When Agony can be changed to ecstasy!

Dear Friends I would like to introduce you to this wonderful member of my family. I have an paternal elder cousin sister, Vasantha Chechi as I call her, so elder that she is almost Moms age, and I have always admired her for the sheer energy she exudes.

There is this incident , rather a phase of her life that I am sharing her with all of you my dear friends with the kind permission of my cousin.

A brief about her. Her name is Vasantha and she lives in Kerala. She is a very talkative person, Talking being her other passion besides food. Let me explain how passionate she was about food. This happened about a decade and half back .I accompanied her to a pathological lab in Thrichur. After gulping down around 4 coconut water and 3 fruit juices for a urine test , she decided that now it was time for lunch. She was famished , or so she said. Two plates of egg curry and 6 Aappams, she ordered, and I thought that included me and a couple of other cousins too. Then she turned to us and said now you place your order.

Well that was her love for food and life. A very lively person, could talk nonstop , there never can be a dull moment with her.

About a year back , I received a call from her younger brother, Vasantha Chechi has been diagnosed with breast cancer and her treatment had just begun. She was traveling to this hospital once a week for a treatment. I kept regularly in touch with her.

I kept thinking about her, wondered how much she must have changed. And then Mom decided to go and meet her. I told Mom to be strong and never cry in front of her etc and all the last minute instructions and also requested her to ask Vasantha Chechi to speak to me atleast once.
The next morning I was in for a pleasant surprise , when at 6 , my cousin called me , almost her usual chirpy self . She chatted nonstop. Infact I waited for any kind of pause where I could probably put in my two words but I literally had to fight for it.

And then again the following morning at 6am . Well I thought I never needed to set an alarm again. Vasantha Chechi was doing it for me. Her chirpy voice was better than any alarm sounds anyway. We kept in touch almost regularly except on the days of her therapy.
One fine morning she chirped, “Guess what ? I got my wig last night . It looks very good on me. I have been flaunting it around. I’ll send you some snaps soon. Infact Im going tomorrow to Chennai to show it to Baby( her married daughter). I’m sure she’ll love it too. And how did I forget to mention the lovely designer padded blouses. "

Chemotherapy , Masectomy, nothing …….. nothing at all stopped this bundle of energy from exploring life to the fullest. Even life’s gravest challenges were finding it difficult to cope with her energy.Do you think she never felt weak, never actually suffered ? Yes she definitely did , but her will to overcome it was so strong that she did not let it mar her never say die attitude.

I just couldn’t help smiling. All the while I had heard about how Cancer and chemo can play havoc with ones psyche and life and here was this wonderful cousin of mine who had the right attitude and spirit of living that couldn’t be bogged down by cancer even,.

A lot of ladies go to meet her. The reason : most of them are afflicted with cancer and meeting Vasantha chechi gives them a hope to life. A hope was a better tomorrow and a hope that nothing will change if you do not want it too.
And while I write this to you I am sure she is sitting in her verandah with a few neighbours and chatting away to glory!!

Most illness can be overcome, beaten before they beat you. I guess positivity and the right attitude in combating illness goes a long way. There is always a chance to live but do you have the will in you or are you trying to succumb even before the end .

Life is for living to the fullest and who else can tell this to us more than our own Vasantha Chechi!!

Beat the disease before the disease beats you.

Love,
Devika

 

My Dear Sir,

When you give me an opening FB, I feel absolutely banana.


Thankyou so much for your presence here.

Sir , I completely agree with what Dr. Shantha has said . A lot of us prepare ourselves for the worst though the worst might not be the future at all. There is always a possibility of things going a positive way ,but we need to condition our mind accordingly. In turn the mind conditions the body to look at things in the most optimistic way, making treatment more effective.

Cancer need not always mean the end, these days there is a lot of hope .

My cousin was one such person and I really think that she is a perfect example of how your life can continue undeterred despite Cancer.

Through this post I just wanted to spread the aware ness that there is still a lot of hope for all those suffering from Cancer.

Thankyou once again Sir for you fantastic FB. Not just your posts your FBs also always teach me something.

Love,
Your Mol

 

Dear Mithila,

Such a pleasure to see you here.

You are absolutely right Mithila, sometimes people do wallow in self pity. I understand that the news of the end of life is never really easy to accept , but then that need not always be the case.
My cousin never spent a moment thinking that this was the end. She never let it hamper her daily life. She continued her life the way she was used to. And lived optimistically. No one ever sympathised with her , because she never gave them a reason to. Infact when you see somebody like her making the ,ost of life , you wonder are we doing full justice to the lives given to us by him. Are we living the right way. Are we respecting life as we should? We begin to realise the importance of it.

Infact she is now a role model to so many. And now she is perfectly fine. Full of energy as always.

Thankyou Mithila for your kind wishes. Your FB means a lot to me.

Love,
Devika