My story, and what I’ve learned from it.
Last post: My Story: Next One “How are you going these days Nikhil?” It’d been literally half a year since I’d seen this group of friends – my med student buddies – and I had to do the rounds. This question came up a lot. And almost always, it was about my health. “So yeah I’m actually good!” I’d always start, smiling and gesturing wildly so as […]
Last post: My Story: Next One Being a patient isn’t easy. Especially when you’re in hospital in an emergency situation, as I was last week… For those who didn’t know – I presented to emergency last week, midway through chemo, with shortness of breath and they ended up finding a new cancer on my fourth rib on the right. Don’t worry though – I’m fine! They removed […]
Last post: My Story: Next One Latest Updates at bottom of post. Video of this here: It happened again. In the other eye. But it’s OK. I didn’t lose that one =] Update here: So this morning, I left a weird status update on my personal Facebook. I know a few friends and family are worried about this, as some of you reading this may be, so […]
Last post: My Story: Next One As many of you know, I’ve been preparing for this bike ride. And I’m glad to announce… formally, well, on this blog, that only 2 months after I was done with chemo, I managed to complete the Sydney 200km Ride to Conquer Cancer! I was scared about it for months… But when I arrived at the start-line… just seeing so many […]
Last post: My Story: Next One https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vufl4rfmPgo&list=UUAKTrVV6OAUq1O1odxC1Bfw < A talk I gave recently on this topic: Recently on Facebook, a few pages dedicated to cancer awareness asked patients to describe themselves and how they feel in one word. Here’s an example. I liked how positive people’s responses were. I like how these pages are getting groups of people in tough times together. I loved […]
The other day, I was out to dinner and drinks with some friends. Amidst our casual banter about work, life and play we somehow got onto the topic of depression. It’s something that’s affected my friends, family and myself over my 3 years of being a patient. One of my friends said something that got to me. “Being told you’re depressed gives you an excuse to not try to get better. Maybe if people who say they’re depressed tried more, they wouldn’t be depressed.” He didn’t mean to be judgmental or mean about it, in fact, he was sincerely concerned for […]
Last post: My Story: Next One: This Is Tragic. Bree and her friend Bridgette were diagnosed with leukemia, on the same day, at the same hospital. They underwent painful, grueling treatment together. They spent the hardest times of their young lives with each-other… And now that Bridgette’s died, Bree can’t imagine living without her… It speak volumes on our ability to love… And how love’s power can even outweigh our ingrained instinct to endure. It’s […]
And Join the Bone Marrow Donor Registry Through my journey to recovery, I’ve said thanks countless times; to my doctors, my nurses, my parents and my bone marrow donors. But the other day, I realised that I must have had at least a hundred bags of blood pushed into my veins at some point in my treatment. That’s on top of the two very vital bone marrow transplants I had. It’s staggering the lengths our health system will go to in order to save a life. I guess only after getting sick and really needing those bags of blood did I understand the importance […]
Last post: My Story: Next One: You see it all the time on those medical shows on TV. You see a doctor, who could probably earn millions modelling on the side, running through hallways and corridors, hanging IV drips, getting patients food, finding time to sit down and talk patients through all their fears and concerns – basically doing anything and everything to help the patients through […]
Next Post: “The good news is you’re 17 and you have leukemia, but the bad news is… you’re 17 and you have leukemia.” I’d sorta known it was coming. It had been months since I’d felt right. I’d come home from school and sleep ’til eight. I was off my food. I’d been getting weaker and weaker, losing my strength and speed week by week despite training almost 2 hours a day. I’d put it down to exams and stress. But damn… it was far from that. Now what? All my – and my parents’ – last hopes had extinguished […]