Patient: Ms. Samjhana Tamang
Age: 22 years, Female
Home: Panauti–04, Chamkar, Kavrepalanchok
Chief Concern: Progressive abdominal distension for one year
Patient (Samjhana) grew up in the small historic village Chamkar, Panauti-04, Kavrepalanchok where neighbors greet each other by name and word travels fast. About a year ago she noticed her abdomen swelling. At first she thought it was temporary bloating, but the size kept increasing, making every chore exhausting. In her tight‑knit community, whispers began to swirl: “She must be pregnant.” Being unmarried, Samjhana faced not only physical discomfort but also daily humiliation. She stopped attending local gatherings. Tears welled up as she later told us, “People looked at me with doubt and laughed behind my back; I felt ashamed to even step outside.”
Like many families with limited resources, Samjhana’s parents tried whatever lay within reach. They took her to a dhami‑jhakri (traditional faith healer) several times, spending their savings on rituals and herbal remedies. Each visit ended with fresh promises, yet the swelling, pain and shortness of breath only worsened. Months slipped by; a whole Nepali year festival season passed. Samjhana could no longer sleep comfortably, and simple household tasks became a burden for her. One evening a neighbor, who had recently visited our hospital suggested the family to seek proper medical care from our hospital.
Upon admission, ultrasound and CT‑scan revealed, a large well defined encapsulated, multiseptated, thin walled solid-cystic lesion of size measuring-23×14×26cm noted arising from the right adnexal region and extending into the abdominal cavity up to D12 vertebral level displacing the gut loops laterally with no signs of ileus (most likely an ovarian tumor). Her blood pressure was low, pulse racing, hope flickering, but at last there was a clear diagnosis and a team ready to care for her.
After thorough counseling, our gyne and oncology team scheduled a staging laparotomy. The operating theatre hummed with quiet focus as the surgeons removed a massive 7‑kg tumor that had entangled vessels and pushed her diaphragm upward. The procedure lasted several hours and Samjhana was extubated smoothly and shifted to the recovery ward. When she first opened her eyes, the flatness of her abdomen felt almost unreal, lightness that carried more than physical relief.
Standing at her bedside, Samjhana’s mother with joy in her face said, “Tapai haru le mero chhori‑ko jindagi bachaunu bhayo—dhanyabad!” (“You have saved my daughter’s life—thank you!”)
A few days later, as Samjhana took her first confident steps with a big smile on her face, she whispered, “I can finally breathe without pain.” She asked the nurses to take a photo of her and said, “I will show this to the villagers to prove I was never pregnant and to show what real doctors can do.” she laughed softly.
Today, Samjhana is back in Panauti helping her mother harvest vegetables, proud, pain‑free and planning to resume her school.
For our team, the greatest reward is not the postoperative CT scan or the lab report, but the sparkle in a young woman’s eyes when she whispers, “I feel whole again.”
To every donor, volunteer and team member who makes stories like Samjhana’s possible—Thank You. Your support transforms embarrassment into dignity, despair into gratitude, and fear into joy.