What an eventful day

What an eventful day? First it rained cats and dogs in the morning slowing down the traffic to an absolute halt at places, then in the afternoon severe dust-storm that I could gaze at the sun with my naked eyes.  All in one day!! Makes me wonder if the ‘weather gods’ have gone crazy.

What else is crazy? I am scheduled for a colonoscopy on Thursday, there is an accute blockage in my anal passage because of which  I am bloated and about to burst (no kidding) But I have put my complete trust in God, I don’t mind if you call me a fanatic right now. Everybody around me is wondering why I am so calm, so calm I even prayed for a lady at a restaurant in front of everyone, she’s been just diagnosed with cancer. I haven’t laughed at the face of death like this before. Guess that’s what ‘faith’ enables in you.. a courage like nothing you have ever witnessed.

So that’s it for now, keep me thoughts and  prayers.

Sitting Vs Squatting

I was a squatter, being raised in a village without a toilet we squatted in the open (forest) ewww I know. But that’s poverty, nothing “eww” about being poor and unable to afford a toilet right? (not to forget almost a billion Indians squat every morning ) . Then I moved to Kuwait and still squatted until 2003 where I shifted to ‘sitting’. BIG MISTAKE. In 2011 I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. I will always blame my unhealthy / high sugar / junk food life style but there is more to it, according this video humans were built to squat, and sitting has caused number of ailments like haemorrhoids, colitis and even cancer. Watch it and share it and Don’t forget to squat, it may save your life.  

More on Why squatting is healthy.

Battling Cancer and Depression In Kuwait

A simple sigmoidoscopy  would have eased a lot of my misery, I was having fissure problems in early 2010, I kept going to one Dr Katimini Kanavati at New International Clinic Kuwait for 6 months, all he did was put his finger up my anus every 15 days and prescribe Daflon. Then finally I changed the hospital (only when Dr K quit his job)  to Dar Al shifa where they operated me immediately but didn’t do any further investigation during/after surgery, had they done a simple sigmoidoscopy during the surgery the tumor which was sitting right at the edge of my rectum would have been discovered and I would have not had a fisserectomy but a proper Lower Anterior resection instead. It was only when I started bleeding severely after 6 months of fissurectomy doctors at Dar Al Shifa decided to do a colonoscopy and discover the malignant tumor. By now the tumor had spread to other parts and my life turned upside down to a level of no coming back. All I needed was one simple sigmoidoscopy, and the private hospitals in Kuwait failed me. 

So that’s the state of health care in private hospitals in Kuwait, I wonder how many lives need to be sacrificed before govt allows private hospitals to run oncology department in their full strength. I am not complaining about KCCC (Kuwait cancer control Center), they are doing the best to their ability given the sheer number cancer patients lineup every morning. But I can’t understand why are private hospitals  denied a chance to treat (financially able) cancer patients. I ran a search for Oncologist Kuwait on google, what is surprising is there is NONE (except Dr A Behbehani at Al Salam Hospital), I find this utterly unbelievable as the number of cancer patients ever-increasing every year I wonder how much KCCC alone can handle. Right now I am under post surgery/chemotherapy depression, and I have no doctors to turn to, as going to KCCC is definitely not an option as they offer little or NO support for depression, patients are left on their own (and God) to deal with it. Also it is very exhausting to visit KCCC as you have to reach there as early as 6 am, if you are late by an hour appointments are difficult to get. I guess this is the reason Kuwaitis go abroad for treatment. Even I prefer to go to India for treatment because ‘your oncologist’ is available 24X7, and there is a vast difference in the moral support the oncologist provides in Kuwait and India (or elsewhere). 

So yes, Right now I am depressed and venting my frustration here because I have no doctors (oncologist in particular) that I can consult and share my fears. I guess that is the case of every expat/local cancer patient in Kuwait. If cancer won’t kill us, depression sure will.

Murphy’s Law and Life

So the Murphy’s law says “If something has to go wrong…. It will” . And it did to an large extent in my life. I was suffering from Fissures since March 2010, got treated at various hospitals in Kuwait. Finally on October 26th got operated at Dar Al Shifa putting end to all my misery. At least I thought so, had the doctor at Dar Al Shifa paid little attention to his job and done further investigation down my anal canal probably he would have detected something was wrong… terribly wrong.

So after months of bleeding after the surgery and being sent back by the imbecile doctors at Dar Al Shifa that it was normal to pass ‘Mucus and blood’ 3-4 months after the fissures surgery, one fine day my bowel was blood red and it was very scary and this time I told the doctors that something is wrong and and I am scared and finally they opted for a colonoscopy.

And as NOT expected, I was diagnosed with colorectal tumor of size 4cm which was blocking 30% of my anal passage and causing all the bleeding. And thanks to the negligence the lymph nodes had already spread. A CT scan was done after my wife fought with the doctor who was adamant that CT was not required.  And luckily there is no distant metastasis and all my vital organs were OK.  So without no further delay, not risking my life at the mercy of Dar Al Shifa doctors, we moved to India the next day to Mumbai. and After consulting couple of doctors we settled down to Dr Kamran Khan at Joy Hospital Chembur. That was in April

Since then I have undergone radiotherapy and Chemotherapy (tablets) at the Jupiter Hospital at Thane, followed by a Major surgery at Joy hospital Under Dr Khan. Right now I am recovering from surgery well. I’ve got one more corrective surgery to put my colostomy back. Then I will be undergoing chemo again for a year I guess.

So that’s what happened in my life, while some of my relatives were joyous that I got cancer and will die soon. My wife has put up a brave front, she’s been standing by me like a pillar from day one. And I know by faith that this phase of my life will pass like a bad dream.

Lot’s of lessons learnt this year, and many more to learn. It’s not over until it’s not over !