GYN CHRONICLES
Breast Cancer
Dr. Maureen Owiti
I
was talking to one of the nurses, a
Matron actually at one of the places I
go to make sure I have something to
support lifestyle. She is a wonderful lady
and was very pleased to see her. Matron
Beatrice Ng’ang’a (not her real name)
is a breast cancer survivor. So I started
enquiring about her health.
She was very pleased with herself as she
had just managed to climb the set of stairs
that leads to my consultation room in
that particular clinic. I was struck by her
comment that it was a miracle that she
could now climb one flight of stairs. I was
intrigued and with my usual foot in mouth
asked why that should be considered a
miracle. Luckily for me, she’s a nice lady
and didn’t take any offence and proceeded
to tell me about her journey.
She is one of the good health care
workers who doesn’t only treat others
but at least makes time to take her health
seriously. She regularly performs self-
breast examinations. She has always
had some breast changes during her
menstrual cycle but this time it persisted
then she felt a lump. She requested one
of the doctors to perform a check for her
and they too confirmed that she had a
lump and promptly requested her to do
a breast ultrasound and mammogram.
Unfortunately both breast Ultrasound and
Mammogram showed features suggestive
of a malignancy with nodes in the axilla
(arm pit) and she was quickly booked to
have a biopsy of the lump. those who regularly care for people with
various illness you know what you are
about to be put through.
Matron had a fantastic team dealing with
her case (no need to travel to India) and she
had a mastectomy, started chemotherapy
and radiotherapy. She said she had 30
sessions of radiotherapy. She also had a
number of sessions of chemotherapy and
hormone therapy. I asked her how she was
able to cope and she said she knew what
she was dealing with and knew that with
the right mindset and God on her side she
would get through the treatment.
Histologoy also came back positive and
she was urgently prepared for surgery.
Surgery done and from histology, lesion
came back as progesterone receptor
positive adecarcinoma of the breast. Very
huge words to mean breast cancer. I can
only try to imagine how she felt at the
time. It is bad enough being told you have
breast cancer but I think even worse to Mrs. Ng’ang’a was very clear it was as if
in her life God had been preparing her for
this chapter in her life. She revealed that
where she lived she used to nurse several
women with breast or other cancer. She
would go and inject them with medication
that would help the nausea and vomiting of
therapy reduce. She did this on a voluntary
basis and at the time thought she was just
helping. Little did she know that she was
preparing her own little neighborhood
support group.
Matron had a fantastic team dealing with
her case (no need to travel to India) and she
had a mastectomy, started chemotherapy
and radiotherapy. She said she had 30 ses-
sions of radiotherapy. She also had a num-
ber of sessions of chemotherapy and hor-
mone therapy. I asked her how she was able
to cope and she said she knew what she was
dealing with and knew that with the right
mindset and God on her side she would get
through the treatment.
26 MAL30/19 ISSUE
The survivors who visited her would
joke with her that you are the one who
used to inject us now who will give you
the medication. She just laughed and
said that she was able to administer the
medication for herself. She said that she
was overwhelmed with all the support she
got from the women.
She still got nasty side effects though for
her she only got mild nausea and didn’t
vomit however one of the meds affected
her limbs. It was painful to stand, walk
and even to hold a pen and write was not