“I Still Remember…”
Free write a post that starts with this line and describes an unforgettable moment in your health journey. (For example, Cancer free, a diagnosis, etc.)
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I still remember standing in my classroom with the phone in my hand listening to my wonderful, amazing doctor on the other end of the phone telling me I have to go to the hospital now while my 5 lovely, talented in their own way, unique middle school students with autism were I'm sure busy destroying my classroom because I was not directing them in an activity or keeping them on a schedule.
I remember that day perfectly. I remember feeling "fine" for me up until the phone call that I don't even know how it got patched through to my room since we weren't allowed personal calls in our rooms. I remember telling my doctor that it was ok, I would go to the hospital after work, it was only 4 hours away and him telling me I didn't have 4 hours to wait, in fact he would rather send an ambulance to come get me rather than me drive the 3 miles there. I remember then not feeling so well. The adrenaline catching up to me. Feeling faint.
Looking out in the hallway and whispering across the hall to a fellow teacher to come watch my class I need to go tell the principal I need to go to the hospital my doctor just called and said so. I remember being nervous walking down to his office because we didn't always get along and wondering what he would say and when I told him what the doctor said he said leave now, he would pray for me. I remember not even knowing what to do or who to call.
I remember getting to the hospital and being directly admitted and whisked away for a blood transfusion. I had no time to waste. My hemoglobin was so low there was barely enough blood in my body for it to make one round. I remember my doctor being there even though there were hospitalists because he knew I didn't do well with change. I remember him explaining what was going on and him thanking me for asking for that one more blood test because we might not have caught this otherwise and I wouldn't have made it.
You see I also remember the days before that, the countless doctors appointments with no answers and the negative tests and me always saying let's just do one more test. Well this one struck gold. Just a simple CBC. And one the week before that, and the week before that. Showed my hemoglobin was dropping super fast. Which meant I was bleeding somewhere and that along with a whole bunch of abdominal pain and weird symptoms while I was eating. Which meant I got to have a colonoscopy and an EGD at the age of 24 and it was not fun at all. And that lead to the day that I remember the most, the day I just described. The day that I joined the chronic illness forces officially forever. The first time I almost died. The day that I was diagnosed with colitis and celiac disease. November 13, 2009, a Friday none the less. It's a day I will never forget. There have been many more unforgettable days in the life of chronic illness since, but this is the one that sticks out the most. I don't think I will ever forget how I felt this day. The day my life changed forever.
Free write a post that starts with this line and describes an unforgettable moment in your health journey. (For example, Cancer free, a diagnosis, etc.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I still remember standing in my classroom with the phone in my hand listening to my wonderful, amazing doctor on the other end of the phone telling me I have to go to the hospital now while my 5 lovely, talented in their own way, unique middle school students with autism were I'm sure busy destroying my classroom because I was not directing them in an activity or keeping them on a schedule.
I remember that day perfectly. I remember feeling "fine" for me up until the phone call that I don't even know how it got patched through to my room since we weren't allowed personal calls in our rooms. I remember telling my doctor that it was ok, I would go to the hospital after work, it was only 4 hours away and him telling me I didn't have 4 hours to wait, in fact he would rather send an ambulance to come get me rather than me drive the 3 miles there. I remember then not feeling so well. The adrenaline catching up to me. Feeling faint.
Looking out in the hallway and whispering across the hall to a fellow teacher to come watch my class I need to go tell the principal I need to go to the hospital my doctor just called and said so. I remember being nervous walking down to his office because we didn't always get along and wondering what he would say and when I told him what the doctor said he said leave now, he would pray for me. I remember not even knowing what to do or who to call.
I remember getting to the hospital and being directly admitted and whisked away for a blood transfusion. I had no time to waste. My hemoglobin was so low there was barely enough blood in my body for it to make one round. I remember my doctor being there even though there were hospitalists because he knew I didn't do well with change. I remember him explaining what was going on and him thanking me for asking for that one more blood test because we might not have caught this otherwise and I wouldn't have made it.
You see I also remember the days before that, the countless doctors appointments with no answers and the negative tests and me always saying let's just do one more test. Well this one struck gold. Just a simple CBC. And one the week before that, and the week before that. Showed my hemoglobin was dropping super fast. Which meant I was bleeding somewhere and that along with a whole bunch of abdominal pain and weird symptoms while I was eating. Which meant I got to have a colonoscopy and an EGD at the age of 24 and it was not fun at all. And that lead to the day that I remember the most, the day I just described. The day that I joined the chronic illness forces officially forever. The first time I almost died. The day that I was diagnosed with colitis and celiac disease. November 13, 2009, a Friday none the less. It's a day I will never forget. There have been many more unforgettable days in the life of chronic illness since, but this is the one that sticks out the most. I don't think I will ever forget how I felt this day. The day my life changed forever.
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