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Life after cancer diagnosis

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For people facing a cancer diagnosis, living with the disease is the titanic challenge. Change their routines, roles and relationships. It can cause economic and labor problems. Cancer is a pathology that, in addition to physical deterioration and the harshness of its treatment, causes uncertainty and a radical change in those who receive this diagnosis and in their families, who are also grieving.

The cancer story of Ana Tamara Díaz Alvarado (59) began in 2019. She is part of the Magallanes Oncology Patients Association, which seeks to be a meeting and support place for patients and their families.

“Cancer marks a before and after, you learn to see details and you value simple things much more, hugging your family and spending time with them, because you don’t know what can happen and everything is so uncertain,” confesses this wife and mother. . She acknowledges that it was a very difficult process for her and her family, because cancer is immediately associated with death, so it is very complex.

Regarding her diagnosis, she recalled that one day when she was taking a shower she saw a bruise on her left breast, she touched it and felt a lump. He went to see the doctor, who gave him orders for his tests, they were urgent. The diagnosis, a possible tumor.

The tests confirmed breast cancer and thus began a long process of recovery. There were 15 cycles of chemotherapy to reduce the tumor. Then came the operation and they removed her left breast, with nodes and everything. And, then came the radiotherapy.

“The most difficult thing was chemotherapy, especially the first one, because of the symptoms it produces, I had nausea and vomiting, I couldn’t stand the smells and all my hair fell out. The strands fell out in droves. One day my niece came and I asked her to shave me, she asked me if she was sure, I answered yes. Seeing myself in the mirror was shocking, I cried just once and then you get used to it, ”complements the neighbor of the 18 de Septiembre neighborhood.

“It gets ahead”

Ana is an artisan and with cancer she reinvented herself, she started making crafts and paintings with recycled material. Thus the walls of her house are decorated with her works, with which she sought to keep her mind occupied and above all to continue persevering.

“For this you have to have a lot of faith in God and secondly, you have to strengthen yourself, because if your defenses are lowered it is worse. You have to draw strength from weaknesses, because it is difficult, but you get ahead by persevering. In addition, it is important to keep your mind busy, reading, writing, doing crafts and that helps you persevere”, he admits, emphasizing that the family is a fundamental pillar in this process, they care and contain, they are a support and an incentive to get ahead.

Danny’s story

Danissa Bonacich Oyarzún (46), a commercial engineer, also a member of the Group, was diagnosed with rectal cancer in March 2020, just when the Covid pandemic broke out. “My story is going against the statistics. I was diagnosed at 44 years old and at that age it is very unlikely that I would get this cancer, in fact the follow-up is done after 50”.

“You have to be tested even if you don’t have symptoms.” He stresses that cancer is a silent disease and when it’s diagnosed late, that’s when you have the fewest options. She faced changes in eating and going to the bathroom. A colonoscopy uncovered a mass, which turned out to be a tumor.

“When they gave me the diagnosis, I asked how long I have had it and they tell me at least seven years. If I had had a colonoscopy seven years ago, it was a polyp in the intestine and they take it out immediately and you have no more problems. That cell mutated and I even had cancer in my lungs. I didn’t have a family history either, that’s why you have to do the preventive exam even if there are no symptoms.

By her profession, Danissa was focused on the community, empowering women and entrepreneurs. The change in her life system was very abrupt. “This is something that is difficult to assimilate, something that was never in your possibilities. Suddenly you’re on your way, and your priorities change.”

Her case is different from that of other patients because she was diagnosed with a pandemic and being affiliated with an isapre, she did not have a specialist in Magallanes and had to make the decision to travel to Santiago alone. “I had to stay in a bubble because there was no vaccine and if I got sick, it was not known what would happen to me, my husband stayed with my children here. I went alone to chemotherapy and came back alone, after three months I was able to return home, and with everything that was supposed to go through the airport, where you couldn’t travel and every time I did I had to justify, that I was in chemo , that I had cancer and little more than that I was dying. On the other hand, the good thing is that I was teleworking and I was able to continue, and keep my mind busy.

He highlights that his treatment for this type of cancer was covered by the Ges. He faced chemotherapy, then bowel and rectal surgery. Then came the operation on the lung for the metastasis. Last March, another metastasis appeared in the other ovary, she was operated on again, although they could not remove everything, which is why she returned to chemotherapy, although this time the possibility of doing it at the Clinical Hospital was opened, with the difference with the support and accompaniment of the family.

“You have to manage your fears, you don’t know that you’re coming forward, if something else is going to come out or not… Since I’ve already passed everything, I no longer have a life plan, because I don’t know how I’m going to end up or if I’m going to need more chemotherapy… You can live with this, it’s not what you want, but you can. The accompaniment of the family gives an emotional cushion to continue. This has a lot of humility because the treatment wears out, the chemotherapy sheds my hair and if a man doesn’t have hair, nothing happens, but a woman is different and people worry more about that, in fact they ask you about it. They called me to find out if my hair fell out. It is the treatment that wears you out, what heals you is what causes effects, ”she says.

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