Chemotherapy: A Short Story That Changed My Life

It was near the end of winter 2005, when my grand-aunt suddenly fell ill. In a short period of time her illness worsened and the doctors informed my family, my grand-aunt only had a couple of months to live. The news was devastating to my family as we watched a vivacious, independent, and outspoken woman, who enjoyed shopping, reading mystery novels and spending time with family become very weak and confined to her bed. Instead of placing my grand-aunt in a hospice facility, my family and I, with the assistance of a hospice nurse cared for my grand-aunt in her home until her passing.

March 15th, 2010, was a completely normal day. As normal as any day is for a twelve year old homeschooler. I was home with my oldest sister Brittany who was twenty at the time and I was just finishing up my homework for the day. After finishing up my math work I went to go watch television in the living room. Brittany was in her room and my parents didn't get home until later because of work. A few hours into my movie, my stomach started to hurt. Since I was twelve I didn't no the differences of pain so I just left it alone for a while. Later in the day my abdomen was aching so much I couldn't even get off the couch. After wailing for Brittany to call Mom I was sent to the emergency room in an ambulance with severe abdomen pain. After several hours in the ER and multiple tests, doctors found nothing. I was sent home and was told to take Tylenol for the pain. Once I got home, it didn't hurt anymore so I thought they were right and that I could just go on with my crazy life as a twelve year old. I was wrong. Two months after, I got the same

My mom instantly went through four intense chemotherapy treatments. I would miss class, school events, and visits with friends to sit with her through her three-hour chemotherapy sessions. When we came home from therapy, she would sleep a lot, and I was sure to be there by her side through it all.

When my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer, we were all very sad, but she believed that she could win. There are five stages of grief, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. She never got to the stage of acceptance because she knew she was strong enough to fight this rigorous battle. Although she knew the cancer was inside of her, she never let it change her life. She always looked on the bright side of things and saw this illness as an opportunity to live life to the fullest and be with family more. Being optimistic makes her a hero because thinking on the bright side gave her a positive attitude and gave her the strength to fight against

Cancer doesn’t win. Cancer isn’t the victor, it’s the loser. Cancer’s purpose it to test our strengths, to see how far it can take us before we quit, its all a battle, and how it turns out in the end is completely by our view. People don’t lose to cancer, it losses to us. It’s all about how we fought it off. It should be about how we won it. For only four years in my life I have been able to speak to my grandma Judy, she died when I was only a child, so meeting her is only a few memories of many years ago. My Grandma was short, red curly hair, and a woman of many victories. I know that she was a true hero, victor, and a winner of many things, but most importantly, she was influential in life. She realized it wasn’t about winning it all, but overcoming her problems and adversities to reach her goals.

Luck wasn’t all it took. Perseverance thrived in the family. Generations of fighting with poverty had begun to diminish. Grandpa was getting better every day. He started by eating better no matter how much the pain hit him. When Bill coughed; he did everything in his power to stop. Each day my grandpa made progress. Grandpa stood, then embraced tightly. My grandma helped him get around a nurse him back to help. Bill recovered quickly once the disease started to lift away. The family was rising from their troubles in the economy. The farm was selling more products than ever. The family was able to buy cows for milk and chickens for eggs. The family was blessed. God answered their prayers for the disease. God answered their prayers for money. God answered their prayers for happiness. God granted them a glorious

The Diagnosis for many especially those who are the diagnosed can be the scariest thing. Seeing this first hand with my grandmother who did not want to tell anyone of what had happened it was tough. I was a little less then fifteen when I went to live with my grandmother for a short time. She quickly showed me things like cooking and gardening and the value of hard work so when I overheard her talking to my grandfather about having to get chemo the next day I was beside myself. She finally told me the next day about her diagnosis. Though we may care for those diagnosed seldom do we ever truly know what they are going through? I mean how often do you have things you

In September of my junior year of high school, my mom told me for the third time that she had cancer. She had spent the entire summer coughing. It was a bad summer cold or maybe a stubborn case of bronchitis. No one could seem to figure out what was causing the cough. A late summer bronchoscopy finally solved the case. It was cancer. Calmly, she reassured me on that September day, “It’s an early stage cancer. They say it’s very treatable. We’ve been down this road before.” The next nine months was a road that no one in my family had traveled. Frequent doctor visits, chemotherapy treatments, and hospitalizations became our new normal. We painstakingly watched as each round of chemo treatments devastated and weakened her. Through everything, my mom was resilient, tough, and determined to live.

During those six months she went through twelve treatments. I saw my young, energetic, happy mother lose weight and be fatigued. Thankfully, after a year of battling she came out on top and beat cancer. Now, nine years later she is cancer free and healthier than

On the other hand, Mr. Monarca, a family friend of mine has a more severe case that has to be monitored regularly. He is only 53 years old, which is relatively young to be diagnosed with CLL, and he is currently going through chemotherapy treatment. It has not only been tough on him but also on his family and me. I see him roughly twice a week and cannot expect him to be the same person every time I visit. Either he is tired and grumpy or he is feeling sick and grumpy. His emotions have changed rapidly especially in the past couple of months when he started chemotherapy. Some days he is the kindest man ever and he sits for hours to talk while other nights he can not stop himself from getting angry at everyone and everything. These mood changes

So we get to the chemo center at 3:30 in the afternoon which we never do. We always like to get a morning appointment but that didn't happen this time. Everyone kept saying how busy it was that day. They were so busy, busy, busy and so I knew we were going to wait, wait, wait. Usually when a place is so busy it means it’s a success. When a chemo center is beyond capacity it’s sad sign there’s a cancer epidemic that is not going away We waited 45 min to get into not a room but a short infusion space which is kind of like in a hallway. So this chemo was supposed to last two hours Ha! No, there was a mistake and they said it's going to be longer because they want to do it very slowly. So they decided because it's going to be longer we would get

We were in the middle of June so it was a sunny day with a blue sky and clouds. As we are leaving for giselles doctors appointment everyone was just making jokes trying to be positive. When we get there everyone goes quiet looking worried. As soon as the doctor walks in he blurts out “So the tumor is big but removable” everyone's jaw drops and starts crying. My Aunt then says “ She has a tumor?” He says “ Wait didn't they tell you ? They were supposed to tell you” He tells us everything is going to be okay and surgery can fix this but it will take a couple of more months to shrink all of the tumor with chemo.

A time that I was able to help someone, was when I was able to reassure my brother about coming out and being who he wanted to be. Growing up with him, it was not hard to see that he liked makeup, girl clothing, and singing. As his older sister, I did not rush him to tell me about his sexual orientation or gender identity; I waited until he was comfortable to confide in me. When he did, I made sure that he can see or feel that I was listening to him. I was not touching my phone; I was not looking away from him; I was not discouraging him from saying any more or less than what he wanted to tell me. When he finished, I told him that I would always love him for who he is because he is my brother. I reassured him that I respect his decisions,

Unfortunately, if one lives long enough tragedy will strike. Suffering and unhappiness can come in the forms of physical or emotional pain. In my case tragedy occurred when my Nanny was recently diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. She is my superhero and to see her this ill hurts me. She is getting older and I do not want her to be like this. My Nanny has been there for me since I was born , and I am undoubtedly emotional about this topic and talking about it makes me want to cry. She started her treatment for chemotherapy on February 3, 2017, I know this is hard for her but, she can get through this. My Nanny is 70 years of age and since she has become insubstantial therefore, we have to help her in the restroom and we also have to

Hook : Many People in Thailand get cancer each year. Everyone knows cancer is often treated with some combination of radiation therapy, surgery, and chemotherapy.