My Life

                            My Life                          Written October 31, 2007
I'm writing this to get everything off my chest.

  I have a condition called Hydrocephalus, in easier terms, its called water on the brain. My parents told me that I was going to have a big head when I was little if the doctors didn't do surgery on me.  I have 2 shunts in my head to drain the extra fluid from my brain to go to the rest of  my body. I  was born on January 9, 1984 in Hollywood, Florida. I was a premature baby.
 
  I was supposed to be born in March, but I was alot earlier than that. I was in the hospital for 10 weeks before my parents could bring me home. The hospital kept telling my parents to always come to the hospital to sya goodbye to me, because they were scared I was going to die.
 
  I was only 2 pounds when I was born. Everyone was so worried about me when I was born, they didn't know if I was going to live or die. The doctors told my parents to not name me because I was only going to live a few hours.  You don't tell any parent that, no matter how sick your child is, it's cruel. I have had so many surgeries, more than I like to remember, but the last time I was in the hospital was in 2003.

  My mom said that my dad can't handle that I have problems that I'm always going to have, and I believe her. When I want to do anything, my dad always tells me I can't do something because of my shunts. I can do pretty much anything that everyone else can do.

He is emotional hurtful to me, he calls me stupid sometimes, he makes me cry. He loves me, but he never shows it, which hurts. I'm 23 now, and I'm doing good. I feel like he always puts my brother ahead of me, he never tells him that he can't do anything, he always encourges him, but not me.

  I might be slower than other people at some things, I might not be able to get a really good job, but I'm NOT stupid. The only person that encoruges me always is my mom, she never calls me stupid or puts me down. I've been in and out of hospitals since I was born, but I could be a lot worse than I am.

I love my dad, but he likes to try to tell me what to do even though I'm 23, and I don't live with him. For example, he tells me that I need to wash my hair, or put on makeup, or wear different clothes. I can make all those decisions on my own, I don't need anyone to tell me what to do.

  I still live with my mom, my stepdad, and stepbrother, but I can pretty much take care of myself.