On May 19th 2004, I had surgery to remove gastroesophageal cancer. After a long — about 6 hour — surgery in which part of my stomach and esophagus were removed I became cancer free. Of course the effect of that surgery and the radiation and chemo still remain. I have all kind of marks to show and my eating habits and energy level have become different. A big benefit of cancer has been loss of weight that has definitely helped me.
Events like cancer do change your perspective on life — at least in my case it did. I definitely consider life more valuable now — earlier it was taken for granted. Sometimes I feel that I am now living on ‘granted time’ so I must make a good use of this — both in terms of enjoying it and making the best use of it for those who have done so much for me. I am particularly lucky to have been in USA and have a very good doctor — Dr. Major Reid — who detected it in such an early stage and then the team of Drs Brunson/Miller who took care of me. Dr. Jani, a personal friend, helped me so much during this period. But the person who really showed real strength of character was Sudha. Who was a solid support and did not show any signs of weakness during that period.
In case of cancer, two years is considered an important mark. After two years the next major landmark is 5 years. Let me hope that I will pass thru these landmarks with flying colors. If I could do well in my profession after the bout with cancer even a very small fraction of what Lance Armstrong did in his profession, I will be very satisfied and proud.
I certainly wish you all the best Ramesh. I had a brush with a tumor in my childhood days itself and can totally understand what you mean by “borrowed time”. I am sure both of us have a lot of work yet to be accomplished.. and a long way to go 🙂
Ramesh,
Wishing you the very best.
Regards
–Santhosh
I am glad, and I too, wish you all the best.
Warmest Regards,
Jeannie
Hi Ramesh,
I’m on a bit of a mission to spread the word that the best way to combat cancer – any type of cancer is to improve one’s immune system by balancing the body’s minerals and vitamin intake.
As Linus Pauling believed, every disease is caused by a mineral deficiency. My father-in-law was diagnosed with lung cancer 5 years ago, and while in the care of bumbling doctors, he was given 3 months to live.
I’m glad to say he’s alive and well, and his lung cancer has not grown a bit because we opted not to do any drugs, or chemotherapy, or radiation. What we resorted to do was to improve his diet and make his body stronger. He’s 81 and doing great. We make sure he eats properly, and gets enough sunshine – because vitamin D is critical to retarding the growth of any type of cancer.
Best of luck,
Berta