Personal Narrative: My Knee Abuse

At the age of two, my parents were woken up one night to the sound of crying and screaming. As they walked into my room they saw my knee was swollen five times its normal size. I was rushed to the hospital and later diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis in my knees and ankles.
Growing up kids would always want to play tag or have little races. I could not always keep up with my friends’ antics. Every three, six, or nine months either of my knees or ankles would swell up. I would have an appointment with my rheumatologist and there she would give me a cortisone injection. It would work temporarily. I would always miss school for these injections; my classmates would always ask why I was absent or why one knee is so much bigger than the …show more content…
All of these friends had the same question when I wore shorts. “Why is your right knee swollen?” “Why are you limping?” Beyond embarrassed, I would say that I don’t really know but I’m going to the doctor it is nothing too bad. Meanwhile I was mortified, why did I have to get this? Why both Arthritis and Scoliosis? I would go back and forth in my head basically until I would cry myself to sleep. I tried going back on the pills, then back to cortisone. Through all this treatment, I learned that I have known my classmates for so long that there is nothing to hide or be embarrassed about. Coming in last for my track races became less disappointing. At the end of sophomore year, I decided to run for an officer position for the student government. I became Junior Class Vice President. I wanted to devote myself to school and activities because in a way I thought it would get rid of my problems. So I became very involved to try to ignore the fact that I was put on weekly injections of the methotrexate. I no longer wear a back brace however, my back did not get better. First, second, and third opinions are all suggesting surgery yet my back at the forty two degrees it is at does not hurt so there is not a huge rush. Junior year as vice president was a success and I even came in first in a one hundred meter race. Before meets, I would ice my joints or take tylenol and I started to run better. I exuded a cheerful persona that resulted in my re-election for senior class vice president. All while keeping up grades to be in the National Honor