Through my entire life I’ve enjoy a good health. I was never victim of any disease or medical procedure, but sadly all that changed a year ago. I started to suffer from palpitations or like everybody called it “tachycardia”. My tachycardias were the most annoying thing that can happen to a person, it did not have a specific time to start, you can be running, watching TV or in the worse scenario sleeping. Also, the duration of the palpitations was every time greater and the easiest way to describe it is to accelerate a car up to 8000 revolutions per second until the engine begins to shake. After suffering from one of them I always felt like I’ve ran a marathon in five minutes without even move from my sofa. When I finally went to the doctor he did several examinations to my chest to detect what the problem was, which included ultrasounds and electrocardiograms. By that time I was calmed, until the doctor called to announce what was going on with me. I suffered from (name of the procedure) which in English means that I had more nerves in my heart than what I needed and every time I had a nervous reaction those nerves reacted with each other like two cables doing short-circuit. The solution was simple but terrifying, the doctor would have to operate through my neck to cut one of the nerves in a surgery that would last 3 hours. When he said what he was going to do to me I instantly said -let’s do it!, but inside of my head I only wanted to scream.
Time went faster than the expected and in a blink of an eye there was December 4th, the day of my sentence. I woke up early like any other day; I dressed up and did not have any breakfast that morning. Like at 9:30am I was on my way to the Children’s Hospital with my parents where my doctor...
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... hour I was devouring a large Domino’s pepperoni pizza as if I had not eaten in a hundred years. Finally the worse had passed and everybody went home by 7:30 except my mom that was staying with me that night in the hospital.
After all December 4th was not a horrible day. I learned that nobody should be scared of something new because I actually had fun the day of my surgery. When I returned to school two days later everybody wanted to know how I was feeling and what happened to the mysterious creature that accompanied me when I woke up. Because of this I considering myself a lucky person after that day, not only because of the love and affection that my family and friends showed me but also because I’m sure that I’m one of the few people in this planet that have actually seen a dragon. That day was one of the best experiences of my life and I would never forget it.
My leg bounced wildly. I had every nail on my hand bit down until they were almost bleeding. I had drank three Pepsi's and eaten two candy bars just for something to do, and we had only been waiting an hour. Sixty minutes of pure torture, not knowing what was wrong with my baby brother or if he was going to be okay.
It was the day of April 13, 2000. I woke up at exactly 12 o’clock because my boyfriend was to pick me up at 1 like we planned the night before. The day looked quite nice, but I was in a fowl mood. I got into a car accident the night before and had a huge argument with my parents about the car. I finally dragged myself into the shower and got ready in half an hour. Then I went downstairs, sat on my couch, and repeatedly told myself the day would hopefully turn out better than last night. At around 1:15, my boyfriend came to pick me up. We took the 5 freeway to the 57 since it was the only way I knew how to get there. As we approached the 134 freeway, my girlfriend veered to the right, taking the 210 which was wrong way and got us lost. So, we exited the freeway and got back on the right track. Then finally, before long, we reached Norton Simon.
It was a bone-chilling winter morning in Bavaria. My alarm clock rang, and I slapped it to snooze. Oh no, I was not getting up that day. I had just finished the worst school week of my life. If we zoom back to that time two years ago, I was a 14 year old foreign exchange student in southern Germany.
.... I was relieved when the clock struck 2:00 and I was able to go home for the rest of the summer. Looking back, I regret leaving that hospital. It was, by far, one of the best experiences in my life.
I had just finished facing my fears watching the metallic needle slip so seamlessly under my skin into the veins of my nervous, clammy hand. Hugging my Mom like it could have been the last time I saw her, seeing my dad's face stern and worried. I wheeled down the hall into this operating room, white was all I saw, a bed in the middle for the surgery to go down. As I lay on the bed waiting to be put under I remember seeing the blue masks of the people to be operating on me, I had to put all my trust in them, trusting someone you seen for less than 5 seconds with your life. Absolutely terrifying. The nurse slipping the fluid into my IV as I lay on my back looking up at the white ceiling, this cold sensations rushed over me. Then suddenly, I was out.
Although in many occasion of heart palpitation, there can be sign of a serious, chronic underlying problem which may be like:
Have you ever had a moment in time that seems like minutes or hours even though it was only a few seconds? Have you ever seen everything before you play out in slow motion, where you are aware of everything around you, yet not knowing what was going on? I have, and as I look back on it, I feel very blessed and protected. On December 22, 01, I decided to take a little swim in our swimming pool and almost drowned. I still can remember it like yesterday. This incident almost cost me my life,
Right there and then I felt what it was like to have state anxiety. The fear of not performing again was petrifying. So needing more answers I took my news and went to doctor who had more knowledge about my situation. Reaching out to DuPont hoping to get clarity, they just agreed with my last doctor and on top of it they wanted to mediate me. With this medication it would thin my blood and I would have greater chances of passing out. I couldn’t agree with them, I begged my mom to take me somewhere else. I couldn’t handle the stress of the medication on my body. Then later that month we took the news from DuPont and ended up at Johns Hopkins. They specialized with kids who had heart problems and analyzed the diagnosis with a different approach. They thought it was rare that at such a young age I would be experiencing this dramatic of a heart defect. From there they started doing genetic testing to see if they could pin point anything that could cause this defect. After 6 months of research and genetic testing I got a call back from my doctor to come in and discuss their findings. I was diagnosed with Marfans Syndrome
treinta y tres años de una cardiopatía de tipo reumático cuando yo tenía cinco” (70).
The most important and influential discovery was the practice of surgery. With this invention, human life became more sophisticated, humans lived longer, and we obtained a knowledge of ourselves sufficient enough to break the boundaries built by ignorance. Lacking prescription drugs, accurate tools, computer technology, and any background experience to build from, our ancestors struggled to learn how to repair the human body. They did an suprisingly competent job of treating the sick and injured. Some of the medical technology developed in ancient times surpassed anything available in the modern world until the 18th century or 19th century. In eras wherein religious views took precedence over medicine and logic, surgical advancement was difficult. The knowledge we have now was obtained from these people's exploits.
The car was hot and stuffy when I slipped back into the driver's seat. I found the most depressing music I owned and drove out of Glenwood as the sun started to set. Two more hours until I was home, two more hours of thinking what a terrible day I had gone through, and two more hours of cussing myself for being so naïve. The drive was a long one.
I scarcely snoozed at all, the day before; incidentally, I felt insecure regarding the fact of what the unfamiliar tomorrow may bring and that was rather unnerving. After awakening from a practically restless slumber, I had a hefty breakfast expecting that by the conclusion of the day, all I wanted to do is go back home and sleep. Finally, after it was over, my dad gladly drove me to school; there, stood the place where I would spend my next four years of my life.
When time jumped like lighting, so did we, not to our feet but towards each other. We held one another even tighter and didn't want to let go. Although, time was spent wisely and carefully saved, we had run out and were rushed like an ambulance to meet the schedule appointed in half an hour. In sweet bitterness, we packed up and went home. An everlasting day at Lake Lavon that is perpetual in my heart will remain there forever.
It was a day of eager anticipation. It was a day of last-minute planning. It was the day before my fourteenth birthday. I had been looking forward to the party for at least two months. Everything was accounted for: balloons, Super Soakers, and music. There would be a barbeque of magnificent proportions. Miraculously, everyone had read the RSVP deadline and called in a week ahead of schedule. An enormous ice cream cake was to be delivered with eight large pepperoni pizzas. Needless to say, I was excited. It was to be my first party at our new house. I helped cook the enormous array of snack foods. I eventually surrendered to the temptation and stole a few strips of marinated steak when my mom wasn't looking. I had gone to bed that night with dreams of family, friends, and possibly a new stereo system.
It was December 4, 2014 and it was snowing outside. I was sitting at the kitchen table doing homework. All my family was downstairs, so I was all alone. My English teacher told us to write a paper about how I am different from my classmates. I was thinking about what in my life makes me different and slowly my whole life was playing like a movie in my head. The first memory that popped into my head was my fourth birthday party. It was supposed to be the best birthday ever. My dad was going to come. It was February 24, 2002 at my birthday party. There were so many people there, but I was so focused on my dad coming, no one else seemed to matter. My cake was pink and yellow with a bicycle on it. I had a red and blue inflatable that kids were