My mom and I rushed through the door of the emergency room.

As I inhaled I felt a sharp stab in my chest and
As I exhaled I felt a short relief
Until I needed more air

The nurse directed me to a colorless room down the hall
She handed me a thin gown and told me to change
Moments passed and the same nurse returned with needles
She drew red liquid from my arm into tubes and set them down,
then turned to the IV stand and grabbed another needle.
The IV needle poked my arm,
The IV stand towered over me in my bed to remind me I wasn’t leaving soon

When the nurse came back and said I needed x-rays
They rolled me down another hall on a transportable hospital bed
into a cold, dark room
I laid down on the icy steel table as the stabbing pain got worse
They moved me to different positions to get more angles
With each position came more pain
And each time I dreaded the next position
Once they were done I laid back down on my rolling bed
They pushed me back down the lifeless hall to my room

Moments passed,
My nurse came in with a worried look on her face
She said they found a mass in my left lung
They would soon return to take a CT-scan
Everyone’s face in the room turned to frowns

We started to fear the worst possible
We thought it was cancer or some disease that would kill me

It was only an instant until I started boiling
The nurse returned and took my temperature and it was 104
The CT-scan was abandoned
I had pneumonia
There was a short breath of relief in the room
Knowing that the mass wasn’t the monster we had feared

After being in that hospital for the short time I was,
I learned to always be thankful for what I have and the diseases I don’t