CHANGE

Chapter 2

I was having trouble sleeping that night. All I could keep thinking back to was certain events of the past.

Flashback:

"My stomach hurts," I groaned out loud, making my way into my mother's room.

She was half asleep on her bed with the light on as usual. As soon as she heard me, she sprang out of bed and came over to me. My mother was a very light sleeper.

"Ok," she breathed. "Lay on the bed."

This was our routine. Every time I got one of these stomach aches — which was often — I went to my mother, and she would nurse me as best as she could. My parents didn't believe in doctors. I wasn't even born in the hospital, having been born in this house. This made things much harder. I didn't know what was wrong with me, but I knew something was very off.

I was in so much pain. I tossed and turned, groaning, trying to find some kind of relief. Tears filled my eyes. Everyone else was asleep in the house, including my father. Sometimes, I wished he'd be up here with us. I knew my mother was tired, and it got lonely. My mother returned to the room with a pot of hot water and a small towel. She sat next to me. She dipped the the towel in the hot water and then placed it on my side. This helped me a little bit. But the pain was just too great.

Without warning, I threw up onto the floor. My mother got up to clean it up. I moaned once again in pain. Everyone kept saying it was what I ate for dinner, but something told me that wasn't just the case.

Not knowing what else to do, I got out of bed went to the bathroom, and ran the tub. I took off all my clothes and sat down with my side against the water spray. I prayed the pain would subside.

End of flashback.

With a sigh, I tried my best not to think too much back to the past. There was just so much there. It haunted me at times. So many emotions were there as well. I had been born a sick baby. My mother used to tell me she watched me as an infant. I wished she would have taken me to the hospital. That way I wouldn't have had to spend years in so much pain.

These days, since finding out I had a right-side kidney defect, I am pain-free after finding out I needed surgery. They ended up having to cut out a blockage. It had all become too much. I had no choice but to go to the doctor. It all happened when I was working my 2nd job ever. The whole thing ended up being a relief learning what was wrong finally.

My mind drifted to the day I ended finally finding out where to go for my kidney issue.

Flashback:

I had just walked into my shift at the 2nd job I had in life, and I felt really horrible. My side was aching like crazy. I still forced myself to get out of bed and come to work. I had done something like this before as well. When I worked my first job, a sickness had come over me, and I still went to work even though I felt like death. I had been worried about my bills.