Being Sick Sucks

I've decided that my body hates me.

When I was in 3rd grade I was in and out of the doctor's office almost every week. I had chronic strep throat and mono. That ended when I had my first surgery three years later when I was in the 6th grade; a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy.

That same year I dislocated my hip for the first time. How does a 12 year old dislocate their hip? Especially when playing kickball? (Yes that is how it happened...)

Fast forward two years (8th grade) to when I broke my toe cheerleading. Ok so I didn't just break my toe, the bone at the bottom of my big toe shattered into three pieces. And of course, being the stubborn person that I am, I refused to stop cheering to let it heal. It is now permanently broken.

For my Freshman and Sophomore years of high school nothing dramatic happened. I developed arthritis in both wrists and both ankles requiring them to be wrapped when I did cheer or gymnastics.

Then came my Junior year. The day before the last day of school my little brother punched our cow, she stepped on my foot and broke my foot (the same foot with the already broken toe). I now have no feeling on the top of my foot directly above where my toe is broken. This break also did not heal as it should have and my toe is now seriously broken.

Now for my Senior year. While cheering at a football game, after we performed some stunts, my arm began to hurt. And I mean hurt. I was in a lot of pain. The athletic trainer came over and told me I had broken my arm. Well, once again being the stubborn person that I am, I continued to cheer and performed at half-time (that was not fun, let me tell you). The next day we went to the doctor. My arm wasn't broken...I had just ruined all of the tendons in my left arm. Super fun!

Once track season started, my right shoulder began to hurt. It began to pop out of socket every time I raised my arm. That made throwing shot put and discus easy...not.

Not even a month after I graduated (2009) I had the first surgery on my shoulder, the second one total.

Less than a month after my surgery I got in a car accident. The whiplash was so bad that it threw my jaw out of place which then caused me to get braces. Awesome.

During my Freshman year of college I noticed that my shoulder began to dislocate again and I was still in a lot of pain. A month after the year ended I had the second surgery on my shoulder (2010...less than a year after the first one.) This was my third surgery total.

The next year (Jan 2011) my niece headbutted me and crushed in the left side of my nose. Surgery...again. Fourth surgery in my life and I was only 19.

At the end of December 2011 I began to become extremely ill. I couldn't keep any food down. I would throw up anything I attempted to eat. Jan 2012 we discovered that my gallbladder had stopped working completely. Literally, it just shut down. Here we go...surgery number five.

Now here we are, 2013. Up until April I was doing so well at not getting hurt or sick. And then school started. At the first ward activity I had a massive asthma attack and had to go to the doctor. I had to get a steroid shot and a breathing treatment. That was fun.

And then last week happened. Actually...let me back up. Ever since I got my gallbladder out I would intermittently experience pain in my upper abdomen, right under my sternum. It was the worst pain I had ever felt in my entire life. It would literally drop me. Sometimes it would last for only 10 or 15 minutes, other times it would last for hours.

I had gone to the doctor once before but his treatment didn't help (because he was an idiot and didn't listen to anything I had to say).

Last Monday I went to the clinic here in Rexburg. The doctor actually listened to me and ordered some blood tests. Turns out that I have H. Pylori. This is a bacteria in my stomach that is eating away the mucous lining protecting my stomach from the acids within. This is what was causing my pain; acid eating away my stomach. Super fun!!

For the next two weeks I am on a lot of medications. For the next eight weeks after that I must take an over the counter antacid to try and protect my stomach. Let's hope that it works.

I still feel pretty sick and I'm still in pain. The pain is only uncomfortable though...nothing near what it was before.

So up until now this is all that has happened to me. Oh wait...I lied. In 2012 I was told that there is no cushioning between my knee caps and my femurs. This means that my knee caps are grinding on the end of my femurs whenever my knees move. So I will probably end up getting surgery on those too. And my hips still pop out occasionally.

My life<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

So there is the proof...my body hates me. Or I'm super clumsy...that could be true as well.

But still...it would be nice to live one year without having to be at the doctor, in pain, or not feeling well.

Maybe someday...