I recently spoke to Dr. Heidi Engel, the physical therapist who directed my mom’s pulmonary rehabilitation while she was in the ICU at the University of California, San Francisco. We discussed ICU relationships and how providers can better support family members who are experiencing the trauma of having…
Courage to Care - a column by Christie Patient
When someone you love is in a critical care unit, your life changes dramatically. If you choose to be present with them in the ICU, your world shrinks to about 100 square feet. It can be easy to lose track of time, other responsibilities, and even your sense of…
The day after my mom, Holly, got on the transplant list, the doctor who had delivered the news said, “You’re at the top of the list. If we got lungs for you today, would you be ready?” It was scary to consider what stood between my mom and…
This year, the central focus of my life has been my mom needing — and then receiving — a double-lung transplant. I’ve met a lot of people whose lives are also revolving around a lung transplant: patients and family members, pre- and post-transplant. Since my sphere is full of these…
Organ transplants are a trade-off. The patient receives a healthy organ or organs, but the price is chronic immunosuppression. The trade-off is made when there are no other treatment options, and only if the transplant is expected to be successful. I can’t tell you how many times I…
At some point in every person’s life, death becomes part of their story. The unexpected death of a family member or friend is traumatizing. You wake up in a world of grief and confusion, which you must confront and reconcile over and over again. There is no easy way to…
It is 9 pm. My deadline for this column is in 12 hours. Some people would call this procrastination. I call it practice. I’ve been writing several columns in my head for the past three days. I decided not to worry about it and instead enjoy the last glorious days…
In the age of social media, many people seem to have forgotten what healthy boundaries are. If you use Facebook, for example, you may notice that some people overshare — whether it’s 200 pictures of their trip to the beach or details of their child’s bowel movements, they demonstrate little…
The path to lung transplant is different for everyone, depending on their disease and how it progresses. My mom got very sick very fast. I found out that she would try to get listed, and 10 stressful weeks later, she had new lungs. What may be an extended…
Waiting for my mom, Holly, to receive a life-saving lung transplant has allowed me endless opportunity to explore the dynamics of fear and courage — something you will likely have picked up on if you’ve read any of my previous columns. These feelings have been the driving forces…
