My Worst Christmas

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

Christmas like Thanksgiving believe it or not, do happen to share many traits. One major factor that the two own is the warmth and love of bringing family and close friends together. It’s the few times a year that everyone has a reason to all gather around to

Last I heard from my friends they had grown ears and tails and one seemed to have a fever so I could only wonder if and when something would happen to me. It was already fairly late so I figured it wouldn't do me any good to stay up all night waiting for something when it might not even happen so i drifted off to sleep. When I woke up for school I was still feeling fine aside from the normal morning haze so I figured might as well finish off this week since it was Friday. During lunch just as I sat down by my friends everything started to feel warmer and a headache began to pulse. Of course my body chose now to betray me. I grabbed my head in a desperate attempt to stop the growing pains and everyone around me began to notice my discomfort and tried to help but it just

When most people think of December they tend to think about Christmas. It is supposed to be a time of everyone coming together, being joyful, and

Around the end of January I began to feel ill. I was becoming weaker, I couldn’t even stand in the shower by myself. I lost around 10 pounds too. In the beginning of February, I went to the doctor with my mom. The doctor said we shouldn’t worry about it and it was probably just the flu. She also took a couple blood tests just in case it was something else. My mom took me to work with her, because she didn’t want to leave me alone at home. Later on that day, the doctor called my mom and told her to bring me into the hospital as soon as possible. At the time I had no idea what diabetes was. I was only 8 years old. It was February 9, 2007, and I was diagnosed with Type One Diabetes. I ended up staying in the hospital for that whole week, and stayed

When I woke up, I had no idea where I was, until seconds later when I realized almost everything in the room was white. My hair was pulled out of my bun and I was wearing a patient's gown. There was a lady in baby blue shirt with little snoopy dogs on it leaning over the bed with a clipboard in her left hand, and a pen in her right. The instant I moved my head to look around, I regretted it and let my head flop back down, then regretted that even more. My whole right side of my body felt like it was being burned and stabbed right there on the spot. I moaned and I heard my mom's voice, just a little too

For the past day and a half of (January 4 to January mid of the 5th) I kept having to rush to the restroom. My mouth was very very dry and I kept feeling like I had to keep drinking a whole bunch of water. Later that day (The 5th) my mom took me to the doctor. After explaining the problems I had been having the doctor told me that I need to be taken to an endocrinologist in Des Moines because there is no endocrinologists in Carroll and that I had Diabetes. I remember being very worried and confused. I didn’t know what it was at the time and I never even heard about it before then. Next thing I remember was that I was in an ambulance going to Des Moines.

I then said, “I’m not sure what is wrong but I’ve been having a little pain and I can’t keep any food down.” The doctor then checked me out, took tests, and then pretty much told me that I was a crazy old lady who was imagining things. Even though that doctor didn’t believe me, I knew something was wrong. I went and tried to get other doctors to believe me, but like my doctor, no one did. After a couple days of pain and no one believing me, I then went to my daughters house and all of us headed to the Jay County Hospital.

Christmas arrived during my first week home after my discharge from the army. I had been stateside six months, and when I woke up, I felt like I lost my marbles. I mean I wondered if I was an addict, an alcoholic, or insane.

I was dealing with a normal day at work and started feeling a pressure in my chest. I kept dismissing this pain in my chest thinking it was just regular pregnancy pains because, after all, I had not gotten this far in a pregnancy before. So, I dealt with this pain, even though it was getting worse and worse as the weekend approached. The weekend came and I could not get out of bed. My neck hurt to even turn it. My back felt like it was broken and I could see I was swelling. I went into work on Monday morning like normal, even though I was hurting so bad I could hardly stand it. The head nurse looked at me and immediately checked my blood pressure. Uh oh.... my blood pressure was an amazing 190/102. The head nurse quickly called my primary doctor since he was closer and I drove over to see him. They checked my blood pressure again and it was still dangerously high so they called my OBGYN and she instructed him to send me straight over to the hospital either by ambulance or

So, my mom and I left and went back to my uncle Tom’s house where we were all staying that night. We tried everything to make me feel better, oils, baths, massages, a heating pad, warm water, warm soup, etc. But nothing was working and I didn’t even eat lunch or dinner. So in the middle of the night, my parents agreed it would be a smart idea to take me to the hospital. Many interesting things happened there. I got to try everything, pee in a cup, IV for dehydration, x-rays, IV to pump meds, and I even had to get an ultrasound because they couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me!! I thought it was kind of cool to get an ultrasound and to do all of this doctor stuff, but honestly that was the worst experience I’ve ever had in my life. I finally got out of that place being labeled with E. Coli, a bacterial infection. I was so glad to be able to walk around again without worrying about ripping IV cords out from my arms. I was also excited to go back to school!! I missed my friends a ton. As i got back to school I got many gifts and

When I was in the third grade, my family and I went out to the lake in Locust Grove to visit my grandpa. For brunch, we ate out a restaurant with him. Later that day, we went out on the lake; it was wonderful, and little did I know it would be one of the last enjoyable experiences I would have for a long while. We went home that night, and everything was normal, but the next week my whole family started to get extremely sick. They gradually got better, but I got worse. My mom took me to the doctor multiple times, and I was immediately sent to the hospital after my last visit. I ended up missing six weeks of school.

Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year. I love seeing the shinny Christmas lights that decorates my street and the sound of fresh fallen snow on the ground. Christmas reminds me of family, the laughter and loved we shared, and the gifts we gave to each other. My house on Christmas became the center of my joy.

Christmas is meant for joy and laughter, not injuries and pain. Each year there are hundreds of injuries that occur on the morning of December 25th. When the holiday approaches Americans love to get into the Christmas spirit. Each family celebrates Christmas with their own traditions and rituals that determine their holiday activities. I would have never thought that my family’s traditions for Christmas morning would help me shape my values.

I think Christmas has always been one of my favorite holidays. Maybe because of the special atmosphere that you can feel everywhere, in shops, restaurants , pubs and even streets, where you can hear the magical carols, or maybe it's because of its religious background, but what I can tell you for sure is that I can't think of anything more exciting than the image of the entire family preparing the Christmas Tree or fixing the Christmas dishes.