You can tell when you first meet Christine ("Chris") Hohman that she is a woman with plenty of stories to share. This 37-year-old, wife and mother of two loves to tell visitors about the various antics of the small collection of farm animals who live in her backyard and the family’s dog. But her stories take on a serious tone as she explains the level of gratitude she feels for the people who became her support after she knew she was seriously ill and would need a lung transplant. Initially diagnosed with emphysema in 1996, Chris tells her story of her declining health, her visit to Hopkins for transplant evaluation and then finally her transplant on August 20, 2005.
After the first diagnosis, Chris and her pulmonologist managed her health for a number of years until her condition required her to consult with the lung transplant team at Hopkins for specialized care. By July 2, 2003, the date she saw Hopkins pulmonoligist, Dr. Girgis, she could tell that the emphysema was worsening her quality of life, little by little. It started out by creeping into her unconscious. While she slept, panic would cross her mind and she would wake up suddenly to flee for the deck outside the kitchen door where she could take in the cold, brisk air available there. Her busy life of raising two small kids with her husband and working a job that required her to be pulled in many directions soon became overwhelming. What her body could accomplish in 1996, it could not in 2001. Her deteriorating health forced her decision to quit her job; it was sad for her to leave her position in graphic design and management that had allowed her to express the creativity she is well admired for. Then, her condition started to impact on her family’s well-being, too, and this was distressing to Chris.
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Stress on the Family
Dealing with chronic illness impacts each member of the family in different ways. As her condition declined, Chris wasn’t able to do much more than sit in a chair in the living room, conserving her strength for her next task in the day. "It was my family, my two young boys, ultimately, who saw me at my worst and my best," she remembers. "If it wasn’t for my boys offering me hugs when my health was worsening it would have been unbearable." Her husband, too, found that he could help divert her for a brief moment from the confines of the chair in the living room. He rigged the luggage container of his motorcycle to hold her oxygen tank and together, they would take on short rides around the community. Her family was able help her in ways that oxygen, nebulizers and medicine could not.
Dealing with chronic illness impacts each member of the family in different ways. As her condition declined, Chris wasn’t able to do much more than sit in a chair in the living room, conserving her strength for her next task in the day. "It was my family, my two young boys, ultimately, who saw me at my worst and my best," she remembers. "If it wasn’t for my boys offering me hugs when my health was worsening it would have been unbearable." Her husband, too, found that he could help divert her for a brief moment from the confines of the chair in the living room. He rigged the luggage container of his motorcycle to hold her oxygen tank and together, they would take on short rides around the community. Her family was able help her in ways that oxygen, nebulizers and medicine could not.
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| It was her oldest son (age 5 at the time) who was home with her on the day Chris collapsed in the shower. Her 5-year-old called 911. Chris instructed her son to also call his grandparents, and soon, Chris’ brother-in-law arrived to make sure the children were safely away from the confusion while the paramedics did their work. "I just kept thinking, ‘help me, I can’t breathe’ and I remember pulling at the paramedic’s clothing in my panic," recalls Chris. Chris tells of a closed in, hot sensation when she speaks about the moments when she could not catch a breath. At the moment the paramedics took her out of the house on the stretcher, it began to drizzle. Cool rain helped calm her. Looking back, she expresses how much it means to have somebody there when she needed help – her sons, her family, the paramedic. |
To help Chris recover from the collapse, the physician put her in a drug-induced coma and kept her at the hospital. She was unconscious for more than a week. She hints at the difficulties her family faced during that time. Then, her family and her medical team knew that it was critical that she receive a transplant.
Coping with Difficulty
In August 2003, Chris and her husband met with the other members of the Hopkins transplant team, including the surgeon, the transplant coordinator, the social worker, etc. The idea of having a transplant was not shocking to the couple, as it is to some people. Chris’ family just wanted Chris to be able to do the kinds of every day things that everyone takes for granted – taking a shower, walking to the mailbox, even doing the laundry. During their first meetings, the team members talked at length with the couple about all of the medical aspects of transplantation, including the evaluation testing, the waiting process, the surgery, recovery, and what life might be like after the transplant. The team would continue to meet with Chris every three months to help monitor her health and answer any questions.
In August 2003, Chris and her husband met with the other members of the Hopkins transplant team, including the surgeon, the transplant coordinator, the social worker, etc. The idea of having a transplant was not shocking to the couple, as it is to some people. Chris’ family just wanted Chris to be able to do the kinds of every day things that everyone takes for granted – taking a shower, walking to the mailbox, even doing the laundry. During their first meetings, the team members talked at length with the couple about all of the medical aspects of transplantation, including the evaluation testing, the waiting process, the surgery, recovery, and what life might be like after the transplant. The team would continue to meet with Chris every three months to help monitor her health and answer any questions.
At the beginning, some of the topics that came up during the appointments they had with the various team members surprised the couple. It is part of the transplant team’s responsibity as healthcare providers to help patients understand some negative issues, and families sometimes do not expect this. The transplant team must discuss emotionally stressful issues, including death, that patients and families may face when confronting chronic illness.
It is hoped that a conversation about some difficult aspects of illness might help families prepare themselves, no matter what would happen, good or bad. At the start of their transplant experience, Chris and her husband were coping with many emotions. The couple was not ready to accept that any of these negative ideas might potentially become true for them. They occasionally walked away from a meeting with the team angry and determined that they would do what they could to ensure that everything would be ok. |  |
Today, Chris appreciates the intent of these discussions. And Chris also tells how grateful she is to the various members of the team, such as the social worker who helped her sort through a lot of the repercussions of the stress that had laid heavy on her family during the experience.
In her regular appointments at Hopkins, the transplant team would have the opportunity to be a resource to Chris - as they are to all transplant patients. For example, at one point, Chris and her family were worried when their insurance coverage changed. The stress of not knowing whether your insurance will be able to cover the cost of transplantation can be unbearable. The team immediately connected Chris to the resources available through the transplant business office so that she and her family would get the answers to their financial questions.
Tactics to Ease the Journey
Chris would follow through on her promise to do whatever she could to make the transplant a healthy experience. Her neighbor provided Chris with a treadmill that had been sitting unused in the basement and Chris walked on the treadmill religiously. She would start a walking program and continue to do tasks around the house in order to maintain her physical stamina, something she knew she would need for the transplant surgery and recovery.
Chris would follow through on her promise to do whatever she could to make the transplant a healthy experience. Her neighbor provided Chris with a treadmill that had been sitting unused in the basement and Chris walked on the treadmill religiously. She would start a walking program and continue to do tasks around the house in order to maintain her physical stamina, something she knew she would need for the transplant surgery and recovery.
Unlike many people who wish to isolate themselves when they are facing serious illness, Chris made a point to share her story with people in her community when asked. With her oxygen tank in tow, Chris still made trips to the local store to pick up household items. One day, a store worker offered to help Chris to take her bags to the car and in the process asked about her health. From then on, the same woman at the store would escort Chris to the car, load the bags and then take a moment of silence to pray with Chris for a healthy transplant. Her son’s school "Cedarmere" pulled together and held a fundraiser campaign in a show of solidarity for the Hohman family. They collected gift certificates for meals and home cleaning service to make it easier for the family when Chris would be admitted to the hospital.
Chris’ health declined rapidly in 2005. She struggled with the idea that her sons were losing touch with who she had been as a vibrant young 30-year old, and that they might lose their mother altogether. She recalls the month of July 2005 as being the most dismal episode in her life. She gave in completely to the feeling of being "boxed in" and trapped by what life had presented to her. Then, in August, the transplant team called her to the hospital.
On August 20, 2005, Chris was told that there was a matching donor for her and she underwent a bi-lateral lung transplant. Chris describes it as re-birth.
Once on the recovery floor, her surgeon asked that she immediately start moving again to help her new lungs recover from the surgery. He let Chris know that he expected her to walk laps around the in-patient floor, not one or two, but a dozen. She remembers her transplant nurse encouraging her to keep her head high and her buttocks out so that she would regain her posture and her strength. When she walks on the treadmill today, she smiles at the memory and checks her posture.
 | Putting it in Perspective She is also awed by the donor family who, at a time of loss, was still able to help someone else. She took time to write them a letter to explain what this meant to Chris, her sons, her husband, and her entire community of loved ones and supporters. |
She is still careful about spending too much time so early in her recovery in public areas with a lot of germs. However, when she is out, she will connect with anyone who is interested in hearing about lung transplantation. She thinks, "Anything I can do to honor the donor and all of those people who helped me along the way..."
