How To Hospital

In 2017, Anna French was diagnosed with Lupus Nephritis. This was an overnight revelation. She went from a perfectly normal rough and tumble kid to the reality of having a major chronic illness for the rest of her life. She was admitted to the hospital and found herself in the PICU with pending kidney failure. If all of this wasn't hard enough, she was only 11 and it was ten days away from Christmas. She'd spend the next 5 weeks in the hospital trying to get her very angry kidneys to chill and start a 6 month chemotherapy treatment to quell the lupus inflammation. It was during this time that she and her mom, (that's me) started learning how to hospital.

One main takeaway from her hospital days was the importance of a room aesthetic. Hospital rooms are notoriously sterile and unfriendly. But Anna and I made our room a warm and welcoming place. Since it was Christmas time, I snuck in a live tabletop Christmas Tree that we decorated with lights and ornaments. And over her 5 week stay, she collected and acquired all sorts of room accouterments. Lights, wall hangings, decorations, a diffuser, you name it. Anna's room was decked out. She started to have a reputation for having one of the nicest rooms on the floor. Not only did she like her room more, but so did all the doctors and nurses. Even while in the hospital, Anna and I began imagining a way to bring some of this hospital room joy to other kids. That Christmas, the Happy Little Kidneys Project began. With the help of donations from friends and family, Anna raised enough money to outfit 40 rooms at UC Davis Children's Hospital with a 3 foot Christmas Tree, lights and ornaments, a stuffed animal, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and some other fun holiday decor. Since that 2018 Christmas, Anna has continued and expanded this project. Last Christmas she packed and delivered 72 kits for the hospital.

In February 2022, Anna and our family endured quite a shock when she received a cancer diagnosis. Thinking she had paid her bad luck dues with Lupus, it seemed unthinkable that she'd have to endure more medical trauma. Her Ewing's Sarcoma will require 9 months of chemotherapy and radiation and surgery. In addition to this, the chemotherapy protocol puts her at risk for injuring her already scarred kidneys. Sarcoma treatments are long and arduous, with prolonged hospital stays. Add in Anna's temperamental kidneys and she's in for double hospital time. Unfortunately and fortunately, our previous hospital experience kicked in like muscle memory. We really had learned a lot that helped us cope and make our hospital stays as good as possible. Because of this, we decided to create a blog to record all we've learned and are continuing to learn. You'll read everything from our essential oil favorites and helpful hospital hacks, to the amazing relationships that have made our hospital stays livable.

We hope you'll join us as we continue perfecting How to Hospital. It's gonna be a rough one but one we believe our honesty in the thick of things can make our experience meaningful, and even beautiful.