Biopsies
The more after transplant, the less you have to come up. In the beginning I think it’s, like, every two weeks. And it’s not that bad actually. Maybe the first one they’ll have to induce you on meds to make you comfortable, but now I’ve been going on maybe a little bit of meds, but I’m awake the whole time, and then you’re out of there in, like, 20 minutes.
Eva, 13
Catheterization
I bring a headset with me, so that my mind is taken off of it. When they go in, it stings and hurts a little bit. When they thread the catheter to try and get in there, it hurts. You get used to it, but when you’re first doing it, you get angry and miserable because it’s sore. It once took a couple of tries to get the catheter in; I was so mad, and crying because it hurt so much. It can get tiring, but I bring a CD, so I can listen to the music.
Anonymous
Unfond memories
Laura: I absolutely hated bronchs. I still hate them! I just get really anxious, going in there, because I do remember the second transplant and going into surgery. And I hear the risks and everything, so then I just get really worried that, like, something’s going to happen and I won’t come out the same person. And I don’t like blue scrubs either.
Interviewer: How do you get through that?
Laura: We’ve found that it’s easier to go in out already.
Mom: We premedicate her.
Laura: I just get really anxious, and I’m starving because you’re not supposed to eat, and I hate the smells. Mom: We have the IV placed while she’s still waiting to go into the OR, because she has a little more control over it. We just find that she handles it better when we can kind of follow a script of steps, as opposed to whatever may happen in day surgery, because that can be a very crazy volatile place.
Laura, 14 and mother