Tag: skin cancer

May 26, 2018

~ Campjustin ~ 1 Comment

My Dad visited me for the first time at the Ronald McDonald House today. The Ronald McDonald house is a housing facility near the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. I have to stay here 3 months before I can go back home. Unfortunately, I can’t spend the day with him because Ray is visiting me today.

Ray is coming here today. I know this isn’t easy for him because Palo Alto is 40 minutes away from Pleasanton and this week at school is finals week.

Ray is great friend. He’s supported me when I missed tons of school. I texted him the day of my heart transplant (April 27, 2018). He wanted to visit me in the hospital, but I told him no because I was feeling awful (May 4, 2018). Now that I’m out of the hospital I’m better.

There’s a mall across the Ronald McDonald House. Today is my first day exploring that The Stanford Mall. The Stanford Mall is also an outdoor mall so I have to be careful and stay in the shade. After transplant, I’m more vulnerable to skin cancer.

Palo Alto is a rich city. Actually, any city in Silicon Valley is a rich city. I expect everything at the Stanford Mall to be super expensive considering: it’s in Palo Alto & it’s in Stanford. Turns out all of the prices were the same as my own hometown, Pleasanton.

My FitBit told me I walked 10,000 steps today. Woah.

In the hospital I could barely walk 10 feet without taking a break. The reason is my heart goes crazy whenever take a step. While walking and talking with Ray, I must’ve ignored my heart. That’s awesome!

I’m not even a month after my heart transplant, and I walked 10,000 steps!

When Ray left, my Dad and I went to Downtown Palo Alto to eat.

This is also my first time exploring Downtown Palo Alto. Downtown Palo Alto is a lot nicer than Downtown Pleasanton.

At Downtown Palo Alto I ate dinner with dad at ramen restaurant. Sushi used to be my favorite food, but I’m not allowed to eat raw food. Forever.

After eating, my heart pounding decided to show up. For a good 40 minutes after eating my heart was beating out of my chest. I didn’t want to stand up or walk. I hate my heart pounding.

June 22, 2018

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My Mom and I walked to the Stanford theater today. The Stanford theater is a theater in Downtown Palo Alto that plays classic movies. Downtown Palo Alto isn’t far from the Ronald McDonald House.

Even though Downtown Palo Alto isn’t far from the Ronald McDonald House, it’s still a tiring walk for me. I have a sensation of heart pounding when I do any physical activity. Although it’s not as bad as it was in the hospital, it still inhibits me from doing a lot. I wore my pixar hat I got from the Ronald McDonald House (see June 21, 2018) to protect myself from the sun. After transplant, I’m also more vulnerable to skin cancer.

The Stanford theater has showtimes on their ticket booth and online. If you’re staying at the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford, I recommend you check them out. We watched the Royal Wedding at 7:30 PM. The Royal Wedding was released in 1951, so it’s pretty old.

August 24, 2018

~ Campjustin ~ 3 Comments

Today the Pink Dot Club was featured at the Club Fair. The Pink Dot Club is a club at my High School that raises awareness for organ transplant. The Club Fair is an annual gathering of clubs at my High School for students to explore.

I left my class early to help the club president, Maddy, set up her booth. The sun was burning intensely, so I whipped out some sunscreen and spread it on my skin. Skin cancer is much easier to contract after transplant.

The substitute librarian stopped and looked at our club booth. She read the description and asked for more information. Maddy introduced the club and I introduced myself as a heart transplant recipient. I was shocked to learn that the substitute librarian had a kidney transplant.

Amy McCarthy, the substitute librarian, had her transplant when she was 40. I talked to her and she asked me what medication I was taking. I said Prograf, Cellcept, Cardizem, and Gleevec (my chemotherapy drug to control my eosinophils). She said it was amazing how I was only 4 months out of transplant and was taking such few medications. I said it was amazing that I wasn’t the only person to have a transplant. Someone I could finally relate to, which I described in detail at my first day of school, August 13, 2018.

Suddenly it seemed that I wasn’t the only person that’s gone through this. It’s so strange transitioning from being in the hospital to a “normal” life. I’m glad to have guidance from an older adult.

Once the club fair started, I met the other officers of the club. They seemed nice, but they didn’t pay much attention to me. People kept on coming to the booth. I didn’t say I had a heart transplant 100% of the time because I was still deciding if I should be normal.

March 13, 2019

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Daylight savings returned on Sunday, and the clock is turned an hour forward. The sun shines brighter when I walk to school, and that means I should start reapplying sunscreen onto my face.

After a heart transplant, you’re at a higher risk for skin cancer with exposure to the sun, and that means… cancer. I’ve had enough of hospital stuff, and I think it’d be pretty dumb going back to the hospital infected with a preventable disease.

In the fall I got away with hiding the sun from my face with a hoodie, but now that won’t cut it. I got lazy with applying sunscreen because it also hurts. I try really hard to keep the sunscreen out of my eyes, but it always seems to get inside there, and my eyes will hurt for the rest of the day.

However, skin cancer is no light deal, so I just gotta suck it and deal with it. It’s okay, skin cancer would be really bad, so I don’t want that. Also, I’ve added a sunscreen stick in my backpack for when the 80 minutes run out.

May 1, 2019 – Vitamin D Supplements

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A doctor from Stanford called and said I needed to start taking Vitamin D supplements.

I’m not hyped about taking new medications because there are always side effects.

I looked online to see what a Vitamin D deficiency is, and I was scared I that wasn’t eating enough vegetables (How embarrassing would that be?), but it’s not that.

Vitamin D is nicknamed the “sunshine vitamin” because it’s produced in response to sunlight.

Great!

Well, not great!

Well, kind of great!

That means I’ve been keeping out of the sun. I’m kind of too lazy to wear sunscreen, so I just hide from the sun.

Honestly, I would take a Vitamin D deficiency over skin cancer any day.

So, it’s okay (at least in my eyes).