A Lost Battle…

I feel sorry that I’m starting this blog on a sad note… I lost my 49 year old brother in the first week of December to the biggest killer till date… CANCER.

Why do I want to share such a personal thing, that too a sad one at that, with strangers? I have my reasons for that. Before this demon attacked my brother we had no clue of what it was all about. But as the mystery unfolded its ugly wings we were shattered. Ours was a healthy family and we, as kids also, don’t remember going to the hospital but for a necessary vaccine or two. So when my brother developed a big lump in his throat he got terrified and he went to a few local doctors. Some said it’s harmless, you can let it be. They said if at all a surgery is done it would only be for cosmetic purpose. Two other doctors said surgery was a must. Now whom do we believe? How do we take the decision?

My brother consulted a few more people and decided to go to an ENT specialist in a hospital in West of Chord Road in Bengaluru. THAT WAS THE BIGGEST BLUNDER because he went to a wrong doctor in the first place and secondly to a greedy one who in spite of not being authorized to do it [as he was not a surgeon, only a specialist, all this we understand now not then] conducted the surgery and messed it up. All the doctors who saw him later said that the first surgery was not done properly; some said it without mincing words and some, indirectly. Later what we understood is that he was supposed remove the thyroid glands completely and then send him to get a dose of iodine also called nuclear medicine, which would have seen my brother lead a normal life. He did nothing like that. He removed only 70% and didn’t send him for iodine dose. Even when my brother went to him after four months saying that his voice had changed, that fool of a doctor couldn’t get it. I believe any voice change which doesn’t become normal even after a month could be one of the symptoms of cancer. He realized his fault after a long time by which time the left over 30% had grown into my brother’s windpipe blocking it up almost fully for which he went to Wockhardt hospital and the very efficient doctor there did a laser surgery and saved him from becoming breathless.

He was then sent to BIO [Bangalore institute of oncology] for iodine therapy by which time the cancer had got into his lungs. He received 5 doses of iodine over three years with a six months gap in between each dose. Even this couldn’t stop the cancer getting into his spinal cord and we, the family members died almost every day unable to see our dear one going through three surgeries, several iodine and radiation therapies. After suffering for three years he passed away in the first week of December. Sitting in the hospital I was thinking that cancer is making the doctors richer and the patients poorer, leave aside the mental trauma one undergoes throughout the treatment period. I was taken aback looking at the number of cancer patients at Bangalore Institute of Oncology (BIO). The nuclear medicine specialist at BIO was ready to administer another dose of iodine, just a few days before my brother passed away. My blood boils when i think what a greedy person he was.  Didn’t he know, as a doctor, that it would be of no use at that point of time? He just didn’t care becsuse he was looking at the moneywise gain it would bring him..that’s it.

I’ve written these details here with a purpose because I want to tell people some important things we didn’t know or do at that time. I hope nobody will face the situations we had to. Firstly, before going to a doctor please check his credentials a hundred times, ask people how he is, search the net for any kind of feedback [I’m saying this because we lacked here even though all of us are well educated. Our problem was that we were illiterates when it came to medicines and doctors.] Choosing a good and efficient doctor is the FIRST AND FOREMOST thing that one has to do.

Secondly, if the doctor you’ve gone to suggests surgery of any kind, just do not hesitate to take a second or a third opinion before taking a decision. It is really very very important.

Thirdly, if you feel that you have some doubts or that you are not being given details completely, never think twice to ask about it. All the hospitals have posters telling you that it’s your right to ask anything and to have full information about your treatment and its implications. Though I must say that the doctors are so busy that most of the time they don’t have the time to answer your questions or even if they have a little free time, they are not willing to talk!!!. [personal experience] But don’t let it be, ask!

The last and final aim of writing this blog is to tell about an ayurvedic doctor at Puttur in Karnataka. He is Dr B V Narayan who gives treatment for all kind of ailments including cancer. My brother was also taken there but it was too late and the fact that cancer had entered his spinal cord made matters worse. Had we gone a year or two earlier probably he would be alive now.

We have seen a stomach cancer patient in his last stages in 2008 now moving about like a normal healthy person, driving his car and running his business. The allopathic doctors had given him 15 days time on this earth and he was immobile and couldn’t eat. He wrote all that was in his name, to his wife and thought that was it. But somebody gave him the reference of Dr B V Narayan and he was put in a vehicle and taken there. Now after three years he is still alive, healthy and completely cured. I wish my brother was that lucky.  I believe there are many more cancer patients treated by Dr B V Narayan leading a normal life today. Even if his treatment doesn’t cure completely but can give the patient a few more years without surgeries and pain, I think it’s worth going to him. He doesn’t advertise anywhere…if you Google his name you won’t find anything. And his fee is almost as good as nothing. That is the reason I thought I’ll write about him here so that people suffering from this deadly disease can go to him and benefit from his treatment. My brother wasn’t so lucky but, if  my writing this helps even one person, there will be nobody happier than me and my family. My only advice is that don’t go there as a last resort but do it much before. I’m not telling you to discard allopathic medicines but do go to Dr Narayan as early as you can.

For people in need, here’s his address and telephone numbers. He sees patients in Puttur on all days except Tuesdays and Wednesdays as he goes to Mangaluru on these days to see patients there. Rest of the days he’s available at his vaidyashale (a small, old house which he calls his hospital) from 7 A. M. onwards.

Dr B V Narayan’s address:

Bolwar, Puttur
Dakshina Kannada-574201
Timings : 7- 4 PM
Sundays  : 7-1 PM

Phone numbers:  08251232279 and 08251234479.

It was a lost battle for my family. But I really hope this information will bring light to somebody’s life.

30-10-2014

There’s a new number of Dr B V Narayan as given by one of the readers of this blog..9449469299. Find a little more information in his comment down below.