Aunt Flo visited, but she actually stayed more than I wanted her to—three months to be exact. Other girls’ aunts normally come and visit for a week or so, but my aunt was different. She would stay and I would be miserable. She was good at “magic”; I guess you would call it that: making blood flow out of my vagina on a regular basis. Yeah, that was what she was here for. Aunt Flo is my shark week, my time of the month. She is my period.

Three months is unusual for a visit. I was worried. I went to the doctor. I had blood work done to see if anything was wrong. I thought I was ghost pregnant or something, if that was even a thing. I got scared. I did not know what was wrong.

Why does it feel like my water is breaking? But instead of water, it is blood. Why is my period so irregular?

I mean, normally Aunt Flo is supposed to come visit every 27 days or so, but for me, she does not just come and visit; she stays. When the doctor explained to me what was going on, I started to become relieved. At least I know that my vagina is working every once in a while. Aunt Flo stays for so long because of a little cyst on my ovaries.

I have PCOS: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.

If I ever wanted to have children, it will be hard, which does not really concern me right now because I do not want kids. But lets say that one day I do: the struggle will be real. I will have fertility issues that come along with having PCOS.

With PCOS, it means that I have high testosterone and my hormones are unbalanced. The funny thing is that if you look at it on the flip side, I could grow a beard, which would be cool, because then I can become a David if I really wanted to.

When my favorite aunt came back to stay again, I was at school. It seemed like a normal day. I got up, got dressed and left for school. When I got to school, something just did not seem right. It was fourth period and I had to check. I went to the bathroom, and there she was. It was super bad. It got to the point where I went through one extra-large tampon in two minutes. I had to keep changing it, but I couldn’t keep asking to go to the bathroom in class every two minutes. I had no choice but to leave school. It was rough. The next day, it was weird, because my period was gone. It was like a mini-vacation, because the day after that, my period came back and it was the same process. I hated it. Sometimes, it is a walk in the park, but other times I just want to lay down forever and not get up.

I am always jittery. I do not know when the next time my period will come. Will it come in a month? Two months? Five months? It has been eight months and still no show. So, I am always anxious about when it will come and I am never aware of the arrival.

With not knowing when the time will come, it means that I have to stay close to home. I always have to be prepared, I always have to be aware, just in case anything happens. Just so I can be comfortable. I have two pairs of pants in my locker, so I am able to change pants and stay in school. When my period gets too tough to handle, I go home and put a heating pad on, just like any other girl does. But in reality, I also get up to go to the bathroom every five minutes to change a tampon.

Without my period, on the “regular” days, it feels like I have it, but I don’t. I will start to have cramps. My mood begins to swing. I will have all the period symptoms, just no blood. The mood swings and cramps will last about seven days. When I was in cheer, I was a nervous wreck. If I moved a certain way, something would happen. What if my tampon just fell out? What if when I did a toe touch one of the cysts burst? If a cyst did burst, either I will be in a lot of pain, or it could be fatal.

Since graduation is coming up in two months, I am worried that I will get my period during the ceremony. That is my biggest fear right now. I will just be sitting there outside, and my period will come unexpectedly.  How embarrassing that would be, walking across the stage with my “aunt.”

I am glad that Aunt Flo comes and stays every so often; it means that everything in my vagina is working, just working for a longer timespan. When she comes, it seems like she gains a couple of pounds. She is getting heavier and heavier every time she stays. I love my Aunt Flo, but sometimes she can be a pain.