Leg Strength

Here’s a thing that’s crazy but true: people of all ages, genders and backgrounds who get lung transplants tend to lose 60% of the muscle strength in their legs as a result of the procedure. More than half the strength—in about 10 days! It makes even more sense now why it’s so important to do a lot of walking exercise both before and after the surgery. Pop reports that this 60% muscle loss has been true for him also, which is another surreal physical change that requires some adjustment. He continues to walk further everyday and both the lungs and legs are finding their way.

But I’m burying the lede—Dad drank coffee today! The swallowing exercises paid off and he can now have both thin liquids (e.g., water, coffee) and crunchy foods (e.g., salad). Needless to say, this was “a major quality of life upgrade” and another important step in resuming pre-transplant daily habits.

In other words, the same theme from all recent updates continues: despite pain and physical challenges, Pop is making steady progress everyday. His pulmonologist is very pleased with the trend and has set a new goal of no more chest tubes by the end of the week. 😊 This means Dad needs to go on some more serious diuretics to drain fluids from his chest cavity, and also a bronchoscopy to clean out the new lungs a bit. While Dad will still need an oxygen line and a walker to move around, eliminating other chest tubes will give him more independence and ease of motion. So he can shuffle over to the nurses station and offer to buy everyone coffee if they bring him back a large one.