Day 62

Wow, I have passed the 2 month mark. The doctors say that at 3 months I will feel a dramatic improvement. I can't wait. A few days ago I overdid it and walked 7 to 10 miles and really struggled to get back home. It took me 3 or 4 days to recover. I'm better, but not as good as I was. I will stick to smaller bites each time. Food taste bland, but starting to taste again. My stroke stricken right side is still weak.Getting better, just not quick enough for me. We had an offer from a friend, who just relocated to Louisville, Kentucky, and bought a big house, to come live with them. What a wonderful offer. I can't leave my doctors for a while yet, as I have to go for follow-up visits and tests bi-weekly. I am trying to stay busy at home, but it's tough and boring. Good news, still gaining a little weight. I'm up to about 164lbs. My great neighbors have been cutting my grass because the doctors don't want me to do any gardening or be outside while people are doing yard work. Eventually, I will be able to do these mundane chores. With the immune system being shut down to prevent my body rejecting the new lungs I am more susceptible to diseases, spores and bacteria. A small price to pay, believe me. Anyone have any ideas how to keep the mind busy, please leave some comments. Actually all comments would be welcome.  I would just like to know that someone is actually reading this blog. Don't be afraid to tell someone that you Love them. You never know when they may not be around anymore.

History VI

So, I put my 1/2 banana away, threw out my cereal and coffee, and waited.  You can imagine the thoughts going through my mind at this point.  Will the lungs work? Will I be able to finally get off of this nasty oxygen? Will I finally stop coughing? And how about, will I survive the operation? Does the surgeon know what he's doing? And I wait.  Susan calls about 2 1/2 hours later to say they are still running tests but everything looks good.  She will call back. About 3p.m. Susan calls again. She says," OK, are you ready?"  I ask her ready for what?  She says everything looks good, come to the hospital.  WOW! I am now scared to death, but remain calm. I called Linda, whom I've been updating via text messaging, e-mail and phone calls.  I told her they want me to come to the hospital, and ask her if she is ready. She is now out of her mind with nervousness, she says yes and asks me what she is supposed to do. We had a plan in place, that we had discussed previously. She was so nervous, she couldn't remember what to do. I told her to take a deep breath and calm down. Then, I told her to meet me at her mother's house and the three of us would drive to the hospital together. I too, was nervous. It seemed like I was running around the house in circles trying to figure out what to do. I met Linda at her mother's house and the three of us drove to the hospital, which is about 45 minutes away from our home. After being admitted they take us to a hospital room to prepare me for surgery.  We met Kim and Susan, nurses on the Transplant Team, in the room and they told us that it is still a waiting game up until the surgeon comes back with lungs in hand and is satisfied everything is a go. At this point, they are asking me questions and having me dress in hospital gowns and laying in the bed. I am having , what I consider, an out of body experience. I am there, but I am watching from a far, at them asking questions of my body.  Weird, really weird. I'm not sure of all the details from this point on. I do know that they said the surgeon had arrived and he was pleased with everything and gave the go ahead about 8p.m. Linda tells me, they didn't wheel me in until after midnight. The surgery was supposed to be 10 to 12 hours long. I was done in 8 hours, I guess that's a good thing.....................

History V

I was put on the National Registry for Lungs.  16 days later I was called at 8 a.m.  Susan, with the Tampa Transplant Team, asked me if I had eaten yet.  I responded that I had a full bowl of cereal and milk, a cup of coffee, and a half of a banana sitting in front of me.  I had already eaten half of the banana.  She said good, stop, don't eat anything else.  They had a pair of lungs that looked good and were a good match for me.  The way that they match is though blood type, size of the body, and quality of the organs.  They don't want a smoker, nor anyone who has or has had cancer.  There are other disqualifying ingredients, but these are the major ones.  I asked her if I had time to think about it.  She said no, if I want them I had to tell her right then.  Wow, what a decision to make.  I was deciding whether to have someone fillet open my chest and have someone else's lungs put in my chest and hope they will work without being rejected by my own body.  Take a minute and think about that...................  In the end I said yes.  What was the alternative?  Death.  Susan said okay and that she would call me back in two hours.  What had I just agreed to?..................................................................

Day 55

Hi!  I'm back.  After much discussion, it has been decided that once a week blog is better than everyday.  Sorry, most people get tired of hearing from me everyday, so we'll do once a week.  It's been an up and down week.  They changed some of my Meds around and I was walking around like a Zombie throughout the day.  I didn't have enough energy to do any exercising or just about anything else.  I went to TGH for clinic on Monday, told Dr. Haddad what was up and he had me stop one of the pills he had me start 2 weeks ago and moved another to the morning.  Now I'm not taking anything that will cause me to stay up at night and not be able to sleep.  So, I don't take anything as a sleep aid.  I am a terrible drug addict.  I have such a low tolerance that even the non-drowsy medications make me drowsy.  I am beginning to be able to taste food again.  Boy, it sucks when everything tastes so bland.  I have no desire for sweets, which used to be my downfall.  I used to want chocolate and Ice cream at night before bed.  I guess that's a good thing, not to want sweets.  But I don't know how I'm going to gain weight like this.  Remember, I went from 215 lbs. down to 159 lbs.  I am still at 159 lbs. Lungs are working well, breathing tests that I do every morning are good.  I don't cough when I eat nor when I talk on the phone.  My voice is okay, not great.  When I had the stroke, during the transplant procedure, it paralyzed my right side as well as my vocal cords.  I had a second operation to add filament to my vocal chord to allow it to vibrate better.  It has helped, but I still have to strain a little to talk.  Some think that's good because I won't talk so much.  After a year post transplant, they will decide if they need to do another operation for my vocal chords.    I can't complain, I'm in a much better place than I was before the transplant.  Remember every DAY is a gift, open it up and share it with others.