Today was another Pink Dot Club meeting. We made art kits for children at the UCSF Benioff hospital. Maddy brought plastic bags, brushes, mini canvases, and paints. We decorated the bags with stickers. The stickers said “You’re the best!” or “Love!” or “BFF”.
In my Biomedical Class we were talking about a project about how to introduce to a person they have a medical disease. If you’re reading this blog, then you’ve probably experienced this before. In reality a doctor just talks to you and says you have …. However, in our class we’re supposed to make an Instagram post or a song for the patients. Which is totally weird.
My teacher talked about his sister and mom going in for their breast cancer surgery. They met with a bunch of doctors and surgeons to remove the cancer. It was devastating for them.
I raised my hand to share my experience. Here’s my experience going in to be evaluated for the transplant list:
My mom told me I needed a heart transplant in the car. It was undoubtedly shocking. I couldn’t believe I was THAT sick. I wasn’t dying in a hospital, I was a normal person. My mom explained that she and Dr. Saba were talking about transplant for a couple of moths.
The official evaluation was at Stanford. I had to meet with a child psychologist, nutritionist, social worker, and doctors. The saddest part of the evaluation was the transplant education. Someone from the transplant team talked with me about what transplant was, how it works, waiting for transplant, and after transplant. I learned about rejection, the statuses, and my risk for cancer. The transplant education was so despairing that my heart started to act up. I never told her because I didn’t want to be deemed as not ready for transplant.
After the education I was rejected from the list. It was understandable; I was too healthy. A lot of the kids on the list need it more desperately than me. I was re evaluated for the transplant list on April 10, and they let me on as a status 2. The list has different statuses: 1A, 1B, and 2. 1A is the people that need it the most while 2 is the people that need it the least. Since Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital didn’t have a status 2 transplant for 4 years, I was on there for a taste of being on the list. It was highly unlikely I would get a heart.
2 weeks later I got the call.
