Good Food In

Derek reports getting some sleep last night and today. Plus his weight is back up to 169, and that’s great news. He needs to be as healthy as possible to prepare for the next surgery. C Diff has reared its ugly head again, which comes as no surprise for a person on highly potent antibiotics. The hospital knows how to deal with C Diff so we’re hoping he’ll be kicking it out of his system quick. We’re all still crossing our fingers that the new liver comes sooner rather than later, but Derek is strong and finds ways to adapt. For all of Derek’s engineering friends out there, fear not, he has figured out a way to apply math to his situation even in his weakened state.

“I’ve slept most of the morning, partly it’s mental. With my heart running 40% faster, the days are 40% longer, but I still need the same sleep. So I napped for an hour, but I think it was actually 1.4 to 2 hours.”

Math is my kryptonite, but it’s a healing, therapeutic salve for Derek. (Note: His heart is beating pretty normally now, but because of the varices, he was on blood pressure medication to keep his super strong heart in check. He’s no longer on that medication and so his heart is pumping at near normal Derek pace.)

Here at the house, a changing of the guard. My sister left last night and I was sad to see her go, but our friend Emily stopped by and filled the fridge with fresh vegetables and all kinds of healthy snacks to help get my gut back in order. Her husband Gregg came over later and babysat me to make sure I wasn’t alone at night. This morning was pretty painful over all, and while it seems to be de riguer in the hospital to talk about the inner workings of the digestive track, I’ll spare you the details.

The pain came and went and my brother arrived from Los Angeles on the red eye. He helped me make a probiotic packed smoothie–it was so great to feel like I could make something myself, with help of course–and we made sure to eat little snacks. Then, equipped with a pile of vegetables, he created an amazing, high protein, vegetarian stir fry for lunch, with lots of apple cider vinegar to help reset my gut.

We went for a brief walk around the neighborhood, but it was cold and blustery and I was tired from the morning pain and he was tired from his sleepless flight. We both passed out for a few hours, and while I’m still very sore, I can feel incremental improvements. I can’t really give you the number on that, but I’m a smidgen better than I was yesterday.