Invincible

Everyone knows that teenagers, or tweens as the case may be, are INVINCIBLE.  Or at least we like to think so.  I fancied myself as invincible at the age of 13.  I mean really, who gets seriously injured, much less dies, at the age of 13?  Sure it happens but not to ME. 

I think my infertility started when I was fifteen years old.  Or perhaps a few years before that.  I was around 13 when I was on a sleepover.  Did you all play those silly games like "Light as a feather, stiff as a board" and levetate your friends with your finger tips?  I may be dating myself!  This was exceptionally popular when I was a kid, living on the east coast.  Anyway I had my head bent down.  You know concentrating on my powers of levetation ;o)  Being 13 years old when I bent my head and noted I couldn't breath well I simply thought, "hmm, guess I shouldn't put my head down quite so far".  Perhaps if I wasn't quite so laid back I may have mentioned said issue to my mother and taken care of the whole mess earlier and with less consequences.  But I didn't because I was 13.  And we all know that 13 year olds are INVINCABLE.  So I went about my life.

Flash forward TWO YEARS.  Yup that's right.  Two years later, and still unable to breath if I turn my head a certain direction, I put my hair in a pony tail and went in the living room to watch t.v.  My mom JUMPED, and I do mean jumped, out of her chair and said, "What is THAT?!"  To whcih I calmly respond, ok I may have responded with a bit of attitude I was fifteen afterall, "What is what?"  Trying in vain to escape her grasp on my arm.  "Your neck, what is that on your neck"?

Believe it or not I had NO CLUE what she was talking about.  You would think it being my neck and all I would have noticed the LARGE lump protruding from the right side of my neck. 

"Huh, I dunno" was my only reply.  Still not worried mind you... I am invincible remember.

"How long has that been there?"

"What part of 'I don't know' wasn't clear".  Smart ass, I know.

My mom proceeds to point out the large lump on my neck.  I reply with an "Oooooh, maybe THAT'S why I can't breath when I turn my head"!

I think my mom about had a heart attack right there on the spot.  That or she wanted to strangle me - I'm not sure which.

"How long have you been 'unable to breathe'" she calmly asks.  And yes, she was calm.  My mom has always been good in a crisis.

Anyway, not to bore you with the details but I had an 8x6x4.5 tumor in my neck.  WHOA.  The doc removes it, tells me it's cancer and I say "So what ya gonna do about it".   Cool as a cucumber just like my mom.  Well that and I'm 15 and like I said, 15 year olds are invincible!