That Time Mark Got New Lungs
As many of you know, Mark has been healthy as a horse most of his life, but a few years ago he developed an annoyingly persistent cough. He began using an inhaler but it only helped so much. At the end of 2019 he learned that a bacterial infection had taken hold in his lungs. The doctor prescribed a 2-year battery of antibiotics, and at first they helped quite a bit. In fact, although the cough persisted he easily handled the miles of walking around sightseeing Austin in March 2020. Unfortunately, later that spring Mark noticed he was losing his breath a bit too easily. By summer it was significantly worse. It turns out that along with the infection he was suffering from pulmonary fibrosis.
Updates (4)
July 18, 2021
Hi everybody,
It's been five months since my transplant and I'm overdue for an update. I've been home since early May, and am glad to be here, though I'm very grateful for Brian putting me up at his place for the first three months. He and Jodi and Jamie have been so supportive and I feel real fortunate that they've helped me out so much.
My health has been a bit up and down. Over the last three months I've had a chronic cough, some mild organ rejection, diminished kidney function and mild anemia. That all sounds bad but I'm told it is fairly typical, especially in the first year. Some symptoms are likely due to the immune suppressant drugs so I'll be trying smaller doses of some along with some additional drugs to fill the gap. The rejection was already taken care of with a heavy duty dose of steroids.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the summer. We're all going camping in a week and a half. Then a family reunion in August!
Hope you all have a great summer.
March 6, 2021
Today was the first day I was allowed to take a walk outside. Brian and I walked to the park along lakeshore drive for what ended up being a 2.4 mile walk with a photo break in between. It felt great to be outside, lots of people enjoying the lovely weather.
