Everybody talks about how unrealistic most TV dramas are. They talk about how the plot moves so quickly and gets resolved so quickly, and a lot of the time, the plots are unrealistic, and people think, this would never happen in real life. But crazy 'TV drama' plots do happen in real life, and sometimes, they progress just as quickly. In fact, it happened that way with me. A little under two months ago, I was diagnosed with brain tumor. Now, I'm writing an essay for English class. Although it has only been a short time since I have been ill, my illness has changed me (both physically and mentally), and my doctors tell me these changes may last a long while.
My illness has made a big bump in the lives of me and everyone around me. It started out with what we thought was the flu, which was going around then. I was getting headaches and dizziness, and I was vomiting. We left for our vacation, hoping I would improve, but no such luck. I began to walk more unsteadily, and I ate less and slept more. When we got back my doctors examined me, then sent me for blood tests, and then a MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). The day after the MRI they had a diagnosis. "Tumor," said Dr. Farris, the pediatric neurologist. That was a Wednesday. On Friday we talked to the surgeon, Dr. Rak. He told us he was open for surgery on Monday. We said that was fine with us. So Sunday I packed my bags, and Monday I left for the hospital. Surgery went off well, and I stayed in Intensive Care that night, though I was wheeled off to pediatrics the next morning. I spent a week there, and then I went home, loaded down (up?) with balloons and also stuffed animals.
The first night I knew about the tumor, I decided it would be easier to give it a name. So I named it my arch-enemy, the super- villain, Harry B. Tumor. Scientifically, Harry is a cellular astrocytoma in my cerebellum. He was not completely removed in the surgery because doing so might have been fatal; it was too close to my brain stem. He is benign. The surgery I do not know much about since I was completely drugged. I know that it was successful, and they took out a piece of Harry about the size of a thumb. They had to shave the back of my head for the surgery, and they closed up the incision with staples. Everyone says their amazed at how quick my recovery has been. I haven't noticed. After surgery I was walking in about three days, and about four days after that I was home and climbing stairs. At that point I was using a four footed cane, but about a week and a half after I was home, I switched to a normal cane, and two weeks after that I didn't use a cane at all. Now I am back at school and am doing most everything normally now. I have to have physical (for walking) and occupational (for my hands) therapy, though now I only see the therapists so they can check on me and see how I'm doing.
Physically my illness really changed me, but they are changes which I have gotten used to and dealt with. Like I said in the last paragraph, I walk atoxically now. Also, my running is slow, and I look like a toddler trying to run. It is only my left hand which has been affected, and that hand is less coordinated, twitches somewhat (I like to call it spastic for the humor), and is a lot slower and less stable. My speech has also been affected. I stumble over certain words and/or sounds, especially when I try to go too fast. My sight has almost returned to normal, but focusing after I turn my head or move my eyes is a problem. Also, I have a scar. When I show it to my friends, they say it's hardly noticeable because of my hair. I have also changed mentally. My memory is not as sharp and sometimes I find my attention wandering even though I know I should be listening, and then I don't know what has been said. Also, with my memory, I find it's only my short term memory that will forget things. This whole experience has also affected my mental state. I have looked upon it as a dream because it happened so quickly, I never really got a chance to ponder it.
Dr. Rak has said it will take a few months to recover completely, possibly less if I do really aggressive therepy. 'Recover completely' means that by Christmas I should be walking straight, talking without a problem, and my left hand will back to its normal self. It probably will be awhile after that that I will be able to do activities that was hard for me before Harry.
So...in summary, I had my brain tumor removed, and I am still recovering, and the experience made a big impact on my life. I think that this experience has been humorous, but that's because it happened so quickly and was so unreal. I think it was unreal because I had never had a serious health problem before, and 1, I didn't know how to deal with it, and 2, the fact that Iwould have a brain tumor was funny and hard to believe.