5 Unexpected Physical Changes Post Transplant

Here is a list of physical changes that have become a part of my post-transplant life. Most of them are unexpected and seemingly unrelated to having healthy lungs, based on my limited medical knowledge. If one of you is a health professional or a fellow lung recipient and wants to chime in on the list below, please do so!

1.  Dandruff

Prior to the transplant, I could have been the "before" guy in a Head & Shoulders commercial. Sometimes even my eyebrows would have dandruff. Gross, I know!  But post transplant, no dandruff at all. None.  

2.  Chapped Lips

Another frequent issue I dealt with before the transplant was chapped lips. Just like with the dandruff issue, despite using products to help, it was still a problem. But not any more, at all, ever. 

3.  Grey Hair

I've talked about this before, but it seems like, even though my mom went completely grey by age 35, the sudden shift between no grey (especially in my facial hair) and bunches of it seems too coincidental. 

4.  Noisy Breathing

For many years prior to the transplant, when I slept, I wild often make noises as I exhaled. Mostly these sounded like moans and groans-- I wasn't talking in my sleep or something.  Other times I would make chewing noises during my slumber.   My wife made a recording of it once to make me aware of how loud it was.  Since the transplant, I don't make any of those noises-- but now I snore sometimes... at least it's a "normal" annoying sleep noise!

5.  Leg Hair Disappeared... then Came Back!

During the span of several months, the hair on my outer calves of both legs completely disappeared and then came back in full force. It looked like I had deliberately shaved it. My wife noticed it one day, and I realized that I wasn't sure when it started. I know it wasn't an occurrence that immediately happened after the transplant, but apparently it gradually occurred over some period of time. I forgot to show my doctor at one of my visits and ask her about it, and by the time I saw her again about two months later, all of it had grown back. I asked her about it and she just shook her head. I get it-- what's the point in trying to solve unimportant hair mysteries when everything that matters about my health is going so well?  

Some Buzzfeed Lists are Entertaining AND Informative...

     The only two items on this list I would disagree with are 7 and 20.

Spidey Swings by Camp Michitanki

    The time I spent last Friday at Camp Michitanki, a week long sleep-away camp for kids who have received an organ transplant, was the most enjoyable volunteer experience I have ever been a part of.  Probably because I was dressed as Spider-Man for most of the time.  I'm going to go into a lot more detail than would ever be necessary for the book, but that's okay, because I want to have a record of every amazing moment that I was able to witness and be a part of last week.

Annoying Chores I Can Finally Do Again, Ranked

1. Sweeping the Floor.  Sweeping is just terrible.  Maybe it's because we have a pug and his hair ends up all over the floor the second he walks past the area I just swept.  Maybe it's due to the fact that one of my chores growing up as a kid was to sweep the house, and the pile would always have  a ton of food bits that my little brothers probably dropped caused me to harbor a life-long loathing for it.  I don't know.  What I do know is that sweeping while dragging 25 feet of oxygen tubing around was a big NO.  The first time I even tried, my cord went through the pile or I couldn't get the pile into the dustpan without the cord becoming a hassle-- something like that.  Whatever-- that was it for me and sweeping for over a year.

The Top Ten Most Surprising Things about a Bilateral Lung Transplant

     In honor of David Letterman's departure from the airways last night, I am doing a Top Ten List.  Based on only my own experiences, here are the Top Ten Most Surprising Things about a Bilateral Lung Transplant.

10.   The lungs weren't even in the room yet when the anesthesiologist put me under.  (Waking up and finding out the on-site evaluation demonstrated that the lungs weren't viable for transplant was my biggest fear once I got into the OR.)