Strong Little Dragon and Best Friends Journey for New Hearts

Chapter 2

Hot shot was in Cook Children's Hospital. He was in heart failure due to dilated cardiomyopathy. He needed something called a heart transplant due to how bad it was. The condition made his heart bigger than normal. It also made the heart very weak too. It was hard for Hot shot do things at the moment. Hot shot wasn't too happy about this to say the least. He was feeling very weak and sick to say the least. He was wanting to feel better. But the only way to help him was through a heart transplant.  

He was very scared about what might happen. He was very nervous about this. He was very scared wondering what to expect to say the least. He was doing much thinking about what was going on and what was going to happen to say the least.

He was wondering why someone has to die so he could live. He couldn't help but wonder about stuff like that. It made him feel a bit guilty. 

"Everything alright?" Quickshadow asked him.

"I am just thinking," Hot shot told her.

"I see," Quickshadow said.

Dr. Olar then came into the room. "Good morning Hot shot," Dr. Olar said.

"Morning," Hot shot said. "I want to know why do I get to live when someone else is going to die for me to get a heart transplant?" he asked.

"Hot shot it is normal to feel like that," Dr. Olar said. "But you must remember when the times, the family gave you that heart," he said. "The family of the child choses to give the organs," he said.

"How do you decide on which heart is right for me?" Hot shot asked.

"Well many things help match the organ with the recipient." Dr. Olar said. "The blood type needs to be the same as yours, the HLA type needs to match with yours, the size of the donor is important which means the donor needs to be close to the same size as you because the heart needs to fit comfortable in your chest, distance, your place on the list and how long you have been waiting," he said. "Many factors go into it," he said.

"How will I be alive during the heart transplant when they take out my heart?" Hot shot asked.

"You will be hooked up to special machine that will do the work of your heart and lungs," Dr. Olar explained.

"Will I be able to see what my old heart looks like?" Hot shot asked.

"Well the team can take a picture for you to see what it looked like," Dr. Olar said. "They will even show the heart to your parents most likely, many children's hospitals do this with organ transplants, they show the old organ to the family to help show them that transplant was the right decision," he said.

"Oh," Hot shot said. "How long will I have to wait?" he asked.

"Hard to say Hot shot, it could be days, weeks, months or even longer." Dr. Olar said. "Some people the wait only lasts few days, others wait over a year," he said. "So it can be hard to wait very long for a transplant," he said. "Especially when you need to stay in the hospital for your wait," he said. "But hopefully your day will come soon," he said. "Plus you are not the only kid in this hospital waiting for a heart transplant apart of the new heart transplant program," he said. "There are a few kids your age waiting, and a few kids of other ages waiting too," he said. "One of them, maybe even you might be the first heart transplant here at this children's hospital," he said.

"Wow," Hot shot said. "How long will I have to stay after my heart transplant?" he asked.

"Normally it is a 2 to 4 week stay, but you might stay longer if you are having complications," Dr. Olar said.

"Will I have to take medication?" Hot shot asked.

"Yes Hot shot, some you might take for the rest of your life," Dr. Olar said.

"That sounds like a lot," Hot shot said.

"It is," Dr. Olar said.

"I appreciate you answering Hot shot's questions Dr. Olar," Quickshadow said.

"No problem," Dr. Olar said. "There is a new clinical trial for heart transplant patients we have been approved to do and we want to know if Hot shot can be apart of it," he said.

"What kind of clinic trial?" Quickshadow asked.

"Using thymus tissue and special medicine to train the body's immune system that the transplanted heart is not a threat but there to help," Dr. Olar said. "Hot shot will take this medicine by IV in the hospital before and after the transplant. After the transplant this IV medicine will be done for eight to ten months, then slowly ease back on anti-rejection medicines for a year and to two years after the transplant and then in the middle are at the end of the second year lay off the antirejection medications for a few weeks and test it at each week, if things look good we keep going, if he has no problems afterward and signs show after a year after of no signs of immune system inflammation and the immune system level are normal outside of infection, then the trial is a success, and that means no more antirejection medicines to be needed for transplant patients." he said. "Four other families agreed to it, and other hospitals are doing this too," he said. "So right now it is enter phase three and so far it looks like success but we need a larger group to be sure and we want Hot shot to be part of it," he said.

"I will call Heatwave to see what he thinks," Quickshadow said. She called Heatwave and explained. "This could not only be a help to Hot shot but to other people if this third phase is a success," she said.

"That sounds fine, he will be part of it," Heatwave said.

Then Quickshadow turned to Dr. Olar. "Hot shot will be part of this clinic trial," Quickshadow said.

So Hot shot was now part of this clinical trial. Hot shot was starting to receive the special medicine for his clinical trial he was apart of. He was hoping this was going to help. He was hoping he was going to get his new heart very soon.