I was diagnosed with stage 3B Triple Negative Breast Cancer at the age of 32. Needless to say, it came to me as a shock and turned my whole life upside down. Everything happened so fast that I still can’t remember in sequence. I kept on thinking about my mother who lost her life to cancer. In the midst of all this turmoil, the survival mode of my body kicked in. And I started thinking of a contingency plan to what I need to do in order to survive.

ACCEPTANCE

It didn’t take me long to realise that cancer has struck me and I have to accept it in order to defeat it. It may sound obvious, but in reality, acceptance is something which is the biggest challenge one faces when they are unprepared.  Acceptance plays a pivotal role in fighting cancer because only after accepting your diagnosis you really can act on the process of treatment and recovery. In most cases, disease like cancer advances at a very rapid speed and immediate action is imperative irrespective of the stage. I have seen many patients unable to accept the immediate reality of life. This, in turn, delays the treatment procedure. With this delay, they lose precious time in which their treatment could have been much more effective. I realised this when my mother was diagnosed with cancer, she had trouble accepting her disease which in turn delayed her treatment process. The biggest reason behind her failure to accept was societal stigma, not her willpower. I ensured that I don’t repeat the same mistake and accept the biggest challenge my life and pay zero attention about what people think.

ADMISSION  We all have to admit that we take our health for granted until something really bad comes up and that includes me as well. Before I was diagnosed with cancer I really didn’t care much about my nutrition and lifestyle. I didn’t even know that there are foods that can build my immunity and help me live longer. Admitting that truth is much more difficult than it seems, you have to go in to every detail of your life and take responsibility of the wrongs and mistakes. It can also be defined as a self realisation mode in which you keep I AM ALWAYS RIGHT attitude aside and confess all the mistakes to yourself. I started listing out all the things I did in the past which could have affected my health in a negative way.

Here I am not just referring to physical health, it was time for me to take care of my emotional, mental and spiritual health as well. Going forward I didn’t want my ignorance to jeopardize my life and by admitting my mistakes I could act on them

ACTION 

Taking appropriate action at the right time was important because of my diagnosis and prognosis. I made up my mind and started my treatment process by taking opinions from several doctors to ensure that I was in the right hands. I didn’t let myself go in a panic mode to rush in to any bad decision and took my time to choose the medical facility to get treated at. Going to the hospital almost every other day was not easy but with hacks of my own, I fooled myself like I was going for an outing. It was my struggle for survival, I ensured that no excuses were coming in my way for doing the needful. Treatment was not easy at all, it came with a lot of uncomfortable sleepless nights and unimaginable pains. I tried to stick with my daily schedule no matter what. Every day was different during the treatment, and I had to take multiple actions to live one day at a time.

Once I was done with my treatment I was mindful in all aspects of my life. It has been almost six years since I am over with my treatment, however, I still follow a healthy lifestyle and religiously go for my regular screenings to avoid any chance of allowing cancer to come back in my life.

I know it may have been a little easier in comparison to someone else as the situation may vary but it’s just that these are some methods which worked for me and I hope this may help someone who may be looking for some insights on fighting cancer.