"They Cut My Cough Out"

It's a great day to be alive! This is the 2nd day of my new life, with my new lungs.  Ah, it feels great to breathe!

My first night off the sedation medication was not the greatest, I  had more pain than I wanted so had some narcotics to help me get through this night.  I really don't remember much of yesteday...I know mom and dad and my uncle Neal were in to help me, but I can't remember much more than that.  They said I was a bit crabby, but I can't imagine I would do that.

Black Friday, Nov 26, and I spent the first 4 waking hours sitting up in a chair (I would rather be shopping) and enjoying the new breathes of life. Amazing how easy it is to breath. Do you know what's really weird?  I don't know how to cough?  They cut the cough out of me!  I have to cough on a regular basis to help keep my new lungs clear, but I'm not very good at it.  It was just 48 hours ago I was coughing so much my back, sides and stomach hurt so much from all the hard coughing...what a contrast.

Mom and dad showed up this morning while the nurses were disconnecting most of my IV's, arterial tubes, and other unmentionable tubes so they could get me ready to transport me to the Observation Unit (OU).  I'm ready to bust out of the ICU...not that it's a bad place, but I want to get up, get walking and get these damn chest tubes out....they really hurt!

It's 2pm and we've got everything loaded up on my bed and ready to move to OU.  Let's get going!

OK, made it to OU and I'm hungry...whats for lunch, I've been eating liquids and jello WAY to long.

There's talk about taking a walk, let's go I want to get out of here, too!  OK, now we're talking...therapy is here, let's pack up and get walking.  OK, I need help....dad and uncle Neal, you guys handle the tubes, IV poles and I'll take a hike. Hmmmm, let's go about 50 ft and see how that feels.  Hey, not bad!  OK let's go about another 50 ft....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, it feels so good to walk around. OK, let's turn around and go back.

Officially, it was 180 ft on my 2nd day after sugery...I'm ready for more food, what do we have?

Ummmmmm, a huge plate of spagehtti, brownies, bread, and juice.  That's the best food I've ever tasted.  

OK, let's get back in bed because I'm getting really tired and want to take a nap. Holy cow, it's already 6pm, where did the day go.

Hey, this tranpslant thing's not so tough after all....think I'll just lay back and enjoy breathing without coughing.  Hey, my sides and stomack barely move when I'm breathing...that's weird.  Guess I'll just have to enjoy breathing without buring up all my calories. Hmmmmmm, no nebs, no chest therapy, no beating on my fronts and back, no spitting up cups of mucus, this is sweet!  I can get used to this, real quick.

You all enjoy my pic's... the WiFi network around here's hard to connect to and once you do the speeds are very slow, so I'll see if I can get back to you tomorrow.

Oh, here's a good website that might answer a lot of your questions: http://www.barnesjewish.org/lung-transplant-faq

Good night everyone...and thanks to everyone for all the prayers, messages and good wishes.  It's been a great Thanksgiving for all of us.

Adam