S* is a 50-year old mumbaikar and a mother of 2. She was diagnosed with stage-3 colorectal cancer earlier this year in February. She came out of the odds, by not giving-in. This is her story.
Everything was going well in S’s life, until that fateful day when she noticed blood in the stool. Her family got into action, and after a couple of tests their worst fears came true – she was having colorectal cancer. Then began the tedious process of visiting doctors, collecting reports, seeking help in their network, and consulting more doctors.
They consulted many cancer specialists in Mumbai, but the answer did not change. S had to undergo a surgery and carry a colostomy bag* for the rest of her life.
*Colostomy is an opening in the large intestine that is created at the side of the abdomen. A bag is attached to it to empty patient’s stool. Since it needs to be emptied and cleaned frequently, it means a lot of dependency on patient’s family members. This also affects patient’s psychology and considerably deteriorates one’s ability to live happily.
But her son, A, was determined to find better alternative and kept looking for another treatment option. That was when he got in touch with Onco.com and shared his mother’s details to seek online opinion. When A called in, he was anxious for his mother and wanted an alternative to the colostomy bag surgery so that her mother could lead a more wholesome life. And when A got in touch with the right experts, he was able to find the answers he was looking for.
Our team of cancer specialists reviewed S’s medical history and one of our Bangalore-based senior surgical oncologist came up with just the thing Aashish was looking for. Medicine technology has improved considerably to not quarantine a patient with a colostomy bag. And our experts were equipped with the right resources and knowledge to help his mother. The alternative was a perineal colostomy irrigation. So, a colostomy bag was not really a dead end. The road to S’s recovery began to straighten out ever so neatly after this. This gave a boost to the motivation of S and her family.
Apart from the follow-up for cancer treatment, S was relieved that she did not have to go on a health treatment loop, and that she could live her life as freely as she rightfully should. We were glad that patient’s happiness quotient was uplifted. But S’s medical story is not quite at the end yet.
There was another challenge. She could not travel to Bangalore and have our senior surgeon perform the perineal colostomy surgery. We accessed our network of oncologists in Mumbai and got her a surgeon who could do it in her city!
She underwent surgery a few weeks back and is on her way to recovery.
If there is a measure to our success, it’s based on how our services fix problems for our patients – so that they can live life free of stress or avoid routine of discomfort. And we will continue to expand the support to our patients in terms of knowledge, experience, and treatment delivery, so that no patient is left guessing in an endless loop.
*S (named changed for patient privacy
