my Richard Parker is very similar to the one in the book the Life of Pi. I read that book nearly ten years ago.
I'll explain.
sixth grade, eleven years old, the day after halloween, I was in excruciating pain.
rushed to a hospital that I grew to know very well. I was given fluids, narcotics, a slew of tests, and sent home with a prescription.
didn't feel better, once again taken to that hospital the very next evening.
my brother's birthday was on the third, I was taken back to the hospital, not the best gift for my fourteen year old brother.
I managed another week, I was already sick of the whole ordeal, I just wanted to get back to school. that didn't happen for another two months.
I had my first "procedure" I got a diagnosis: colitis (it gets graphic, to avoid, skip the italics). my bowls, aka, small and large intestines were inflamed. they were lined with blood blisters that when the wall of my intestine was barely touched it would start hemorrhaging (bleeding profusely). it got slightly uncomfortable. no answer.
I managed to finish sixth grade, barely.
next year, similar pain, no answer.
next year, similar pain, no answer.
next year, worsened pain, no answer.
next year, failing organs, allergic to metal.
junior year I had an interesting experience. by this time I had been dealing with chronic abdominal pain that was unexplainable for five and a half years. I was use to it. one day I was having a very hard time to the point where I couldn't stand, so I knelt down and asked my Heavenly Father for help. I immediately felt like I needed to go see my normal pediatrician. more blood tests, another CT scan, another ultrasound, another uncomfortable hooha look-see. normal-ish. my dear doctor asked my mom and me to come into his office, out of the patient rooms. my only symptom was excruciating pain on my right side of my abdomen. he told us that professionally, as a doctor, he cannot see anything wrong, but he shared with us that the Spirit has prompted him that there is something more going on, and told me that I would be having emergency surgery and he had already sent my tests to a general surgeon. I was taken to the hospital, met with the surgeon, and gave me my options: surgery, another scan, or play the waiting game. I voted for the surgery, his reply, "if a sixteen year old girl is in so much pain that she is asking for surgery, I am going to follow her wishes". I was taken into the OR and prepped. my useless appendix was removed. pathology came back and said that it was a miracle that it hadn't ruptured. it was that infected. it was infected for several months before being removed.
the year ended strong with being able to compete for bountiful high's track team. I met my best friend biff.
senior year I wasn't going to let anything stop me from enjoying it, not even the boys, I graduated proudly as the VL club president.
college years sort of blur together, doctors, uncomfortable exams, tests, 104.5 degree fevers, and a lot of hospital hours put in.
january twenty-eleven, I had the opportunity to spend a full week on the eighth floor at LDS hospital, similar symptoms, similar everything. taken into the emergency room late at night, I had a CT scan, I had a urine test, blood work, the whole nine yards. again. I had five times the amount of white blood cells (WBC) than I should have, I had an enlarged spleen, and a kidney infection. my diagnosis: mononucleosis, splenomegaly, and nephritis. oh and an ovarian cyst ruptured.
the drugs were great, there are videos out there somewhere. I had good company with friends showing up at 2:00am to visit me. I remember laughing so much.
I was out of school for six weeks, oh and I broke up with a boy while on morphine, I highly suggest narcotics for a breakup. if it's legal.
I was fine, until september, once more a hospital stay, this one was only for two days. no answer.
november got graphic. lots and lots of vomiting, I stopped digesting food, it came up barely digested and chunky. I had the pleasure of going to the nuclear medicine area of the hospital, I was injected with a radioactive isotope waited an hour for it to travel to my gallbladder then fell asleep in the HIDA scan. it took an hour of just laying there, do you blame me for falling asleep. taken back down to the emergency room so a doctor could read my scan immediately. diagnosis: gallbladder functioning at 11%. treatment: cholecystectomy.
procedure on wednesday november 30th.
my dad's company had their annual christmas party on that friday, I was invited to be my dear friend's date, his name is Brock, he understood every thing I've gone through health wise. he's in heaven now. I wanted to wear a pretty dress, my mom took me shopping an found a dress that is my favorite one to wear, it's purple and knitted. we went for pizza because we got hungry, that didn't settle with the lack of gallbladder, I was throwing up for hours, I tore something, and was back in the emergency room that night. Brock didn't get to see my dress. I wore it to his funeral.
tried being healthy for as long as I could, I enjoyed playing soccer while on hydrocodone, I got hurt on february 11th.
on the 16th I had an esophagogastroduodenoscopy to see what was going on with my stomach. no answer.
the next week I became radioactive again, but this time it was a gastric stomach emptying study. I got to eat radioactive eggs. no answer.
later found out that I had torn my ACL, MCLx2 (same leg), and LCL. I had knee surgery on april 2nd. a cute boy visited me on the 3rd. my sister and brother-in-law were chosen to adopt a baby boy on the 4th. I was out of school for eight months.
I'm currently enrolled to become a scrub, and I'm excelling with 21 credits, but I'm still sick. no answer. but this time it's not holding me back.
Richard Parker is my favorite stuffed animal that I got when my whole trial started ten years ago he's the tiger I always kept with me, I took him to the hospital, to surgical procedures (he waited in the waiting room) and he currently sits on my bed. he is my comfort.
my trials have not made me chronically unhappy, they have made me learn and now I appreciate the better days. yesterday was hard. today is okay. tomorrow is going to be better. I will always love the fact that I have been given the opportunity to grow in a manner that Heavenly Father seems fit. I know He loves me, I can feel it every single day, and it only gets stronger with the pain and the trials. I am so utterly blessed to have three brothers and father who are worthy priesthood holders who can lay their hands on my head and give me a blessing from Father in Heaven. the Atonement is a beautifully, powerful thing, there have been moments that I have wanted to just die the Savior saved me and took the pain upon him to make it bearable. He has been so present in my life that I know what I go through he is there going through it with me. I couldn't ask for a more special blessing than having Him love me.
next year, similar pain, no answer.
junior year I had an interesting experience. by this time I had been dealing with chronic abdominal pain that was unexplainable for five and a half years. I was use to it. one day I was having a very hard time to the point where I couldn't stand, so I knelt down and asked my Heavenly Father for help. I immediately felt like I needed to go see my normal pediatrician. more blood tests, another CT scan, another ultrasound, another uncomfortable hooha look-see. normal-ish. my dear doctor asked my mom and me to come into his office, out of the patient rooms. my only symptom was excruciating pain on my right side of my abdomen. he told us that professionally, as a doctor, he cannot see anything wrong, but he shared with us that the Spirit has prompted him that there is something more going on, and told me that I would be having emergency surgery and he had already sent my tests to a general surgeon. I was taken to the hospital, met with the surgeon, and gave me my options: surgery, another scan, or play the waiting game. I voted for the surgery, his reply, "if a sixteen year old girl is in so much pain that she is asking for surgery, I am going to follow her wishes". I was taken into the OR and prepped. my useless appendix was removed. pathology came back and said that it was a miracle that it hadn't ruptured. it was that infected. it was infected for several months before being removed. 
january twenty-eleven, I had the opportunity to spend a full week on the eighth floor at LDS hospital, similar symptoms, similar everything. taken into the emergency room late at night, I had a CT scan, I had a urine test, blood work, the whole nine yards. again. I had five times the amount of white blood cells (WBC) than I should have, I had an enlarged spleen, and a kidney infection. my diagnosis: mononucleosis, splenomegaly, and nephritis. oh and an ovarian cyst ruptured.
my dad's company had their annual christmas party on that friday, I was invited to be my dear friend's date, his name is Brock, he understood every thing I've gone through health wise. he's in heaven now. I wanted to wear a pretty dress, my mom took me shopping an found a dress that is my favorite one to wear, it's purple and knitted. we went for pizza because we got hungry, that didn't settle with the lack of gallbladder, I was throwing up for hours, I tore something, and was back in the emergency room that night. Brock didn't get to see my dress. I wore it to his funeral.
tried being healthy for as long as I could, I enjoyed playing soccer while on hydrocodone, I got hurt on february 11th.
I'm currently enrolled to become a scrub, and I'm excelling with 21 credits, but I'm still sick. no answer. but this time it's not holding me back. 
my trials have not made me chronically unhappy, they have made me learn and now I appreciate the better days. yesterday was hard. today is okay. tomorrow is going to be better. I will always love the fact that I have been given the opportunity to grow in a manner that Heavenly Father seems fit. I know He loves me, I can feel it every single day, and it only gets stronger with the pain and the trials. I am so utterly blessed to have three brothers and father who are worthy priesthood holders who can lay their hands on my head and give me a blessing from Father in Heaven. the Atonement is a beautifully, powerful thing, there have been moments that I have wanted to just die the Savior saved me and took the pain upon him to make it bearable. He has been so present in my life that I know what I go through he is there going through it with me. I couldn't ask for a more special blessing than having Him love me. 