No matter who you are, receiving a diagnosis of a serious illness can be life-altering and difficult emotionally. When Namrata Mahajan (name changed) was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, she saw her life change radically. Her entire world came tumbling down.
“I am usually a very positive person but it was so overwhelming that I went into a depression. Cancer dramatically changed my life, and it completely devastated me,” shared Namrata.
Namrata was 46 years old when she was diagnosed with metastatic ca ovary. She had been receiving treatment from Dharamshila cancer hospital. She is survived by two daughters and husband.
Namrata was from a lower middle class family. Even though her family was very supportive but she found their over caring approach very forbearing and that would make her very irritable. With the progression of her disease, she would experience extreme bodily pain. Lack of symptom management resulted in fatigue, restlessness, anger, insomnia, irritability and no interest in usual daily activities. Her sickness strained her relationship with her in laws, and all of this put together made her depressive. Her family doctor put her on strong anti-depressants.
When the home care team from CanSupport met her, they sat down with Namrata and her husband to discuss their goals of care. They started the treatment with pain management and made medical recommendations to get her symptoms under control. This dramatically improved Namrata’s quality of life. Since the anti-depressants that she had been on were not coupled with pain management, they weren’t really helping her enough. Her emotional issues hadn’t been addressed either. There was no one she could share her emotions, feelings, or concerns with.
Depression in cancer is a multifactorial disorder involving psychosocial, biological and iatrogenic causes. The team addressed all these issues collectively. The team counselor had a heart to heart dialogue with Namrata and she was able to vent out her feelings. Communication plays a very essential role in palliative care. It changes the patient’s understanding towards life and gives courage and strength to accept medical treatment.
After speaking with Namrata, the counsellor figured that in terms of the severity of her depression, she was going through mild depression but because her depression was coupled with physical suffering, they thought her to be in severe depression. By managing her physical and emotional issues together, the team was able to help her revive and advised her husband to reduce her anti-depressants and that she didn’t need so much of that. The counsellor also coached her on meditation, breathing exercises, and suggested some videos that she could watch to relax her mind. Gradually, her anti-depressants were cut down and she was relived of her physical pain as well.
The palliative care team was able to address Namrata’s issues properly and was able to improve the quality of her life. Her husband also felt very heartened to know that this person who he cherished was being cared for. He requested the team to visit his wife more often since he had started noticing a positive change in her. Gradually, Namrata’s relationship with her in laws also improved for the better. Her in laws were happy to see her more positive and calmer. Even though the family knew, that Namrata’s disease couldn’t be cured, they rallied around her to give her as much comfort as they could. They started spending more time talking and interacting with her. Namrata’s mother-in-law would especially go out of her way to cook things she knew Namrata liked.
Namrata was able to spend the remaining days of her life free of pain and depression, much to the relief of the entire family. Her husband has repeatedly thanked the team for all their support to his beloved wife and the family.
“I cannot imagine going through what we went through without the support of the home care team from CanSupport,” says Namrata’s husband.
There are many people like Namrata and her family who need palliative care but they don’t know where to go. While CanSupport is doing its best the reach out to people informing them about their services, we request you to spread the word.
Share our Helpline Number 011-41010539 with all the needy people. Though all CanSupport services are free of charge for patients, the cost of reaching out to patients and caring for them cost Rs. 1400/- per visit per patient.
If you would like to support our cause, please donate at https://cansupport.org/donate