When Mr. Sudhir Waghmare, 58, PhD, entrepreneur and innovator, was diagnosed with esophageal cancer he took it in his stride quite stolidly. What broke him down was the loss during chemotherapy of his luscious hair which he dearly cherished. He shares his personal narrative.
My background
I am an entrepreneur and innovator of a company engaged in manufacturing new born life saving devices since the last 31 years. I have a PhD degree in Neonatal Intensive care equipment. I am married to Radhika and we have 2 kids, Aishwarya and Sushrut. Before the cancer diagnosis, I suffered from high sugar levels due to stress. I used to smoke during my college days but I quit smoking in 1991.
My diagnosis
I was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in March 2019.
It began with swallowing problems. Initially it was difficult to swallow hard food, then it aggravated day by day and after few weeks I was not even able to swallow water. Whatever I swallowed, I used to vomit. There was a great pain in swallowing which was absolutely unbearable.
An endoscopy of the esophagus was done which showed a tumour. The culture reports of the tumour showed malignancy. The PET Scan revealed that I had large tumour (around 22 mm) found in my food pipe. I had Stage 2 squamous cell esophageal cancer.
The Disclosure
During that period, I was working on my new project named Human Milk Pasteurizer, an equipment required to pasteurize donated human milk which can be used for new born babies. I was on a tour to a nearby city from Pune along with few doctors from USA who had visited India to see my innovation and to create awareness about the importance of donated pasteurized milk. That same evening, I was informed that I was suffering from cancer of the esophagus. My endoscopy reports were conveyed to me on the phone. I just heard the news and put the phone down without showing any emotions. However I was not able to have any food. I tried to eat ice cream, but with each bite, I had to rush to wash room and vomit. The doctors asked me what was the problem, I just laughed and said it’s probably due to acidity and nothing to worry about it.
Esophageal Cancer Treatment
I was firm against surgery. It is a very complicated, challenging surgery. And importantly I knew about the aftermaths of surgery, hence I was absolutely against it. (The risks involve bleeding, infections, change in voice, respiratory complications, difficulty eating, leakage where oesophagus joins the stomach, etc). Of course, there are many advantages too. The doctors had explained to me in detail about the advantages of the surgery, but I was not in favour of it and I was firm on my decision. Instead of surgery, I opted for chemotherapy, radiation followed by oesophageal dilation (stretching the food pipe).
I underwent 3 chemotherapies of 72 hours, followed by 8 chemotherapies of 1 day, along with 33 rounds of radiation therapy. Once the radiation therapy was completed, I had to undergo 2 dilation procedures to expand the food pipe. This entire treatment time took around 5 months. After my radiation therapy, I did the PET scan again, and it came clear. There were no traces of any cancer cells. There were no medications prescribed.
Managing my condition and the treatment
My philosophy was very simple. If I cannot run away from it, I have to face it.
During the course of treatment in the hospital, I used to watch movies, songs, various programmes on my laptop. I was behaving like a absolutely normal and healthy person.
Being in the medical device industry, I was aware about various ICU equipment and its functioning. During the course of treatment, I used to interact with the nursing staff and help them in understanding the technical features of the medical equipment and its clinical advantages like the optimum use of syringe pumps, how to calculate its doses and speed, ICU ventilators, its functioning, its modes of operation etc..
During my day care treatment, there used to be few more patients besides me who were also admitted for chemotherapy treatment. I used to interact with them and tell them to remain positive.
During Radiation therapy, I used to watch the movement of machine and think how this medical equipment is made and what technology is used. During this course of treatment, I even designed an important component for my medical equipment.
Side effects of radiation
There are tremendous side effects of chemo and radiation therapy. I am mentioning few major problems that I faced.
- Hair loss
- nausea to smell
- difficulty in passing stools
- severe body ache
- loosening of tooths
- No taste of food
- Irritation due to sound. I used to get irritated & annoyed for no reasons.
Mental health issues
Nothing, I had no mental issues. I remained positive and my wife too played a major role in keeping our kids and my parents positive.
Only once I was on the verge of breaking.
I have very silky and thick hair and I used to love my hair. One day when I woke up in the morning, I saw clumps of my hair scattered on the bed. When I went to the wash room and touched my hair, a bunch of it came in my hand. My eyes were filled with tears, but I controlled my tears, washed my face and came out smiling. I told my wife that I am going for a haircut. I went to the saloon and asked them to shave off my head completely and make be bald.
Lifestyle changes
I was not able to eat any solid foods; hence I was constantly on liquid diet. Even then I was working and used to visit my factory, used to work there for around 30 minutes and return home. Actually, I wished to work more but due to weakness, I was not able to do so.
Family life
Initially my mother and kids were very frightened. I did not inform my father about the disease as he was 84 years old and did not to bother him. However, after seeing my bald head and my weight loss, he understood it but he never mentioned that to me.
My wife stood strong by me. She explained to our family and friends that if the patient is positive, why should others worry? My family was always with me and was very supportive.
Present condition
I am absolutely healthy and hearty. After dilation, there are no medicines that I am consuming.
What is your advice to patients in a similar situation?
Never ever give up Hope. There is always a bright light at the end of the tunnel.
(Mr. Sudhir Waghmare is a Pune-based first-generation innovator and founder, Shreeyash Electro Medicals. He has indigenously developed ventilators & a life saving device that has helped saved lives of thousands of newborn babies in India, Austria, Australia, Poland, Russia, South Africa, SAARC countries. He also invented ‘Kimie’, a fully automatic and portable human milk pasteurizer and has a patent for it.)
