So I spent the past 4 days at Stanford getting a lung transplant evaluation. For me, the hardest part about going to the evaluation is that every aspect of the process was a complete unknown. Despite trying though a few avenues to learn about the evaluation process (via people who have been through it) I was going in pretty blind. I am a planner. I do not do spontaneous, unknown, unprepared well. So this week was a challenge to say the least. I had eight million questions and nobody to answer them.
I did however, find a blog from someone who was transplanted in 2012 and she wrote a detailed explanation of the evaluation process. Despite her transplant evaluation taking place several years ago her schedule looked almost identical to mine. I read through her post several times as a way to prepare. And even so I had so many more questions. So I am going to go through each day (through multiple posts), but today I wanted to clear up some of my biggest concerns that I could not find addressed anywhere else.
The schedule they give you is pretty intense especially for Monday! I had 8 appointments in that single day. 5 were scheduled and 3 were to be done "at my convenience" throughout the day. My first concern was things getting behind schedule. I was really worried I may end up late to appointments or even completely miss them. I was reassured that if a test was running late we only had to talk to the front desk and they would make the appropriate calls to keep us on track. Also, every time I had a test the tech (or whoever was preforming my test) was well aware from my chart that I was booked for tests all day and they kept things running smoothly. Actually, my first blood draw couldn't be completed because I was there at 6:30am to get my blood drawn and the TB test couldn't be taken until after 8. The lab technician left my case open so when I returned for my TB I wouldn't have to wait in the long line that had formed. Every test up until my clinic visit was right on time. Of course, after clinic was a whole different story, but I will get to that later.
Some of my appointments were scheduled very close together and had different wings for checking in. I have been at the same hospital for my entire adult life and I often find myself lost in the hospital walls because everything looks the same and feels a bit disorganized. I pictured myself wandering lost and late for appointments. Stanford is the most organized and easy to navigate hospital I have ever been to. It is almost impossible to get lost. And if you are confused there are so many people more than willing to help. A janitor walked us completely across the hospital to show us where the heart cath lab was located.
Another really nice aspect of Stanford is that they have valet parking for only $2 more than regular parking. It took so much stress off of trying to find parking and walking to the hospital. It also meant my husband and I weren't separated like we would have been if he dropped me off and then left to park. The parking attendants were so nice and recognized us everyday. Side story about the parking attendant, at one point during my evaluation I stepped outside the side door to cough into my sputum sample cup because I was trying to cough in privacy. The parking attendant just happened to walk by just as I spit a huge loogie in my sample cup. At first I was horrified because...gross, but he just gave me a thumbs up and a smile. I swear everyone at Stanford was so so nice.
Overall, the evaluation went much smoother than I expected. The last day was rough, but I think that was because we ran into a few issues that I assume are not typical. If it wasn't for that last day I would say the experience wasn't nearly as bad as I had imagined. Even the tests, for the most part, were pretty easy and pain free.
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