I had a swim lesson with my swim coach today. She introduced me to a swimming in intervals. She told me to swim 2 laps (or one lap, whichever you consider 50 meters) and rest for 40 seconds, then repeat. Usually with advanced swimmers it’s a lot shorter, but for my fitness it’s hard. I did this for 20 laps (10 laps) or 500 yards.
After just one lap I started to hear my heart pounding and my breathing got harder. I don’t know if that’s normal for other beginning swimmers or if it’s unique toward my heart condition, but I know I can handle it with more practice.
I had a great time swimming today. Before transplant I couldn’t swim as much as I can today, and I’m so grateful for this opportunity to exercise and play sports.
Pleasanton is really smoky today. There’s a wildfire 2 hours away, and as a result the air is filled with smoke. It’s so polluted you can’t see the sun.
When my dad stepped outside today, he said “Is this air quality okay for Justin?” My mom asked me if I wanted to go to school today. I told her I wanted to, but I said I would wear a mask.
When I was staying at the Ronald McDonald House I had therapy sessions with a psychologist, WIth my therapist we discussed about wearing a mask. I told her I didn’t want to wear a mask, since it made me stick out in school. However, I know that i definitely should wear my mask today.
When I got to my class, my classmate told me she didn’t expect me to be at school today. She said that since the air was so bad, I would’ve stayed at home.
Today is another cooking day with Victoria. Victoria is the chef granting my Make-A-Wish (see August 9, 2018). My Make-A-Wish is to create a cookbook. Last week was actually supposed to be my last cooking session, but she decided to give me another for my birthday (see October 20, 2018) present.
We did two kinds of Alfredo today. The first type of Alfredo was a chicken fettuccine alfredo, and the second was a chicken fettuccine alfredo with mushrooms and tomatoes.
We prepared the ingredients by slicing chicken breasts into strips, thinly slicing mushrooms, dicing onions, dicing tomatoes, and mincing garlic. We sauteed diced onions in a pan with a little olive oil. When the onion was translucent, we added the chicken breast strips and minced garlic. We let the chicken sit, and after the chicken was cooked we dumped half of the mixture into another pan.
In the first pan we added garlic powder and salt, then let it simmer.
In the second pan we added the diced tomatoes and sliced mushrooms. We also added garlic powder and salt. We continuously stirred the mixture until the released mushroom juices were evaporated.
In a large pot we added 3 cups of half & half and 3 cups of chicken broth. We added fettuccine when the mixture came to a boil. We used a whole package of fettuccine (16 oz). The fettuccine absorbs the mixture, therefore it reduces; the starch released by the fettuccine thickens the mixture, making it a sauce.
When the fettuccine was Al dente, we separated the noodle in half for each pan. The noodles were combined with the pans ingredients, and that’s it!
Today is my last cooking session with Victoria. I already chose what recipes we made to include in the cookbook. Victoria will take those recipes and write them. When Victoria is finished writing those recipes, she’ll email them to my Mom and I, and we’ll try to recreate them. Victoria and I will meet again in December to format the cookbook.
I had a swimming lesson today, but because of the smoke in the air my Mom cancelled it. I live in Pleasanton, 2 hours away from the fire in Paradise, so the air quality is bad. The swimming pool is outdoors. After my heart transplant, I’m not supposed to be in smoky places.
Instead I just walked on the treadmill. In the Ronald McDonald House I used to walk on the treadmill everyday. Today I walked for 30 minutes on 3.0 speed.
I met Amy McCarthy at the school library today. Amy McCarthy is the library substitute I met at my High School’s club fair (see August 24, 2018). She had a kidney transplant when she was 40.
Today I have a dental appointment. My last dental appointment was February 2018 because I’m not allowed to have a dental appointment until 6 months after transplant. The dentist told me I should brush more. If there’s plaque on my teeth, the bacteria can get in my bloodstream and potentially damage my heart. Now instead of brushing 2 times a day, I’ll brush 3 times a day. It’s a small price to pay compared to the alternative.
Today I couldn’t swim outside. The smoke from the fire is still polluting Pleasanton, so I had exercise inside. I instead exercised on the treadmill:
20 minutes walking on 3.0 speed
20 minutes running in intervals on 4.0 speed
1 minute runs with 20 second rests
I used the exercise technique my swim coach taught me (see November 8, 2018). Exercising in intervals is a great way to build up my endurance. My main focus with exercise right now is endurance instead of speed.
I walked for 20 minutes, and ran for a total of 15 minutes.
I had a blood draw to test my Prograf levels today. Prograf is my immunosuppressant. I regularly test my immunosuppressants because is they’re too effective, the doctors lower its dosage. If it’s not effective enough, the doctors raise the dosage. My Prograf levels are supposed to be between a range, and if they’re not then my Prograf dosages are adjusted.
Here’s my medications (over 6 months post transplant):
8:45 AM
8:45 PM
0.5 mg Prograf
1 mg Prograf
360 mg Myfortic
360 mg Myfortic
100 mg Gleevec
120 mg Cardizem
Myfortic is another immunosuppressant. Cardizem is for my blood pressure.
Gleevec is not my transplant medication. Gleevec is my chemotherapy drug that controls my hypereosinophilic syndrome
My Mom decided to pull me out of school after study hall. The air pollution is so bad from the fire nearby. I signed out by the health office, and I met the school nurse. I told her I had a heart transplant, and she instantly knew that I was Justin.
She recommended me to not come to school tomorrow. She’s not the only one; all of my classmates also told me to stay home.
I’m considering it. I miss school constantly for doctor appointments, and I know when you miss one day of school, you do twice the work of that day. That’s why I’m hesitant to skip school.
I also interviewed Mr. Lewin. Mr. Lewin is my math teacher. He’s the one that told me to write my story (see October 5, 2018).
He’s so nice to me. He told me that it was amazing that I was doing so well socially, academically, and physically. As a teacher, he’s seen other students struggle, but not with anything as life threatening as me. As a teacher, he’s also seen other students with great families, communities, education, and finances, yet they make bad decisions and end up falling to the bottom.
If you’re in the hospital, just know that you need to have hope. Hope is the one thing that’s guaranteed by yourself. When you survive your ordeal, you’ll become stronger as a person. That’s something to hope for.
A student spilled water onto his floor multiple times. The floor is carpet, so mold can grow on it. Mr. Lewin chastised that student, because if I get an infection from the mold, then that’s… bad.
The Pink Dot Club recently announced that the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital is asking for videos that their patients can watch. Since the patients are in the hospital, they want something to do.
I think that I can make a big impact by creating a video. If I share my story, those patients will know that they’re not alone. If I made it through this, then they can too.
I decided yesterday that the main theme of my video will be about “stories”. Today I asked my classmates to tell their own stories. I can edit all these stories into a video compilation, and it’ll basically send a message of “This will be you” (see November 25, 2018 for the video).
School was cancelled today due to the smoke. There’s a wildfire two hours away, and as a result our area’s air quality is horrible. Since my school is mainly outside, they don’t want the students contract lung problems (I doubt they will). Also, there was a petition online to close all of our schools today.
It gave me even more time to work on my UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital video (see November 15, 2018 for info)(see November 25, 2018 for videos).
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