Posts by Becca Atherton

About three months ago I messed up big time when it came to my health and medication. While it was all an accident, I didn't want to update and tell everyone what had happened because it was all my fault and I really didn't want to feel like I had to defend myself or reassure people that I didn't do it on purpose.

I forgot to take two weeks’ worth of one of my pulmonary hypertension medications.

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On Monday, May 30, 2016, my dad drove my older sister, three of our heart friends and myself up to California for a short trip to Disneyland. We met up with our other heart friends for dinner in Downtown Disney that same night. The restaurant thankfully had let me make a reservation a few days before our trip and we were able to put enough tables together to get 16 people all together to eat. It was an amazing weekend filled with lots of laughter and amazing memories.

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I was expecting a phone call from the surgeon sometime this week, so my mom kept her cell phone with her at all times. Every time it rang or buzzed, our anticipation rose and we all looked over at her with an expectant face. My heart would swell with hope every time it went off, only to be deflated each time.

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I have seen the internet abuzz over a new television show called Red Band Society. I've read a few reviews of the show that were written by chronically or terminally ill teens who had watched the pilot, and their reviews made me worried they wouldn't be portrayed properly. While there were a few things that I disliked about how they portrayed life in the hospital, there were some wonderful teaching moments and this show will hopefully raise awareness about children with terminal or chronic illnesses.

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A few weeks ago we got the good news that a hospital – although far from home – has agreed to evaluate me for a heart-lung transplant and see if they think they would be able to transplant me when the time comes. However, we haven't really heard from them for a few weeks now since the first time they called to talk to me about it.

At first we were told that the hospital was in-network with my insurance but now we are being told they still have to work things out with the insurance. My doctors in California gave the contact person my parent’s cell phone number as well as the home phone, but there was still an issue with a missed call left on our home phone.

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Turning 21 is considered a big milestone in a lot of people's lives, especially since it means you can now legally drink and buy alcohol. But for me, this birthday is a milestone for a completely different reason.

It was 21 years ago when I was born and the doctors discovered that I had serious congenital heart defects and pulmonary hypertension. I was born blue and since my mom didn't have any prenatal care for me, no one expected or had any idea that I'd be as sick as I was. Before my parents adopted me, they were told by a doctor that I had a 13% chance of living to the age of five. But after four open heart surgeries, 45 pills and two SVN treatments a day, three allergy shots once a week, five different hospitals, more than 20 heart catheterizations, a blood draw once a month, a pacemaker/defibrillator placement and countless doctor appointments—I have reached 21 years of age.

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It's pretty obvious when you meet me that I am generally a happy person. People have told me more and more recently how they love my sense of humor and my attitude about life. I've learned through my life that laughter does help you feel better—which probably explains why I love comedies, whether it's a TV show or a movie.

When people make weird comments about my scar (like the lady who thought my scar was a drink I spilled on myself), I usually don't get offended—unless they are purposely trying to be rude—and instead, I laugh it off and find it amusing. I'll go home and I'll tell my family about the newest and weirdest comment. We find humor in some of the things people say. Because if I didn't do that, I could have a chip on my shoulder from all the things people have said to me. But when I laugh it off and get a kick out of the stupid things people say, it makes for great stories!

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Throughout my life, my health has taken away things in my life that other healthy people could do. But I noticed that there was a cycle. I gave myself a day or two to cry, scream, yell about how life isn’t fair and tell my parents that I just wanted to be normal. Then after I got it all out, I sucked it up and I did what I knew I had to do.

Well, yet another thing came up on Monday that I was not able to do. My friends at school are all going away on a three-day camping trip for Spring Break. Now I am going to be very honest with you, I don’t think I would like camping—not one bit. I like sleeping in a comfy, warm bed. They were going to be sleeping in tents. I like having heating and a running toilet. They would have a campfire and a place behind the bushes.

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Last night I went to my little sister's church choir concert and they sang this song at the end. I was so close to tears, as was my mom. I knew that I had to share this song with you all. It's called “Go Light Your World” by Chris Rice:

There is a candle in every soul
Some brightly burning, some dark and cold
There is a spirit who brings a fire
Ignites a candle, and makes his home

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This Friday I will be traveling up to California to see my doctors there. Lately I have been having a lot of memory problems, which we think may be because of one my medications. The problem becomes, though, that this medication protects me from a certain type of arrhythmia and right now, we are not sure if there is a medication I could take besides this one that wouldn't have the memory side effects.

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As all of you know, having a congenital heart defect means you have a scar—or a few of them. For the majority of my life, I haven’t felt too self-conscious about my scar. I like to thank the heart camp I’ve gone to since the age of eight for helping in that field. However, I won’t lie—when I started high school and my scar from my surgery in 6th grade was still bright pink and bumpy, I was self-conscious about it. I even went as far as to get special make up to cover it up.

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Hi everyone, I just wanted to give you all a quick update about the heart cath and pacemaker replacement I got a few weeks ago. During the cath, I had a horrible asthma attack and they had to give me a bunch of asthma medications while I was still sedated. The doctors took a look at some of the pressures in my heart and they aren't too happy about them. They are hoping, though, that it was just because I had eaten a bunch of salt the night before (I splurged! Haha.) and because of the difficulty with my asthma.

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This past week, I went to a local elementary school to talk with third and fourth graders about my heart condition, bullying and how you can’t look at a person and think you know what they are like. I explained how with my heart defect, I look normal. Looking at me, people have no idea that I am sick. So when I walk slow or take the elevator instead of the stairs, they look at me weird or make comments. I also talked about when I was younger; even when I was in high school people would still make fun of me. The kids asked questions about my illness, how I coped with the bullying and then I got a question that I had never gotten before.

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It was 19 years ago that I met a good friend of mine when we were both babies in the intensive care unit at the same hospital. Our parents had both been told that things weren’t looking so good for us.

Fast forward a few years. When we were eight years old we met again at a camp for kids with congenital heart defects. Every year we would see each other at camp, share funny stories, go kayaking and all around just got to feel like normal kids. FYI—two heart kids in a kayak is not a good idea. We kept running into boats and we didn’t go very fast since we both get tired easily! But we had a good time!

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