My Story: 'I Survived Through Many Health Issues, But Never Lost Hope Being Single-Woman'

Sometimes in life, there occurs a sea-change, a paradigm shift, a complete transformation from the way one has lived one's life all these years. This change could be due to negative influences such as sickness, tragedy, the sudden death of a family member, an unexpected accident throwing everything out of gear or some significant loss of fortune.

There was a turning point in my life when I battled a health issue, and I am now in a better place, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. The journey I completed with health issues helped to change me from a person with a warped and unchallenged lifestyle into one leading a life of meaning and purpose, and it reformed me tangibly so I could make greater use and value of my life.

The turning point in my life was made through a negative, almost tragic health odyssey which, in hindsight, I now recall as something very beneficial for it shook me out of my comfort zone and made me a woman of substance, globally known and willing to help anyone in my path.

It was that fateful day not too long ago, about a year ago, during the pandemic lockdown, when much of my hometown, Bengaluru, was shut down. I was a happy-go-lucky Senior Citizen, unmarried but comfortable and content in my single status. And then came the startling revelation. I discerned that eyesight in my right eye was deteriorating. If I closed my left eye and viewed the computer screen only with my right eye, the vision was blurred and out of focus.

Turn Of Events

Brushing aside the inconvenience, from that time onwards, I did things with my left eye only by squinting and keeping my right eye closed. This went on for a few months without my mind realising the damage being done when I later discerned that if I had taken immediate appropriate, and timely action, I could have salvaged the situation. Instead, it was self-sabotage.

When I summoned the guts and gumption to inform my family (consisting of my siblings), it was too late. I had lived in denial to my detriment and completely lost my right eye vision. Most of the eye hospitals were closed. My sister and brother-in-law, who stayed separately from me, insisted on taking me for a check-up at an ophthalmologist and optician.

The doctor was not pleased with my complacency and negligence. After a battery of tests, he inferred that there was no damage in the eye per se. Still, it was incumbent on me to see a neurologist to acknowledge what the problem was due to possibly salvage the situation.

A visit to a neurologist at a nearby hospital gave a prognosis which chilled me to the bone. The Neurologist, a renowned one, nodded his head in disbelief at what could be grim. After a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Scan, it was revealed that due to the growth of a tumour or legion in my brain, my optic nerve to the right eye had been blocked, and my sight in my right was probably gone forever.

After countless tests and scans later, the doctors said it would be prudent to consider surgery to excise the tumour, and fast action could save the left eye. I remember going home that day and crying my heart out. Surely, I had not lived all these years to lose my eyesight completely when it is a most important sense organ.

I said, "I am not going to allow possible eye loss to rule my life and emotions and prophesise the turn of events in my life." I was 60 years old last year, with low immunity and a chequered food intake. I said in many prayers, knowing that this surgery was crucial and a life changer. I was advised to write a legal will and make arrangements if I don't make it. The next day, I got ready for the surgery at a nearby hospital.

'Sight Is Lost, But Not Vision'

In the subsequent shocks, doctors said my oxygen saturation level was not high enough for brain surgery. This was definitely 'the unkindest cut of all.' When I was finally discharged after unsuccessful treatment, my sister said that instead of eating unhealthy fast food, like pizzas, burgers and biryanis, which I was accustomed to, she would give me wholesome home-cooked food.

These two months of December 2020 and January 2021, a time of festivities and celebrations, were the two months of my going in and out of hospitals and diagnostic centres, and getting questioned by doctors, over and over again.

It reminded me of how fragile human life is. I was grateful to my amazing family and friends. They all rallied around and prayed for me and made me believe in the magic of positive thinking, positive affirmations, and the need to be optimistic and never give up on life. My life now is a living miracle, a life of hope emerging from an almost hopeless situation.

If you, too, have an inspiring story to tell the world, send us your story at mystory@thelogicalindian.com