Tag: exercise

July 10, 2018

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Today I had my physical therapy appointment.

After transplant, I had to do physical therapy everyday in the hospital. My physical therapy included stretches and walking around the hospital unit three times a day. Exercise was a LOT harder immediately after transplant than before transplant, but I knew that the more exercise I did, the faster I would be out of the hospital. So I walked around the hospital unit three times a day, and then four times a day. Then I walked around the entire hospital and played in their garden. My theory was right because I got out of the hospital about two and a half weeks.

If you remember my daily requirements:

  • Exercise at least 10 minutes walking on the treadmill
  • Ride at least 1 hour on the gym bike
  • Walk 10,000 steps (tracked by my Fitbit)
  • Eat a salad or another vegetable dish
  • Drink a protein shake

Exercising on the treadmill and walking 10,000 steps is part of my physical therapy, but everyday I also stretch with some stretches the physical therapists give me. Sometimes I swim, but I’ll do more of that once I get out of the Ronald McDonald House.

July 11, 2018

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Today my Mom and I decided to go swimming at the Palo Alto YMCA. Before transplant, I was too weak to even exercise. I tried to swim, but 10 laps was all I could handle in an hour. However, during transplant education they said I could be able to play sports once I had a new heart. Now that I have my heart transplant, I can finally swim.

We brought Orion (pseudonym), another patient at the Ronald McDonald House with us. They’re from Hawaii, and they’ve been at Stanford multiple times. Orion loves the feel of water because it loosens up his joints. Ever since his brain tumor, he’s gained weight that’s been putting pressure on his joints.

I tried swimming, but I didn’t have as much endurance as I hoped. Nonetheless, I feel that I can improve on my swimming. Also I’m only 2 months out of transplant, so I should still be in recovery.

I had a great time swimming with Orion today. The YMCA is much better than the Stanford University pool, which I used before. Since The YMCA is also an inside pool, I don’t need to worry about the sun and skin cancer.

July 16, 2018

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I cooked today. Since I have chicken breast in my room’s refrigerator, and onion in my room pantry, I decided to cook some chicken breast.

At the Ronald McDonald House you have your own section in a refrigerator, and your own pantry. Although they’re your own, they’re very small. You don’t have your own section in a freezer, so you have to throw all your frozen items in a bag, put a label on the bag, and stuff it into the freezer.

The Ronald McDonald House also has a community pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. You can take any of the items from them and use it. For example, I can take baloney from the community refrigerator, bread from the community pantry, and ice from the community freezer. I can make a sandwich and ice water from those ingredients. If I didn’t eat my sandwich, then I can take some saran wrap from the community pantry, wrap the sandwich up, and put it in the community refrigerator for anyone to eat.

I also took some garlic powder and from the community pantry and canola oil on the counter for my chicken breast. I diced the onion, sauteed it with the canola oil, and seared the chicken with garlic powder. The chicken took longer to cook than I expected.

While cooking I talked to Angela. Angela is my friend that I met at the Ronald McDonald House. She’s here for liver treatment, and because of her liver disease she can only eat 20 grams of protein per day. I talk to her everyday because she’s a good friend.

My sister came after I made the chicken. She wanted to go eat, but since I already cooked I didn’t go with her to eat. My sister stayed overnight.

July 17, 2018

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Ramen Nagi, a restaurant chain in Japan, just opened their first U.S. location in downtown Palo Alto. Since downtown Palo Alto is walking distance from the Ronald McDonald House, we decided to go.

Ramen Nagi has a very long line, so if you decide to go but can’t stand up for a long duration of time make sure you can sit on something. Bring a chair if you have to.

I got the squid ink ramen and my mom got the Tonkotsu ramen. The Tonkotsu ramen was good, and so was the Tonkotsu ramen, but they weren’t excellent. I think the restaurant is over hyped, and it’s not worth waiting for.

  • Squid Ink Ramen
  • Tonkotsu Ramen

July 20, 2018

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Today my Mom and I walked to the Stanford Theater. The Stanford Theater is only 1 mile away from the Ronald McDonald house, so it’s very convenient if you’re able to walk. The Stanford Theater is an old school theater that shows movies made during the Golden Age of Hollywood, such as Casablanca or Gone with the Wind. Some of the movies are black and white, so it’s a cool vintage experience.

We watched Roman Holiday, and a part of Queen Christina. Roman Holiday is a movie that launched Audrey Hepburn into the public eye. Audrey Hepburn plays the princess of Rome who runs away with a random guy to have fun. Queen Christina is about the well educated Queen of Scotland that decided she didn’t want to marry.

If you’re at the Ronald McDonald House, or waiting to go to the Ronald McDonald House, you have tons of things to do at downtown. Being in the hospital sucks, but if you can travel to Downtown Palo Alto, there’s so much you can do. There’s restaurants, music, and the Stanford Theater.

After we watched the movie we went to a nearby bakery, Paris Baguette, to get some pastries. I don’t eat sweets, so I got the savory baked goods.

July 22, 2018

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My mom’s friend visited me at the Ronald McDonald house today. She’s a principal at a preschool. We walked across the street to a cafe at the Stanford mall. I got to eat my salad filling my daily requirement.

Here’s my daily checklist:

  • Exercise at least 10 minutes walking on the treadmill
  • Ride at least 1 hour on the gym bike
  • Walk 10,000 steps (tracked by my Fitbit)
  • Eat a salad or another vegetable dish
  • Drink a protein shake

Today is my grandma’s birthday. I’m also leaving the Ronald McDonald house in a couple of days so we’re celebrating today as a going away/birthday party.

Kayano, Koda, his mom, and his grandma came to celebrate. Kayano is my next door neighbor being treated on dialysis, eventually leading up to his kidney transplant. Emma’s (pseudonym) family also came. Emma is my 16 year old friend at the Ronald McDonald House. We brought out a cake and served it to everyone except Kayano, who doesn’t eat.

August 29, 2018

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I had my biopsy today. A biopsy is a procedure to get a sample of tissue from your muscle. For me, they’re getting a sample of my heart tissue to test how much rejection I have.

I met Kayano’s mom at the hospital lobby. Kayano was my next door neighbor at the Ronald McDonald House. I hung out with him a few times and celebrated his birthday with him. Kayano has severe kidney failure, and has to be put on dialysis before he can be accepted on the transplant list.

Kayano is currently at the Lucile Packard children’s Hospital school. Kayano’s mom says the hospital school is super easy, but when I was at the hospital school it was hard to catch up with my classes at Foothill. Koda, Kayao’s little brother, is at the public elementary school in Palo Alto. The Palo Alto District is supposedly one of the best public school districts in the country.

I used less anesthesia this time, so I was awake during the biopsy. Surprisingly, it wasn’t painful. There was just pressure. Instead of crying out in pain, I just laughed.

Before I could be discharged the doctors examined me. They told me my prograf levels were good, and my medications would stay the same. I was happy with how the biopsy went. However, I can’t swim for a week in case the wound gets infected.

September 21, 2018

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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.

September 28, 2018

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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.

October 6, 2018

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Another cooking session with Victoria! Victoria is the chef that is granting my Make-A-Wish. Today we’re making salad. At Ronald McDonald house I developed a regimen:

  • Exercise at least 10 minutes walking on the treadmill
  • Ride at least 1 hour on the gym bike
  • Walk 10,000 steps (tracked by my Fitbit)
  • Eat a salad or another vegetable dish
  • Drink a protein shake

I’ve modified my schedule, but I stopped eating a salad each day. Therefore, I had Victoria help me with some salad recipes.

For our caesar salad, we first made our own croutons. We cut a French baguette into cubes, seasoned the cubes with italian herb seasoning, and tossed them with olive oil. The cubes were baked in the oven. Then a caesar dressing was made. Surprisingly there’s anchovies in a caesar dressing. Anchovies, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and mustard were blended. Finally, cut up pieces of romaine lettuce were tossed with the homemade croutons and caesar dressing. Shredded parmesan cheese and red onions were spread on top of the salad.

Next is the kale salad. Quinoa was cooked in a pot with water and curry seasoning, kale was chopped into pieces, and apples were cubed. After the quinoa was cooked, we mixed it with the kale, cubed apples, some red onions, and pecans. It was delicious.

Check Victoria out: https://www.eastbayhealthychef.com/

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