Four months after transplant and things are going well

Life changed for me last June 8th.  I received a new heart from a selfless donor, and for that I am humbled and forever grateful.

After 38 months plus with a left ventricular assist device keeping me bionically alive, I'm able to live without mechanical support.  The things we take for granted amaze me.

Driving home to Fargo from Minneapolis, I became aware of how many shades of green there are.  I had a different outlook.  No longer were the fields and woodsy areas just fields and woods.  

Perspective and attitude are changeable, if you want them to be.  You're only limited by your imagination.  If you can dream it, you can achieve it.

There have been (and likely will continue to be) rough patches particularly in negotiating the balancing of the medications that keep my body from attacking and rejecting my new heart.  I accept the challenge and am moving on.  Acceptance is the key.  Sometimes you get stuck on something.  There are bad days but fortunately there are many more good days.

I began cardiac rehabilitation last week and feel much better for the exercise.  It has taken these several months since receiving my new heart to feel well enough to launch into an exercise program.  It is relatively slow going and controlled.

I learned the other day that the pneumonia I had may have come from a fungus carried in the cells of the donor heart.  Fortunately, I'm being treated for the fungal condition and the cardio team says it will be resolved favorably.

Don't forget to check out becoming an organ and tissue donor.  Go to www.organdonor.gov