I'm prone to getting sick. That includes from regular colds, to strep throat, to eye infections, to scoliosis, and now... maybe a disease.

Yes, I have had strep throat. I've had an eye infection and an ear infection. Once my nail fell off. Colds, of course, too. Flus and fevers. When I was really little, I had breathing problems. Eye problems (I wear glasses). Tooth problems, too (they're crooked. I'll be getting braces soon .-.). And now... maybe costochondritis.

It's a disease type thing that involves chest pain in the left area of their chest. It's common in kids and, thankfully, it's not very serious. But that doesn't mean it can't be one of the scariest things to go through.

It feels like needles endlessly jab at an organ on the left side of my chest. Oh, it hurts. It hurts so, so much. Breathing becomes difficult because deep inhales or out-hales makes it hurt more and I'm left with quickly breathing in and out, which doesn't provide much air. Just moving my upper torso will make a jab 10 times worse. The pain is almost excruciating. This has even happened at school before while I'm walking to class. I don't tell anyone and instead, wait it out. Thankfully the ones at school only last for a few seconds. But the few ones at home last maybe 20-60 seconds. And that's a long time.

Unfortunately, there is no cure for this, but this is how you can try to prevent costochondritis:

(The following information has been copied and pasted from a website called kidshealth.com)

First, identify and correct activities that can cause this kind of pain in kids. Costochondritis often is caused by heavy lifting — such as carrying an overstuffed backpack, especially on just one shoulder, which many kids do. If your child has to carry lots of books to and from school, buy a supportive backpack that spreads weight evenly over both shoulders and make sure it's worn over both shoulders.

Now, onto a story that I remember all too well:

No, no, no! Please, no! The pain. It's come back. My breathing becomes shallow as the pain increases. Tears come to my eyes, as I'm frightened to death. Slowly, I shut off my tablet and try to get into a more comfortable position. Right now, I'm lying on my stomach.

Slowly, painfully, I adjust my position to one of me lying on my right side/arm. My breath hitches every time I move, because whenever I do (move), it hurts more. And then I start yelling (screaming, really) for Mama.

"MAMA!!"

It hurts to yell, but I keep doing it.

"MAMA! HELP!!! MAMA!"

She bursts into the room and I try to explain what was happening, tears of fear clouding my vision.

This pain lasted for several minutes as my mama tried to comfort me through it. I told her how this had happened before and she said that maybe it was my kidneys because... well, I forgot what she had said.

~~~~~

I was scared because:

1. I could've been dying.
2. I could have caught a deadly disease, like cancer.
3. It just plain hurt. It hurt and hurt and tears are coming to my eyes. A tear just rolled down my cheek. And another. It was the scariest thing that has ever happened to me. And I want it to all go away. I hate dealing with all these conditions. I'm already worrying about straightening my spine and getting braces and now I suddenly find out that I have this weird disease! It's just too much to handle. I feel like screaming at the world. I just hate this...