@actsoflight, I am my dad's primary care giver. I only lived about 5 miles from him when we received his transplant. We had help from close friends and family initially. If I remember correctly my dad was in the hospital for about a week after his transplant. My aunt (lives out of town) came to stay with my dad for the first two weeks after discharge. She was able to go the hospital with me to review all the discharge, post op care with me. Close friends (also live out of town) stayed the following two weeks. My sister (lives out of town) stayed for the fifth week. During this period I was at my dad's house daily, taking care of meds, groceries, cleaning, doctors appointments, etc. My son (20 years old at the time) moved in with my dad after my sister left. This provided that somebody would be with him almost all of the time. My son eventually moved out after two years and my dad lived by himself for two years. My dad was older when he received his transplant and his care has been extensive. He was just diagnosed with Parkinson's however the symptoms started to appear not long after transplant. This significantly delayed his recovering and took several years and doctors to finally diagnose. His transplant was/is a success, unfortunately other problems, illness can occur. My husband, son and I have adjusted our lives significantly to care for him over the past four years. I saw him pretty much everyday and definitely spoke to him daily. This summer we had to move him to an assisted living facility. His Parkinson's continues to progress and his falls were becoming too frequent.
Everybody recovers differently. For my dad there was never really a full recovery but that is because of additional health problems that were not anticipated. Is there are additional friends and family that can help, take a week or two each? It is difficult to say your friend will only need you 6-8 weeks, 6 months or possibly longer.

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