Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer among women and is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women in both urban and rural areas. Breast cancer has a huge impact on the psychosocial well-being of the patient, affecting her self-image besides causing physical distress due to the side effects of the treatment.

One of our home care patients, Meena Kumari, was assigned to the home care team of CanSupport in Amritsar in September 2020. She was 46 years old then and suffering from ca breast.

When the team met Meena, she was in depression, scared and unsettled. She was operated upon a month prior and was both psychologically and physically unstable. She felt like she wasn’t a part of society anymore. She didn’t want to get out of bed or spend time with her husband. Her chemotherapy was going to start soon.

Meena has two grown-up children, a son who is 21 and her daughter is 19. She constantly thought and worried about them. Her husband drives an auto for a living in Amritsar, Punjab, the place where they live. Theirs is a middle-class conservative family.

Meanwhile, Meena had many questions related to chemotherapy. She had heard about the various side effects of chemotherapy like hair loss, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, etc. Apart from treating her other symptoms, the team also started preparing her for chemotherapy and focused on all her worries and concerns to help put her mind at ease.

With the palliative care team’s help, Meena started to chip away at what was leading to her stress. The major source of her emotional stress was thoughts like, how would people judge her in society? Would things change forever? Would she die earlier? What would happen to her children if something happened to her? Would cancer reoccur?

Expressing her feelings of fear and uncertainty with the team counsellor helped Meena in dealing with her emotions and helped her feel less worried. Expressing strong feelings helped her let go of such fears.

The team continued to visit Meena and take care of her symptoms.

Regular conversations with the team counsellor helped Meena focus on dealing with all the emotional roadblocks that stood in her way to find ways to help her cope with the side effects of chemotherapy.

The counsellor helped Meena navigate through all her phases of hope and despair and prepare her each step of the way through her chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

By now the counsellor had become Meena’s best friend, with whom she got comfortable in sharing anything and everything.

The team nurse helped navigate Meena with a proper plan on her diet and nutrient intake throughout her treatment. The nurse also encouraged and taught her some physical exercises that could help her avoid getting lymphoedema.

With the help of the home care team from CanSupport, Meena breezed through her chemotherapy and radiotherapy. She gained back her hope and confidence and is back to living a regular, normal life.

“I was really scared, confused and ignorant of what to expect before my chemotherapy started. I am really grateful to the team from CanSupport for not only educating me but preparing me to deal with all the symptoms,” expressed Meena.