Tag: school

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 6, 2018

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Noah came to Stanford this weekend. Noah is a 10 year old boy I met at the Ronald McDonald house that was receiving an experimental drug for his stomach cancer. Nolan and I send each other gifts (see August 7, 2018).

After school, my mom and I drove from Pleasanton to Stanford. We met Nolan at a seafood restaurant. His mom was so excited to see me. Nolan had to draw a lot of blood so he was pretty tired. He almost fell asleep while eating his food.

His mom told us that Nolan’s tumor has shrunk so much, that they might surgically remove it. However, they told me that the medication might work so well that the tumor might go away on its own.

They said that the care at the Stanford hospital was exceptional. At Phoenix Children’s Hospital the nurses didn’t give great care. The tumor was on Nolan’s back, so his parents explained not to touch his back. However when he went in for his CT scan, the nurses grabbed him on his back. Noah screamed out in pain. At Stanford’s hospital the nurses and doctors spent a half hour trying to work out the logistics for the CT scan. Where the pillow would go, where to position his back, how to transfer him on the bed. This is because the nurses at Stanford have to go through 7 rounds of interviews before being hired. Their care is exceptional.

After eating, we went to a Starbucks restaurant at Town & Village, a plaza in Palo Alto. Nolan also got gelato from a nearby shop. Nolan is doing great at his elementary school. He skipped a grade so he’s in 4th grade instead of 3rd. His teacher is actually a friend of his mom. His mom explained to the teacher about what happened. He has special accommodations, for example, he doesn’t participate in PE. Instead, he helps the teacher carry basketballs, We talked to his mom about a 504 plan.

Nolan’s parents said it was really lucky that I had my Mom. My Mom cares about me a lot, that’s why she brought me here today.

After saying goodbye, we drove back home.

September 26, 2018

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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.

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 2, 2018

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Today was the Pink Dot Club’s meeting. It was supposed to be dedicated to Nicole, but instead the club officers talked 90% of the time about a guy that got detention for criticizing his Honors English teacher.

Nicole was a beautiful girl that died at 10 (see September 20, 2018). For her entire 10 years, she has fought to be alive. Every year she had to be back in the hospital for another painful surgery. Club officers, do you even know, can you imagine, do you understand the pain? The pain that she and her family goes through? Her dad sold his restaurant chain to be with her daughter. Her mom always  with Nicole at her side. Her sister choose to stay with her instead of her grandparents. She said “I love Nicole, and I want to be with her.”

Club officers, that guy that got sent to detention because he confessed that he hated Ms. Hewitt or whatever has nothing to do with the club. Yet you spent more time on him than Nicole during the meeting that was supposed to be dedicated to her. Club officers, that guy is alive. He is breathing, he is eating, he isn’t in pain. Nicole is dead.

Club officers, I wonder how much you even care about your own club. Why are you officers of this club, when you can’t even dedicate a meeting without talking about your AP classes? Oh wait, I know! College! Club officers, you’re only here because you want to get into a good college. None of you care that a 10 year old girl is dead, you only care that it’ll look good on your college applications.

Nicole was in so much pain, she woke up screaming. She would curse and shout at the nurses until they put her back into a coma. Club officers, I hope that one day, you’ll realize how conceited you guys are. You guys do nothing to help those in the hospital. Oh my god “I made cards! I’m doing a dance vid for those in the hospital!” Except you’re doing that because you want to. None of you will actually go on a school day, skip your APs, and visit them in the hospital right?

October 2, 2018

~ Campjustin ~ 1 Comment

I contacted Amy. (see August 24, 2018). It relates to my first day of school (August 13, 2018) question: How do I transition back to being normal?

Hi Amy, I am the 10th grader with the heart transplant.

I just wanted to ask you a personal question. How did you transition back into normal life after getting out of the hospital?

No one understands what I’ve been through. After I tell my classmates, all I get is “cool story” or “Wow! I didn’t know that” or “that’s awesome”.

I thought the Pink Dot Club (the transplant club at Foothill) would be different but it’s exactly the same. Even the club president cares more about her 4 AP classes than she does about the patients at Stanford and UCSF.

Sometimes I feel like I want to drop out of school. I don’t want to be surrounded by people talking about APs or Colleges or Test Answers or SATs. It makes me angry how everyone only cares about themselves: what grades they have, what classes they have, what friends they have!

Today, in the Pink Dot Club, we talked about a girl named Nicole who died waiting for a heart transplant. Except we talked about her for 1 minute. Only about half the club was listening. The next 20 minutes we talked about Honors English and the teacher for that class. Everyone was listening.

October 4, 2018

~ Campjustin ~ 2 Comments

My 504 meeting plan (plan meeting?) was today. A 504 plan is a specialized education plan for kids with disabilities to give them extra accommodations. For example, if a kid had a learning disability a 504 plan would allow them to have extra time on tests. In my case, a 504 plan accommodates me when I’m in the hospital, have medical related illnesses, or in the rare case when I’m homeschooled.

Last school year my 504 plan was a lifesaver. When I was hospitalized last school year for calf pain, the 504 plan allowed me to be homeschooled for over a month. I was in the hospital for both semester finals, and the 504 plan excused me from taking them.

The vice principal and the nurse were there at the 504 plan meeting. All of my teachers except my Biomedical Sciences teacher (see October 12, 2018) and Chemistry teacher (see October 18, 2018) were there. I explained what I needed: unlimited bathroom access, access to the nurse’s office, extended time for missing schoolwork and homework, and the ability to move away from sick and coughing classmates.

After transplant, I’m very immune compromised. With a new organ, the immune system might see it as a foreign substance and start attacking it. Therefore, I have to suppress some of my immune system through my medication. If I do get sick, I have a chance of getting a live virus that will attack my heart or activate my lymph nodes that’ll trigger a cancer.

The school nurse understood the severity of the situation and gave the teachers a germ free classroom handout to pass in class. The hand out stressed the importance of not coming to school sick because of one (me!) immunocompromised classmate in their class. The hand out is included below:

The nurse said I’ve been through a lot, but told me this would be a great school year.

One of the students in this class has a medical condition that makes the student highly susceptible to infections. This is because of a medicine this student takes; there is no concern that this is a potentially contagious disease to any other person. We’d like to ask the parents to be considerate to the student and all the other students in the class.

Points to review for infection control (for complete district policy, refer to the health services website)

  • Do not send your child to school if she/he has a fever of > 100 F
  • She/he needs to be fever free for at least 24 hours before returning to school.
  • Do not send your child to school on fever reducing medication, she/he can still be contagious
  • If your child has been diagnosed with a significant infectious disease, such as chickenpox, please notify school health office
  • Do not send your child to school after she/he has vomited at home
  • Do have your child see a health care provider for any unexplained rash.
  • Immunize your child against influenza.

October 5, 2018

~ Campjustin ~ 1 Comment

Mr. Lewin, my math teacher, told me after class that he’s been thinking about my story, and said it was remarkably inspirational. It flattered me, and I really thank him for what he said. He told me I should write about this and I told him I was considering it.

P.S. I did!

October 10, 2018

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Today was a PSAT testing day at my school. The PSAT is a test that prepares you for the SAT, and if you do really well on it, you can get a scholarship. This test is only offered one day a year.

I couldn’t take the test because today was my biopsy. A biopsy is an examination of tissue from the body. They poke me with a needle and remove tissue from my heart to test how much rejection I have.

Each biopsy, I’ve decreased each anesthesia dose. The less anesthesia you use, the faster you recover. This time, I wanted to try the biopsy without anesthesia. Since my recovery time was going to be short, I went to the Short Stay Unit instead of the Treatment Center. The Short Stay Unit is a unit where patients stay for a couple of hours/days. The Treatment Center takes you to the pre operation unit.

While walking to the Short Stay Unit, we bumped into one of the hospital school teachers. My mom asked her about college advice. We went to other college experts, but since my case was special they didn’t know what to do. The teacher told me there were a bunch of scholarships open to children to me, and the next time I go to Stanford to arrange an appointment with her.

During my biopsy, they inserted some “happy” juice. I was awake the entire time, but I didn’t feel pain. Just some pressure.

Afterwards, I had to lie down for an hour. Then I would walk a circle and lie down again. The nurses then checked to see whether the incision bled. We repeated that for 5 hours until the incision didn’t bleed. By the time we were discharged, it was 8 PM. With traffic, we got back home at 10.

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