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I shouldn’t be alive- My battle with breast cancer

Achieving Woman
 Alice Kadimane

Doctors found lumps in Alice Kadimane's breast when she was just 29 years old. When they broke the news, she thought she was going to die but 12 years later she is thriving.

As told to: Vip Ogola

I did not develop the practise of examining my breasts early. At the age of 29, I went to hospital and they confirmed that I had lumps in my left breast. I thought nothing of it, booked an appointment for a biopsy and went back to work. The results of the biopsy confirmed Stage 1 breast cancer twelve days later. I wept at the Mater Hospital Gardens for three straight hours, concerned about the fate of my three very young children. I also had plans to relocate to the United States but now I had cancer.

I had gone alone for the biopsy and at some point called my older brother. He counselled me to seek a second opinion. My gynaecologist had an office at Mater, so I went in to see him. I am glad I did. He encouraged me. Together with an oncologist and a surgeon they deliberated on my case and agreed that the wisest course of action for me would be chemotherapy.

I picked up my prescription a few days later and went to Kenyatta National Hospital for the procedure. When I got there I found that the mediation would cost far more than I had on me. I left and returned the next day to begin treatment. Six hours later I was on a bus headed home when the side effects hit. The vomiting, tummy ache and diarrhea lasted three weeks.

On the eve of my second appointment, I was devastated when I touched my head and an entire cornrow fell off. I decided to end my treatment. It took my sister a week to get me to resume it. The next three sessions were okay as I learnt to manage the side-effects, but the fifth one almost killed me.

The regime had weakened me considerably, and I fell down the stairs the morning after. I woke three days later in hospital and found that I was scheduled for surgery. They had discovered some nodes under my armpit and thankfully, upon extraction, these tested negative for cancer. Human error during the surgery rendered me incapable of using my left arm for about a month. That arm has remained slightly larger. I sometimes get severe cramps on the left side of my torso due to fluid retention.

By comparison, my last session of chemo, as well as the subsequent sessions of radiotherapy, was relatively uneventful.

In the last twelve years, seven subsequent surgeries have confirmed me cancer free. The most recent was reconstructive, to even out my breasts due to the considerable toll of constant surgery. This also corrected the sagging that comes with breastfeeding.

For five years I was on Tamoxaphine, a very expensive drug which I had to take daily. I have journeyed with the same doctors; Breast Surgeon Dr. Githaiga, Dr. Njuguna who handled my chemotherapy and Dr. Khainga who along with Dr. Githaiga handled my reconstructive surgery. I have been treated at Equator Hospital, Nairobi Women's Hospital and Nairobi Hospital depending on the procedure.

I tried to keep to the recommended diet regime initially but discovered that my body required all the food groups. I now eat everything in moderation and can even have a glass of wine occasionally. I do not believe cancer comes from eating red meat as vegetarians get it too. On the first year after my diagnosis, I thought I would die immediately. I cried a lot and neglected myself. When very young choir members from my church then died in a road accident, it hit me that the length of one's life was determined by God. I now live one day at a time prioritising joy.

My support structure has comprised mainly of my birth family, colleagues and friends, particularly Mercy, who have stood by me through it all.

I gave up on support groups when friends I bonded with died. So now it's God and I. My doctor sometimes sends me people to counsel as he says I am strong. For many women, the perplexing reality of breast cancer manifests in the lack of support and sometimes abandonment by their spouses.

I wish it was not like this. Sadly, many of the local cancer foundations do not really support the patients that need it most.

Cancer has strengthened me; I used to cry at every little thing, not anymore. The pain is real, chemotherapy is rough, and the costs high, but I have survived it.

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