Of Leaders and Losers- 2. Diagnosed with cancer – So what? I can fight it- Part I

          After a while, I’m back to the Leaders and Losers series.

          I am highlighting three fighters – all of them women, all diagnosed with the dreaded disease of cancer.  These individuals are known to me, but their names are withheld for purpose of privacy.  When a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, let’s listen to their stories of fight, which have basically been adhered to, with the writer’s liberty taken here and there.

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          The Ram family had an unexpected guest on a Sunday evening.  Their family physician, a pulmonologist.  The Ram family was a large co-existing extended family, with the octogenarian Ram and his septuagenarian wife, Sita, being the oldest.  Their two sons, both of them lecturers in a local college, but in different disciplines, and their families lived together.

          Dr. Raj, the pulmonologist, was a family friend of over two decades.  Any health problem that the family faced was first scrutinised by him and his wife, Dr. Rani, a gynaecologist, before the matter was referred to a specialist in the relevant field.

          ‘What was your son-in-law?  What is his health condition like?’ asked the doctor.

Ram replied, ‘My son-in-law retired voluntarily from the State Government.  He is a healthy individual'.

‘How many children do they have?  And what are they?’

‘They have three children, a son and two daughters.  All of them are settled in life; recently my daughter became a great grand mother’.

‘Oh, I see.  Can I speak to your sons?’

‘The elder one, Krishna, and his wife, Bhama have gone to her village to attend a bereavement.  The younger one, Sundar, has gone to the sea-shore, for a walk.  Should I convey anything to him?’

‘Nothing, just give my regards to them all.  I should take leave of you right now.  Bye, Uncle!’

‘Not before you have had a cup of coffee, doctor sahib', Sundari, the second daughter-in-law of Ram’s, walked in with a brown coloured cup holding brown-liquid in a wooden Saharanpur tray.

‘Good evening, Mrs. Sundari’, Dr. Raj rose from the chair  to greet Sundari.

‘Please be seated, Doctor garu (sir)’.

‘Rani remembered you in the morning.  She was hesitant to talk to you as today is a Sunday’.

‘Any day for Rani’, remarked Sundari.

‘Would you mind talking to her then?’

‘Sure, I’ll do that right away’.

Sundari left the room.  She wondered why the usually reserved Dr. Rani wanted to talk to her, and that too on a Sunday.  But not for long.  Her sister-in-law, Parvati, had recently gone to Dr. Rani.  That was in connection with something unusual.  After nearly fifteen years of menopause, she had bled.  When it happened for the first time, she adopted a wait-and-watch approach.  When it happened once again, she decided to seek professional help.  As usual, Dr. Rani was consulted; she did a desterilization procedure and sent a sample for biopsy.  It should have definitely been in that connection.

* * * * * * * * *

‘Good evening, Sundar!’ greeted Dr. Raj in the walker’s paradise the neighbourhood park.

‘Hello Raj!  What a pleasant surprise!  Why did you come all the way from your home to walk here?’

‘I cannot find Sundar for company in my neighbourhood park, can I?  Jokes apart, I have come to convey a piece of news to you.  The bad news is that your sister has cancer.  The good news is that it is curable.  But the treatment should start at the earliest. 

Sundar was shocked.  This was the first time that a family member was afflicted with the dreaded disease.  Umpteen numbers of Telugu films ended in tragedy because of it (his niece would empathise so much with those cancer-stricken characters on screen that she would take a week or so to recover from the films!)  But facing it in reality was going to be a tough task.  How would Parvati akka react to it?  Will she face it with courage?

Sundar walked quickly – back home.  Ram’s friend had dropped in, so Sundar could not quickly share this news with his wife.

‘How’s your college going, Sundar?’ asked his father’s friend.       

‘Fine, Sir’.

‘How was your walk?’

‘It was pleasant, Sir’.

‘Oh, you seem to be tired.  Go have a bath’.

‘Thank you, Sir’.

* * * * * * * * * *

          There was no need for conversation between Sundar and Sundari, the understanding couple.  What was to be decided was whether Ram, Sita and Parvati would be told of it.  They decided to call Parvati to Visakhapatnam from Amudalavalasa, where she stayed.

          On her arrival, her husband, Siva Prasad, was told of this disease and the need to start immediate treatment.  He, too agreed that Parvati need not be told of it ab initio.

‘The doctor has advised us to visit a hospital in M.V.P. Colony.  We have to report at 10 a.m. tomorrow’.

Sundar, Siva Prasad and Parvati left for the Cancer Hospital in M.V.P. Colony.  Parvati had done her daily routine, without even an iota of worry.  She had left home with a smile.  Will she return with a smile as well?

Sundari was pleasantly surprised when she saw the three return home with the same smile.  Parvati was known to be very detached, but her conduct during the period was exemplary.

She would never complain of the disease or the pain it entailed.  When she was unable to bear the pain, she would utter a mild ‘Amma’!  And that was it.

Life wasn’t easy for her.  Relatives visiting her poured out their sympathy:

‘Parvati, I never expected you to be pre-decease me’.

‘What a fate to befall!  What a painful death you’d undergo’.

‘Recently, a neighbour of ours passed away within three days of being diagnosed with uterus cancer’.

Parvati remained silent, and never forgot to smile at these doomsday prophets!  She knew she had to go through life, however difficult it was.  She always felt that if God gave some trouble, He would also give the strength to cope with it!  And He did!

Parvati survived the disease, and, is going strong mentally, even after two decades!

Let’s salute her spirit.

* * * * * * * * * *(to be continued)