Personal Narrative: My Mom's Surgery

I had been cringing about day for so long. I was completely terrified to go into that room. As the door opened I was exposed to a cold draft and I could feel the dense air. The day I was told this needed to be done was horrifying, and now it’s actually happening. They rolled me over to a new bed and I looked around seeing doctors everywhere. There was a table that they rolled next to me and on it was things that I can’t even explain. They put a green mask on me with tubes going through both sides of it. They told me I’d get drowsy and all of the sudden I closed my eyes and it was happening. I was getting knee surgery.

I walked away feeling like I was a complete failure and that I didn’t deserve to go on. On the way home my mother tried to talk to me, but, I put on my headphones and cried silently. Once we were home my father asked how it went. The tears that were in my eyes and they became more evident as my shoulders and chest were shaking and trembling. The only sound in the room was the sound of me crying and wailing. I started crumbling and falling to the ground and my mother and father rushed to my side. They held me until the tears came to a stop and a little bit afterwards

When my dad came home that evening he sat me down and asked me if I knew what cancer was. I had an idea so I just nodded my head, he went on to tried to explain to me how bad the cancer was that my mom had been diagnosed with. Seeing my dad so afraid scared me. The fear I felt then led me to realize that I needed to try and hide it because it would only hurt my dad more to see his children so upset. I did my best to help, I tucked my little sisters into bed while my mom was away at the hospital, read them stories and did the best I could at preparing snacks to comfort them. After my mom arrived home and she recovered from the surgery she started chemotherapy. The miserable treatment that attacks the cancer also makes her very ill. Every other week she was sick. Before every bad week I wanted to cry, but that wouldn’t help anyone. Lane and Kenna already were crying, if I cried it could only hurt my parents

It was last year around christmas time. My mom was stressed out working overtime trying to pay for christmas gifts for everyone in the family and cooking meals. She basically overworked herself to the max. While she was at work the day before christmas, there had been a leak in her break room where she works. She had been complaining about it and she had asked someone to come in and fix, but they never did. She went on break and well she slipped and fell on the knee she had surgery on in January . She was in excruciating pain and the ambulance had to come and get her. She was out for 2 weeks but she wasn’t sent to therapy. She tried to go on her own and they would treat her but insurance would cover her injury because our primary care physician

Last year with my hockey team, we got together and made blankets for sick children about to have surgery at Children's Hospital in St.Paul. About a week later, we went to the hospital and delivered the blankets to the rooms that the children would be in right before surgery. It was really fun making the blankets, and everyone felt really good afterward knowing that they were supporting the children about to have children. We did this last winter, I am not sure the exact

Approximately 2-3 months later I found myself asking my mom if I could be enrolled in gymnastics classes,. She didn't seem to have a problem with this, except that gymnastics is very expensive, which is something her and dad had to discuss. With the expense in the sport, I would have to be doing many chores, which I was fine with since, I did them anyway, but I would still have to ask my dad. He, however, was concerned with prices and the financial sector, and so was my mom. They at first they did not agree, and said “there’s high school and cheer at school”, I scornfully walked back to my room holding tears that were on the fence. Getting into my room, I buried my face in my pillow and let all the tears free onto the cloth that now resembles a darker shade, because of its dampness. My mom then came in a caught me crying my eyes out and brought dad out to talk about this more. I felt so weak like I was trying to change their mind, but I was truly just very upset and had been thinking about this for weeks now. My mom and dad then agreed, together that, we can try 3 months of it, and I guess then we’ll just

During my sophomore year, I became depressed and antisocial due to problems in my life. My mother has been sick with a brain tumor since 2009 and she was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2012. It has been very hard on me and especially for my mother. I worry about her because she has shown signs of severe depression, she often talks about that she would rather be dead than alive anymore. After all of the pain, all of the humiliation of not being able to walk well, the embarrassment of not being able to write well, all of the staring and comments I would hear about my mother, she is still strong. After 6 years of pain and suffering along the way, I do not blame her. Everything seems to get worse. She now needs surgery due to avascular necrosis that was caused by many years of chemotherapy. I began to lose motivation slowly because I did not have any friends in any of my classes and I felt like I was stuck in a

I once went with my aunt to an event for season seat holders at Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles to get autographs from some of the Los Angeles Kings, to tour the locker room, and to get pictures with all of the banners in Staples Center that hang way up high over the cold ice. I went with my aunt because my uncle had hip replacement surgery earlier that month, which he was still recovering from, causing him to not be able to go. I was so excited that the day felt like it took forever to come. Most of that day, I was in a pensive mood, thinking about what was to come.

“At first I didn’t think it was that serious, I thought the BB pellet had just irritated my eye,” Matthew said.

In the summer between my sophomore and junior year, I had started to feel agonizing pain in my lower back. After seeing a specialist and going over the MRI, I was diagnosed with Lumbosacral Disc Disorder with Radiculopathy. Overall, the MRI revealed lumbar degeneration and congenital abnormalities of the lumbar spine with spondylolisthesis and instability. The problem causes low back pain with left leg weakness and numbness. The congenital abnormality of my spine was there since birth which is very rare; however, I do not have the most severe case compared to other people diagnosed with the same problem.

In 1996, my brothers and I visited my mom at the hospital. She had a hysterectomy. I immediately notice she was distressed. I asked, what was wrong? She said “that the nurses on her unit were talking about her all night. They talked to each other, she heard them on the phone with family members and they all treated her with such disgust”. I said “mommy, who cares what they have to say!” I can’t explain my anger towards those nurses! My mother felt ashamed, depressed and tired of people talking about her. Well, two days later my mother passed. She never got justice for discrimination for having HIV/AIDS.

The summer of 2015 brought many memorable events for me including celebrating my sweet sixteenth birthday and passing my drivers test. However, my mother’s diagnosis of breast cancer and her journey fighting that awful disease was the event that most marked my transition from childhood to adulthood. I have a very close knit family and before my mother’s diagnosis, everyone had been very healthy. I guess I took a lot for granted including my family’s health, and I didn’t realize or consider what really was important in life. Prior to my mother’s illness I was a typical self centered teenager, not really concerned with anyone else but myself. I had always seen my mother, a full-time nurse, as a strong person who took good care of herself and her family. When I first learned that my healthy 48 year old mom had breast cancer, I was so scared. The thought of losing my mom made me feel very vulnerable. However, I soon found an inner strength and courage that I never knew I was capable of possessing.

Have you ever had a strange feeling you shouldn't do something? I have, but nothing will compare to the time I had a feeling my mom shouldn’t do something. At 21 years old, my mom was in a terrible car accident, nearly leaving her without a foot. As a result, plates and screws were placed in her ankle; causing a lifetime of obstacles and an unimaginable deal of pain. As you finsish reading, you will understand why you should always trust your instinct.

It all started with a wrestling accident. As the bell rang, signifying the end of the match, my opponent ripped his arm from my now relaxed grip, freeing himself from my hold. I stood and extended my hand to help him up, but he hesitated to take it, his focus transfixed on my hand. I adjusted my gaze to what he was fixated on - my now grossly malpositioned ring finger. With my adrenaline quickly wearing off, my brain was now able to fully process the full extent of my injury, allowing the pain to reach my consciousness. I needed to visit the emergency room.

It was early one summer afternoon, shortly after lunchtime, when I heard my mom scramble towards the door. There was little noise, besides her loud stomps and faint cries through the drywall. The wind whistled faintly through my slightly open windows. Suddenly, the air conditioning kicked in startling me. It sounded as if it was a faint boat in the distance. I could make out the sound of the air conditioning through my vents. My brother’s television powered on, as well as my dad’s. They whispered silently through the insulation. Eventually, it all turned off and once again there was my mom’s loud stomps and faint cries.