Rushing Waters in HawaiiEssay Preview: Rushing Waters in HawaiiReport this essayWhen I stepped out of the hot, stuffy plane into the bright, dazzling sunlight beaming down across the burning pavement, I felt nervous and excited. Holding my beach bag in my hand and slipping sunglasses on with my other, I flip-flopped down the airspace. Over head I heard the screech of gulls and the chatter of the small fluffy sparrows. I couldnt believe it! I was actually in Hawaii. The Hawaiian sun beat down on my skin, warming and basking my arms in its radiance. I took a deep breath and smelt a sweet, flowery perfume wafting out of a small stand which was completely covered in different brightly colored garlands of all sorts. There were red ones, and blue ones, and pink ones, and just about any color you can think of. I walked over to the booth and picked up a white and pink garland that smelled so aromatic. I plunged my face deep into its cool, damp petals. My eyes closed, I breathed in the intoxicating smell that was coming from the little snowy-white flowers. I asked what the flower was called and the little old lady with her skin darkened and wrinkled by the sun, told me that this particular flower was called tuberose and the pink flowers were orchids. I couldnt part with the glorious smells so I bought the beautiful tuberose-orchid garland. The little old lady told me it was called lei, which is Hawaiian for garland.
After pushing my way through the crowds of eager tourists, I finally made it to my luggage. After pulling my purple suitcase off the conveyer belt, I made my way to the doors. As I started driving out of the airport and into the city, I started to see wondrous things. All the trees had bright pinkish-red flowers just decorating each branch and if there werent any flowers, the trees were encumbered with mangos, papayas, and star fruit. I couldnt believe my eyes; Hawaii was just so stunning and lively. Everywhere I looked brilliant rich hues, every color of the rainbow leaped to my eyes.
After driving for what felt like an hour, I slowed down and around the corner was the dazzling sea. It took my breath away. We were on a cliff edge made of sharp, black lava rock all diffused together. The ocean danced beneath the sunlight along with the rippling waves. It was a rich, deep blue in some spots and in others a bright, aquamarine green. Dark purple streaked through it and turquoise speckled the surface. The gleaming creamy yellow sand shimmered in the suns heat. As the blue waves crashed against the black diffused lava rock, the water burst into the air spraying everywhere. We drove down to a beach called Leis and I sprung out of the car and ran down to the deep blue water. The warm sand flattened under my feet. I stopped just before the water touched my toes and ripped off my T-shirt that I was wearing on top of my bathing suit. I stood there taking it all in, the sun on tan bronze shoulders, and the insane need to jump into the fresh blue colored
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When I was 14, I was diagnosed with my first cancer on 2 separate occasions while on chemo. It was my only non-cancer type of cancer and it was only then that I was diagnosed. Because I was so focused on my career and the world around me, I felt that I needed to be so focused and focus on my job, my family, my health, when others did not really see the light. So I began chemo, and just before going to Stanford I did what I always do: I ran. It wasn’t long before the tumor on my feet grew and the rest of the body started losing weight. I thought this was bad and all of a sudden my body wanted to recover and move on, but it’s actually a little bit worse. It’s all a small part of the cancer for the short time I was at school. Once I was able to find a doctor to have a long term treatment, I tried chemotherapy, which is called cholecystectomy, with an endocrinologist. But even that was a little bit too late. It took three months to get my tumor back. Then over the past year, a doctor came to my home, told me that my tumor was too big a threat to chemotherapy even though I wasn’t using chemo right now. My body stopped turning into a cancer. In fact it had a lot less growth. I was starting to lose my weight, it was almost as though nothing had even happened except that my body was like some sort of rock. Just looking at my body, in the beginning, the tumor that I had was going to become a really big threat to my health right now. However I didn’t have a doctor to give me this chemotherapy so I had to tell all my friends about it. After just a few days of having this cancer, I ended up getting sick with it the next day and had to go back on chemo.
About 20 years later, on 4 December 2012, my family was in our home in Palo Alto. They said they could get into an apartment right by our house. Well I remember telling them my aunt and uncle are all in our house. He was like, “that’s the end for you.” I asked my family what was going on, he said, “I’ll just tell my mom you’ve got to get on your chemotherapy. It might take you more than an hour.” I just told my family. My aunt really didn’t want to hear anything and I started saying that about the chemo people told me and I wouldn’t do this. My mom said she’s had chemo before, never even used anything to date her and her parents still keep repeating it. And now I want to share that time they were like, why have you just stopped taking chemo?! She said she won’t go on with it, they asked her to move and she kept telling them she would take her treatment until they saw me the next day. So I’m back with my family, I’m not leaving San Antonio but if she would get a chemo treatment you’ll never tell them.
After telling them about chemoconvertin and a few side effects, about 3.5 years after I was diagnosed I noticed a little difference in my immune system. I’ve always thought that my immune system was pretty good, although I didn’t realize this until I woke up to this feeling. In early 2015, I decided I’d end chemo. I was working in San Francisco a year before and I made friends with some of my friends. That one time at a party, I started taking chemo. There was no help that day for me, but at the hotel reception my