Esther shares health experience
The following was written by Esther Koning-Oakes, CEO of Norlane Community Centre ….
“The idea to share my health experiences began as I drove to Norlane Community Centre in the days leading up to an operation to remove a cancerous tumour in the wall of my uterus.
I was fortunate enough to get an early diagnosis for my endometrial cancer. I am in the care of a range of health professionals and have a network of friends and family supporting me. It was a circumstance that may not have occurred before my employment at the Centre six years ago. What has made this bittersweet for me is that for too many of my community around me, this probably would never occur.
Although I have the honour of working at the Norlane Community Centre it has not been an easy path. I have faced many battles with both mental and physical health. These battles leave me fiercely aligned with and sympathetic to the basic needs and lack of resources in Norlane and the 3214 area.
I have always been open and honest with my story and vulnerabilities, for better or worse. I share my battles – my back and spinal injuries complicated by a foot injury resulting in six weeks in hospital followed by six months in a wheelchair.
At this time I lost my job. I had young children, no money, faced up to my bipolar and depression, then finished my Certificate I, went to RMIT and got a degree, Honours and Masters, travelled to China for study on a scholarship and worked on numerous public installations and art. I also volunteered within my community in Corio and Norlane, all with my amazing husband Nathan beside me.
After completing my Masters, I successfully applied to Norlane Community Centre for a co-ordinator position. I started in early 2019 in time to almost get comfortable enough to face the pandemic and then continued the journey of shared healing in our hurt and isolated community.
My own real personal journey escalated in the last couple of years. My mother was diagnosed with dementia and slipped into a long, slow decline then passed early last year.
I was struggling with increasing pressures – both in community and managing the business of the Centre – causing many stress-related health outcomes in combination with undiagnosed menopause symptoms which, unsurprisingly, resulted in a heart attack in the April.
After this incident I continued working with health professionals on assessments for ADHD. Part of the treatment plan involved regular sessions with a nurse practitioner to ensure medications were effective and regulated to my need.
Having regular and longer sessions with a health professional meant I had time to talk about changes in my body, one of these were some small spots of pain/bleeding that I queried as a possible side effect. The nurse made it clear that these symptoms were not to be ignored and must be investigated, even though I had believed it a small thing that had self-resolved in a week.
An investigative ultrasound revealed a thickened mass that ended up being an early malignant cancer. This is why I was due to have a full hysterectomy in the days following that tearful drive into work. My network of health care and support identifying and treating a potentially life-ending threat early and, hopefully, effectively.
What made this diagnosis so poignant is that it is a clear example of why there is a such a disparity in life expectancy. Many people with limited resources expend all their finances on the basics of rent, utilities and food.
Medical costs – both upfront and out of pocket – are impossible barriers to navigate on meagre fixed incomes. However, without a correct diagnosis of medical illness there can be no access to the treatments and medications that would allow people to function on the same mental footing as those around them.
With no access to the suite of effective drugs at every local doctor’s surgery, our vulnerable community has no ability to function on an even footing. Without stable mental health, the obstacles to climbing the ladders of opportunity are too often insurmountable. The cycles of disadvantage compound and continue.
This too commonly shared experience of loss has, however, built an amazing community that I am blessed to be part of and blessed to be supported by. This society of neighbours, volunteers, staff, patrons of the Centre, and even its elected representatives have reached out to me and supported me through these difficulties. I don’t know what lies on the path before me, but I do know that the care, love, and support of my beautiful and inspirational community will be with me.
Had I been in this position a few years ago, and not able to access my professional health team, my symptoms would have been pushed down and discounted until they were so severe there was no ignoring then. I would have disregarded the niggles at the back of my mind because I had too many other things to deal with.
Like too many people before me I would have ignored problems until they couldn’t be ignored any more. Who knows how dire the outcome may have been?
And I suppose, as I say to everyone (as I peer over my glasses and put on Mum voice) the most important person is you, and you have to listen to your body and look after yourself.”