Peer Support

Over the past couple of weeks, Shirley's spirit has been down in the dumps. She's been reluctant to see visitors, open cards, take phone calls etc.  She isn't happy with the state she is in and doesn't want friends or family to see her this way.

Thinking that some encouragement from someone who had been there might do the trick, I search the internet for blogs from other lung transplant recipients.  I came across one that I found particularly inspiring from a woman named Piper who lives in New York.  I've added her blog, A Matter of Life and Breath to the links to the right. I wrote to Piper and she shared an analogy from her doctor that I found very fitting for Shirley's current situation:

My doctor once told me that going through lung transplant was a little like crossing a really long bridge during rush hour. Sometimes the traffic is heavy and slow and frustrating, and sometimes the crowd breaks and you get to move forward super fast. Sometimes you feel like you're just standing still. But at the end of the day you just have to cross the bridge, and how fast you get there doesn't determine what your drive will be like on the other side. Some people seem to have really hard starts and then go on to have absolutely amazing lives post-transplant -- long and healthy and beautiful.

I also met Pete & Carolyn's neighbor Bea, who is a Physician's Assistance in a transplant program at another hospital.  She told us that their program uses "Transplant Buddies" linking recent or potential transplant patients with post-transplant recipients who can offer moral support and help them see the potential on the other side of recovery.  I knew that UW has a support group, but hadn't heard about a similar buddy program.

After some much appreciated encouragement from Pete, I reached out to the Transplant team Social Worker today to ask if they had such a program.  She told me that they did this often and that she had the perfect person in mind for Shirley.  Talk about kismet, the person was from Portland, had Alpha-1, and as I spoke to the social worker, was on her way to the hospital for a clinic visit!  After conferring with both parties, we were introduced today to Gretchen and her husband Walt.  Gretchen had a really rough go of it-23 weeks in the hospital--but there she was, standing in Shirley's hospital room talking about getting out and walking and plans for taking a yoga class.  This was the inspiration that we needed.

Our visit was brief, as Shirley had a procedure scheduled for the OR and the gurney showed up to roll her away, but Walt and Gretchen said they would stop by again tomorrow for another visit.