Vacations Don't Count

This past week I have been a complete tourist around Washington D.C. I would have quickly updated while I was there but I didn't have access to a computer. So to make up for a lack of updates in a week, here is a Week of Updates in one post.

Monday, July 29, 2013

Day 1
Instead of flying straight to Washington D.C. we made two pit stops. One layover stop in Dallas onward to Fort Lauderdale in Florida to visit my grandparents whom I haven't seen in seven years. I tried to mingle with my family but seeing as I'm going off of absolutely no sleep I decided to sleep the majority of the time I was there.

We finally flew into Baltimore and immediately crashed at the hotel to get optimum sleep for a long day of tourism around the National Mall.

24 MORE DAYS!

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Day 2
Waking up at around noon we took the Metro toward McPherson for a bite to eat at Cosi's. It's pretty much the pita version of Subway. We later took the Metro to the National Mall beginning at the Air and Space Smithsonian Museum and ending with a movie in Chinatown pretty much summarizes the day.

Red 2: Three Stars. I'm not very impressed Bruce Willis, tisk tisk.

The Washington Monument was under construction while
 we were there so that explains why it looks a tad different.

I love how my scar is bit more noticeable in this particular photo :)

Chinese looking arc at Chinatown

After a long day of walking it was delightful to finally plop down on my bed and finally fall asleep in the hotel.

23 MORE DAYS!

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Day 3
Waking up once again at noon, we set sail for the Metro to go back to the National Mall. Instead of walking, we rented bikes! I personally loved riding a bike around D.C. It saved us so much time compared to walking everywhere and even though we still walked a ton, my feet weren't screaming by the end of the day.

Unfortunately, my progesterone hormones decided to slap me across the uterus so a big gap of time was wasted feeling like crap. During which time I was also super forgetful; forgetful enough to leave my phone near my bike, nearly have a heart attack when I thought I lost it but eventually finding it and feeling even more like crap.

No worries, we found a drug store (the oldest drug store established I may add) and Super Pamprin kicked my progesterone out the window (because all pain relievers are superheroes). After lunch at an Irish pub it started to rain. Luckily the bus tour we were about to aboard offered all of us super sexy rain ponchos.

I don't know how many times you have the chance to sit on a double decker bus so despite the rain, we sat on the upper level.

Nothing says I'm clearly a tourist like a double decker tour bus!

After visiting the White House...

The Lincoln Memorial...

The Franklin Roosevelt Memorial...

I love the raindrops!

And various other memorials it was time to go back to the hotel and pass out from yet another long day.

22 MORE DAYS!

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Day 4
By this time I started to feel a little homesick. I missed sleeping in my own bed, showering in my own bathroom, snacking on food that didn't cost me $5 and most importantly, I missed my dad and my boyfriend.

We explored the Native American Museum as well as had lunch in their fabulous cafeteria which by the has the best Mexican hot chocolate. We spent the rest of our time at the National Gallery of Art until closing. Some people were overwhelmed but honestly looking at all these masterpieces just made me think, "What am I doing with my life?!" It's the same feeling I get when I watch 16 year old's on the Olympics...

See what I mean? And these weren't just your average size canvas' purchased at Michaels; these painting practically took up an entire wall! We returned to Chinatown for a movie, Pacific Rim (which I highly recommend because it was bad ass including elbow rockets and swords!), and authentic Chinese food at Wok & Roll. I don't know why but I was seriously craving Chow Mein so it's no surprise what I ordered...

Getting back to the hotel pretty late, I still wasn't ready to go to bed so what do I do when I can't sleep? I watch Doctor Who reruns hoping to fall asleep. Surely enough, my plan worked.

21 MORE DAYS!

Friday, August 2, 2013

Day 5
We slept in kinda late so we went to the Natural History Smithsonian Museum and the Archives. Other people were once again overwhelmed gazing upon the Declaration of Independence but if anything I felt more like Nicolas Cage...

After the museums closed we went on a bike tour around the memorials. I don't have to repeat how much I loved riding bikes instead of walking!... even though I just did.

Our last dinner at a local restaurant was delicious but I was so happy to be going home the next day! What I wasn't looking forward to was the amount of traveling in order to get home. But I can't do anything about that... maybe I could invent a teleporter! Then again, someone somewhere is probably already working on that.

My brother does not approve of my photogenic social networking :(

I could no longer find the will to stand.

20 MORE DAYS!

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Day 5

Airplanes and sleeping. 

Although, throughout all the traveling I did configure the perfect stratosphere playlist! 

Shell Suite- Chad Valley
What A Wonderful World- Louis Armstrong
Come Fly With Me- Michael Buble (it's a cliche, I know)
Young and Beautiful- Lana Del Ray 
Evil Woman- Electric Light Orchestra
Cough Syrup- Young the Giant

Cmon, tell me those songs aren't perfect for flying through cumulus clouds like these!

I was so sleepy I wasn't sure if we were flying over the ocean or Antarctica...

19 MORE DAYS!

It is now past my bed time and my LAST first day of high school is tomorrow! Geez, that feels so good to say! The sleep I loose over my blog... hopefully its appreciated by someone!  

Anyway, good night! Hopefully tomorrow will be a great day!

The Transplant Chronicles

This past Saturday marked my FOUR year Heartiversary. Get it? Anniversary... for my heart? Eeh? Basically, exactly four years ago, I received my second heart transplant. Oddly enough, I was busy that day (I say oddly because this summer has consisted of nothing else but staying at homes with loads of spare time) so I didn't blog but I did write something to share with my friends and specifically the donor family on Facebook.

Today, as a tribute, I thought it would be cool to re-post what my parents posted four years ago at the time of my transplant. Once my health started spiraling out of control, I had acquired a Caringbridge website that my parents and myself regularly posted on. The following posts recorded their feelings, point of views, and thoughts during my transplant (finally a point of view that isn't mine!). It's a little bit of a read; my mom likes to write a lot but personally, I find it interesting since I was unconscious throughout it all.

July 6, 2009 3:03 AM

We received the call tonight that they found a heart for Shelby.  We are at Denver Children's Hospital in the CICU waiting to hear from the transplant team that everything is a go. If so, Shelby will probably be going to surgery around 7am Monday morning. Shelby is hanging in there. She is obviously really nervous. We are watching Harry Potter and trying to get some sleep before morning. We appreciate everyone's prayers at this time. We will keep you posted throughout the day.

July 6, 2009 11:08 AM

Shelby is in surgery now.  The transplant surgeon said the new heart is on its way.  As we pray for Shelby please say a prayer for the donor family as well.

July 6 2009 1:05 PM

Her nurse said they just opened Shelby's chest and that her new heart is in transit, but they don't know when it will get here yet.  We don't even know where it's coming from.  As we're updated by her surgical team we'll update Shelby's journal.  Brad (my dad) and I (I as in my mom) are anxious... nervous... excited... scared... hopeful... worried.  There are better words, but I can't think what they are right now.

Trying to calm our nervous, Shelby's surgeon assured us that the surgery itself has become more and more routine over the years and actually the hard part is after transplant.  Ok, whatever.  It's still major open heart surgery to us.  I don't know... I'm thinking a heart transplant would probably be the majorist of all open heart surgeries????  Daddy and I remain pretty nervous.  Brad's squeezing a squishy stress ball while watching Get Smart over and over again.  I'm typing.  Sorry guys... get ready for nervous rambling.

However, our Miss Shelby was actually pretty calm about the whole thing.  After getting to the hospital late last night, she curled up in her hospital bed here in the cardiac ICU and watched "Get Smart" until she fell asleep.  Then early this morning she was woken up around 5 am for a body scrub.  Shelby tried to do it herself but she finally had to let the nurse help her.  Afterwards she just settled down and went right back to sleep.  Daddy snuggled up to her until the anesthesiologist came to start the sleepy drugs about an hour and half later.  In her slowly increasing brain fog she started to cry.  "Don't forget to give me ice chips afterwards... and swish my mouth out with the mouth sponge so it doesn't get dry...", she tells daddy.  She snuggled into her giant white Valentine bear and held on to Uncle Bills stuffed doggie, Teddy.  She wanted Daddy to come into the surgery room with her, but he wasn't allowed.  However, the sedation took away any frantic feelings she would have had if she were fully awake, and left a sleeping sort of quiet weeping.

Next post will be when Shelby's heart is on it's way from the airport.  :-)

July 6, 2009 2:51 PM

Her nurse has been periodically assuring us that Shelby is doing really really good and the OR room was mellow with 60's music (Elvis is IN the building).  We just got an update that her donor heart has arrived and they are starting to put Shelby on heart by-pass in preparation to take out her old heart.

Shelby's nurse just came in again.  She's doing well.  Her old heart has been removed and her new heart is being stitched in....  I imagine her monitors beeping, the team working around her, the ecmo machine humming.  I don't think I could be a heart surgeon.  I have a hard time sewing in buttons... zippers... collars with points...  

July 6, 2009 4:00 PM

Her new heart is in and started beating on its own.  She is already off by-pass.  To prevent any irregular heartbeats her heart will be temporarily paced with a pace maker.  Shelby is doing really, really well from all accounts.  Yay!!!!!!  Right now, they are working to get her bleeding under control.  Once that is stabilized  they'll be able to close her up.  When they finally bring her back to her room, Brad and I will have to step out for about an hour while they clean her up, draw blood for labs, take some x-rays, etc., etc.  The surgical nurse that has been updating us thinks that her new heart is slightly larger than her old one.  Again, we are thinking about the donor family - so very, very thankful.

Brad had been slowly walking a groove in the floor, but is finally sitting down sipping a soda.  I know my stomach has been queesy, but then we haven't really eaten today.  I can't believe my watch... can it really be 4pm?!!!  With her new heart came all new coronaries.  No more post transplant coronary artery disease!  All her prior stents are gone.  What an amazing blessing.  It's like she gets to start over, almost.

We've been warned about 2nd transplants and how they have more issues than 1st heart transplants.  I guess we'll just have to jump off that bridge when we come to it.  I'm hoping that she'll have a long, long while of normal.. just totally routine post transplant care, with boring and uneventful health concerns. 

 I know we wanted to be at UCLA, but this new children's hospital here in Denver has been slowly winning us over.  Maybe this was meant to be. 

July 7, 2009 2:09 PM

Last night Shelby’s vital signs were up and down and up and down while her heart adjusted to its new surroundings.  First it had the difficult task of waking up from a cold and silent slumber, and then it had to adjust to the changed demands from a completely different host.  But little by little this new heart began to find its rhythm again in our Shelby.  Whoever you are dear donor, your heart is taking on a whole new adventure.  Thank you.

As the result of a prior transplant surgery and resulting scar tissue, Shelby’s wounds bled more profusely, so she required quite a lot of blood products to get her through the night.  But she continued to hang in there.  One side of her chest has slowed down a lot in terms of the bleeding.  The other side is still quite oozy.

Her induction immunosuppressant therapy began immediately after surgery.  At first, they let her body see the new heart, just to get an imprint.  Then they load her up with meds that suppress her body’s natural response to attack foreign invaders.  It basically knocks the memory out of Shelby’s immune system so that when it sees her new heart again, it takes the attitude, of “oh, you again, we know you… move on”.  I think of her T cells as starship storm troopers – good fighters, but can be influenced by the Jedi mind trick.  Hopefully, this Jedi medical trick works its magic.

This morning, Shelby remained pretty sleepy, but little by little she started waking up.  With multiple tubes down her throat, she wasn’t able to speak, but she clearly wanted to say something.  In an effort to communicate, her nurse offered to give her a pen to write on the back of a gauze sponge wrapper, but looking at her weakened condition wasn’t expecting much.  Clear as a bell she wrote out, “can I haa chasstik”.  She can have all the lip balm she wants!!!!!

Things happened pretty quickly after that.  They decided to take her off the respirator.  Just before they were ready to take her tubes out, she put up three fingers signaling to us to count to three before yanking them out.  After it was all over with, in halting whispered words, her first request was for something to drink.  But even with the anti-nausea meds, her tummy is bothering her big time.  I don’t think a method has been invented yet that eradicates the ensuing vomiting from being put under general anesthesia.  So, we started off with a few swishes of a mouth sponge, then ice chips, and now finally tiny sips of water.

The biggest response we got from Shelby was just prior to rinsing her mouth out with a liquid drug called Nystatin.  It’s a preventative measure to keep her from getting mouth sores considering her suppressed immune system.  She emphatically declined the yucky tasting med, but unfortunately it wasn’t her choice to make.  But the promise of some Sprite later coaxed her into opening her mouth. Her nurse liked seeing some fiesty reaction from her.  It shows she's a fighter.

Brad has been dubbed the "cutest" dad by the nurses here because he's so attentive to Shelby.  But he has always been a very involved, supportive daddy throughout her life.

_________________________________________________

That's all of the Transplant Chronicles for now. I think I'll do more of these types of posts again. Not just because it feels like a blast from the past but I  find it interesting to go beyond my memory. Part 2 of the Transplant Chronicles will consist of a more healthy Shelby. I don't know, let me know what you think? Too much reading? Worth it? 

Junior Year Reflection

I'm not gonna lie, this past school year has been tough. And for once, it hasn't been hard due to heart failure or because I caught some weird, rare virus thanks to my suppressed immune system or any hospital visits for that matter, other than my quarterly cardiology appointments.

Last summer, I thought out of all the years of high school junior year was the most important. Academically, I guess that's true since it's the last year to improve your GPA before beginning to hunt for colleges. I started off the year excited, determined to increase my GPA and overall just content with my life after one of the best summers.

But everything changed...

One of the first changes of this new year was attending EVIT (East Valley Institute of Technology). I've never been to a technical school before and since I already know what I plan to do in the future; this seemed like the ideal plan for me. I'm glad I went to the EVIT orientation sophomore year because I ended up liking EVIT more than MPHS. Everyone in my Anatomy & Physiology class had at least one thing in common with me, we were all interested in the medical field and I also appreciated the fact that all the students actually cared towards their future unlike the pot heads at my high school. I think these reasons factored to why I met friends so easily there. And needless to say, we created some pretty amazing and hilarious memories.

Whether it was in the classroom,

During the dissection labs, 

(Yes, those are ventricles in my portraying heart of love)

Or competing to win the bad ass title of "Medical Terminology Winners",

And field trips to the Cadaver Lab at Grand Canyon University,

Needless to say I enjoyed EVIT much more than I enjoyed being at my regular high school. But it's not like life at Mountain Pointe wasn't bad either... well at least when I decided I was actually going to go to school. I would say my favorited days were the spirit days.

Nerd Day!

"What the Heck" Day

Western Day!

Hawaiian Day!

I won't even mention my horrid attendance for this year, besides stating that this year is my personal record for most consecutive absences and unexcused/ excused tardies. It's not something I'm proud of but  considering I ended off with good grades, I say that's more of an accomplishment.

And then there was everything in between.

An obviously very productive golf season...

The awesome parties.

Homecoming with my best buds!

Another memorable year at Camp Del Corazon...

Being crowned Miss. EVIT for the PM session!

Fangirling over the cast of Harry Potter during Spring Break...

And ending off the year with Prom!

I won't say this has been my favorite year because honestly, this year has been particularly hard on me. There is so much more that happened this year than what I can actually blog about but, I think there's less gained when just focusing on the negatives of every year that passes by. Even though the negatives are so much more easier to focus on, my goal for my next and final year of high school is to A.)

And B.)

Summer is now half way over and pretty much all I've done is focus on online school. I guess that's a good thing but it just get's so boring and after awhile, unproductive. That one word just describes how my summer has been. Boring. So next week, I believe is the last week of online summer school. As of next week is the first day of summer and I intend on making it kick ass before it ends.

I Am 16 Going on 17

The Sound of Music is one of those classic movies from my childhood along with various other movies like My Girl, The Princess Bride and pretty much every Pixar movie. I can't be the only one who used to think being sixteen and "mature" was an enchanting age in the eyes of an eight year old. At the time, my eight year old self promised my future self for this song to be my verging-on-seventeen-years-old-theme-song, so seeing as it's my seventeenth birthday in a couple days I thought I would analyze the lyrics in "Sixteen Going On Seventeen" from The Sound of Music soundtrack in honor of this promise...

(Rolf)

You wait little girl

[activate impatience] 

on an empty stage

for fate to turn the light on 

[First off, nice metaphors.]

Your life little girl

is an empty page

that men will want to write on

[Secondly... that's what she said.]

(Leisl)

To wriiiiiiiiite on

I think Leisl just popped Rolf's personal bubble...

(Rolf)

You are 16 going on 17

Baby it's time to think

[I'm not a baby! I'm a young adult god damnit!]

Better beware

[of creepy dudes]

Be canny and careful

[prepare the pepper spray]

Baby you're on the brink

You are 16 going on 17

Fellows will fall in line

Eager young lads

And grueways and cads

[I've never attracted a grueway before...]

Will offer you fruit and wine

[I still can't legally drink silly!]

Totally unprepared are you

[thanks to high school for not teaching me any valuable concepts. Let me just do my taxes by figuring out the angles of these isosceles triangles]

To face a world of men

[Ouch. Sexist much?]

Timid and shy and scared are you

Of things beyond your ken

[If I didn't Google what ken means I would have assumed you meant 'beyond your kitchen']

You need someone

older and wiser

Telling you what to do

[DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!]

I am 17 going on 18

[Great, one year age difference and suddenly you're so"wise".]

I'll take care of you

[If you insist]

*Cue in the pouring rain and lightning storm to add to the cliche effect of singing to each other in the woods*

(Leisl)

I am 16 going on 17

[in approximately 44 hours]

I know that I'm naive

[Naive is Evian spelled backwards, so in the end... we're all just bottles of water...]

Fellows I meet will tell me I'm sweet

[Story of my life]

And willingly I do believe

[in fairies. I do, I do!]

I am 16 going on 17 innocent as a rose

[or so you think]

Bachelor dandies

Drinkers of brandies

What do I know of those

[more than you think]

Totally unprepared am I

to face a world of men

[and crazy dance moms!]

Timid and shy and scare am I

Of things beyond my ken

[there's that word again...]

I need someone

older and wiser

[wiser by one year]

Telling my what to do

[because Leisl can't decide for herself]

You are 17 going on 18

I'll depend on you

[Well, so much for being an independent woman...] 

*End with romantic yet adorable dancing scene in a transparent green house... At least I think it was a green house*

Concluding thoughts...

Leisl likes Nazi boys and shouldn't become a woman's rights activist.

A Night in Emerald City

Last Saturday, I attended my high school's prom. I for one particularly loved the theme, "A Night in Emerald City" since I never get tired of watching Wizard of Oz and I could probably quote the entire movie by heart.

Beforehand, one of my dude friend's asked me to go with him as friends. Prom is still fun even if you're just going with friends but it's even better when you have a date so of course I said yes! I may add, my dude friend moved to Oregon after I met him so he literally flew down from Oregon just to go to Prom.

The day of Prom started when I went to my salon appointment to be have my nails, hair and makeup done.

Total Pamperage.

Immediately after my appointment, my chauffeur (my parents) drove me to pick up my date to take pictures with my friends.

Leading to another photo shoot with a completely different group of friends.

Once we were done being FaBuLoUs and such we carpooled together to dinner. Instead of dining together, my date and I ate solo and went to Benihana. For those of you who haven't been to Benihana before, it's like dinner and a show! We were seated with six other people (two of which were also going to Prom) and the chefs literally cook your food in front of you while twirling spatulas in one hand and lighting things on fire while doing cartwheels...

Dinner took a little longer than expected so we showed up to Prom fashionably late. Prom was held at The Castle at Ashley Manor.

Super fancy.

I was afraid I was going to end up a lost, awkward penguin sitting by myself after giving up on finding anyone I know, but oh no, no that was not the case! I spotted friends almost immediately and I seemed to know someone every where I went!

The dance floor was crowded, sweaty and hot! I think I entered the middle of the dance floor once of twice but left due to the fear of being butt raped... Yeah, I stayed mostly near the outskirts of the dance floor or outside.

I'm also pretty sure I scared several people with my sweet moves. I even recall accidentally slapping someone in the face when attempting my sprinkler... I can't help it! If my jam starts playing, I just can't control myself (and I have a lot of jams).

Oh, and there were fireworks.

By the end of the night, my date and I were ready to pass out! Surprisingly, we even left early! Even bigger of a surprise, when we returned home my family built us a tent-- nay my family built us a FORTRESS to sleep in.

How do you end prom night? Watch Harry Potter, what else?

"Shelby Cooper: Three of Hearts" Documentary

I think it was about Mid-March when I was friend request and messaged by a guy who went to my school about the possibility of producing a documentary about me and my life as a double heart transplant recipient. He told me he's an independent filmmaker and he stumbled upon my blog and found my story inspiring enough to make into a documentary. I was astounded for one, my life is as ordinary and normal as everybody else's (but my past sure isn't!) and second, I've always wanted to raise awareness for organ donation and heart disease through a video production which is exactly what we did!

We first met up to outline what the documentary would be about. I had oodles of ideas but the hard part was deciding what the main focus of the film was going to be about. I was thinking of aiming it towards awaiting or struggling heart transplant recipients to simply conceive the message my blog embody's; you're not alone and there is life after transplant. On the other hand, there are so many uneducated people out there about organ donation or heart disease and this would be a great opportunity to share some enlightenment on the subject. But then when I think about my past with bullies and how I used to be known as the weird girl with a scar or who spent time in the hospital, I really wanted to change their perspective.

After it was all finalized, I think we managed to exemplify all these factors into one fabulous documentary and we entered it into a local film festival and what do you know? We won the title, "Best Technical Expertise"! Now, I'm finally sharing with you the film-festival cut of our documentary, "Three of Hearts". We had thirty minutes of solid footage which was edited down to five minutes for the festival requirements so there may be an extended version available later.

For now, check it out here on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPWnFkb98_M

Please share this with your friends, family or whoever. I'm not asking for personal publicity or attention, I just want to spread the word and break the stereotype!

My Modeling Dilemma: The Final Chapter

At the beginning of every year, I like to list new goals and aspirations for the new year. So traditionally, I did so to begin off 2013. One of my goals was to "Become a Model". I'm tall, I'm slender, pretty photogenic and almost everyone I know suggested it to me so I was confident I would be successful in this area. On the other hand, modeling is a very superficial industry and I am the least superficial person. I'm very caring and empathetic towards other people and most of the time I put my friends and family before myself (most of the time ;). I'm comfortable with the way I look but my self esteem can fluctuate by simple comments.

In the end of January, I went to my first modeling interview with a local agency. Without getting too far into detail, I'll just say it was very hypercritical and by the end I was ready to hide under the covers and cry. The only thing I learned out of this interview is how much I really DO NOT want to model. Sure, it would be fabulous to be fashionable all the time and somehow bring awareness towards organ donation and heart disease but on the flip side, I would also be under graded all the time and I would never feel good enough.

I just bragged about how comfortable I am in my own skin. It sounds a bit hypocritical of me to say that when I hardly leave the house not wearing makeup. I can change myself but I can't change how evilly judgmental the outside world is. Modeling just takes judgment to a whole new level and I rather be happy to be who I am than be degraded all the time.

A couple weeks after the interview I had an idea to revolutionize the modeling industry by giving everyone a chance, including the underdog's, to become a model by creating my own modeling agency. Unlike, your everyday fashion magazine it would focus more on awareness campaign's that deserve its lime light. However, I'm sixteen and I know absolutely nothing about the industry or how to even run an agency. It's a good idea but I'm not interested in running my own business. If it's still something I wish to achieve,  maybe in the far future.

I have now come to my final conclusion:

I'm sure if I was persistent and had enough ambition towards modeling, I would be successful in the field. However, modeling just isn't what I want to pursue in, not to mention it's the complete opposite of who I am.    There's a reason I go to a technical school dissecting brains and not an acting school strutting the runway. I rather pursue as a nurse than a model and to be honest, I have more respect for the ladies in scrubs than the ladies in heels.

Besides, I don't need 6 in. heels to be an individualist. My scar gives me enough individuality.

Guess I'll just be a self employed narcissist, oh well.

I love it when my scar is visible in pictures :)