What do you want to be when you grow up? It’s a question that has been asked since we were five years old. At that age most of our answers are fire fighter, pilot, doctor, or even pop star. And now I am twenty-five years old and I am still being asked that question. For the longest time I thought I was meant to be a teacher, because I worked well with children, but as I pursued an education degree I was never really happy. I struggled everyday. Going to class became dreadful and I hated every minute of it. So I asked myself the age old question…What do I want to be when I grow up?
I began exploring my options and the more I researched the more I noticed my interest in anything involving the medical field. My whole life I had grown up around sickly people and I always had an interest in learning every aspect of their illnesses. So I went to Burlington County College and I signed up for an anatomy class and a medical terminology class. I completed each of those courses successfully. I was relieved, shocked and happy. I had never been so interested in school and I wanted to learn more. I researched every program BCC offered till I came across Diagnostic Medical Sonography.
It wasn’t until January of 2012 that I began to take this step toward my goal even more seriously. I had been having problems eating and keeping foods down for months, I shook it off as nerves, and had finally sought out medical attention. My gastroenterologist sent me out for tests. I had blood work done, endoscopies, CAT scans, and more and more blood work. I was frustrated and at my wits end, they kept finding nothing wrong and I was starting to think it was all in my head. Finally I was sent for a gastric emptying test and it was there that they found what was wrong with me. I was diagnosed with Idiopathic Gastroparesis. If it hadn’t been for the anatomy classes I was taking I would have been lost each time my doctor explained what was going on inside my body.