Another cooking day with Victoria! Victoria is the chef that’s granting my wish from Make-A-Wish. Today we made green onion pancake, steamed broccoli, and a pasta salad.
The green onion pancake is a recipe my grandma knows. Since we didn’t use any yeast, the green onion pancake wasn’t easy to make. We made a dough with flour and water, and mixed green onion and salt in the dough. We rolled the pancake in circles, then fried them.
For the steamed broccoli, we put a small amount of water in a pot and added the brocoli. The evaporated water softens the broccoli. After the broccoli was steamed, we mixed it with grapes, bell pepper, pine nuts, and red onions.
Victoria chopped green olives in half while the egg noodles were boiling. She also diced some red onion. After the egg noodles were drained, she mixed them with the green olives and red onion. Sun dried tomato, red wine vinegar, Italian seasoning, and mustard were also added. To plate the pasta salad we added some basil leaves.
Today is my doctors appointment. In the waiting area we saw someone from the Ronald McDonald House. She’s a toddler that had her heart transplant shortly after me. We met her at the Hospital Prom. She’s doing really well.
After my appointment, we saw Nicole (see September 20, 2018). Nicole is a 10 year old girl that’s been in the hospital since May. This is her 5th open heart surgery, but after kidney complications and a stroke she’s still in the Intensive Care Unit.
In the room next to Nicole was Jessica (see September 28, 2018). Jessica is a girl that’s also been in the hospital since May waiting for her heart transplant. In the Ronald McDonald house I met her grandmother. I told Jessica about my transplant, and life after transplant.
Today was a Pink Dot Club meeting. Pink Dot Club is a club on my school that raises awareness for transplant. I met them at the transplant reunion party (see August 11, 2018).
We wrote cards to patients in the hospital. I made cards specifically to Nicole, the 10 year old girl in the hospital since May (see September 20, 2018) and Jessica (pseudonym). I’m going to donate the cards the next time I go to the hospital.
Nicole is a 10 year old girl battling heart failure and she’s been in the hospital since May. She was born with a non functioning right artery. As a result, she needed to replace her artery with a mechanical one. As she grows up, her heart grows too and she needs her artery replaced, thus this being her 5th open heart surgery.
In summary of her hospital stay, she didn’t wake up immediately from surgery. After she woke up, her kidneys started to fail, She had to be placed on dialysis. After that she had a stroke. The left side of her was completely paralyzed. As a last option, she was placed on the heart transplant list. She was monitored relentlessly by the doctors, but after her code blue today she didn’t make it. A code blue is an emergency situation announced in a hospital of a person in cardiac arrest.
Nicole’s dad owned multiple restaurant chains. At age 18, he built his own restaurant with his own hands. When Nicole asked him to be with her, he sold his restaurant chains and moved in to her city. Nicole’s sister suffered too. When she was offered to stay with her grandparents she said, “No. I want to be with Nicole.” Nicole was only 10, but she already had a boyfriend. He was the son of the pastor. Nicole was a devout Christian. Everyone in her town knew her, and her town’s church group stood in a circle for an hour praying to her. Tw days before today Nicole changed her name to Nicole Faith. The first thing her dad posted on FaceBook was “Nicole got her wings today”.
The worst my Mom and I thought Nicole would be is half crippled. We never expected her to pass. Next time at Stanford, Nicole won’t be in her room. She’ll be in a casket. In her room will be another patient.
You can help. 6,775 people die each day in the United States. If every one of them was an organ donor, Nicole would’ve been saved. Please register to become an organ donor. An inconvenience of a few clicks can save someone else’s life.
I had a swim lesson today. My coach knows about my heart transplant, my scar, and the fact that I’m immune compromised. She tells me if I need a break, then I should tell her.
Notice how I’m wearing a shirt?
The shirt covers my scar.
It’s amazing that I’m swimming so long. Before transplant, I did swim but only 10 laps. What happened each lap was:
¼ through: I run out of breath, my heart starts beating faster
½ through: I gasp desperately for breath, my heart starts beating faster and louder
¾ through: my heart is beating furiously, pain builds up inside my chest
I don’t feel any pain in my chest after swimming, which is a miracle. I run out of breath in one lap, not a ¼ lap.
My city, Pleasanton, is a very athletic city. Every one of my classmates is either doing soccer, football, hockey, basketball, cross country, lacrosse, tennis, golf, swim, water polo, marching band, or cheerleading. I think “I could’ve been that.”
In the lane next to me are kids my age swimming like pros. They have swimming scholarships towards a D1 school, and I can’t help think “I could’ve been that”. I was born normal, and if it wasn’t because of stupid hypereosinophilic, I could’ve played sports.
After transplant I have a new life. Instead of “I could’ve been that” is “I can be that”. In a few years, I can catch up to them and be as good as them. I have a chance, and that’s what matters.
Victoria came, and we made spaghetti squash with brussel sprouts and Singaporean noodles today. In case you don’t know, Victoria is a chef that’s granting wish. Together, we’re going to create a cookbook.
I told Victoria about Nicole, and Victoria said people like Nicole, people with medical disabilities, is why she’s doing this. Victoria said condolences.
Victoria showed us how to cut a spaghetti squash in half. At the same time, we quartered the brussel sprouts. We rubbed both the spaghetti squash and brussel sprouts with olive oil, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder. They were roasted in the oven. Then we sauteed ground turkey in a pan. Spaghetti sauce was added with the turkey, and we let it simmer. After the brussel sprouts and spaghetti squash were done roasting, we were able to scoop out spaghetti strands from the squash. The strands were plated with the simmered sauce on top and sprinkled with brussel sprouts.
There’s a lot of ingredients for Singaporean noodles. There are prawns, rice noodles, bean sprouts, chicken, soy sauce, tomatoes. The rice noodles are soaked in water while the prawns and chicken are marinated in soy sauce. After they’re marinate, the prawns are sauteed in a pan. Then the chicken are sauteed. The noodles are added in the pan. The noodles are seasoned with curry powder, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Tomatoes are incorporated. Sprinkled on top are bean sprouts and green onion.
Amy (see August 24, 2018) was my substitute teacher for English today. When I walked into my classroom, I was really shocked to see her sitting at the teacher’s desk. I waved to her and she responded with a smile and a wave.
Later in the class we talked about transitions back into life. I really wanted to know, how did I become “normal” again? She told me I have a new perspective. What I do with that perspective is up to me. Amy said she understands if I don’t want to be completely honest about my transplant. Before she left for lunch I asked for her email. That way I have someone to talk to.
At lunch was my journalism club meeting. I decided to do an article about Amy. The idea was a hit among them, because a kidney transplant is not something that happens everyday. Maybe another meeting I can tell them about mine.
Today was my appointment with the endocrinologist. I started seeing my endocrinologist when I was really young, after my first heart surgery at Stanford. Because of my heart failure, I didn’t have enough growth hormones in me. On the growth curve, I wasn’t catching up to my peers. Before transplant, 6x a week I would need to inject somatropin, a growth hormone, inside me.
I’m 5’3”. I’m at below average height, but at least I’m not at my projected 3’. The endocrinologist said that I could grow about one more inch.
In the same building was my cardiologist that urged me into transplant. He caught my Protein Losing Enteropathy, arrhythmia, and talked to my mom about transplant early in the year. My mom said he was a “miracle doctor,” and the reason I’m alive.
Today was my doctor appointment. At 7 AM I woke up and got into the car. I slept on the whole ride to Stanford, except waking up to take my medicine.
I remembered to grab the cards we made at the Pink Dot Club meeting (see September 18, 2018). After putting on my mask, we went to my appointment.
After my echo, which is an ultrasound (the ones the doctors use to take pictures of babies in their womb) of the heart, we were told to wait outside. After a room was available, we quickly went inside.
The doctor examined me and told me the results were good. My Prograf levels were good, and they didn’t change anything. I talked to the doctors about my leg pain. Last year, I was hospitalized for extreme calf pain. After being discharged from the hospital, I had to be homeschooled for a month before I was able to walk around my school again. My mom expressed concern about it being from my hypereosinophilic syndrome, a blood disorder I contracted leading to my heart failure. The doctors told us to book an appointment with the doctor that deals with my hypereosinophilic syndrome (see October 16, 2018).
After the appointment, we delivered the cards. We went to the Cardiovascular ICU (Intensive Care Unit is where patients are admitted when they have a serious illness that needs constant monitoring) and delivered as many cards as we could. We also saw Jessica (pseudonym) and delivered her card. We couldn’t say hi because she was too busy with her VR game. Nicole’s room was empty.
The rest of the cards we donated to the Family Resource Center. The Family Resource Center is a department in the hospital that allows patients to rent games, movies, books, or is a place for families to relax or get work done. It’s where I rented the Mission Impossible series, Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Avengers series, the Captain America series, Matilda, Tom and Jerry, and other movies.
Later that day I had a swimming lesson at 4:30. I’m still a beginner at swimming, but I know I have the ability to get better. After transplant, I can even be on my High School’s swim team! After swimming, we met up with Joanna and Andrew (see June 16, 2018) for ramen.
Today I cooked with Victoria, the chef granting my wish. Victoria’s son also came. He’s a marketing (or media?) major so he’s helping Make-A-Wish by documenting our cooking sessions. We made soba noodles and ramen today.
For the soba noodles, we boiled them in water for a short amount of time. Simultaneously we fried tofu with only little oil. After we drained the noodles, we mixed them with the tofu and added some sesame oil, grated garlic, soy sauce, and green onions.
For the ramen we boiled water with chicken and soy sauce to make broth. After about an hour, we mixed already cooked ramen with the broth. We shredded the chicken and added it on top of the ramen, along with tofu, red onion, and green onions.
By continuing to browse this site, you accept our use of cookies. AcceptRead More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
