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Originally Posted by OneHungLo
Wow, that's crazy. Besides having a new lease on life, how has your life changed since your liver transplant? Like what kind of restrictions do you have? Are you on a special diet and Exercise regime etc?
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Special Diet: Can't have anything with Grapefruit in it. Some compound in grapefruit lowers the efficacy of one of the immunosuppressants I take to keep my body from attacking the foreign liver.
All other fruits, meats, vegetables are fine. Recommended not to have high-fructose corn syrup, or at least limit it. My old liver did like HFC syrup and it's in almost everything in the USA that come in a package or sweetened drink. I used to love sodas and I still do, but don't have them very often anymore.
Recommended low-sodium diet, which I've already been on for years because of having a bad liver in the first place. I don't even like salty food anymore and I really notice salt in foods much more than I did before.
Can't have raw or undercooked meats or eggs for obvious reasons. If I catch a foodborne infection, will have a really hard time fighting it off because of being on immunosuppressants. So my steaks are all medium-well now and everything else is well done. I don't take chances.
Exercise: For the first year, only thing I was allowed to do was take a walk. Wasn't allowed to lift more than 10 pounds. And I didn't want to either. My incision literally runs from the right side of my ribcage, follows the contour of my ribcage, all the way over to the left side. Was 112 staples to close it. That takes a long time to heal. I couldn't even sit upright in my office chair for more than an hour for the first 8 months, so I chilled in the living room in a recliner with my macbook.
After 8 months, I could tolerate it longer and longer until I finally got back to normal right close to the 1 year mark. At the 1 year checkup, Dr said I was doing great and cleared me to slowly return to normal activity.
First thing I did was get another bicycle. I love biking, always have. I had sold my bikes three years earlier because of balance issues that come with encephalopathy. I live in a nice community with 4 small lakes and biking trails around them so I go often, and some weights to get my muscle tone back. Lost most of my muscle mass in the hospital for 3 months.
Lifestyle Changes: Only really negative issue I have is I've lost my tolerance to hot weather. It used to not bother me much but last summer and this summer, I just stay inside if it's 100 because it make me physically sick now after about 15 - 20 minutes. And Las Vegas is over 100 almost all summer. I've been here for 20 years, home is paid off and the value has increased tremendously, thinking about selling and moving to a somewhat cooler climate and just paying cash for a new place with some land.
I also have to avoid the sun, or wear sunscreen often. One of the immunosuppressants carries a 65% greater risk of skin cancer with sun exposure. I'm Norwegian/Scott descent and never stayed in the sun for long in the first place, so this isn't much of an issue.
Other than that? Life is good! This whole thing brought me and my wife much closer, whole family is closer... 3 kids, 3 grandkids... I take the time that I get to spend with them much more seriously. Some of my friendships have grown stronger. AaronM, Baddog, Boneprone, Michael Guy, and Loni Barret (all are webmasters) all came to visit me while I was in Portland for the transplant. Lots of calls and letters. Some amazing offers of support from business associates and Adult Friend Finder even stepped up. The kind of things you never forget, people having your back. People I didn't even know filling up my facebook inbox, offering well-wishes and prayers for me.
It was a humbling experience. I remember daily that I'm not really supposed to be here. Some things that used to bother me, I just let go. Some things I take more seriously.
I take more time off than I did before all this happened. Spent a week in Upper Yosemite a month ago, just enjoying the mountains and lake, did some fishing and drone flying.
I'm back to doing things I liked to do before I got sick. Flying RC planes and drones again, building rockets, taught myself to fly helicopters, doing some 3d printing, working on electric guitars, a lot of BBQ (I really like smoked meats), I'm able to pass the FAA medical exam now so I may go flying some more, and looking forward to scuba diving again.
