Me at 10.
This is me now at 18 years old.
In the summer of 2008, I was ten years old. For most of the year, I had been severely struggling with really bad cases of strep throat. No matter what medication I took, nothing helped. I could not get rid of it. It was terrible. I could barely eat or drink without feeling as if my throat were being scrubbed with a wire brush. I eventually became severely anemic and lost nearly twenty pounds. I was ten years old and barely even weighed sixty pounds. Considering that I was pretty tall for my age, I did not look healthy at all.
Finally, in June of the same year, my regular doctor suggested to my mother the idea of removing my tonsils and possibly even my adenoids. Just to educate the public, tonsils are small, round pieces of tissue that are located in the back of the mouth on the side of the throat. Tonsils are thought to help fight infections by producing antibodies. I had a bad case of tonsillitis which is a infection of these tissues. It is normal procedure in severe cases of strep throat/tonsillitis to remove these tissues. Adenoids are similar to the tonsils. The adenoids are made up of lymph tissue and are located in the space above the soft roof of the mouth. In my case, these were also extremely infected. So, after finally scheduling a surgery date, it was settled that I would have my tonsils and adenoids removed on June 12th, 2008.
On the day of my surgery, I was extremely nervous. I had never really been in a hospital before. Thankfully, though, I had a very nice nurse and they gave me medication that immediately knocked me out. It seemed as if the surgery was over in a matter of seconds. When I woke up, I was in the car on my way back home.
Recovery seemed as if it would be a piece of cake. I mean, I know a several people who would love a chance to be out of school and eat ice cream for a week, but it was not that easy for me. I was in serious pain. I could still barely eat and I was incredibly week. My mom chalked it off as just the normal recovery process, but we later would find out the truth.
Normally at the fourth or fifth day mark of recovery, you can begin to eat soft foods like french fries. On the fifth day, I tried it at a local restaurant with my family. It was not too bad and for the first time I kind of started to feel better. That night, when I returned home, everything went wrong. I felt so lightheaded and queasy, like I was going to throw up. I rushed into the bathroom and did exactly that, but when I looked in the sink, it was filled with blood. I immediately passed out. My dad found me a few minutes later and then my parents rushed me to the hospital.
When I woke up the next day, the doctor told me that the doctor that had performed my tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy had not stitched me up correctly and that I had three blood clots on either side of my throat. I had lost so much blood that the emergency room doctor seriously considered giving me a blood transfusion. They decided to wait a few hours to see if I actually needed one or not, and thankfully, I did not, but I can’t help but think what if I could not have received a blood transfusion that would have saved my life?
Would I have survived? That’s why now, I try to donate blood at every opportunity that I can, because you never realize when you may need it or who you can help out by donating as often as possible. Blood donation is so important to promote, because it really could make the life or death situation in someone’s life.