ASSIGNMENTS:
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Kristen Rask
Seattle, Washington USA
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REPORTS:
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In the summer between 9th and 10th grade, I decided to have surgery to lengthen my leg. My right leg was about 2" smaller then the left. The first surgery, the one to put 8 poles in my leg, was the day after Father's Day. I remember trying to eat a lot because I would not be able to eat and/or enjoy food for awhile. That next day I was in surgery and woke up feeling like I would die. The bright lights, the smell and the agonizing pain was scary. A month after this first surgery my parents started turning a "key" in the poles. I could feel my bones and muscles lengthening as they did this. It was horrible and I cried a lot. I also took a lot of drugs for a month solid to take the pain away. I could take 3 pain pills in one sitting and appear normal. I also weighed less than 100 pounds. A few days before my 16th birthday and after 1 other surgery, I had one last surgery to take all of this hardware out of my leg. This is the picture of the two worst scars. They are towards my ankle and because of gravity the ones closer to the bottom are the ugliest. The one directly on the bone is where my skin essentially snapped. Like when you pull a rubber band so hard it eventually breaks. That is what happened to my skin. There is usually a few hairs in that scar as I am too scared to shave around it. I have had the option to get plastic surgery to cover some of these scars but I chose to keep them so that I would remember what I survived through. Even still, I hate going to the doctor to this day. It takes a lot to make me go. I guess I felt like I spent more than a lifetime with doctors when I was younger. I realize it will not be the last time.
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