Cancer awareness is not a seasonal affair

Dec 20, 2015 News

---

“Cancer awareness is always important…this is not a seasonal thing. The more we raise awareness the more people will want to get checked out and who knows we might be able to stop more cases…”

By Sharmain Grainger
Raising awareness about cancer, a disease that has had alarming fatal outcomes the world over, is not

something that can be put on hold; not even for the holiday season.
Fifty-two-year-old Rajkumarie Narine embraces this notion wholeheartedly.  But she didn’t always feel this way. Things however changed about a year ago.
In fact it was around the Christmas season of last year that something strange started happening to her.
The mother of five and grandmother of 12, recalled an incident which she’d only later realised was an alert to something that would turn out to be one of the most traumatic experiences of her life.
It was in the month of December, and of course preparation for Christmas Day was in full swing. Narine, who resides at 27 Best Village, West Coast Demerara, had however taken some time out to play with one of her young grandsons. During their playful exchange, she recalled that her grandson’s little elbow connected to her right side breast. It ached for a bit but the pain soon subsided.
It didn’t feel like anything out of the ordinary. But a few days later the very breast that ached for just a bit had a painful lump. The days went by and the lump kept increasing in size, Narine recounted.
“I say man is just a lump and was probably because this child accidentally hit me and it swell,” she noted. But the lump would increase in size throughout the Christmas holiday.
By the beginning of this year, the lump had reached worrying proportions.
Even her family members were ready to rush Narine to see the doctor. She did not protest and before long was gaining medical attention at the closest hospital – the West Demerara Regional Hospital.
It was clear that the medical workers who attended to her at the regional hospital were suspicious that Narine was the victim of a very dreaded non-communicable disease.  They however did not want to be the bearer of bad news and before long she was transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). The prognosis was definitely not good.

Several examinations including a biopsy later, at both public and private hospitals, Narine was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer.  This meant that the cancer was at an advanced stage where it had spread throughout the breast.
This was all new to Narine. She, up to this point of her life, hadn’t even given cancer a thought. She wasn’t aware of anyone in her family who’d suffered from the disease, and so she certainly didn’t expect to be subjected to its brutal effects. “I didn’t know about cancer, but I know it was something to worry about. I was stressed out and scared, and my pressure went right up,” she related.
Her family was right there with her and, according to Narine, “there is nothing like your family being there for you. One of my sons he made soup for me every day…they wanted me to fight this thing.” And it was just this she did.
Narine was required to undergo surgery on May 20, last, and has since undergone two bouts of chemotherapy at the GPHC’s Oncology Unit.
Chemotherapy is a standardized cancer treatment regimen that uses chemical substances containing anti-cancer drugs.
On Friday, Narine, in the company of her daughter-in-law, Vannie, and grandson Naresh, was calmly seated in the waiting area at the GPHC. She was there to see the doctor. She will shortly have to undergo a third bout of chemotherapy, but has mixed emotions about this.
Her reason for this, however, is justifiable.
As she attempted to find a comfortable position on the hard bench in the waiting area, she reminisced how great she felt after undergoing the first bout of chemotherapy. The second round was the complete opposite.
“After the second one I felt so sick…I couldn’t do too much. I would start cooking and just have to stop and go and lie down. It was nothing like the first time and I’m never sick, so I know it was the chemo making me sick,” she admitted.
She has been accessing all of her chemotherapy treatment, as directed by the Oncology doctor she sees at the GPHC, free of cost. And according to her, “for a free service the care here has been good. I have absolutely no complaints. I am satisfied with the treatment and I am so happy that we have such a good service available right here.”
She has however not only been spreading the word about the service offered at the GPHC, but she is keen on informing people, especially women, that they should never take their bodies for granted. “This thing can be really painful and I can tell people, if you can take it in hand, take it in hand right away; don’t wait for all the hardship that I had to go through.”
HELPING TO TACKLE A PUBLIC HEALTH CHALLENGE
Sister Singh is the longest serving Oncology Nurse at the GPHC. She doesn’t like the spotlight. In fact she didn’t even want to tell me her name when I approached her for a comment about her role in the Oncology Unit. She has been a part of the Unit since 2008.
But she certainly has an undeniable passion for her job.
After a whole lot of verbal nudging, bordering on begging, Sister Singh was sharing how passionate she was about being an Oncology Nurse. But she wasn’t always involved in Oncology, which is a term used to describe the treatment of tumours.
Sister Singh has been a nurse for over 40 years and has worked in both the public and private sectors. She disclosed that she commenced her nursing career right at the GPHC and stayed there for nearly two decades before moving over to a private hospital. She would eventually return to the GPHC.
But it was around 2006, Sister Singh recalled that she was actually trained to become an Oncology Nurse. At the time a male nurse from Holland was doing a stint at the GPHC. Sister Singh was trained by the visiting nurse and upon his departure she was selected to take charge of the Oncology Unit.
“I was eager to help patients with cancer…it wasn’t that I was just interested in cancer, but I had and still do have a general interest in caring for people and seeing them improve,” Sister Singh related.
She disclosed that when she first took charge of the Unit there were about a dozen patients seeking care. But over the years the number of cases has grown considerably, she related, without divulging specific figures.
“We used to see about 10 to 12 patients, but even before we started there was the Cancer Institute, but the service there comes at a cost and not all patients could have afforded it. So by the time people started knowing about the Oncology Unit we started to see a lot more patients,” she disclosed.
The cases soared by the period 2010-2011. And according to Sister Singh, it wasn’t just adult cases being seen but young children as well. She said breast cancer was and continues to be the most prevalent type of cancer seen.
And of interest, she noted, “it hasn’t just been the women seeking help for breast cancer.”
“Men also suffer from breast cancer…they are not immune. We don’t get them in the same numbers as women, but we have a few who do come,” said Sister Singh, as she reflected on a case of a middle-aged man.
He was in his mid-40s and was perhaps too embarrassed to seek treatment after he was diagnosed with breast cancer. She recalled that the man in the company of a doctor friend eventually made his way to the GPHC’s Oncology Unit and was afforded all of the necessary treatment.
“We don’t discriminate here…and we have a bunch of friendly patients and we just talk all the way through their treatment…we are like family here,” said Sister Singh of the patient-staff relationship at the GPHC’s Oncology Unit.
“I tell patients when they walk through that door they can’t come with a sour face…we want smiling people in here,” she insisted as a grin formed on her face.
Turning her focus back to the male patient who was diagnosed with breast cancer, Sister Singh recounted that he underwent surgery, chemotherapy and eventually his cancer went into remission. That all occurred in 2012.
But then her face turned pale, sad even. “I saw him earlier this year. He was this big strapping gentleman, but he doesn’t look like that anymore; he really throw off (lose weight),” said Sister Singh of the male patient. “‘He said ‘nurse the cancer come back’,” related an evidently troubled Sister Singh.
The man was eventually admitted to hospital. But Sister Singh confided that she has not heard much of him since.
It was at this juncture, she highlighted the importance of counseling for patients with just about any disease, especially those that can be life-threatening.
“We always have to keep on the front-burner, indicating that there is help available. People need to know, in the case of cancer, we need them to know we don’t judge them…there is help and they need to access it. We can’t force people to take the help we have to give, but we need them to know that we are here for them,” she asserted.
She made it clear that “cancer awareness is always important…this is not a seasonal thing. The more we raise awareness the more people will want to get checked out, and who knows, we might be able to stop more cases of cancer,” said Sister Singh.
The GPHC’s Oncology Unit currently has a General Medical Officer in the person of Cuba-trained Dr Latoya Gooding. It also benefits from the services of Consultant Oncologist, Dr Justo Despaigne Delisle of Cuba.

---

---