It seems so strange now that I am actually working as a teacher, but there was a point in my life when I thought that it was all over. If you have never felt that your entire life was crumbling right before you, then count yourself lucky. It is the most harrowing experience that you can imagine. And I am not talking about overreacting to something that is not that serious at all. I am talking about a justified fear that your life is never going to turn out the way you wanted it to.
Namely, I cannot remember the time in my life when I didn’t want to be elementary school teacher. While other girls pretended to be princesses, doctors, veterinarians, or whatever, I always pretended to be a teacher. I would get my toys to sit and listen to me teaching them stuff. I guess it is nice to know what you want to be and stick with it. Throughout my elementary school and the best part of high school I was hoping so much that I would one day be the teacher.
However, it turned out that Chance had something different in store for me. Namely, when I was in my senior year in high school, I started experiencing strange things that really got me worried in no time. In about a week or so, I went from being a completely healthy girl to someone who is having problems staying awake in school and sleeping properly. Still, it was only a beginning. Namely, I started having cataplexy attacks, as I would later find out those were called. I would feel weak in my knees and then I would fall down. It happened every time I felt any strong emotions.
This was the signal that there was something really wrong with me and I feared the worst, some incurable disease that will have me in a month or so. It turned out I had narcolepsy and like many people who do, I also suffered from cataplexy, the weakness in the muscles that is. My doctor told me it was quite serious and that I will have to start taking medications, Ritalin for my narcolepsy and Xyrem for the cataplexy. This combo really did it for me. As my narcolepsy became almost negligible thanks to Ritalin, my cataplexy episodes became really rare. I am still taking my combo of drugs and I am living the life I always wanted to live. I am a teacher. And a good one at that.
