BANG! My head smashed into the court.

     “VanCoover!” called the coach.
     “Valery” yelled my dad as the coach was calling a time out. Phillip VanCoover and Coach Meagan ran up to me. I was completely knocked out.
     “Did the volleyball hit her?” asked my best friend Jessica.
     “No” called back the coach. After they put an ice pack on my head, I still was out, and the ambulance was on its way.  They gave me oxygen while I was in the ambulance, and in a few minutes, I was finally conscious again. I had no memory of what happened.
     “Where am I? What happened?” I asked frantically.
     The doctor in the car said, “Calm down. You are in an ambulance on your way to the hospital. You passed out during your volleyball game.” I immediately started sobbing. “Calm down” he said again. I turn to my right and there was my dad sitting next to me. At the same time, I realized that I was hooked up to an IV.
     Dad said, “It's going to be alright Val.” Right then the back door to the ambulance opened and a gaggle of doctors and nurses swarmed in. As they were taking my stretcher out,one of the doctors began taking my temperature, blood pressure, and checking my heart rate. Once I was out of the ambulance, they put me in a room with another doctor. His name was Dr. Peterson. After he told us his name, he began asking my father and me questions.
     “What is your full name? How old are you? What grade are you in?” he asked. Oddly enough he sounded really calm, like he had just gotten back from a yoga class or meditation session.
     “Valery Ann VanCoover, I am thirteen years old, and I am in eighth grade” I responded. The next few questions were seemed stupid to me, “are you a girl? do you smoke?” Of course I’m a girl I thought in my head. Also, my dad would kill me if I smoked. I am only thirteen years old like I just said.
     Next Dr. Peterson asked, “Do you play any sports or extracurricular activities that could stress you?”
     I responded with, “I play volleyball with the school team. I also play golf sometimes in my free time. Why, could those have caused me to pass out?”
     “We are not sure yet,” replied Dr. Peterson. He turned to my dad and continued asking him a lot of questions. I didn't really pay attention to those, though one caught my attention. Dr. Peterson asked if my mother knew about me being here. All of a sudden all of my muscles tightened up.
     My dad replied with, “We lost her a little less than a year ago with Valery's brother in a car accident.”
     “Oh I am so sorry.” said the doctor. He seemed very uncomfortable after he asked that question. Once we were all done with the questions they took me to get an MRI of my head. I had never gotten one of those before, and I was really scared. They put me into a giant magnet for an hour and it made loud beeping noises while it scanned my whole body.  Dr. Peterson said, “Don't be afraid.  It won't hurt a bit. I'm going to have to leave you here with our MRI specialist, Rodger. He will take great care of you!” Then Dr. Peterson left walked out of the room with my dad. This giant magnet is really like a tube or tunnel.  As I was sitting in this tube, my mind was racing. What is wrong with me? Am I going to die?Is anyone hiding anything from me? Is there something important I forgot about or missed? I started to freak out!
     “Calm down and please stop moving,” called Rodger. I started taking bigger breaths trying to calm myself down. In through your nose out through your mouth I'm thinking to myself. After about an hour, Rodger finally says that I'm done. That was the longest hour in my life. They don't let me get up by myself, and this time they don't put me on a stretcher, either. They picked me up and put me on a comfy hospital bed – the kind that you can move the feet and head up and down as you please to make yourself comfortable. Now, that's more like it!
     “Am I staying here for the rest of the day?” I asked. “I don't really like hospitals, they scare me.”
     “No, probably not. But, we'll have to wait for your MRI results to return.” said Dr. Peterson. “We want to make sure you're doing okay and your brain is healthy. We might run a few more tests later if that's okay with you?”
     I didn't really want to say it was okay, but I had to. I didn't want to be sick. We finally got to my  room where I'd stay awhile in the hospital. It looked very depressing. It was all white - white walls, chairs, and even tables. When they put me in in the right spot they hooked me up to yet another IV. At least that’s what I thought they were doing. I looked to my right and they were drawing my blood. I immediately turned back around. I hate needles. After that, they hooked the IV up to the needle.
     When they were done with that they took me to get x-rays. I had never gotten one before but I knew it couldn't have been worse than the MRI. When I got my x-ray they took pictures of my head and legs. I'm pretty sure they did this because of how hard I'd hit my head. They scanned my legs to see if they were broken and to see if that's why I'd collapsed.
     Right after I got my x-rays they took me back to my room to finally rest awhile as we waited for the results. My dad was back in the room with me again now, and I was glad for him.  Ultimately, we waited and waited. I actually ended up falling asleep.  I was tired and there was really nothing else to do. A few minutes after I woke up, the doctor came in with the nurse. They took my blood pressure and checked my heart rate one last time before they told us the results. Dr. Peterson sat down while the nurse remained standing next to the door. Eerily the room was silent. You could hear a pin drop. Our every breath was noticeable. Dr. Peterson, himself, almost seemed nervous, and he could sense the worry in my and my father's faces.
     “I'm very sorry to say but... you have a mass in your brain. I suspect it is a very rare form of a  brain tumor.” said, Dr. Peterson
     We exchanged glances. My dad and I looked at each other for a few seconds, and then he started talking.
     “This is impossible! Valery is a very healthy thirteen year old. She is also very active. How did this happen?” My dad said this trying to be calm, but you could hear the worry and frustration start to come out in his voice.
     “Valery, have you had any symptoms? Have you been headaches, sickness, or drowsiness?” He went on and on.
     Now that I was thinking about it, I was showing symptoms.
     “Yes, I guess I have. I'm always getting head aches. Also I am usually very tired.” It all makes sense now but, I don't want to believe it.
     “Why didn't you ever tell me this. I would have taken you to the doctor to get it all checked out.” Instantly, my father's only desire was to make me better - NOW.
     “I thought I was just not getting enough sleep and that's also why I was getting headaches.”
     “I am sorry but we are not sure what caused this brain tumor,”said Dr. Peterson.
     “What kind of tumor is it? Has it spread though other places in her body?” My dad was more worried he had ever been in his life. I know that he is just looking out for me as I am the last one who is with him.
     “Right.... She has Pleomorphic Xanthroastrocytoma. It is most commonly diagnosed in kids around the age of twelve. It is in the upper area of the skull adjacent to the brain. The tumor causes increasing pressure against the head. This is where the headaches come from.  Reassuringly,  the tumor has not spread all the way to the spine. On that note we need to talk about making sure it does not spread.” Dr. Peterson seemed very sure of himself when he was done talking.  He had some ideas for treatment already and needed to tell us about that now.
     My dad then opened his mouth to talk but was speechless. He tried again and words finally came out. “Okay, so what will those be?”
     “There are two options that work very well for this particular type of tumor. You could have surgery or do radiotherapy. Before you ask questions let me explain what they are and the steps we would need to take for both. For the surgery they will take out as much of the tumor as possible. If it does get completely removed and does not grow back, all you will have to do is get monthly MRI's. If it does start to grow back or is not taken all of the way out we will have to do further treatment. For the radiotherapy they use high radiation to kill all of the cancerous cells. This is also a great treatment that I usually recommend after surgery if the tumor is cannot be completely removed. I want you both to think about these choices and let me know when you're ready what you want to do.”
     My dad and I looked at each other for a few seconds and I quickly replied: “We agree that surgery is my best option at this point. Anything to get rid of the tumor.”
     He replied, “Great choice, when would you like to start?”
     “As soon as I possibly can.”
     “ This is great! You should be lucky you fainted this morning. If we wouldn't have found this today the cancerous cells could have spread through your entire body. We can start tomorrow. We will just need your dad to sign papers and conference with him to go over the picky details.” Dr. Peterson, the nurse, and my dad all left the room to finish talking, and I tired to fall asleep.
     Hardly any time passed, and they were back, and Dr. Peterson told me that I could leave and go home. My nurse unhooked me from everything, and just as Dr. Peterson was leaving the room, he said, “Valery, I will see you tomorrow to start the process. Be ready.”
     This frightened me a little bit but, I couldn't wait for this mass to be gone. We finally got discharged and left.