A Simple Step Helped Me Diagnose a Deadly Cancer 2 Weeks Early, Saved My Life
In early 2021, Meher Roy
was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukaemia (ALL) in the nick of time by a
routine standard blood test- the Complete Blood Count (CBC). ALL is a type of
blood and bone marrow cancer known for its rapid progression.
“Ideally,
a CBC is a routine automated test. However, if an unusual discrepancy is found
in the readings, the blood work is analysed by a human pathologist under the microscope.
In my case, that’s what happened,” he tells The
Better India.
Ordinarily,
one would expect such a cancer diagnosis to come thanks to severe symptoms or
life-altering experiences. But Meher’s story began and
continues today because of a simple alteration in the body – an increased
resting heart rate.
Leading an aware life
From an early
age, Meher’s father inculcated in him a habit of getting regular health
checkups. “I don’t know why he did it. My mother went through an episode of
illness, which only seemed to reaffirm his belief in the practice. So since my
teens, I have kept a basic check on heart, kidney, blood, et cetera,” he says.
Born
and brought up in Gandhinagar of Gujarat, Meher has lived in multiple locations
like Italy, Germany and the United States over the past 11 years. He co-founded
his own company, known as Chorus One and shifted to
Switzerland in 2021.
But
every winter, he unfailingly visits India for his annual health checkup.
According to him, the quality of medical service here is excellent
and cheaper compared to other countries.
This behaviour also means Meher has years of data about his
own body, which gave him a heightened awareness of what is ‘normal’ for his
body and what is not.
The inception of a
life-changing incident
Meher says
that this year, he got his annual check-up done on 6 January. He contracted
COVID-19 right after that.
“I thought it
was best to get another check done after recovery, which was undertaken on 15
February.” Meher shares. “I kept feeling like I lacked energy after the
infection. I even got a recurring nose infection. But the oddest thing was that
by March-end, my resting heart rate was shooting up. From 55, it reached 90
beats per minute.”
Ordinarily,
even this would be attributed to the aftermath of the virus. Nonetheless, Meher
decided to get it checked. For as a person who had kept a daily check on his
heart rate for years, he knew something was wrong.
“I was in
Switzerland by then and got a CBC done there on 13 April. Then, on 14 April, I
was asked to come in along with a family member and a few changes of clothes,”
says Meher, mentioning the hospital visit was a day before his 33rd birthday.
He was
diagnosed with ALL. The cancer cells had penetrated his nervous system. Of the
approximately six kg of blood in Meher’s body, 2.5 kg had been infiltrated by
cancer cells.
But there was
still hope – as the diagnosis had come at such an early stage.
“Many cancers
grow so slowly that you might not discover them for ten years. In my case, it
had taken only two months for 30-40% of the blood cells to turn cancerous. If I
had waited for another two or three weeks, it would have killed me,” Meher
relates.
“The disease was aggressive, so the treatment had to be
aggressive too. It is expected to continue for two and a half years in my case.
I have already spent about 100 days in the hospital this year,” Meher shares.
This
has had its challenges. According to Meher, a cancer patient can never feel
normal despite successful therapy. The medicines are tough on the
body, and side effects of chemotherapy persist, even as symptoms begin
improving.
“In my journey, I have gotten to perceive Switzerland on a
deeper level. The doctors, nurses, insurance agencies, and others catered to
any requests I had, making this journey easier. For this, I feel gratitude
towards them,” he says.
The lessons that saved his life
Meher
candidly warns that obsessive assessment can often lead to overdiagnosis and
unnecessary questions about one’s health. But he still suggests that every
person should undertake simple tracking of bodily functions.
“You should
have an understanding of what your body normally feels like, and listen to it
and respond when it feels abnormal. These days it can be done with smartwatches
that track stats like heart rate and blood pressure,” Meher says.
He adds, “I
also recommend consulting a doctor in case something changes. If it’s a fatal
disease like cancer, one wrong step (for example, time spent in the wrong kind
of therapy) can prove to be life-threatening.”
So, apart
from monitoring your body, what kind of tests should you get done?
Dr
Preeti Choudhary, a Senior Consultant in Radiology at Jaipur Golden Hospital, shares
how awareness about early symptoms and diagnosis can affect the treatment of various cancers.
She talks about DR-70, a comprehensive blood test that can identify 13 types of
cancers.
Apart from
this, a few tests she shares are:
Mammograms
to find breast cancer
Colonoscopy to find colon cancer
Medical exams and self-exams to detect other health problems before symptoms
appear
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