So in the beginning of grade ten, it had been about a year since being diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis.
That first year was incredibly tough - trying to find a medication that didn't cause life threatening pancreatitis, trying to get OFF of Prednisone, trying to figure out how to deal with everything....
The night of my grade nine award ceremony was the night before I was getting another colonoscopy in Calgary, so we were not planning on going. We had to drive to Calgary and I had to do all of the prep for the scope - and the disgusting bubbly laxative was so awful and so painful - so it was something that I was truly not looking forward to. In my mind - even at that point - the scope itself was better than that prep.
Anyways, we were debating all day on whether to go to this awards thing... We were not going to go, not with the drive and everything too, but then we received a tip that we should attend the ceremony.
So, a little reluctantly, we went.
The surprise was that, despite missing over 200 classes from being in and out of hospital and doctor's appointments, despite not being able to participate in basketball that year or many of the Spring season sports, I was nominated (but did not win) Athlete of the Year, and then I won Student of the Year. This was so huge for me and I felt so accomplished and so happy that I was able to maintain my reputation as a good student while I was ill. Add the fact that my year was chalk full of incredible students and I was ecstatic!
So then we joked around all the way up to Calgary about how we needed to celebrate. It was a big deal and we needed to commemorate it!
So I got to mix the laxative drink with Powerade...
Best. Celebratory. Drink. Ever.
Ick.
Either way it was a memorable night and I was pretty excited!