Daily Life and Adjustments to the New Heart

     It has now been 2 months since the transplant and , I began to find a rhythm of how I felt during the day. Initially everything was so new and my energy compared to what I had before transplant was astronomically high. Getting used to this feeling took some time, and I had great difficulty falling asleep because like Nas says “sleep is the cousin of death”. I did not want to waste a moment a sleep but soon realized that it was hard to break this habit. After 1 month I was able to be with my daughter and we would go on walks and become more active together, no longer would I have to say Laura I am sorry but daddy cant do anything more today.

     I still had times where I would be tired from trying to push hard doing exercise but it was no one near how I felt prior to a new heart. Now became the time where I was fighting through PTSD and realizing that I can do tasks and activities that before I either got shocked because I went into Vtach or my heart rate went high and was worried that I would have another heart attack. Over time of the first several months my dreams no longer caused me to feel uneasiness of death.

     I joined a support group through UCSD and it helped process what I have gone through so far, and connect with others. My day became more consistent and I was reading and playing video games in between working out and playing with my daughter. Medications at first were heavy and I was able to lower my dose of Tacrolimus and prednisone. My appetite came back with a vengeance and I was hovering around 225 lbs. No matter what I tried getting that weight off because of the prednisone bloating me was very hard to do.

     By the end of 4 months I felt more confident exercising, eating and prepping healthy meals, or at least trying to, and being able to communicate my issues with my heart team. Moving forward I realized that for my 6 month after transplant my chest was no longer sore and I felt confident being able to utilize my upper body more. Soon I felt that I could go swimming, play basketball and engage with my daughter in sports.