|
|
|
Prediagnosis No, I was not a normal kid. But I suppose normal today means "majority is like" so by being normal you are less unique. I'm not strange, I'm just unique!!! Anyway. I was born on December 11th, 1981 at Community General Hospital (now part of St. Joseph Hospital!!!) in Reading, PA. I was a city baby for a year. I don't remember a single thing from that year, but I did somehow make it on front page of the Reading Eagle (a newspaper) around Christmas time half fallen asleep while my dad sang Christmas carols. I was even a celebrity as a kid, tee hee. City Life (as a toddler) When I lived in the city I had a neighbor who wasn't all that old who used to babysit me some and keep me company when my parents were at work. Just a few years ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer (I think) and, I know this is off the subject of prediagnosis, but she was there at my first chemotherapy and helped me make it through that scary time. She knew all my alternative bands and was really fun to talk to. I blabbered on and on to her and she didn't seem to mind. I think she was proud of my accomplishments as a webmaster (I run davesite.com, a web site with over 100,000 monthly visitors producing nearly 350,000 pageviews per month as of June 6, 1997). Well, she died in May 1997, from cancer. I knew her for so long yet I knew so little about her. Shortly after she died my web site was published in WEB Magazine twice, and the Reading Eagle did another section front article on me (soon to be scanned for your viewing pleasure). I know she would have been really proud of me. I really miss her a lot :( [Life's a bitch... I think someone should give me a quarter everytime I cry while writing this web site... I could buy that Viper I always wanted.] Moving to the Burbs Back to my life, when I was around one and a half I moved to the suburbs of Reading, and have lived there ever since. [Are you stalking me?] I went through pre-school and K-6 like a normal kid, all nice and social and ignorant. When I was a wee little one (second grade, I suppose) my family got their first computer, and I hacked on and on on computer games, and learned to type really fast (I can do over 100 GWAM right now if I don't have a headache). Here in my town there is a car battery manufacturer and steel mill down the street. There is also a pond/lake next to the battery manufacturer, which is probably polluted from one of the former industries that sat where the battery place is now. My town has a pretty high cancer rate in kids, you've got to wonder why. I name no names and remain free from slander. First Signs
When I was in 7th grade I had a tendency to puke my guts out a few times a month. I tried to figure out why and failed miserably at it. Over the course of the next year I lost nearly 30 pounds of weight from fear of eating. I didn't fear being fat, I just feared puking up lunch in front of all my friends. So hell, if that made me anorexic it made me anorexic. But I still didn't like the way I looked! haha. Anorexic Joke, Sorry. :)
At the beginning of ninth grade I met this girl who yelled at me for not eating. She was cute, so I set out to gain some weight. I gained back almost all of the 30 pounds over the next three months, but had grown a few inches, so I was still highly underweight (about 35 lbs. below average at the time.) It felt good to finally have some control over my life again, although I was still extremely depressed.
Around this time I developed this weird tiny little lump right next to the right side of my neck, and I couldn't figure out what it was. I got a cold and went to the doc, and I remembered to show him. He just assumed it was because I had an infection, and it is normal for the lymphs to get a little swollen during those. So I got some "kill-the-germs" meds and just continued my "unique" life for a few more months.
Dave an Anorexic, eh?
My 9th grade teachers (1996) started to get worried that I was anorexic so I got sent to the shrink. After a half hour with me he declared me perfectly sane (I was discharged from the mental hospital with full honors by the way!) and said that it was nice to finally have some humor in his day (the joke of my being an anorexic as my school thought I was). That helped my feel a little better, but still didn't explain why I was sick. I also noticed that the little lump next to my neck was a tad bit bigger, but thought nothing of it.
[ purpose <- prev ] |
|
|
Copyright © 1997-2000 Dave Kristula. All Rights Reserved.