Nayaab+Chogle

My Future Depends On This...  By: Nayaab Chogle Period 6&7 #3 I thought that I actually had a perfect life when I was in preschool. Yes I know it’s funny that I thought that in preschool. And then came first grade. The palpitation came to haunt me. Palpitation means for your heart to excessively fast whenever you are working out or just mainly doing something simple, such as jogging or even getting up from a chair. Today, I live now with a healthy heart. All I have to do is to tell you how it all happened.

It was 4:00 pm on a Friday evening when my dad and I were at my cardiologist’s office. You know when you are nervous about something and you think about bad thoughts? Well, that is the same thing that happened to me. But that is kind of normal in my family.

“Nayaab Chogle.” the nurse called.

Immediately, my heart dropped. Heh, clever joke right? You get it? Because this memoir is about my heart.? Ah, never mind. So where was I, oh yeah, my heart dropped, as if it weighed a ton and made a small earthquake in my organs. Nervously, I walked slowly towards the door slower than a turtle vs the hare in a race.

“The doctors office is 2 doors down and to the left” the nurse explained.

As I trudged down the hallway towards the room, the doctor was in the room, looking at a paper that seemed like my statistics from the previous years and doctor’s reports. As he saw me he said,

“Hey buddy.”

He seemed friendly because he’s a new doctor to me. His name was apparently, Dr Michael O’Connor. So he is basically Irish. He wore a lab coat with black pants and shoes. He had a black tie as if he were going to a meeting for a big company such as “Google”, or “Apple”. He also had blue eyes and black hair.

“Let me just check you up and then we will talk about the matter that you are actually here for.”

“Okay.” I replied back.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So after checking my blood pressure and beats per minute, he said that I needed a surgery if I needed a healthy heart. If he did not explain that part,, I would cry as if it made a mini Niagara Falls because I had my history of being at the hospital when my heart would beat abnormally fast for a long period of time. That process is actually called palpitation. Anyway, they would insert some kind of medicine that would make the heart go back to its normal heart rate again. I never actually liked those moments. It was as if you were trying to breathe when your lungs were failing. Dr. O’Connor said that the surgery would have to take place on June 6th of 2010. So I had plenty of time to think about how my life would be like after the surgery takes place.While I was thinking about that, bad thoughts suddenly came into my head. I do not want to explain it because it’s like a nightmare without actually sleeping.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">One day prior to the surgery, I said goodbye to to my classmates even though I will be back two days after that day. They all said goodbye back except for those who were not my friend. Around 6:00 pm, my aunt came to pick my sister up to sleepover at her house because she doesn’t like to be around other patients (even though that is crucially mean) and she also doesn’t sleep well in hospitals. I was actually scared for this operation just mainly because of the thoughts that I had before, but my mom told me that if I had this surgery done, my heart will be at a normal heart rate forever as the other children and adults in the world. So I had to muster up all of my courage and get this operation done. Plus, Dr. O’Connor said that while I was being operated on, I would be deep asleep so I wouldn’t feel any of the pain. Let’s just hope that he was actually right.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">At around 5:30 am, I woke up to get ready to leave the house for two long days at the hospital for the operation that was taking place at 6:00 am.. So we went in the car and drove to the hospital. At 5:45 in the morning we finally arrived at the hospital.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Don’t worry,” my mom said, “everything will be okay. You won’t even feel anything.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Even after she said that, I still did not get my hopes up. But I got a happy a little bit because a mom is there in every situation. As I walked in the hallway, I heard almost all of the baby patients crying, and that is not a pleasant sound. When I got to the room that had all of the heart patients, they were all sleeping. Old, young and even some children. As soon as I got to my bed, my mom demanded,

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Change into this gown!”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Why do I have to?” I explained back.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">She handed me the gown and I took it hopelessly. 2 minutes later, I returned from the bathroom that was halfway through the hospital with the gown on and my clothes in my hands and then I handed them to my mom and she placed it in a plastic bag. As I lay down on the bed I saw and grabbed the remote and switched the channel to cartoon network. After a half an hour, the nurse came in with a needle in her hand.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Oh no,” I complained, “Why do I have to take it?”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Relax,” my dad explained, “ It’s just for you to fall deep asleep so they can operate on you in peace... unless you want to feel the pain and the-”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Okay. I heard enough about all that information,” I replied, “ Let’s just get this over with.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As she inserted the needle into my left hand, the pain struck me. I never liked needles and surgeries and I never will. But soon, all the pain and anxiety started to subside.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“You can sleep if you want,” my mom explained, “ the medicine in the needle was supposed to make you drowsy in the first place.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Okay.” I replied.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">That was the last thing I heard and saw and then everything went black. I heard a dream that I had a healthy heart. I was playing tennis the way I wanted. No more thinking or worrying about my heart. It was marvelous, smashing the ball with my amazing forehand and it went as fast as the greatest and fastest baseball pitch. And then, BAM! It bounced on the ground and my opponent, which was my sister who was actually the best kid tennis player in the neighborhood, missed to hit the ball and then everyone cheered and handed me a big gigantic gold trophy. But I did not understand when or how there was a trophy for the tennis competitions in the neighborhood anyway. Then I woke up to see Dr. O’Connor with a clock above him. It was 1:00 in the morning the next day. At 11:00 I have to go home. But what I still don’t understand is that how did I manage to have one small dream and yet still manage to sleep for hours.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I watched the marathon of Johnny Test until 10:30 and then Dr. O’Connor came into the room and said that he had to take out the bandages and then he came and he started to take out the bandages. Immediately, I had tears in my eyes. Thank god that there was only 2 bandages. After that mayhem, I had to change back into my clothes and I did, and I walked out of the hospital with my mom holding my hand because I was still dizzy from laying in bed all day. After we got to the car we decided to pick my sister up and then go home.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This event changed my health and my life forever. If I didn’t take this surgery, I would have to have the palpitation pain every time I exceed my normality for exercise. Now I am living a healthy and normal life. But I still have to overcome one thing but that is a different story.Who knows how my future is going to be like?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: 24px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Author’s Note: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This changed my life very much. Both emotionally and health wise. I currently have a healthy heart and I have no limitations to what I currently do in school and in my neighborhood today. This may not mean anything to you or anybody else, but try to at least imagine having this condition, and having your parents and your doctor limit you to some activities. Now you know.