. 30^TH  Sep 2016 was going to end with a sleepless night.

Breaking the news to all was not going to be easy. But wifey had a fair idea of what was going on so I was sure the reaction would be a contained one. It was the parents whose reaction I was not very sure about. They didn't have the slightest clue of what was going on. Getting Sacked may sound very common to our generation, but sure enough parents would have a different reaction. 

I spent the next 1 week going thru my finances listing down all assets & their value, investments, accounts, etc. most of which I already had in digitized format.. Next was prioritization of liquidation of assets along with dependencies / documentation required, just in case. I was ready for what was in store for me.

Confusion & More Confusion: The next visit to placement agencies of a very reputed chain (let's say "A") of to determine the plan of action left me more confused. This was more of a cancer patient visiting a onco specialist for treatment>>>endless discussion

Below discussion is between a guy getting sacked (cancer patient) & a placement consultant (doctor). Treatment is the paid buffet which these agencies sells you 

"Start the treatment immediately and it will surely recur but the chances of treatment being successful and survival are better; wait for a few weeks and let it move up the stage and the chance of recurrence will be lower but the survival rate drops !!" Recurrence = Different Chemo regime next time which would result in more side effects. To my amusement, the Oncologist left the decision to me on when to start Chemotherapy !!! This is where pressure starts building up !! It was as if the Doctor was inducing fear in this whole process. Anyways, after some persuasion that the Doctor (aka consultant ) should decide on when to start treatment, he initially said WAIT for couple of months, but after a week confirmed that I need to get admitted immediately and there's no need of waiting. But that was contradicting to what he had said earlier, WAIT !!!

Subsequently, I visited another speciality hospital, known to be treating far more number of cancer patients in Ahmedabad. The Oncologist, Mr X , is an amazing doctor; 2 minutes into his consultation session, I had made up my mind I would get treated by him. Contrary to the earlier Oncologist, Mr Y advised me to wait for 2-3 months and see how it spreads

More Confusion!!! So now One renowned Oncologist says Start treatment immediately, while the other one says Wait for couple of months. Instead of tossing a coin to decide, I took the call of let’s do it yourself.

Though I don't want to write about the treatment (JOB HUNT), some interesting things about this treatment (JOB HUNT) that I noticed would share.

This experience has changed quite a few things, and taught me many lessons …

1) Family comes first, second and third … there is nothing more important than Family ..

2) Family is the only one that provides you it's unconditional support during tough times. During this whole episode, my wife and parents never showed any signs of pressure or anxiety. They changed quite a few things in their routine, but never complained about their own inconvenience. Wife did a lot of heavy lifting, managing home, and above all managing her Office too.

3) Friends are the 2nd most important people in your life. I was blessed with quite a few; from the ones who skipped work and stood with me trying to make sure that I get a face-time with consultants to the bunch of besties from School and Office who continued to keep the humor alive and providing psychological support, all of them are equally important.

4) Motivating others helps motivating self !! During my visits to office, I've been making an effort to interact with other patients (job sacked employees) and their families. Cancer has a deeper impact on one's mind before it has an impact on the body. Being an example of how well you can fight this disease and survive Chemotherapy actually helped a few patients..

5) Staying fit and exercising is important. I believed it and it helped !!

At 30, life was getting stagnated, nothing seemed to excite, and petty issues were making their presence felt !! And along came Cancer probably one of the best things that happened to me in the recent times, it shook me up from slumber. It was as if watching a suspense movie that put me on the edge of the chair !! And while they say that once you start this journey, the remission from the disease is often just a break in this journey and sometimes you have to continue it to the end, well, let's just WAIT and SEE !!