<p>Please provide constructive criticism. ANYTHING helps!! this is for the UC prompt
Prompt #2 Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?</p>
<p>On July 8th, 2010, I went to the USC medical hospital to have brain surgery. Called a transsphenoidal craniotomy, the surgery was meant to remove a Rathke’s cleft cyst that had grown on my pituitary gland. Near the end of my sophomore year, I noticed that my headaches got more frequent and I felt fatigued throughout the day. At the beginning of my junior year, I noticed that my headaches became more severe and recurrent, and my vision began to decline. By the end of my junior year, I began to drink more and more fluids as a result of extreme, constant thirst. I would drink from two to three gallons per day, and as my thirst became progressively worse, I would wake up as many as seven times during the night just to drink water, and as a result would feel fatigued due to insufficient sleep. After many trips to different doctors, one doctor established that I developed diabetes insipidus, a condition where the kidneys cannot concentrate fluids, as well as amenorrhea, or absent menses. In order to solve my medical mystery, my doctor administered several blood tests and when nothing was found to be abnormal, I was given an MRI. The MRI showed that I developed a Rathke’s cleft cyst on my pituitary gland 1.5 cm in radius, which was affecting both the anterior and superior pituitary gland. The cyst was compressing the gland and was affecting the optic nerve which explained my loss of vision as well as my other symptoms. I needed to have surgery in order to prevent any more vision loss and reverse the diabetes insipidus and amenorrhea, for the cyst had been growing since I was born.
Now that I look back on what led to the discovery of the cyst in my brain, I feel relieved that it was discovered before anything worse happened. I had a tough time keeping up with my schoolwork because I was always tired from lack of sleep, and my headaches occurred daily. The fear of not knowing what was wrong with my body was the worst, because I didn’t know what was happening. It is unfortunate that I experienced a permanent decline in my vision and still have diabetes insipidus, but I am grateful to the doctor who discovered it. I am proud that I was able to keep up with school and golf, and although I couldn’t participate in swimming, I plan to join again in the spring.
I am now a peer tutor for the Special Education department at my school and am also an autism ambassador. I wish to do as much as I can for my peers and show them the same unconditional compassion that I felt during my medical journey. My senior project will raise funds for special education in the community through a benefit dinner as well as encourage peer interaction with other students through the autism ambassador and peer tutor program.
My experience at the USC hospital inspired me to pursue a career which will help others, such as a career in social services or the medical field. I received such genuine compassion from those working at the hospital, the care I received from the doctors and nurses touched my heart and helped me realize that I wanted a career that would be for the better of others. In my lowest moments, I felt so much support from my family and friends that made me appreciate those who are in my life.</p>