Humor Day: A Short Story

When reading through Audre’s experience of having to wait three weeks to figure out if she had cancer or not, the first time, she was struggling with the uncertainty of her life. Her mortality was put front and center and she had a lot of self-reflection during this time. In The Sick Wife by Jane Kenyon you can see an example of how uncertain life is and how quickly it can change. In The Sick Wife there was a wife who is not even fifty, yet they are not able to button a button. Even when diagnosed with cancer it is not just life and death that people are uncertain of, but also the quality of life after cancer.

Everything is perfectly fine, everything is great, then one day it all comes crashing down and shattered pieces are left. My life would never be the same but I guess change is for the best and it forced me to become the person I am today. It’s rough to be the oldest child, especially when your mom is diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and you have 3 younger sisters that look to you for comfort when their mom can’t be there. When the cancer is spread throughout your moms body doctors can’t just get rid of it no matter how badly you wish they could. Rounds of chemotherapy only slow it down, yet it’s still there a lurking monster waiting to reappear at any given moment. Nothing can even begin to describe the fear I felt, and still have to deal

Five years ago, my mother had a brain aneurysm that she shouldn’t have survived. It was traumatic and damaging and to this day she still isn’t right. The point i’m trying to make is that no matter how much you want time to stay the same, it doesn’t. Many mistakes have been made since then, and a lot has been learned. I wouldn’t want to repeat the past if my life depended on it. After my mother had two major heart defects by the time the brain aneurysm occurred I wasn’t ready to give up my mom. We found out just a short time later that it could’ve been prevented if she would’ve made better choices in her life. My life five years ago was undeniably the worst part of my eighteen almost nineteen years on this earth. I stayed in a hospital waiting room for three months just looking for a sign she would wake back up. No one’s ever said why a waiting room is actually called a waiting room. It’s called this because you are waiting on the rest of your life to unfold, waiting to find out if you’ll ever speak to someone again, just waiting on an answer. It is horrifying to walk down a hallway squeezing your brother’s hand so hard he has to tell you to loosen up all to sit in a waiting room and wait on your fait. So my life was not at all glamorous but it got me where I am today, so really I can’t complain. What made me happy after that was watching my mother wake up and finally life started to get back

Cancer has one of the biggest effects on the patients mental health but also the patients loved ones and friends. It is one of the hardest things to get a grip on when the doctor tells someone that they have cancer and a fifty-fifty chance of making it. "The disease can bring many changes-in what people do and how they look, in how they feel and what they value" (Dakota 4). It makes people look at the world and their lives in a different way, valuing now what they took for granted and seeing the bigger picture in every scenario. It is something that no one can actually brace, even after the doctor tells them. Through it all though, the person must remain strong and optimistic because the cancer can affect the person's moods and in return affect the outcome of the person and the chances of their making it

“Right this way,” the nurse ahead of me was prompting me to a brightly lit hall that was completely foreign to me. I couldn’t help but be terrified by the sights and sounds around me: people chattering, machines methodically beeping, gurneys rushing past. It was my first time in a hospital and my eyes frantically searched each room looking for any trace of my father. She stopped suddenly and I turned to the bed in front of me but I could not comprehend what I saw. At such a young age, I idolized my father; I had never seen him so vulnerable. Seeing him laying in a hospital bed unconscious, surrounded by wires and tubes was like witnessing Superman encounter kryptonite. My dad’s car accident not only made him a quadriplegic, but also crippled

It is a cold grey afternoon with a dull sky and ragged clouds. The last leaf on the tree was finally blown off by the wind, the leaves crunched beneath your feet as you walk on it. The awful smell of dried leaves filled the air and out in the distance, the leafless tree’s branches wobbled around as the wind pushed and blow them around. The dark clouds look furious but me and my younger brother, Allie are happy as hell. We just got a new baseball ball gifted from my older brother, D.B.

“’So what’s your story?’” she then then replies “’I already told you my story. I was diagnosed when-‘” He interrupts and says “’No, not your cancer story. Your story. Interests, hobbies, passions, etcetera… Don’t tell me you’re one of those people who becomes their disease. I know so many people like that. It’s disheartening. Like cancer is in the growth business, right? The taking-people-over business. But surely you haven’t let it succeed prematurely’” (Green, 32).

It was a typical day in the McDougal household; my sister was acclimating to college life, my annoying little brother was pushing my buttons, and my only worry was whether I was going to pass my next bio test. My dad was getting ready for a business trip to Singapore but decided to stop by the doctors for a quick checkup for his abdomen. Scans came back showing that the bump on his belly button was metastasized Stage IV Liver Cancer. I was completely devastated and couldn’t comprehend how my role model could have so much chaos inside of him. It took weeks before I could go a day without crying as I thought about my future without one of my biggest supporters. It seems for every glimmer of hope for a new treatment, a new, insurmountable brick wall appears when the scans show the treatment’s failure. As cliché as it sounds, every day truly is a rollercoaster; some days better than others. However, we slowly have adapted to this new reality and have truly understood that falling down is a part of life, but getting back up is living.

When I turned 11-years-old my whole childhood began to change my life went from being perfect to everything but perfect. One day I came home to hear the news my father, my best friend; my hero was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer. Not knowing the struggle my family was about to take on I just began to cry. I had a million things running through my head what’s going to happen? Will everything be okay? Why him? What is going to happen? With all these things rushing through my head all I could do was cry not knowing this was least worse to come.

The next night as the concert was wrapping up Niall finished his speech then said Louis had an announcement. The stadium grew quiet as Louis walked to the front of the stage “Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of Larry Stylinson things going around and there is something I want to say about it.” He glanced over at one of the Modest members who was signaling for him to stop talking but he ignored him and looked back at Harry and motioned for him to come over to him. “How many people here believe Harry and I are in a relationship?”The crowd began cheering then Louis got them to be quiet again. He glanced at Harry then looked at the crowd “Well tonight I want everyone to know that we think it’s about time you all knew the truth. Make sure you get this

I was frozen still with shock and panic flooding through me. I wanted to find Jake, but didn't want to call attention to him or myself. I set off towards the lobby as fast as I could manage. Swells of people came in and out of the lobby. I tried to tell myself that I was going to be fine, but I knew that was almost impossible. As I was being shoved around the lobby, I saw the orange fox ears poking through the crowd. Part of me said it wasn't him, that they could just be another fox anthro with orange ears, but I had to try. "Jake!" I yelled out. I waited to hear him call back, but I started to lose hope fast until, "Dawn? Dawn, where are you?" He turned around and looked at me. We locked eyes and started to head towards each other. As the

After a hug strong enough to squeeze most of the blood out of Jennifer’s own thin arms and come close to snapping one, maybe two of the vertebrae in her spine, Ronnie pushed her to an arm’s length by the shoulders. “What an insanely beautiful woman you are. I just want to eat you up. I love those lips of yours and your smile, too. I hope you don’t think it too forward but I took the liberty of entering Dandy to make a purchase. I bought you a lollipop I saw them selling near the register. Later, I hope you give me the pleasure of watching you suck it clean down to the stick. For you, my fair lady.” He handed a small white paper bag clutched in the chubby fingers of his right hand to her.

It was a normal afternoon, nothing seemed out of place. There was a new swivel chair in the garage, just recently added to my dad’s workshop. “My sister and I should go and try it out!” I thought. I darted down the hall to retrieve my twin sister Divya. “Come on Divya, Let’s go experiment with the new chair in the garage.” I exclaimed. We excitedly skipped down the hall and into the garage, both of us completely unaware of how dangerous these trivial chairs could be.

Imagine a vast concert hall filled with people. The audience excitedly clamor in anticipation for the main star of this event. The event they paid so much money for, cleared up time in their schedule for, spent time getting to the event for. As the lights dim, the spotlight shines on the center stage. Then an average person emerges on the stage with a thousand eyes’ on him. He only has with a microphone in his hand. Just a typical person, with a normal gait and normal sense of fashion. However, after speaking a few words in the microphone, the crowd bursts into a cacophony of laughter. No matter how ordinary or extraordinary the person, entertainment through humor is universal. Utilizing humor, an extensive language of amusement, to open perspectives and challenge what is conceived right or wrong can be impactful- if done correctly. Dave Sedaris accomplishes that goal when he uses humor to illustrate his dilemma because of his identity. Despite being an accomplished successful comedian, author, radio show host, certain people look down at him as just a homosexual freak. Rather than gravely addressing his opposition, Sedaris utilizes a jovial yet relatable anecdote called “Chicken in a Henhouse”. Incorporating ideas from Ardian Bardon’s “The Philosophy of Humor”, specifically, the three theories of humor: superiority theory, incongruity theory and relief theory, Sedaris argues that the American public stereotypes homosexuals as pedophiles and ,as a result, they feel

My father and brother are very far out in the deep waters searching for seashells and any aquatic life swimming through the warm, ocean waters. Back on the shore, my mother, my sister, and I are tanning and reading magazines that we grabbed at the hotel. On the cover of the magazine in bold letters it says “SURGERY.” It reminds me of the day Mother got her surgery. She and Father left very early that morning to drive to Apple Hill Surgical center. My parents warned us to behave and that my sister was in charge for the day. My brother and I would have to behave or we