We had some friends over last night, and we had a great time. This was a good friend I went to high school with that had a heart transplant 10 years ago. He is my age, 37, and really taken life to it's limits since the transplant. The sad part is that I have a tendency to forget about how it really does still affect his lifestyle.
He and I went to pick up the Pizza (yes it was my off night), and while we were waiting for the Pizza he proceeded to tell me he ended up in the hospital for 5 days with a sinus infection! What??!! Huh?!!! A sinus infection?? So, he told me the whole story of anytime he comes down with a fever, they instantly put him in the hospital for fear that he may be rejecting the new (10 year old) heart. He also said that when he gets sick like that, it's not like a "normal" person that may just lay around and maybe miss a day of work, he is completely wiped out...for days.
I guess I see this healthy, energetic, athletic guy. A guy who has since the transplant bowled a couple of 300 games, plays on several baseball teams (not softball, baseball), throws his kids around just like any "normal" 37 year old dad would, and it really made me think again that this guy lives with this every day of his life. He as well as all of us, are so thankful for the extra gift of life that God and his donor gave him. He is living life to the fullest, but yet he still has to deal with the thought that this is still a transplanted heart every day.
We do all tend to forget about the transplant. And that is what he wants. He doesn't want us to worry about him. That extra gift of life has affected him tremendously, but it has also affected those who are close to him tremendously as well.
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