Dual Immersion 6th Grade 

I've done dual immersion all my life but I haven't been in 6th grade all my life. 6th grade is a whole new experience full of learning and fun, especially because half of my learning is in Spanish. It's nice knowing that I have goals to meet in 2 different languages. I'm grateful for all the teachers I've had from preschool through 6th grade.

Why do I have to go to a hospital at 6 in the morning? I thought as I was waiting for a doctor to step in the room and call my name. I couldn't even eat or drink anything as I was waiting.

I wish the first option my parents chose worked, but it didn't. What made it worse was that only bad thoughts zoomed through my head like race cars. The first thought that came to my head was what if my surgery went wrong and I died?

"You're not going to die," my dad would tell me to reassure me but I could hear his voice shaking.

Two weeks earlier, when I was in 3rd grade the pandemic was happening so I had social distance learning. Since it was 3:00pm, my school hours had just finished so I could do anything I wanted. I decided to talk to my dad until this happened.

"Hey, can you open your mouth really quick Natalie?" Asked my dad who was now in confusion. 

"Why? are you checking that I brushed my teeth because I did so, that's why they're so sparkly!" I said while I opened my mouth so he could see whatever he was looking for.

I opened my mouth for like 2 minutes straight while my dad was still in confusion. After 3 minutes I decided to prank my dad by sticking my tongue out at him while he was inspecting my mouth. Little did I know, that's how he found the problem. 

"What the heck are those things?" My dad asked in shock and terror.

"What, my teeth are normal sparkling white teeth, I even made sure they were not yellow," I blurted out because I thought he was just messing with me.

"No it's something else, can you stick out your tongue again?" My dad asked me.

 I stuck out my tongue again and I could tell my dad saw the same thing because of the shock on his face.

"What, what is it? What are you looking at?" I asked impatiently because I wanted to know.

"Can you still breathe normally?" My dad asked.

"If I couldn't breathe then I would be dead," I explained to my dad while he was taking out his phone to take a picture. He put the flash on so I could see all the details. That photo was a sight I will never forget.

My mom and dad took me to a clinic to get me checked up and see what those things were in my throat.

The building's lobby was a small, empty room. Some of the chairs were covered in caution tape because of the pandemic and on other chairs the cushioning was sticking out. The receptionist was doing paperwork at her desk.

My dad asked her if I could see a doctor. He told me too stick out my tongue to show her why we were there. I stuck out my tongue and watched the horror fill the receptionist's face. She called a doctor right away to check me out.

The doctor's office was a small room with 1 chair to sit on. There were 2 posters on the wall. One was about the human body and the other about the brain. The posters were very detailed because the images looked very realistic and the posters named a lot of the body parts. 

My doctor looked like an old man, he had a shiny bald head, and he had round glasses. He seemed like a nice guy who was very jokeful.

"So what seems to be the problem Natalie," my doctor asked me.

"I'm not too sure myself, but I know that something is in my throat," I told him.

"I see, can you open your mouth for me really quick?" He asked me with a smirk. 

I opened my mouth and stuck my tongue out. I could tell he saw them because his face lit up. He was the first person that wasn't shocked in horror, but fascinated instead. 

"I see, it seems you're tonsils are swollen," He said.

"My what are swollen?" I asked shocked because he was the first person who knew what my illness was.

"Your tonsils, the things that are in the back of your throat," He told me.

"My consoles, they're not in the back of my throat! Their plugged in at my house!" I blurred out.

"No, not your consoles, your tonsils," he explained.

He turned to my parents to talk to them about the important stuff while I was still trying to figure out what tonsils or consoles, whatever one it was called was.

To solve this problem, my dad, mom, and doctor decided to give me a medicine that I had to drink twice a day for a week. The medicine's taste was surprisingly good. I thought it was going to taste horrible and nasty but I'm glad it didn't. 

I continued on with school and did good with my grades. The week went by really fast so I had to go back to the doctor. When I went and the doctor checked to see how I was doing, nothing changed. My tonsils were still there, but worse.

There was no other way to get rid of them. I had to have surgery. I couldn't eat anything in the morning or drink anything before the surgery. 

I was terrified once they called my name. I had to change into a gown and go to bed. Then I got carried away by the doctors. That's when my surgery started. 

After the surgery I felt awful. I tried to tell my dad how bad I felt but no words came out. I couldn't talk or make a single noise besides groaning noises. 

It was worse than a sore throat, worse than a dry cough. l couldn't eat anything hot or spicy. It was something I would never forget!