Okay so I hate when people make transplant out to be worse than it is. As Joann once explained to me, the transplant team does not send your immune system packing. You have a working immune system, it is simply surpressed. So yes, you have to be careful, wash your hands, don't be around people who have something, no sharing food or drinks...but the fact is you will get colds, and you will fight them off. The average of 7 years is just that. It is an average. Some of the statistics will say "50% of the people will be alive after five years" blah blah. But what my doctor pointed out to me, is that those numbers are no indication of how well YOU will do.
So with that being said, I live everyday of my life like I will be living on and on and on. I'm not in a rush to do things as i was in the past because I have been givin the gift of time. Don't let numbers or statistics discourage you. Let the dream of being able to walk/run/jump/laugh without getting winded, coughing or using oxygen. A life where there is no vest, no chest pt, no iv's.
Yes, transplant has it downs. i.e catching two pretty serious cold viruses with a pneumonia back to back and losing some lung function (my case right now). But with some hard work and determination and the right mix of a bump and taper on the steroids and some antibiotics, my lung functions have slowly been going back up to my baseline. Hopefully next month, I will be back to normal! When it comes to transplant you have to roll with the punches. Take the good with the bad. Because believe me, as good as it can get with a transplant is worth every annoying doctor's appointment, every cat scan, chest x-ray and set of pfts that I have had to do when things got a little rough.
Believe me, there is nothing like going to work for a week then, walking around the city with friends on the weekends, dancing all night, doing the Irish Jig in the middle of the street during St. Patrick's day celebrations, only to be thrown into fits of laughter, take a deep breath and keep walking....
