Angie & Jim

A Day of Training & Testingby Angie

Today was a long day at Stanford. Jim took off work to join me for trainings with the Clara (cardiac transplant coordinator), Tiffany (a transplant social worker), and Christina (a pre-transplant dietician). Everyone has been super kind and considerate. Last time we did this, I felt like I was at the bottom of a waterfall; this time around, I felt almost like I was interviewing for a job. They need to know that we are (as Clara charmingly put it:) “In it to win it” – meaning that we are emotionally and mentally prepared and are willing to be compliant in the recovery process and beyond. They also want us to know and accept the worst-case scenarios before going in. Since we did the evaluation five years ago, a lot of the information was already familiar, but there were a few surprises. My family will balk, but I was crestfallen to learn that post-transplant I will have to give up raw sushi – and Jim was even wearing his sushi socks today! Good thing I also love tempura rolls.

I took a “Frailty Test,” which sounds a lot fancier than it actually was. They checked my grip strength (26kg thank-you-very-much) and balance and tolerance of quickly standing and sitting over and over again. Then we went to the phlebotomy lab and had a whole bunch of blood drawn. I’m glad I was already done with the frailty test, because I felt a little woozy after that. But then we got some amazing Greek food that perked me right up.

The last several weeks have been full of paperwork, as well as routine care appointments to be sure I’m overall as healthy as possible: PCP physical, dental checkup, eye exam, mammogram, women’s health stuff, PFTs (perfusion tests to check out my lungs), ultrasound of my extremities, hep-b vaccine, abdominal CT scan…etc. Now we’re focusing on transplant-specific stuff. Last week, I met with my hepatologist and also one of the liver transplant surgeons; tomorrow, I meet with the cardiac transplant surgeon. This Friday I’m going to Lucile Packard (the children’s side of Stanford) for a pre-op before my catheterization there on September 16th.