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The Best One to HaveBy Rob Diaz-MarinoJune 4/97 I must have been 6 then. Young and innocent, enjoying the inexplicability of life, that I fell ill... My thirst, insatiable, I had to urinate almost every five minutes. Finally, my parents got fed up. They took me to a small clinic, where the doctors did some tests. I could see the sadness welling in my mom's eyes as they told her things I didn't understand. Dad left work early, and met us at the Children's Hospital. I felt disembodied, my face was serious, as the doctors continued to ramble. I had to have a needle in my arm. I really hated needles. When I learned I had to have one every day, I cried. "10 years, maybe 15," the nurse said. "Maybe then there'll be a cure". A glimmer of hope, but so faint and distant. 15 years of pricks and injections... "Your son is quite lucky", I heard the doctor say to Mom and Dad. "Leukemia, Cystic Fibrosis, of all the diseases, this one is, by far, the best one to have." Why did I have to be sick at all? The best disease is NO disease. Why can't I just have a normal life, one that's healthy and trouble free. "Blindness, nerve damage, kidney failure, weakened immune system. All possibilities if your son doesn't take care of himself." I couldn't bare to hear any more... My friends at school held me in awe, because I got to eat in the middle of class, and they didn't. They thought, though, that the needle part was a little grisly. 10 years now, I do three needles a day. They don't hurt any more, and I don't complain. In fact, I can't imagine a life without Diabetes. It has remolded normality for me, like clay on a potter's wheel. |
© 2000 Rob Diaz-Marino. All rights reserved. |