Personal Narrative: Putting My Oxygen Mask

Ever since I could remember, soccer had been in my life. If there was a soccer team that needed a coach, my father was always the first to volunteer. There were almost too many strenuous weekends spent hours away from home for soccer tournaments to count. My entire family, consisting of my parents, my siblings, my dog, and myself, packed in a mini-van heading to a city that I had never heard of for soccer games. But when I entered high school, all that would soon go away. I kept playing the same sport that I always had, although now I had to wake up at five in the morning for six hours of high school soccer practice in the smoldering summer heat in order to make the high school team. High School sports were more competitive than anything I had done before. I put in as much effort as I could to make the Varsity High School team, staying out past dinner to practice even longer. I was utterly divulged in soccer and trying to be the best I could be. Soon, I would regret placing a game over spending time with my family.

Then I began to spill out the emotions of never being able to compete in college sports. My competitive nature will always be a part of me, and now I would have to find something to replace my participation in organized sports. As I was writing this, other ideas began to flow. Attending such a close-knit school for four years, the next ideas inevitably began effortlessly pouring out: missing my peers and teachers, being

To help one who does not have the tools to help themselves provides me with an immeasurable amount of fulfillment, a state of mind which I’ve found impossible to come in contact with through sports. I can only look forward to the years to come, each day is one closer to achieving a reward fulfilling enough to last me for the rest of my life. I know that one day I will be the doctor examining a pregnant mother in search of the young girl practicing her penalty kicks against the side of the uterine

At age 16 I was told that I was incapable of being an athlete, I was told tennis was not a sport, I was told I could never play “a real man’s sport”. That same year, I stepped onto a soccer pitch for the first time in my life, I lined up against young men who had been playing the sport for more than a decade.Yet, I went out there with confidence and challenged them along with the notion that I could not play a real sport. Although, I was scared to embarrass myself, I knew that this decision would be one of the greatest I would ever make because of the life experiences I would gain from leaving my comfort zone for the first time,

Bare with me for another blog post about volleyball. This weekend was the Badger Region Volleyball Tournament, which my team participated in. When I walked into the building, the memories flooded in with scenes from the elevator adventures, cheese fries, and design your own sweatshirts. The first day, my team didn't play up our full potential, with my team only winning one out of three matches; which meant that we didn't place in any of the brackets, meaning zero chance of receiving a medal. However, at the end of the second match, I got switched from being middle all-around to libero ( a position where you only play back row on offense and defense). I guess it's an honor, but it puts a lot of pressure on me by labeling me as the best passer

Follow up Mike who was the RT stated he did forget to place the patient back on his Oxygen after the treatment. He stated he went back and spoke with the father and apologized he also added another flow meter so that this would not occur again.

I have played soccer since Preschool, and while I don’t receive any MVP trophies, I can play fairly well. Soccer is who I am. Correction: soccer is who I was. Going into my junior year, I thought I would continue to play for my high school as I had my sophomore year. But , they said “they couldn’t find a spot for me on varsity.” My friends and family expected me to feel shattered, but I didn’t, not yet at least. I felt numb, not fully realizing what this meant. Not realizing that I wouldn’t spend the fall with the friends I trained all summer with, not realizing that I wouldn’t feel the pride for the great Oak Hills High everytime I put on my jersey, not realizing the embarrassment I would feel when people questioned why my name was absent from the roster. Putting on a brave front, even for myself, I told everyone I didn’t care; however, a few days later I realized all the cherished experiences I would miss and I sobbed. It’s challenging to hear that all of your hopes, dreams, and aspirations of the past twelve years, which at sixteen made up

Although I aspired to thrive, I found myself defeated. As a teenager, I was hard on myself because the only way to transform my parents’ aspirations into reality was to excel in soccer. But as my mother encouraged me with her soft words, I felt those dreams dissipate once I was benched every game as a member of the junior varsity soccer team in high school. In a sense, I understood

I am Mr. Lungs. I am located on either side of the chest. I am in the respiratory system. Air is taken to the body from the nose, or the mouth, then taken to the trachea, which branches off to the bronchi, then to me. I work with the heart and the blood as well. My main functions are to do a process called “respiration,” or breathing. In respiration, oxygen from incoming air enters the blood, and carbon dioxide leaves the blood. In order to do this, oxygen, coming from air, comes to the nose, or the mouth, then to the trachea, then the bronchi, and finally to me. I am important because, I supply the body with oxygen, and take waste out. The Human Body Corporation needs oxygen to live. You should not fire me because, the Human Body Corporation

I was rolled into the operation room. The acidic taste in my mouth still lingered from the regional anesthesia medication. Surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists, and doctors stood there near the entrance, waiting for my arrival. Yet, their faces were unrecognizable due to the surgical masks that concealed their identity. I transferred onto the operation bed with a bright light shining directly on my face. My vision began to blur and I could feel my every heartbeat. Fear engulfed my mind knowing that this would be my first surgical operation. I was uncertain. Could this truly treat my physical disability? General anesthesia was injected into the veins of my arm, and before I knew it, I was unconscious.

As humans, we have a natural concern for the wellbeing of our peers, however we are too often powerless, either because we are too young or too poor to make a difference. However, like some of my fellow Latinos, I was given an oxygen mask in the form a citizenship to the most powerful country in the world. This mask allows me to take a deep breath and think clearly, think about my plans to overcome the poverty that I was born into. As a human, my every movement relies on oxygen, and thanks to the oxygen mask that is my American citizenship, I have met many people that have each given me their share of oxygen. These people include Victoria and Dennis Mayer, who helped me learn about the American culture, Diane Runkle and Caroline Wright, who

There are many monumental events that have occurred in my life, but the incident that left me paralyzed and partial blind was the turning point.

Of the year 1975, within Philadelphia, the champ become victorious, knocking out my hopes, dreams, and memory. That moment had played about a thousand times in my head, giving me guilt of not trying hard enough. Both me and my pockets were empty, with and exeption of a rusty old dime. Ignoring these shameful incidents, I have accepted reality and truth to conclude the fight is not only during the match. I have risen up from the dark pit to grasp the glory within the rings. Of tomorrow, that positive feeling has caused me to run to the boxing gym of the early morning. Despite the anger and pain, I fought overnight with sweat dripping down my face as I slowly rose out of my unwanted

I got carbon monoxide poisoning at the beginning of 2017. I woke up with and slight headache, but then everyone in the house started getting a headache. I have now learned that carbon monoxide is not a very safe gas to mess with.

For a little while my family was seeing smoke on the horizon of life, as a life-altering wildfire was headed our way. My dad came back from the war beaten and broken, he had seen a lot of things and he was changed from the inside out, because of this, again my dad faced big decisions that could change the direction of my life. Even through all this my dad stayed the rock in our house and he pushed the fire away by making the right decision.