I am 54 (55 in a week-another milestone!). So I don’t know if my ‘before’ compares to yours. Before I was an exec doing a lot of international travel and office hours. I also worked out 5x week and rode. So I was fit and active for my age. Average build and weight. My heart/lung capacity was diminishing as time progressed. I didn’t know how badly until recently when I realized walking back and forth to the barn and pasture is no longer a daunting task!

2 weeks ago during my checkup my lungs were at 65% SO FAR. They are not yet done improving and I can tell noticeable improvements every month. My strength, etc is also getting back to normal. I expect to be ‘normal’ at the one year mark (or sooner). It’s hard in the beginning and it’s easy to see why some people don’t push themselves right after surgery. It’s easier to sit and let folks help you. But given your accomplishments and likely competitiveness I expect you too are used to setting goals and achieving them. You have to do this for recovery too. And heading into it in as good of shape as possible is helpful. My transplant is much different than yours . So I can only comment on my experience. It took time, patience (very frustrating) and counting the small wins. It also took a lot of rest and sleep too.

Hope this helps. Happy to continue to discuss or answer questions.
Jackie