My Experience Of A Happy Life

All during the months of that illness, not only was I baffled by it, all of the doctors that I saw were perplexed by it, as well. The severity of my symptoms, the mysterious rash, the absence of elevated bilirubin and fever and so on. I was left wondering what had actually been wrong with me all of that time and what had almost killed me. Even though the blame was placed on my gallbladder, I knew the pieces of that puzzle simply did not fit.

In the duration of about two months, I had visited my doctor, urgent care, and even the ER trying to find out what was wrong. They tested me for many different illnesses, none of them coming back positive. I went to the ER again, at a different hospital than usual, and they automatically had ideas of what it might be. They finally thought they knew what was wrong, but I needed to have

In the spring of 2014, I got the stomach flu. But it never seemed to leave my body. During the summer I would get shaky, my legs would go weak and I would feel like I was about to throw up. I went to the doctor for my annual check up and I got my blood taken. It was a lot of blood, 5 tubes full of that red, liquidy substance, tubes the size of fingers. The doctor told me that I had not been growing as much as I should have. I mean think about it I probably could have been 5’6” instead of 5’3.” Then I would have been taller than my mom! The doctors office always surprises me, it is so clean, white and it always smells like hand sanitizer and cleaning product. Plus you never know what is going to happen.

On the Wednesday of the year 2000, my parents have already envisioned how my life would turn out to be. My mother expects much of me only because she was the first to ever attend college in our family. All my life because of that, I was always expected to: go to college, have a successful career just like my mother does, and eventually surpass her. Yet as I grow and develop my understanding of how this chaotic world works, I get lost. Throughout my life, I have had many hardships which I sadly at first did not take care of correctly. I am still human however as I understand that making mistakes is a part of life. Life is about giving the perfect effort. I know as I grow and develop, I don’t need to meet anyone’s expectations as long as I continue to try even when my limit has long been passed. I just want to continue to learn and and improve myself as a person. This world does not choose for me nor does it decide what I have to do with my life. It is my sketchbook and I am the one who decides what to draw in it. Right now, I am doodling the most complex eighteen-hour piece.

Over that next week, my symptoms kept changing, with no clear diagnosis in sight. Every doctor had a different idea, and with more blood draws in sight, I was tired of being poked and prodded. Labeling this summer the summer of health, I seemed to be a long way from that. The Friday before my UCI camp, I had a blood draw. Being my fourth one, I was slightly annoyed, yet ready for an answer. After the blood draw I felt extremely tired, my legs weak and burning, my chest pain increasing, my eyes, tongue, and hands were burning and tingling. My mom was out of town, and my dad left for a meeting, leaving my brother to check on me, routinely making sure I could breathe and walk. When my mom arrived late afternoon, she told me we where going to a neurology appointment, through the ER. Suspicious, I climbed into the car, but I trusted my mom and we headed to the CHOC ER

“How could one simple thing do that to my entire body.” I would ask later on when I finally figured out who the culprit of my sickness was. That thyroid caused many problems around the ages of 14 – 16. The first sign of this takes me back all the way to eighth grade where I was just incredibly tired. I felt absolutely horrible physically I couldn’t get out of bed, and it was hard to do some simple tasks like walking. I would be out of school for two days when my mother who thought it was the flu that was affecting eventually made an appointment for the doctor to get whatever was causing me to be this sick figured out, so I could be back to shape. My mother and I went to

“How could one simple thing do that to my entire body.” I would ask later on when I finally figured out who the culprit of my sickness was. That thyroid caused many problems around the ages of 14 – 16. The first sign of this takes me back all the way to eighth grade where I was just incredibly tired. I felt absolutely horrible physically I couldn’t get out of bed, and it was hard to do some simple tasks like walking. I would be out of school for two days when my mother who thought it was the flu that was affecting eventually made an appointment for the doctor to get whatever was causing me to be this sick figured out, so I could be back to shape.

There was once a time in my life where everything was perfect. There were smiles, toys, good times, friendships and playgrounds. This period of time was my early childhood when the only time I became sick was when I fell during my joyous playtimes. However, as I grew older, the world and my environment changed. I always tried to keep healthy by maintaining the right diet and taking vitamins. Despite this, something terrible happened to me on December 12th, 2015.

It all happened one morning. It was a weird morning, one that I had never experienced like before. My regular mornings consisted of pure happiness and joy as I woke up to the bright warm feeling of the sun on my face and the beautiful sound of birds chirping as they tried to feed from the feeder outside my window. Unlike those mornings this morning was different. This morning felt cold. The sun didn 't come out and if it did, I didn’t notice it, but what I did notice was the sleepless dead stare expression drawn on my face. The TV turned on and as the lady spoke I couldn’t hear anything. She kept rambling about the news of the day and mention a topic which interested me, she talked about teenage depression. I don’t quite remember everything she said, but I do remember these words “you are not alone! There’s help!!” Little did I know those words would help guide me to what I was about to face. I was about to become a victim. A victim of teenage depression.

On January 11, 2013 I felt horrible on my second day of my last semester of high school. I went thought it like no other day just with a lot of pain, then after school I went to work. I was sweating more than usually. I ache all of over and I did not understand why. So I work faster to complete all of my work ahead of time to be able to leave earlier. Which I did and came home. I told my mother what was going on. Then she check my body temperature. It was a little elevated. So I just went to sleep and the next morning it was higher. So, we went to see my doctor. And they said it was just something like the flu. They told us to treat the symptoms. During that night my fever spikes to 106.8, I could not move much I was going in and out consciousness. I lost more than twenty pound during that week I could not eat or drink anything my eyes would not open much, and everything made me hurt. We called the doctor he said to come-in, in the morning. When I went the doctor said it is not a virus but only thing it can be is a bacteria. They told me to do a urinalysis there. Which I did and my urine was reddish. My nurse went to the doctor immediately. They send me to the hospital with a few blood work. After that they started ask me

“Remember that unlike you, I did not have an opportunity to finish school”, my mother always told me this to remind me of the importance of education. After her father’s death, she was forced to drop out of primary school because there was no one to pay for her education and to help take care of her mother and brother. With a less than 8th-grade education level, she worked odd jobs including, selling street foods, and currently selling second-hand shoes shipped from affluent countries in the Gikomba open-air market. She is my biggest inspiration because every day she wakes up at 4:00 am and arrives to work before 6:00 am hoping for a great day. Although working in Gikomba market does not guarantee any income, she remains determined and hardworking. Sometimes she comes home with no earned income but always carries with her a grateful heart. In Kariobangi South where I live, many people are like my mother.

Growing up I had a happy life,I had a nice home a perfect family and i was healthy . to me my life was perfect,but at the age of 14 everything turned grey , my sunshine has been replaced by dark bulky clouds that made my life darker and dark by the day . I remember it well it was my freshman year of high school, the day of our homecoming parade I was so excited because I was going to walk with FBLA . As I sat there in class counting down the minutes, the hours till it began I remember feeling incredibly light headed .I couldn't even stand then BAM I collapsed to the floor, my teacher standing over me “ Maria !Are you okay can you hear me ??!”

I stepped on American soil in 2013 unaware of the challenges I would come to face. But, what is life without a challenge? I left behind part of my family, the place where I grew up, the friends that I grew up with, and the park where I would play every day after school. Nevertheless, I was not the only one surrendering my life’s work; my parents were losing much more. They were giving up all the sleepless nights they spent studying to become doctors; although they still preserve the knowledge they acquired, they knew that here, they would not receive the same recognition they held in Cuba. But as my Mom said to me, “all that matters is that you and your little sister have the future that we were denied.”

“Poke the porcupine! Poke, poke poke,” yelled my brother, Matt, as he jabbed his fingers into my ribcage. This game made the three hour car ride to Maine feel like eternity as the middle seat had my name engraved upon it (one of the perks of being the youngest child). My sister stared at the alluring landscape as we drove down the street, welcoming my family to Nana’s house. Pulling into the driveway, I am greeted by Nana, Papa, and Uncle Dave. My siblings and I immediately explored the backyard like adventurers in a new habitat. I traveled down a scenic path, welcoming me to the salty Atlantic. I paddled as hard as I can to keep up with my Nana and Papa kayaking. My whole family then took a hike, screaming every time we saw an apple tree. As we returned to the house, I washed my grass stained shirt and checked my body for ticks as I smelt savory lobster cooking. Crunching on corn and devouring my butter soaked lobster, I looked up at the table and saw a happy family: laughing about our hiking adventures and enjoying time together. As a first grader, I was thrilled to practice my reading skills to my Nana as she corrected my mispronunciations. Maine was a sweet escape, and I never wanted to leave. The only worries in my mind were the grass stains on my shirt, and removing the tick cemented in my leg.

There are many moments in an individual's life where they succeed and learn dramatically from their experience. It could be mentally, physically, or lead them to a higher self esteem and self confidence. It could be the littlest success such as making a pancake, but it can have so much impact on a persons self worth. Success can have many different definitions depending on who you ask usually, but at the end of the day, it's usually improving either as an individual or at a certain task.