Identity Portfolio
The Pressure of Cancer By William
Family !Tree My Grand Parents
My Parents
My Brother
ME
Author's Note ! Cancer is one of the most deadliest disease in the world. Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, causing 7.6 million deaths each year and it causes around 13% of all deaths. Cancer is not just a single disease, it is a group of over 100 different kinds of diseases. Lung cancer is just one of them but it causes more deaths than all other cancers combined. Lung cancer is caused by mutated cells and as they spread uncontrollably in the lungs, they can affect other parts of the body if left untreated. The mutated cells spread to other parts of the body by traveling along the blood vessels.
“ Please wait in the waiting room m’am,” mentioned a nurse dressed in a white nurse’s garb. ! I followed the nurse into a square, white room. There were a whole lot of people sighing, who sat on black steel chairs who I guessed, were waiting for their relative’s results. I sat down at one of the steel chairs with my brother next to me. Everything had changed when I found out that my mother had lung cancer, I was so shocked that I didn’t know how to respond. I remember it all started when she walked up to me every morning moaning. ! “ None of the foods are like I remember them, I don’t feel like eating,” she moaned, laying down on a worn-out grayish sofa, “ I’m soo tired, I don’t think I slept at all. ” ! I stared at the pure white clock ticking on the wall. I remembered how she had asked dad to go with her to the hospital in Hangzhou. The doctor had suggested an x-ray scan. After the results came out, the doctor pointed out a dark spot in the lungs with his index finger and tapped it. The doctor wasn’t sure if she had cancer or not because the image quality was too poor. She decided to go to a better hospital in Shanghai to check if she had cancer. ! As I sat on the cold, steel chair, I recalled how I had accompanied her to the Shanghai Lungs Specialist Hospital. Here I found out that she had cancer. Personally I think that the cancer was due to inhaling second hand smoke. The doctor suggested a surgery; however, my mom made the final decision. After a few days, she decided to have the operation. ! I stood up and walked out of the waiting room and turned right, into the white corridor, finally coming to a halt at the elevator and looked back at the waiting room. I though about how busy week before the operation had been. I had went and bought all the things the doctor requested. Since my mom got cancer the doctor strictly limited the food she eats which made me go shopping at different markets to find the food requested. !
! The corridor was empty other than the nurses walking around the corners and the sound of doctors demanding items from the nurses. I turned and stepped slowly towards the other end of the corridor where the waiting room stood, I hesitated at the room where my mom was having the surgery and moved on. I stepped in the waiting room and sat down next to my brother. The next couple hours in the waiting room was like a nightmare, I couldn’t stop thinking about my mom and what will we do if the surgery failed. I was so nervous that I couldn’t even concentrate on what I’m saying. ! Four hours later, my brother and I started to get sleepy, until a nurse finally came into the room and told us that the surgery was successful and we could go see the patient after she came out of the surgery room. I felt so relieved, as if I dropped a huge bag filled with bricks. I immediately ran to see her outside the surgery room.
Interview How where you affected by the event? ! -Had to reschedule events and cancel my lessons to take care of grandma When was it? ! -June 21 Do any memories stick out to you? ! During the surgery What was happening around you when you were waiting for the surgery to finish? ! -A lot of other people waiting for their relatives result What type of cancer did grandma get? ! -Lung cancer How did you feel when you were waiting outside the surgery room? ! -Worried, sad and nervous. Which hospital were you in? ! -Shanghai Lungs specialist hospital Did you have any other relatives there? ! -My brother (my uncle) How did your brother feel? ! -Same as me Did you cry? ! -yes How long did the surgery take? ! -6 hours Did you eat anything? ! -no What were you thinking? ! -wished that the surgery would go smoothly Did you just sit there waiting or did you walk around? ! -Sometimes sit, some times walk What did you do while waiting outside the surgery room? ! -talked to other people and talked to her brother (my uncle) What did you feel after the event? ! -relieved, relaxed and tired What did you do before the event? ! -prepared the things the doctor required - clean clothes, special food, etc What did you do after the event? ! -went back home and took a long sleep.
Reflection ! Working on this project has helped me understand my family better. I have learned a lot about my family’s past. I have learned why my family has so many relatives in Guizhou. ! I think this project is important because by doing this project I learned things about my family that I never knew before. By learning about my family’s past helps me understand better who I am. Learning about my family’s history is just as important as learning how to write. ! I came over many challenges during the project. One of them was when I was researching background information, I didn’t know where in the lungs the cancer was and nor did my mom know. I asked my grandma. Another challenge was when my mom couldn't remember exactly what had happened. ! I enjoyed conducting interviews with different family members because I learned so many things I didn’t now about my family. I also enjoyed writing the story because when I wrote, I realized I didn’t have enough information, so it made me go back and interview my mom again. I think every part of the project was fun but I enjoyed interviewing the most. !
Bibliography "cancer." Britannica Student Encyclopedia. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2012. Web. 9 Oct. 2012. "Lung Cancer." Lung Cancer. Credo Reference, 2008. Web. 07 Nov. 2012. <http:// www.credoreference.com/topic/ lung_cancer>. Sheen, Barbara. Lung Cancer. Detroit: Lucen, 2008. Print.