When I was 10 years old, I was treated many times for severe headaches. I was examined by various doctors and was prescribed different medicine every time because none worked. Being prescribed many different medications and never getting a true answer to my chronic headaches, I was always in pain. It was roughly 5 years later during my freshman year in High School when I learned the reason for my headaches. The experience of having a brain tumor completely changed the way I saw life and taught me to not take my life for granted..
It all started when I was 10 years old going from doctor to doctor for my headaches, being told the same thing over and over, that I should take a certain medication for my migraines. However, every time I saw a different doctor I was prescribed a new medication, which had no effect on me and didn’t stop my headache problem. This went on for a few years, going back and forth getting no true answer for my headaches. I would tell my mom that I did not want to go to school because I could not focus at all and she would usually respond, “stop crying it is just a little headache. Take some Tylenol like the doctor said.” She was as clueless about my situation as the doctors were, so I had to suffer the unbearable pain in and out of school. It was not until 5 years later, when I started my freshman year in High School that I realized my motor skills were different and I was failing many classes from not being able to focus in class. One Monday morning when I was in physical education, we had to do one lap around the basketball court. I sat down after with a throbbing headache and I ended throwing up all over the bleachers. My physical education teacher saw what happened and sent me straight to the nurse’s office. They called my mom to come pick me up because I was feeling dizzy and I had very little control over my motor skills. When my mom picked me up, she noticed I was walking sideways and constantly bumping into her, so she made an appointment to see a different doctor.
The next morning my mom and step dad took me to the appointment, explained my situation, and how I was unbalanced and had little control of my motor skills. As usual, we got the same answer, that it was just a sever migraine attack. My step-dad got up fiercely and raised his voice, shouting, “How is it a migraine? He has had this for years and none of the medication has helped it any way! I demand an MRI!” The doctor couldn’t deny his request. The doctor gave me a referral to get an MRI, and luckily I got one the next morning at 9 AM. On Wednesday morning I entered a large room with a big cylindrical machine in the middle. I had to lay on a cot bed, close my eyes, and not move for a whole hour. IT was the hardest thing I had ever done because the machine was so loud that it was hard to stay calm. I went home hoping to get my results soon because all that was going through my head was that I had a life threatening disease.
Thursday afternoon we got a call for an appointment with a neurosurgeon at the Children’s Hospital. We entered his office and looked over the results together. There was a surprised looked on his faced when he told me in shock, “I really do not know how you are standing up straight in my office.” H showed us why he was so shocked; it was because I had a benign tumor the size of a large lemon with approximately a four-inch radius on the left side of my brain, right by behind my ear. The location of the tumor was pushing on the part of my brain that controlled my motor skills, and that is why I was having problems balancing and walking straight. Hearing this news was as shocking as being told you got an A in a class when you were an F student the whole year. The neurosurgeon told my parents that I needed to be immediately admitted to the hospital because of the serious condition I was in so I was admitted that same day. It was around 8pm when I was fully settled into my hospital room, and visiting hours were over, so my parents, drenched in tears, told me, “We’ll be back when you wake up. We love you and goodnight.” I was wide-awake after they left, but I was given some liquid in my IV to fall asleep. The next morning my parents arrived with McDonald’s breakfast for me and I was so delighted to see my favorite breakfast before surgery. I ate all my food like a pig and was so stuffed afterward. Then three nurses came into my room to pull my hospital bed away into the surgery room. My parents were allowed to stay with me for a few minutes until the nurses finished setting up for the surgery. They asked me if I wanted just the left side of my head shaved or my whole head. I was so worried about my hair since I had been growing it out for about a year. I aid shave my left side and start the surgery, so they kicked my parents out and put me to sleep with anesthesia.
Once the surgery was over I felt completely different, but I was still in so much pain that it was unbearable. I could feel my brain shaking and swishing back in forth in my head every time I moved. With every step I took, I felt an electric voltage rush up through my legs to the back of my head with a big shock, making every step so excruciating that I felt like fainting. A week after the surgery I was finally released home and able to be a healthy human being without chronic headache pain. It was a huge difference and the surgery changed me for the better. I felt so alive again and I was able to concentrate easily on everything that required me to think. One obstacle that took time was learning how to balance myself again. It was hard to walk and use my hand after surgery; my motor skills needed a little tune-up.
Even though I went through all the hardship of the headaches and the tumor, the surgery changed my life. I started doing better in school by getting better grades, it improved my overall mood, and I became much more active. I was thankful that I was better and not fully paralyzed from head to toe like I thought I was going to be. I was also grateful that I was given a second chance in life. In "What true education should do" Sydney J. Harris depicts how most people think or know about the word education. Harris states, “look into your own selves and find the spark of truth that God has put into every heart, and that only you can kindle to a flame" (pg. 5). This was certainly the case after my surgery because going through the experience made me realize not to take life for granted and I was the only one who could realize that.
Experiencing all of the painful headaches and constantly taking medication that had no helpful effect on me gave me a sense of death; I thought that I was going to be stuck with painful headaches forever. Going through the brain surgery and then completely healing showed me that in life you should not think that it is always going to be bad because things always change for the better. I also came to realize that not many people get a second chance at life, but I was one of those lucky people that got one, so I should live my life to the fullest.