12 days Post Heart transplant

@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/
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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.

Thank you so much. I'm just so overwhelmed with emotions. Plus I get very tired. So I'm just going to ask people to understand just like you said

The emotional response to an organ transplant is real. And so is the tiredness.
People have good intentions, but are only familiar with the ‘Hollywood’ version of transplants where patients are shown in full make up, nice PJs, and styled hairdo! That’s not what I experienced.
I’m on the run today. I’ll check in later. But it just Had to respond before heading out.
Are you at home?

I had a double lung transplant and was in the hospital for 2 weeks after my surgery. I was only allowed 2 visitors a day. So when friends asked if they could visit, I said that on the weekends I wanted to see my son and husband. When I got home, I had some friends come over, but we stayed outside with me wearing a mask and being 20 feet away from each other. It may be different for lung patients, but even to go outside for the first few months, I was informed that I needed to wear a mask. I am 20 months post surgery and I am still careful with going around other people. Unfortunately after not seeing some friends and family members for 5 years, I let down my guard and caught COVID.

So sorry to hear that. And that's what I don't want to do is get sick. On another note congratulations on your transplant. I am just going to be very careful even though it seems no matter how careful we are we are still subject to getting sick

No I'm still in the hospital. Hopefully I can go home tomorrow. That's the plan.

Heart transplant 20 years.
Questions welcome.

@azdan99
Congratulations on 20 years with your heart transplant! Do you remember what your recover was like? What are some tips that you would share with @msrlallen about returning home?
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Everybody has a unique transplant journey and a story to tell. And 20 years is surely filled with many memories and events. Here is a link that I want to share with you. Will you share your story with us?
- Organ Donation and Transplant: What is Your story?
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/organ-donation-and-transplant-what-is-your-story/

Hi msrlallen Welcome to one of the most exclusive clubs I know of. I'm actually will be going up to Phoenix where I had mine in a few weeks for my 6th anniversary.
Wow 12 days I wish I would have found connect when I was at your stage. And I'm with @rosemarya they can wait for your time to be ready for visitors. I personally would even get wore out trying to talk on the phone, so we came up with a rule only a few calls a day and to keep them short. my vocal cords were damaged from the incubator and my voice for a while made it hard to speak. So my Wife/caregiver set up a group chat and would give updates to family and friends via that. She would call my closet family like my kids and help out with updates. They all understood and before you knew it we were having visitors again.

So we are here to help with all those "I wonder" questions. and again congratulations. BTW yes life will get normal again. by the end of the first year you'll be amazed how well you feel and will wonder why I was so worried back in the beginning. one step at a time now you need to rest and try your best to get your strength back. You just had one very complex surgery so don't rush. My first biggest hurdle was eating. I was so drugged up food tasted lousy. that last for a few weeks but as the med load comes down you'll like food again.
Have a blessed day and please ask any question you want.

@danab, Congratulations on your 6th anniversary. This is very overwhelming but in the end I know it's worth it. It feels good to talk to others that have been here vs people who may not understand. Yes any transplant is a major complex surgery. And I'm working on getting my strength back. You are so right about food and beverage. Everything tastes so awful to me but I do have an appetite it just doesn't taste good. I just want to know also about how long does it take to start feeling a little better and gaining strength. I do get exhausted really fast