It was the breathing tube that tipped him off. They’d actually done the surgery, and it had worked. Isaac Cosme had a new heart.

After months of waiting and hoping, Cosme couldn’t believe his good fortune as he sat in a Massachusetts General Hospital meeting room, getting ready to spend Thanksgiving with his wife, Monica.

The past few months have been difficult for the Cosme family, which has been dealing with Isaac’s diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis. The disease releases abnormal proteins that damage the heart, and it can be fatal.

But the procedure last week was a big step toward getting better, and the 44-year-old is focused on how lucky he is. The medical drama didn’t faze him, so neither does the prospect of the bone marrow transplant he needs next.

“I am going to be in good hands,’’ Cosme said, “so why am I going to be worried?’’

It all seems like a dream, beginning when shortness of breath and numbness in his feet heralded crisis. Even when the doctors knocked him out, they weren’t sure the donor heart would be right. They told him he would find out when he came to.

Cosme is thankful to be at one of the few hospitals that can provide the treatment he needs, and to God for guiding him there. He’s grateful for his doctors. For Monica, who took care of the kids and anchored their home.

And the whole family is moved by the generosity of the person who made a heart available to save his life.

Cosme hoped to spend the holiday in Springfield with his family, but he wasn’t quite ready. He was set for discharge Friday instead.

Not what they had in mind, but as husband and wife prepared for a hospital turkey dinner, they repeated their new mantra: Every day now is “extra.’’