By Lori Ehde
Luverne's Don Hubbling gave up a two-pack-a-day smoking habit for a 52-pill-a-day survival routine.
Following a lung transplant a year ago, he's operating on only 50 percent of his original lung capacity, he'll never be able to hold a full-time job again and it seems he's always low on energy.
But he's alive.
"This is as good as it's going to get, but it's living," Don said from his home Friday.
Considering how far he's come, his current limitations are never the focus. Rather, he's grateful for every day he's alive.
"We're learning the difference between a need and a want," his wife, Linda, said. "We're learning that every day is a gift, and we find a way to enjoy each day."
Life-changing diagnosis
Don was diagnosed with emphysema and chronic obstructive lung disease on March 7, 1997.
Prior to that, he operated his own business, Don's Repair, and he drove school bus twice a day for the Luverne district.
When he wasn't busy in the shop, he and Linda were attending their daughters' school events, or they'd enjoy long motorcycle rides on their Honda Goldwing.
But early in 1997, Don began to notice his health deteriorating.
"I was always tired. When I'd come home from the bus route, if I didnt have anything to do in the shop, I'd sleep," he said.
"I knew there was something wrong, but I had no idea what. I just knew I was tired."
A few days prior to his diagnosis, Don's health took a nosedive.
He came home from his bus route completely spent. He couldn't work in the shop, and he couldn't return to his bus route that afternoon.
A March 7 doctor appointment brought news they weren't prepared for: a transplant was his only hope for survival.
"We knew he was developing breathing problems, but there was no clue of this severity whatsoever," Linda said.
The waiting game
In the months and years following his diagnosis, Don's health steadily declined as prayers from his church and community increased.
His lung capacity decreased to the point where he was forced to quit bus driving and quit accepting work at his shop, where chemicals also contributed to lung problems.
Lack of oxygen in the blood eventually affects all major organs - including the brain.
Toward the end, Don said he was so forgetful, if he didn't write a telephone message down as the caller was speaking, he'd forget 30 seconds later what the message was.
Meanwhile, he was on the regional transplant list to receive a donor lung.
Don had two things going for him: he was otherwise strong and healthy (his heart was in good shape) and his blood type, O, was relatively common.
While waiting for a transplant, Don came to depend on oxygen 24 hours a day.
He didn't leave home without carrying with him portable oxygen tanks.
Travel became difficult, but that was just as well, because living on a transplant list restricted his travel to no farther than Sioux Falls or Marshall.
They had to always be ready at a moment's notice to go into surgery, in case a donor lung became available for transplant.
Of all organ transplants, a lung transplant is reportedly the hardest on a body. In fact, surgeons won't perform lung transplants on patients who aren't healthy.
Even a slight cold would be enough to cost Don an available lung if he were sick when the call came in.
"They won't give a lung unless they know your body’s going to accept it," Linda said. "They don't waste it."
Amazingly, neither she nor Don became ill while he was on the waiting list.
"It was like God put a protective cloud around us," Linda said. "Don never got sick; I never got sick, and there was so much flu going around. But then, we had a whole church praying for us."