My mom always said to me every good memory comes with a story to tell, and everything happens for a reason. I was too young at the time to realize what my mom was saying but looking back I understand why she said those words to me.
I was sitting in the Bridgeport Hospital waiting room. Afraid, scared, nervous, and in pain. The waiting room was crowded. People where everywhere, waiting there turn to see the doctor. The antiseptic air was giving me a headache. Doctors, and nurses were running back and forth. I was in third grade when this happened to me, it was a fluke thing that no one could have predicted, it just happened sending me to the hospital in pain.
I went to soccer that day after school and everything was fine. I felt normal. Then I started running and I felt a sudden cramp. That cramp gradually got worse and worse. I remember running into the house, screaming at the top of my lungs, clutching my stomach. I got sick and my mom thought I had the stomach bug.
“You’re overreacting, you will be fine,” my mom said
She knew that something was wrong with me the next day when I physically could not get up from my bed. I was sitting still watching the doctors call in one patient at a time. My mom and I have been there for an hour. My heart was beating. I was trying not to make a scene but the pain was getting worse and worse. My hands were sweating I was pinching my side seeing if the pain would go away. I felt like my body was hurting all over, I could barely walk. My side felt like I was stabbed with a knife. I had no clue what was wrong with me. The pediatrician I went to was first unsure sending me to the hospital to make sure I did not have appendicitis. I knew there was something wrong with me and I knew this could not be just a cramp. I observed my surroundings. Many adults were reading or like my mom trying to get a hold of other family members by phone. Children waiting with their parents crying. I could see fear and nervousness in many people’s facial expressions. I waited in my seat, hoping I would get called next.
“Ashley.” A tiny woman dressed in medical scrubs called out.

I was trembling. I did not know what to expect. My mom and I got up. They directed my mom and I into a bright small room. The room was filled with machines. I laid on the gurney. Doctors came in and out of the room with clipboards. They took my blood pressure, my temperature and drew blood for testing. They poked me in the side, hooking me up to machines and doing all theses tests. I was laying on the hospital bed worried. My heart was beating like a drum, my head was rushing.

“What’s going on?” I thought. “What’s wrong with me?”

Questions popped in and out of my head.

“Why me?” I thought. “What did I do that made this incident happen”?
I took a big breath in and out trying to relax my body.

“I will be alright,”I kept telling myself, but I knew this was serious
The pain was not getting any better. My stomach still throbbed. I took a gulp. A doctor came running into the room I was surrounded by doctors and nurses. It became very claustrophobic in this room. I wished that all these people would leave. The doctor looked like he was in his fifties. The doctor had white hair and glasses. He looked at me then at my mom and he said those words that made me so scared the ones I did not want to hear, but most important the words I will never forget.

“Its appendicitis and we have to operate immediately, we have to prep her for surgery right away.”

What is happening to me? Questions crammed inside my head.

Will I have a scar?

Is it going to hurt?

Will I be brave?

How long will it take?
I laid frozen. I had no clue how to react to this but to start crying and to cry a lot. I was feeling every emotion. I sat with a blank look on my face and I cried and cried. Tears rolled down my face.
“I don’t want to get my appendix out!” I kept on repeating this over and over.
“It’s going to be okay.” My mom said. “Calm down.”
“I don’t want to get my appendix out!” I sobbed.

I held me mom’s hands tight. I was trying to catch my breath.

“I don’t want to get my appendix out, I don’t want to get my appendix out!” I chanted
“Shhhhhhhh.” My mom whispered. “Everything is going to be fine.”
I was sweating; my face was burning up. There where goose bumps all over my body. I was shaking. I kept telling myself to calm down.

“Ashley calm down.”
I keep telling myself this but awful thoughts popped in and out of my head. I was overwhelmed by everything that had just happened in the last twenty-four hours, I could not even think straight.
I heard my mom on the phone with my dad.
“ Rob.” She whispered in a loud and serious tone. “Ashley and I are at the hospital and the results are in, it’s appendicitis and she needs surgery when can you get here?”
I observe my moms facial expressions she looks overwhelmed. My mom only talks in a loud tone when she is mad. I think she was trying to stay calm on the phone just because she did not want to scare me, but in her mind she was very nervous.

“Deep breath in, deep breath out.” I said to myself.
“Appendicitis, Appendicitis.” those words kept roaming around in my head.
I finally calmed myself down. The tears stopped. I was still worried. I had no clue what was going to happen. Most third graders could not tell you what appendicitis is. I just laid back on the gurney and closed my eyes. I was taken away by two young nurses.

I whispered to myself,

“I can do anything.”
Now when I look back on this experience, I now know why my mom said those words to me. “Everything happens for a reason.” Here is a quote by Marlin Monroe “People change so that you can learn to let go. Things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they are right. You believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one yourself, and sometimes-good things fall apart so better things can fall together. That’s why everything happens for a reason.” If anything like this happens to you just remember laugh at the confused smile through the tears and remember everything happens for a reason.