Prompt #1

My family still live in the Philippines. I was still in 6th grade back then when my mom collapse one day when she is at a gathering in her friend's house. She was pale and was like a white lady, because she is wearing white that day. She was sent to the hospital immediately. She underwent blood transfusion and a little IV therapy. The doctor prescribed her a medication for anemia. My mom is back to normal after a few days and returned to her daily routines. We too all thought that it will be the last of it or so we thought.

My dad is as a merchant marine, so he is not always around. The only ones that are around the house are my mom and my elder sisters. I like listening to music and watch a lot of cartoons. I was just a kid living in a normal family. But then, me and my elder sister noticed something off.

My mom had a frequent headache and her personality changes. She sometimes became irrational and acted like a child. She also began neglected her responsibility and and her personal hygiene. We thought that she is becoming a deranged person so we consulted a to a psychiatrist. After a series of examination, the doctor can't seem to find any irregularities in her mental health. As I began getting alarmed at my mom's condition my sister comforted me, “Don't worry, we'll find ways to cure mom.”. After that, my mom got examined at a University Hospital near our area. She underwent a CT scan to examine her brain. The result of the diagnose was brain tumor, it was caused by an abnormal growth of tissue in the brain. It is said that some tumors can be cancerous (malignant) or noncancerous (benign). Thankfully, her case is not a malignant type. It is also a good thing that my dad is member of a seamen union and has an insurance for our family so we didn't have any financial problems.

I continued studying like usual, because I didn't want to cause more trouble to my elder sister and my father who is still overseas because of work. I suppressed my anxiety and just prayed fervently. As the day of the operation arrived, I stayed home and call other elder sister who is the one who stayed in the hospital every 30 minutes or so. I can't calm down that day. I always imagined the worst case scenario that can during the operation. Then I got a call from my sis after several hours of impatiently waiting for the news. “It was a success!” she exclaimed. My mother woke up few hours after the surgery and seemed okay. The next day, I visited my mom in the ICU in order to congratulate her for the success of the operation. I wasn't able to kiss or hug her because of safety issues, but I was glad that the operation
is a success.

After that, Me and my sis went to see the tumor that the neurosurgeon got in my mom's head. It was about the size of an onion and reddish in color. Instead of getting fazed by it, I was astonished by the sight of it. Maybe it was because I watched too much gore movies that made me not to grossed out by it. I was also amazed by the doctor and made me want to see him but I wasn't able to. My mom was discharged from the hospital after two weeks of the operation. She was able to move normally, but the effects of the tumor is still can be clearly seen. But she was improving little by little. Watching my mom recovering made me happy and made me thinking of wanting to become a doctor.

I became more studious ever since I realized my aspiration of becoming a doctor. Reading is the one thing I hated the most in the past. A few paragraph of sentences always make me wanting to sleep. But ever since I became interested in the field of science and I also started to read a lot more. Starting from the science books with a lot of illustrations until I got used to reading books with massive wall of text in it. I also develop a habit of reading every thing, like posters in the street or ingredients in a shampoo bottle, just to get every bit of information inside my little head.