The purpose of these visits is to make sure that the donor organ is performing as well as possible. Heart transplant recipients are required to take many different types of medications to suppress their immune system. These medications are key to post transplant therapy. Patients are required to take these medications for the rest of their lives. Approximately one month after a recipient has been discharged to home, they are enrolled into a cardiac rehabilitation program.
Exercise is also an important part of post transplant recovery.
Once a transplant recipient has completed a cardiac rehabilitation program they may once again do many things that they were not able to do prior to transplant. Most recipients return to work, are able to participate in normal daily activities, participate in physical activity programs, and enjoy a better quality of life than they had prior to transplant. By becoming a heart transplant candidate and recipient, that person assumes a responsibility for the donor organ that has been given to them. Thise is an especially happy day for this Pleasant Hill native as she tells how her life has been since the procedure. Standing beside her are the two daughters she gave birth two since the transplant.