How I learned to take over the world

The holidays are a time for family to get together and reminisce. This thanksgiving, two of my sisters were home, and I discovered that because we are 10 and 14 years apart in age, what I consider "family memories" are not necessarily their family memories.

My mom had done a primary lesson where she pulled up pictures from my surgeries. I had two/three/four surgeries between the ages of 7 and 10-ish. My sisters, who were not born yet, didn't know why, so my mom was explaining it to them. I find this astonishing because in my head, the world revolves around me, and of course everyone knows everything about me :) But then I realized that was twenty years ago.......

So I was going to do a blog post about why I had surgery, and give you all these links to medical information..... and then I remembered, I hate remembering! I am the worlds best forgetter when it comes to medical things. I have some place in my brain where I bury this information, and it never comes back out.

What I can tell you is that I have a lymphangeoma, a type of cystic hygroma, aka a tumor. It is not cancer, and cancer treatments will not work. It is a pink sponge like thing, and it is a birth defect that is not genetic. It happens in a small percentage of the American population. Usually surgery is the only way to remove it, and usually you can't remove it all. I have been fortunate that mine has been stable for a long long time. Once, I used to think that medical technology would advance and I could remove it when I was an adult. Medical technology has advanced, but not in this area. So we leave things be.

What I think I remember (hard to say if it is my memory, or my parents conversations over the years that I claim as my own memories):
- Getting M&M's at every doctors visit
- Not being able to talk
- Wearing an eye patch (before Pirates were cool)
- Not being able to sleep without two or more pillows
- Pigs in a blanket
- Driving home from the hospital, and not being used to the noise of my family
- Skipping alot of 6th grade with the excuse "I'm sick".... and a few of those times I think I was just bored.... remember those reading books with worksheets?

The annoying part about having a lump on the side of my face is when random strangers ask me if I have had my wisdom teeth removed. Sometimes I wish I had a straight smile instead of a crooked one, but I am pretty sure the lump saved me from being a blond ditzy cheerleader, so now, I can take over the world!