12/04/2024
Recently i was at Tata Memorial Hospital as part of the womenтАЩs day program organised by the breast cancer department. i spoke on eating correctly, exercising regularly, sleeping on time, losing weight sustainably (5-10% a year) to keep risks at bay, etc., and got down from the stage.
Next speaker was Dr. Badwe. тАШNice talk Rujuta,тАЩ he said and then went on to say that the key is when you come back for your 5 year follow up, you must be 10% lighter. тАШWah! Dil Jeet liya,тАЩ i thought to myself. Just before the talk he was telling me how weight loss post cancer treatment was the most effective intervention in preventing reoccurrences. And how weight loss is harder post treatment because of the meds, steroids etc. Now that he clearly spoke in % of body weight and reiterated what i had mentioned in my talk - to lose weight while improving on waist to hip ratio, bone mineral density and energy levels, i was fully fan girling his clear speech and connect with the audience.
And just then he said, тАШyou know you should look at your wedding picture..тАЩ. тАШno no no noтАЩ i went in my head. He had just said everything right and now he was going to ruin it by saying - see how you look, this is the size you need to go back to or worse give the audience a body weight target. In my career i have seen plenty of women come to me with their wedding pics, saying тАШsee how i look, make me look like this again.тАЩ These are often my lowest moments, I hate how women run themselves down and now i was dreading what he was going to say next.
тАШLook at your husbandтАЩs hair in the pic, look at his hair now. Now do you love him any lesser because he has lost his hair? Then why do you think heтАЩs going to love you lesser because you lost some hair during treatment? And the hair comes back, nako ti bhiti manat balagu naka. DonтАЩt make room for baseless fears in your head.тАЩ Wow! I wasnтАЩt expecting this, my heart danced with joy and relief. I have heard many people say тАШto us, he is GodтАЩ. I saw exactly why.
To every doctor/ health care worker everywhere, serving with compassion, know that this is your superpower. And belated happy
