Here's Some Good News...
If a regular reader you may recall a few previous posts keeping you informed on Mr. Lawrence Holt, one of the Taekwondo school instructors who had a lung transplant. He's home now, a month ahead of schedule. Here is what he wrote about his experience:
I was re-born the second time on January 13, 2007. No, not int the religious sense. For the past seven years I've been in deteriorating health due to Interstitial Pulmonary Fibrosis. My life seemed to be over, my outlook was not good. I decided to go down fighting though. I exercised all I could and stayed as active as possible. I was still losing ground to this deadly enemy though. I had to give my my Taekwondo classes in November of 06. They are up stairs and I could no longer get up there. Also it was about this time that I got on the Lung Transplant List at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas Tx. I had to move closer to Dallas so I went to live with my daughter Kalin in Marshal Tx. All I had to do then was wait for the call. My lungs were so bad I had to use two bottles of oxygen, one in my nose and the other in m mouth to walk twenty feet to the bathroom. It took me a half hour to get out of bed in the morning. I slept twelve to fourteen h ours a day and sat on the coucn in front of the tv the rest of the time while Kalin and her kids waited on me hand and foot. I was helpless, unable to care for myself. My parents are in their eighties and they were in better shape than I was. The call came at about 6 AM January 13, 2007 - they had a potential donor. The ride to Dallas was hectic, done at 85 miles an hour. A 911 call kept the Highway patrol off us but there were a few morons who seemed to take delight in moving in front of us and slowing us down. We had a two hour deadline. Kalin drove with a couple of feet of these people and laid on the horn till they got out of the way;. She got me to the hospital and held it together until they took me into surgery - then she lost it. She was walking down the aisle bawling her little eyes out. An older gentleman by the name of Wayne who had had a lung transplant three years earlier took her under his wing. He calmed her down and took care of her till her husband got there, then the two of them waited until I came out of surgery. I woke the next day and from then on seems like a whole new life. In a way It is. Going into surgery was like a little death and coming out was like the start of a whole new life. The first day after I got out They got me up for a walk and I could barely make twenty feet. Two months later I had completed a twelve week rehab coarse in 8 weeks by walking a mile on a treadmill in a half hour and by walking 1400 feet in 6 minutes. I was able to do this because I had went in stronger than most lung transplant patients. I attribute that to my years of training and the discipline I gained to keep exercising until the day before the transplant. I drove about 180 miles home the next day.
Look forward to having you back teaching Mr. Holt!
I was re-born the second time on January 13, 2007. No, not int the religious sense. For the past seven years I've been in deteriorating health due to Interstitial Pulmonary Fibrosis. My life seemed to be over, my outlook was not good. I decided to go down fighting though. I exercised all I could and stayed as active as possible. I was still losing ground to this deadly enemy though. I had to give my my Taekwondo classes in November of 06. They are up stairs and I could no longer get up there. Also it was about this time that I got on the Lung Transplant List at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas Tx. I had to move closer to Dallas so I went to live with my daughter Kalin in Marshal Tx. All I had to do then was wait for the call. My lungs were so bad I had to use two bottles of oxygen, one in my nose and the other in m mouth to walk twenty feet to the bathroom. It took me a half hour to get out of bed in the morning. I slept twelve to fourteen h ours a day and sat on the coucn in front of the tv the rest of the time while Kalin and her kids waited on me hand and foot. I was helpless, unable to care for myself. My parents are in their eighties and they were in better shape than I was. The call came at about 6 AM January 13, 2007 - they had a potential donor. The ride to Dallas was hectic, done at 85 miles an hour. A 911 call kept the Highway patrol off us but there were a few morons who seemed to take delight in moving in front of us and slowing us down. We had a two hour deadline. Kalin drove with a couple of feet of these people and laid on the horn till they got out of the way;. She got me to the hospital and held it together until they took me into surgery - then she lost it. She was walking down the aisle bawling her little eyes out. An older gentleman by the name of Wayne who had had a lung transplant three years earlier took her under his wing. He calmed her down and took care of her till her husband got there, then the two of them waited until I came out of surgery. I woke the next day and from then on seems like a whole new life. In a way It is. Going into surgery was like a little death and coming out was like the start of a whole new life. The first day after I got out They got me up for a walk and I could barely make twenty feet. Two months later I had completed a twelve week rehab coarse in 8 weeks by walking a mile on a treadmill in a half hour and by walking 1400 feet in 6 minutes. I was able to do this because I had went in stronger than most lung transplant patients. I attribute that to my years of training and the discipline I gained to keep exercising until the day before the transplant. I drove about 180 miles home the next day.
Look forward to having you back teaching Mr. Holt!
posted by Carl at 5:58 AM
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