Rehab is going well!

Hi everyone!

Greg is in his third week of cardiac rehab and it's going very well.  It's challenging but they are very cautious and have started him out slowly.  Eventually, as he gets stronger and more accustomed to his heart, they hope to have him do 45 of cardio (on the treadmill and stationary bike) followed by some light weight training and stretching.  That's a long way from where he's at now, but it's exciting to see him making progress each session and feeling good.  He's also supposed to exercise on the days he isn't at rehab (he goes on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday) so we've been going on long walks outside on his off days.

On his way to rehab he visited the 3rd floor nurses that took care of him during the months before his transplant and for a week afterward, and they were so excited to see him.  They said he was looking really good for being almost 6 months out.

Last week he had another biopsy and it came back with a level 1 rejection, so they didn't need to adjust any of his medications!  The best part is that next month he will be able to do the blood test (called Allomap) that checks for rejection instead of going through another biopsy!  He also had an echocardiogram, EKG, and chest x-ray last week, and everything came back looking great.  His heart is doing really, really well, praise God!  While I was in the waiting room during these tests, many different nurses and staff people that know Greg told me that he looks so much better than they've ever seen him - they were so encouraged at the improvement and we were too!  It's comforting to hear the people who know what to expect post-transplant say that he's doing well and he's right on schedule with his recovery.

He still has some good days and bad days - and there've been bumps along the road these past few weeks, but all in all he is doing so well and we are so thankful!  Thank you for all of your prayers and encouragement - they help a lot, especially on the bad days.

Love,
Elise