A year after surgery for breast cancer in 2010, another growth was detected in Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s pancreas during a follow-up test.
“I had always sought to keep my personal space private, and the thought of my illness being discussed in the media was painful to me, even infuriating. “On the day of the surgery, as I was wheeled into the operation theatre, Rahul and Priyanka held my hand and kissed me on the forehead, assuring me that all would be well. Following many consultations, my doctors felt that I needed immediate surgery. “I was agitated and worried about the operation in spite of everyone’s reassurances, since the actual extent of the disease could only be determined after the surgery. My mind began to dwell on a worst-case scenario. What if it turned out to be a metastatic growth? Would I come through it?
In the book, the former Congress chief said that the second UPA term brought with it personal challenges for her, in which her medical needs went beyond the occasional bouts of asthma, allergies and stomach troubles. Gandhi said that she was advised by doctors at Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital to have an operation for suspected breast cancer in 2010 and that her “mind began to race to a possible scary outcome” after she was told there was no time to lose. True, I had become a public figure, but did that mean I wasn’t to be allowed even a modicum of privacy?” she said. He (the doctor) had removed two tumours, including a non-suspicious one to be on the safe side, and conducted an intra-operative radiation to spare me five weeks of radiotherapy,” Gandhi said. The tumour was initially suspected to be a neuroendocrine one: That would mean a long operation, and a prolonged hospital stay,” she said. Gandhi said.
“We immediately thought it was a flare-up of the earlier problem.
