I BECKon you to Read

Hello everyone,

I know it has been awhile. As you all have gathered from my ramblings and my life, the delay was from my attendance at the Glen Beck rally to reclaim America. I bought some gold coins while I was there too, instead of just regular gold which is so over-rated. lol, I digress. Being in the hospital for 48 days the chalkboard hypnotized me. But luckily, the code blue snapped me out of it. Sorry, if you are a Glenn Beck fan. I just don't understand people who swear by the constitution, yet want to ignore freedom of religion, and want to change or even better get rid of another (14th)amendment. But other then that the constitution is perfect and needs to be restored. haha. love it. But I digress, this blog is about my health.. Could you imagine a rewritten constitution by Beck and Pallin? Amending Jefferson's and Adams beliefs about freedom of religion: " All religions are tolerated, as long as no Mosques are built within 5 miles of any "sensitive sites" because all terrorists are Muslims, but people who shoot up post-offices are just misguided or troubled. Although they could be witches, but we tolerate that in basements only."

So, if I have time to write that and probably upset some of my audience then I must be feeling a bit better. I am so sick of "news" though. It is so obvious that our country wants the same things, yet we are so divided. I see so much more hidden racism now, then ever before. It is hidden though and that is the scary thing. Wonder what our parents thought about the 60's.

My health has been steadily improving. I lost all the edema weight and am back to my scrawny self. Now I need to gain it back. My breathing seems to improve everyday though and I can tolerate so much more activity. This past weekend with Lois (my mother in law), we did many things. Went to another UNC women's soccer game. We walked all around Duke's campus and their famous garden area. I never get short of breath or even out of breath. Unless using my muscles. They are what is still holding me back and they can be worked on. My legs are weak, so if I go up 10-20 stairs they feel like rubber, but my lungs are like, "come on lets take these steps two at a time". Of course, I need to build up my stamina as well. It will come I am going to Rehab now 3 times a week.

My last chest xray looked good and improved. I still have some pulmonary edema but it is resolving. The right side looked so clear. Black like the night sky. Very promising. I have some pain around my incision area, ribs etc. but not that bad. My main complaints now are secondary issues. My feet are a bit numb and burn at times. Weird. My right arm still is very compromised because of the brachial plexus injury. It is very painful at times. I can use my hand though and can use the arm as long as I don't try and lift anything over 3-5 pounds then boom the arm drops. It has atrophied quite a bit and looks like a dead-arm, but again I can lift it use it, throw with it, use all my fingers, so I can't complain too much, just no bicep innervation at all so it is very weak. There are other muscles that are gone too, but I don't know what they are called.

My next post, which will be shortly, I want to recap medically what really transpired during the transplant and the days in the hospital. We used a very new, unproven to an extent, yet experimentally positive protocol called Campath. It had never been used with lung transplant patients at UNC. Also, my surgeon the great Dr. H, had never actually done a second transplant since he took over as head of surgery. He had assisted on many with the legendary Dr. Egan. So, the team had a lot invested in me and really looked out for me. I had a bumpy recovery and have not officially recognized my donor yet. I will do that shortly as well, but here with Rebecca and my family we recognize him daily. These lungs feel so alive and strong and I thank the gift I received. To really have my life saved, when I was practically on my death bed is very profound and it has taken a few weeks to realize what has transpired.

-Mitch