I went in for my yearly checkup, thinking it’d be routine. I mentioned some occasional stomach pain and indigestion that I’d been ignoring, chalking it up to stress from work. I suffered from heartburn as well. My doctor suggested an endoscopy to check things out. When the results came back, I was stunned. It was early-stage gastric cancer, specifically gastric lymphoma. I hadn’t expected something so serious from what seemed like minor symptoms.

I was surprised at the diagnosis since I was feeling healthy with just mild symptoms. It never did cross my mind that it could be cancer and after I received the diagnosis I was fearful because I didn't know much about it. I only knew that cancer is a dangerous illness, and the thought of this made me sad.

My doctor recommended the following treatments:

• Lymphadenectomy (removal of lymph nodes)
• Chemotherapy
• Radiation therapy
• Targeted therapy

However, we eventually decided on just the lymphadenectomy and chemo. The doctor recommended that the lymph node should be removed so as to stop the spread to other parts of the stomach, and he promised that it was going to be a successful one. Once that was decided, I was very positive that the treatment outcome will be good. However, I had to cover all of the treatment costs myself.

After my lymph node removal surgery, I started my treatment journey with chemotherapy, specifically Doxorubicin. In the weeks after surgery, I focused on healing, managing pain with the prescribed medication, and attending follow-up appointments. I also began learning about lymphedema management and started using compression garments and physical therapy to help with swelling. Once I’d recovered enough from surgery, I began chemotherapy. I received 4 treatments in cycles, each followed by a rest period. I was given medications to help with side effects like nausea, fatigue, and hair loss, which were tough but manageable. During chemotherapy, I had regular check-ups, blood tests, and scans to track how well the treatment was working and make sure the cancer hadn’t spread or returned. After finishing chemotherapy, I continued with follow-up appointments to check on my recovery and discuss next steps, which might include additional therapies like targeted or hormone treatments, depending on how my body responded.

I was declared cancer-free in June 2024.

I suffered from fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting from the treatments. It demoralized me a lot because it kind of hindered me from doing much activity since it was really intense. I took prescribed medication such as Modafinil to manage these side effects.

Managing my alcohol intake was the biggest lifestyle change I had after treatment. Having cancer has made me realize that health is important and I was told that if I stop taking alcohol, I would have a better immune system and better medication tolerance so that the treatment can be effective. And it actually made me change my lifestyle of excessive social gatherings and I had to look for other hobbies.

I resigned from my job after my diagnosis as I wanted to focus on my health and get healthy before I subject my body to stress again.

In the next few years, I plan to stay healthy, eat healthy, get regular medical checks and prioritize my health in every way.

Over the course of my cancer journey, telehealth checkups were particularly useful to me.

I’ve faced challenges in my social as well as professional life, but I struggled most with self-esteem issues. The stigma surrounding cancer is overwhelming but I had the support of my family, and also my therapist giving me counsel on how to navigate my self esteem issues.

My biggest fear was death because I know cancer, when it is not treated well or quickly, leads to death. I had to take the treatment plan seriously and fight for my survival, with all it takes – mind, soul and body.

Since the doctor has already declared me cancer free, I feel optimistic that it would stay that way.

To me, the biggest challenge as a cancer survivor is the fear of recurrence. It begins to develop in my mind that what if it came back. It was eating my mind up, but I got help from my therapist. I will advise others to always prioritize self-care.

After cancer, one gets a bit tense because you kind of feel on the edge trying to keep up with lifestyle changes, trying to eat healthier… All this tends to fall back to one's mental health and I would advise that it is important to adopt mindfulness practices to help calm one's mind down anytime such panic thoughts burst through the mind.

Staying informed about one's cancer is important, but what is more important is getting the right information. I wish I had known a lot about cancer and its symptoms so that I could have gone for diagnosis earlier.