Blooming Hope
— Anna Jeter

Through every up and down of my 19 years living with pulmonary hypertension (PH), one thing I could always rely on was my mom’s little black notebook. Without fail, she would pull it out of her bag at the beginning of every doctor appointment, pen in hand. The notebook…

After a difficult winter and spring dealing with several health setbacks, I’m slowly dipping my toes back into my day-to-day interests. This includes things like knitting, cooking, and reading, but mostly, it means digging back into my art practice. As I ride this recent wave of creative rejuvenation,…

When I was recently discharged from the hospital following a stint with COVID-19 and norovirus, my team automatically scheduled me for an in-person follow-up. As the date in July approached, I double-checked the appointments in my online portal and noted a few things. First, I had been scheduled for…

In May, I wrote about my optimistic plan to help care for my mother after a minor surgery. We were keeping our fingers crossed, hoping for only minor complications for both of us during the upcoming weeks. Unfortunately, that’s not how things turned out. In fact, the hit of…

Tomorrow, a surgery is taking place, but for once, I won’t be the person counting back from 10 as they’re put to sleep. Instead, it’s my mother who will be undergoing a minor procedure. Fortunately, it’s low risk, but we’ve still had a lot to consider regarding her recovery, which…

When I was 12, an infection related to my central line landed me in the hospital. I was being treated at a large teaching center and clearly remember waking up one day to find more than 10 people in the room staring at me and discussing my case. This was…

Growing up with a rare, chronic illness can draw a lot of attention. Specifically, it can raise a lot of questions, especially from other kids. I can’t remember an age when I wasn’t required to explain my health situation to others, particularly my peers. Early on, absences from school would…

I’m a ’90s baby, which means medical dramas were at peak popularity during my childhood. Shows like “ER” and “Grey’s Anatomy” were among the big hits, often portraying a fantasy version of healthcare and hospital life. Throughout high school and college, I frequently indulged in this genre. I remember nights…

I first had to use supplemental oxygen outside of a hospital during flights. This change took place when I was in high school, and one of those flights was for a school trip. I still remember sitting in my window seat, a hat pulled low over my head, trying to…

The last time my mom and I flew together was nearly seven years ago, when I took a medical flight home from Stanford Hospital in California to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. That journey happened midway through my eight-month recovery from a heart and lung transplant in 2018. We both…

While settling in for a recent clinic appointment, a nurse reviewed my record and praised me for the breadth of my health history, noting how impressive I was for everything I had survived. This response isn’t uncommon when people learn that I had a heart and lung transplant. My nurse was…