One Little X Ray. Biopsy, Surgery, Cancer - 944 Words

One Little X-ray Biopsy, Surgery, Cancer. How would you feel if a doctor said these three words to you? These 3 very scary words can change your life and they changed mine. On a bitter cold December day when I was in the 7th grade, my mom took me to the orthodontist office in Sioux Falls. When he announced the news that I needed braces, I was not real thrilled. I tried to think about the fact that I would eventually have perfect, straight teeth but I wasn’t ready to give up caramel apples. Although I liked straight teeth, I did not like braces, but my orthodontist said I must have them. At the appointment, my orthodontist performed an x-ray to fit my braces. That’s when my life took a turn. Just when I thought it was a†¦show more content†¦It did seem like it took a l ong time for the results to come back. The ticking of the clock was a booming drum in the waiting room. It felt like we were waiting in the little cramped room for hours but it was only 15 minutes. When we received the results, we were devastated. We were told I had a mass growing in my jaw that was eating away my bone. From the x-ray, it didn’t look like I had much bone left. Remember, I kept thinking that the doctor was wrong because my jaw didn’t hurt. When are doctors wrong? I kept thinking about the weekend before when my basketball team played in a very rough basketball tournament at the Dakota Dome. My team played 5 games and made it to the championship. Lennox Lady O’s took home a huge trophy. When I told the doctor about the basketball game, he kind of freaked out! He told me he couldn’t believe that my jaw didn’t break on the court and he told me I was out of sports for a while. Devastation hit me like a ton of bricks. P.E class wasn’t even a possibility. Biopsy of the mass was the next step. Biopsy, which meant surgery. Surgery, which meant going under anesthesia. I had gone under anesthesia one other time and it didn’t go very well. My doctor then told me something that I will always remember, Dr. Christ was concerned that the â€Å"mystery mass† was cancerous. What, I couldn’t believe it!! My jaw didn’t even hurt!! He then went on to explain that because my jaw was so fragile that there was a chance it