Light In Darkness

A Second Chance

It's September 25 of 2024. For reasons unknown to me I feel this day will end up being a special one. And I tell you that at 27 and working as a psychologist there isn't much I can consider special. Well... there is something, more like a someone, special in my life. I'm talking about my handsome prince charming; Jonathan Santana, the doctor who sweep me of my feet. We are already engaged so he recently bought a gorgeous mansion on "El Monte" in Ponce so we could live together after the marriage. Jonathan has always been so thoughtful with me! Last year he gave me a BMW as a Christmas gift so I decided to give as a present the Mercedes Benz I owned to my little sister.

You see? I'm such a good sister. No one but me would give such an expensive car to someone who is always wrecking her automobiles.

But enough of that! It's time to work; a patient is waiting.

Suddenly my secretary comes with a young man that is suffering a deep depression because of a severe case of scoliosis. In his last visit the adolescent told me that he was undergoing surgery so they could fix his spine. The young man's case remainds me of a time when I experience the same thing. I still remember that summer of 2010 when my life change forever.

It was the late summer of 2010. At 13 years I was already diagnosed with a severe case of Idiopathic Scoliosis. My spinal column had trapped one of my lungs and there was a high risk percentage that the organ could be punctured by the spine. So the doctors told me and my parents that the only way to save my life was to undergo a surgery to correct the alignment of my column. But here comes the tricky part... The doctors gave my parents only a 50% of success. Meaning that I had the same chances of ending with a corrected spine than ending the same way I was before surgery. All thanks to the severity of my condition.

My spinal column look like an "s", with 98° of deviation above and 99° below. That grade of deviation had caused a hump to appear in the upper part of my back. Which in turn had caused my depression. Why I fell on depression? Easy. I had always care too much about my looks and, at that time, I had a hump on my back! How else would you expect me to react? I was always crying because I felt ugly.

The days passed at an alarming speed and before I knew it, the time for my surgery had arrive. My parents, Jose Garcia and Ines Velez, made all the preparations for my admission in "La Concepción" Hospital and when I was brought to a room the parade started. Countless of doctors and nurses enter and exit my room until, finally, my head surgeon came. Dr. Ramirez Jush was a big man of white skin and black hair that could calm even a lion with his charming personality. He explained every procedure in detail; how they were going to force my spinal column into a more rect position and then insert a long metal bar that will hold my column in place. After that he and all the other doctors left me to rest because in the morning the big event will commence.

The thing I remember more clearly about the day of my surgery was the fear. A fear for what could happen on the operation table, for not been able to see my family again and for ending far more worse than I was already. But thankfully my parents always stood by my side and gave me the courage I needed to enter the surgery room. Even when they themselves where afraid of the entire situation.

When I awoke from the anesthesia the first thing my eyes focused were on my parents' faces. My mother, a tall white woman with blond hair and my father, a tanned bald man were both dressed in struds uniforms. They looked extremely happy that I had opened my eyes. Apparently the surgery had been a success or they wouldn't be so cheerful. With glee my mother confirmed my suspicions and told me that the deviation had decreased to 54° above and 53° below. A really big change in my opinion! Now all that remained was a slow and painful recovery.

My trip to memory land was suddenly ended when my patient ask me if I was alright. I quickly excuse myself and started the session questioning him about his feelings regarding the upcoming surgery. In the end I use my personal experience to assure the young man that everything will be okay and that he had nothing to worry about. He finally left with a positive view of his situation and a smile on his lips. See? I told you this day would end up being special to me.

END
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Author's Note:

Feel free to comment about any grammatical errors you find. English isn't my first language so your corrections will make me a better writer!!