WHAT?!?! NO TRANSPLANTS?!?!?

Well, hello! I have more news. Last week, Michael and I went to our meeting with Dr. S. at the Lung Transplant Clinic. He recognized me and we had a lot of fun with him. He was the father of a toddler and a 7-month old so not much sleep was happening at his house right now. From a teacher's viewpoint, I told him lots of good stuff coming up and we had a good laugh.

He asked if I would agree to lung transplants if approved today?

Yes.

He took a deep breath before asking about my quality of life. What I could and couldn't do. Example: I edged the shrubs along our driveway and parking slab, which would normally take me 20-minutes but it had taken 90-minutes. He laughed. "But, you still are able to do the work?" Me, "Of course!" He shook his head. After a few more question, he said that:

THE GOAL OF LUNG TRANSPLANTS IS TO GIVE A PERSON A BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE.

He said that if I had the transplants now, I would not have as good quality of life. Though my numbers are bad enough to qualify, all of my exercise, including pulmonary rehab six-days a week since 2005, has given me the muscles to support my lungs and I am TOO HEALTHY to qualify for lungs.

He also said that a person my age usually has issues following the transplants. Strokes. Still needing supplemental oxygen. Bedridden. The average life post-transplants is only 3.5 years. (I immediately wanted to ask questions about how healthy these people were going into the transplants or how many years they worked out in pulmonary rehab but I sat and listened.)

We then shared with him our secret goal - Dr. K., Michael and me - is to age out of the program at 70-years old. That, my friends, is only 4 short years away. If I can stay healthy enough, age out and stay alive for a few more years, I will have the same life expectancy as if I had the transplants.

He said that was a good plan as he noticed that every time I had a downturn, I improved. I shared that my secret weapon was exercise and that whenever I was feeling bad, I would kick up my level of working out. He shook his head. Wow.

So, he said we will put a hold on all testing and other plans, have another set of pulmonary function tests in three months then see where we are. I smiled at him. Three months. Let's see what I can do in three months.

I walked along the beach for twenty-minutes two days last week and will kick it up to thirty minutes this week. Eventually, I will work up to fifty-minutes two days a week on top of my two day of pulmonary rehab. I still do a bit of yard work on the weekends so I may add some chores to my routine.

It was remarkable how much better I felt after just the first walk. Somehow I felt I could breathe easier, fuller, walk straighter, stand taller and just had more energy overall.

I've got three months to see if I can improve my pulmonary function test numbers.