A True Tale - I am Cancer Free

The photo at the side is to celebrate my freedom from Ovarian Cancer with which I was afflicted in 2005. Those of you who have read and reviewed my memoir, have had loved ones go through similar ordeals and you understand what it is like when a person has been diagnosed with cancer. I wrote a poem which simplifies my story, but at the same time, it reveals enough.
I am happy to say, and I thank God, that I am Cancer Free for the past ten years.[almost eleven]

A TRUE TALE

I awoke dazed, confused, where could I be?
Suddenly recalling I just had surgery.
Hooked up to machines, nurses surrounding my bed.
I closed my eyes and covered my head.

The doctor entered, her head bowed,
She uttered that I needed to go abroad,
The surgery was incomplete and she was sorry.
A malignant tumor was discovered in my left ovary.

My husband and I gasped in disbelief.
Fate had bestowed on me such grief.
We thought it was a simple hysterectomy.
I now needed chemotherapy and more surgery.

We immediately flew to Miami,
Where our daughter arranged for me to see
An oncologist at a cancer center;
No other doctor could have been better.

His diagnosis and treatment were very exact,
He prescribed three chemos to stop the cancer attack.
He operated and removed successfully
Every piece of the tumor that almost killed me.

I am now at home with my beloved family.
I now know how much they really love me.
They were at my side as far as I recall,
God was most faithful throughout it all.

Why I wrote the Book ‘I am Cancer Free”

Almost eight years after my battle with Ovarian Cancer, I decided to write the book, “I am Cancer Free.”
My thoughts were that I was still alive, although my doctor in Trinidad had given up on me eight years before when she performed a hysterectomy and could not remove the tumour. I believed that my story would help others in similar situations to get other doctors’ opinions, even if it means going to another country to do so. Do not rely on the first one.
For eight years, the feeling that I would die remained with me. Even after the doctor in Miami declared me Cancer Free after seven months of treatment and surgery, I asked him, “How long do I have?” He looked at me in the eye and told me, “Brenda, I just told you that you are cancer free. Enjoy living.”
In my book, I spoke about what I did after each chemotherapy session, which was always on a Friday. Although my body was filled with Taxol and Carboplatin, I felt energized and wanted to go shopping and eat in restaurants. I never lost my appetite. I could have eaten any type of food I wanted. I had no pain until Sunday, when I experienced bone pains, which the doctor told me that I would get.
It has been ten years since I am Cancer Free.

The book is available in Kindle and Paperback at AMAZON and at Barnes and Nobles.

“I am Cancer Free - A Memoir” by Brenda Mohammed is a finalist in the category Non – Fiction in the Mc Grath's Publishing Awards 2016. Please vote for the book.
Voting will remain open until 15 November 2016. You can vote daily.Click on the link and scroll to the category Non-Fiction and tick the box.
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