@msrlallen, Wow! Congratulations on your 12 day old heart transplant! Welcome to Connect and to the special community of transplant patients.
I have so many questions, but first let's tackle your concern about wanting/needing to rest and heal from your surgery. My transplant, in 2009 was a liver and kidney at Mayo Rochester. I spent the first 3 weeks in Rochester before returning home to Kentucky with my husband/caregiver. I was weak, underweight, and needed daily naps along with time to sort my thoughts about my miraculous new life. My husband monitored the visitors, and asked them to delay visits so that I could recover. We even requested that they did not bring meals to the house because of dietary restrictions. My frequent lab visits absolutely wore me out! I dont recall whether my transplant team specified a length of time, however I do remember going to visit my mom in her nursing home 2+ hours from my home at about 5 weeks after surgery. And being able to attend her funeral at 6 weeks post surgery.

It sounds like you feel that you are being mean to limit visitors. Please, Please, Please, Stress to your wanna-be visitors that you NEED to recover from a complex life giving surgical procedure. And you are highly susceptible to infections because you are taking powerfulful immunosuppressant medications that decrease your ability to fight infections - and (most important) to prevent rejection of your new heart. On a personal experience note, you are probably feeling side effects of these medications. As you regain some strength, you will enjoy phone calls!

I would like to share this discussion by heart transplant member, @scottij. He presents the perfect analogy about getting a heart transplant/ putting a new engine in an old car in his opening comment.
- Happy Birthday! Today is my 1 year anniversary of my heart transplant -
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/happy-birthday-1/
.

Here are a some members with a heart transplant. @estrada53 @danab @scottij, @glinda
I invite them to meet you and to share some heart specific suggestions with you.