You'll take medicines to prevent your immune system from rejecting the new lung or lungs. This helps make it more likely that your body will accept the new lungs.

After you leave the hospital, you'll have checkups and blood tests to see how well your lungs are working. You'll have these checkups less often over time. You'll also need to have tests to check for certain kinds of cancer.

It's important to follow a healthy lifestyle to help keep your lungs healthy. This will include eating healthy foods, avoiding smoking, and staying active. You may have to do things to reduce your risk of infection. For instance, you may need to limit visitors while you recover. And you may need to avoid large crowds where you could be exposed to a virus like influenza (flu).

After a transplant, many people say they feel better than they have in years. Over time, you may find that you can do more activities than you did before.

Getting support

Having good support is important throughout the process of getting a transplant. Waiting for your transplant can be hard emotionally. After your surgery, you may have concerns about your health and the new organs you received. You'll also have a lot to manage, like taking new medicines and going to follow-up visits.

Getting support from others, such as friends and family, can help during this time. A counsellor can help you learn to cope with stress and other emotions before and after your procedure.

Many people who have an organ transplant feel anxious or depressed. Talk to your doctor if you think you may be depressed. Depression can be treated with counselling and medicines.

A lung transplant may be done when:

• Your lung or lungs are diseased or damaged (usually from a chronic condition) and aren't able to work as they should.
• Other treatments haven't worked to improve your lung function.