Silent Screams--Gaby

 

The year was 2017, I was in the 8th grade. A few days before anything happened at all, I was already feeling sick. My mom had taken me to urgent care because I wasn't feeling how I usually did whenever I got sick, and they misdiagnosed me. The days went on, and we went to my aunt’s house for a birthday where I was still feeling the same way, however, it wasn't as bad. But the next day was when everything went downhill. It was a Monday, and the entire 8th grade class was taking panoramic pictures. After every flash, I felt worse and worse, and I began feeling dizzy. Once we were done, we were told to walk to quad but as soon as we began walking out, I felt very different and weird. I couldn’t feel the left side of my body, but it felt as if that side of my body had fallen asleep so I wasnt that worried. After each minute, everything just progressively got worse; I couldn't talk, I felt like I was walking like a zombie, and I had a horrible headache. I didn't want to go to my teacher and ask to go to the office because I thought I would be okay, but my friends told me I should, and I became worried. I tried to explain to her but she couldn't understand me so my friend had to explain to her what had happened. I tried to keep calm, but she grew worried and gave me an apple because she thought maybe I was feeling that way since I haven't eaten breakfast, but sent me to the nurse’s office regardless. The walk to the nurse’s office felt like forever and it was such a struggle to get there. Again, when i got there, i tried to explain to the nurse but she couldn't understand me either. She proceeded to call my dad, and as I was waiting I began to feel super nauseous so I went to the bathroom and next thing I knew, my dad had arrived. The entire car ride home felt hazy and I just felt super tired, so as soon as I got home, I fell asleep. My mom hurried home so they could take me to the hospital, and I can't really remember anything after that. My vision felt clouded and I kept passing out and my parents kept telling me to stay up. Once we got to the hospital, I began vomiting and they did a scan on me. I'm not sure how long we were there for, but they gave me my medicine, and then we went home.

The day I finally got taken into the hospital to stay, my mom’s sister, husband and kids were visiting from Nevada. I am assuming I went into the living room to go tell my mom I was feeling horrible, but I couldn’t. The only thing I was able to say was “I don't know” whenever someone would ask what was wrong and “Mom/Mama” whenever something was wrong; Even then, all it was super hard to talk and I kept mumbling. I kept feeling as if my tongue was about to fall off and I tried explaining that to my parents multiple times but it was very difficult. I started freaking out and then suddenly fell onto my mom who was sitting on the couch and then my vision went black again, and I passed out. I woke up downstairs to my entire family with me and the paramedics trying to figure out what was going on. They were not a big help, and were being very rude. They began to ask me basic questions, like my name, age and the grade I'm in. When they asked my age, I told them I was 12 when i was 14, when they asked what grade I was in, I said 6th grade when I was in the 8th. As they were about to leave, they told my parents they couldn't do anything for me because they told my family I was over exaggerating and was only having a panic attack, so they didnt take me with them into the ambulance. Shortly before they left, I passed out and my parents began to carry me into their car since the paramedics didn't want to take me. My parents tell me that I began to seize and that's when the paramedics realized that there was truly something wrong. I don't really remember getting into the ambulance, but I remember waking up in it, looking at one of the paramedics, and then passing out again. I woke up being lifted out of the ambulance, and rushed into the hospital.

Once I was there, they took me into my room and were asking me the same questions that they did at home. I was trying so hard to answer them but I couldn't, and they got upset and told me they’d come back once I wanted to talk to them. I tried being as helpful as I could but I simply could not. It felt as if I was in a coma because I could hear everything, but I could not respond or move. The day they took me into my second room, they ran some tests and scans on me and fortunately, there was nothing wrong. It took them a few days to figure out what was wrong. Once they did, they came into my room and told me I had Meningitis, but it was non contagious so everyone around me was safe. That same day, they did a type of treatment or surgery on me and they put me to sleep for it. I woke up because of how nauseous I felt and I tried telling them and they were once again, being rude about it and told me that they only gave me a few seconds to try to get anything out of my system. Luckily, after that treatment I began to feel better but I still wasn't feeling the best. I spent maybe one more day at the hospital and then was able to go home.

My memory of the whole experience is very choppy and hazy; The only memories I have of the entire thing was feeling immense amounts of pain. Usually, I have a high pain tolerance, but this was nothing I had ever felt before. I would constantly cry at the slightest amounts of light being shone into my room or noise going around my house because I would get the absolute worst migraines from it. Before I was sent to the hospital, my family tried anything and everything to help me feel better. One of my aunts even considered having a witch try to heal me. Once I returned to school, I got a few people tell me that they thought i had passed away.

Though this experience was so long ago, I had never even thought about how truly traumatizing it was for me, let alone for my family. They constantly ask me how I felt during the whole thing, but I can never answer because I barely understood what was happening to me. Writing about it, I realize how terrifying it is because in a way, I'm looking at this unfortunate event through a different perspective. Looking back at it in a new way, I have realized how thankful I am for my family and to not take anything for granted. I can easily say that this has impacted my family and I’s lives in many ways in which we could not even explain.