In the summer of 1993 I started feeling...weird. I was only 12 years old at this time. My balance was bad and when I hung up-side down I got really dizzy. I went to the doctor about this and he sent me to a specialist because he thought I may be experiencing inner-ear problems.
The specialist did everything but zap my brain with electric shocks (he almost did that too) but could find nothing wrong with me so he send me home. I was having these "dizzy spells" as the doctor called 'em throughout grade 8 and going to the doctor sporadically for him to try other things.
In the summer of 1994(I was 13 now)it was worse and I was waking up early in the morning (5:00) and vomiting. Of coarse there was nothing in my stomach but gastric juices so it really hurt.
On August 10,1994 the doctor sent me for a CAT scan. By that night we knew that I had a malignant brain tumor. A brain tumor is a collection of abnormal cells surrounded by otherwise normal cells. It is referred to as benign if it doesn't spread and malignant if it does. Soon after I had my surgery and the majority of it was removed but the parts that moved down my spine remained.
Following my surgery, I was in the Intensive Care Unit(ICU)for three days. I was really drugged up most of this time. I only have one solid memory there. The nurses had to wake me up every half hour to make sure that I was coherent. I though that it was pretty annoying. One time they woke me up and said "Is anything bothering you?" and I said "YEAH YOU, **** OFF!!!!!!!!!!". Most people like that story.
After ICU was about two weeks in the hospital. I don't remember that very well either.
Then came my first round of chemotherapy. There were 5 in total. Many people ask me what the chemo was like. Just consider what it does. It is basically poison that they pump into you to kill cells. The "me" cells come back faster than the cancerous ones. It's kind of like having the worst flu that you've ever had except 10 times worse and 6 months long.
When my chemo finished was a really happy day for me. Next came my radiation therapy. It wasn't near as bad. I didn't have to stay in the hospital, I just had to go on out-patient basis twice a day for 32 days.
The last day of that was definitely the happiest day of my life. I was 14 by this time.
Despite my inhibitory physiological problem, I have recovered. I can walk but my balance still isn?t the best and when I get tired my speech starts to slur and my balance get worse. I have been mistaken for a drunk many times.
I am now attending University and will either attain my Ph.D. in psychology or attend medical school and become a psychiatrist. One of my friends tells me that I am pretty good