Monday Update

UPDATE 8:00pm:

Sorry for they delay. I wanted to get home to use my laptop to file this update. Around 3:30pm Derek was prepped for his EGD. That took about an hour. Then he waited a little longer, and then finally they did the scope. The found evidence in his esophagus of varices that were forming which they banded. They also saw little red ulcers in his esophagus which would also indicate that the source of the bleeding was in fact variceal bleeding, again. Derek asked why it was happening since he thought the varices would go away with the new liver. In theory, they would go away, however, if you’ve been following the blog for a while you know that the reason the Logan Liver is not suitable has to do with pressure and flow of fluid. The liver he currently has cannot keep up with the flow. It is the reason he has ascites, and it is also the reason he is having a problem with varices, yet again. However, once he gets his forever liver, the pressure will normalize and he shouldn’t have to deal with this issue again.

There was no evidence of active bleeding, and the course of action is similar to what it was when this happened back in October. Banding and a course of protonics which prevents stomach acids from forming and will help the little raw spots in his esophagus heal. There was some talk that the feed tube might be contributing to the irritation in the esophagus. It was removed during the procedure and has not been reinserted. Though it will likely have to be put back in.

In other news, he is now testing negative for C. Diff which is great. He is still very sore, but he has likely been distracted by this new development and the pain hasn’t been quite as severe. They gave him some Tylenol and he said it made him feel better. He will stay in the SICU overnight and potentially well into tomorrow so they can keep a close watch on him. It’s a nice room though, with a window and lots of space. I’m heading back there first thing tomorrow, (I was given very firm instructions from my dear hubby to get some freaking sleep. I do what he says.) and will update the blog with any news.

UPDATE 3:00pm :

I’ve been sitting with Derek most of the morning. A GI doc came in and talked to Derek about what happened last night. He has a couple theories about what might have caused the bleed, but he won’t know until he does the EGD. That is scheduled for around 3:15pm.

Derek is in ok spirits. He’s tired and sore. The ICU nurses are taking good care of him but he has limited mobility because they’re worried about him falling. They’ve given him 2 units of blood in the meantime and the color was starting to return to his cheeks.  One other notable data point, his bilirubin is down to 9! No one was more surprised than his surgeon who really thought it would plateau at 12. There is a possibility that it will go back up because of the blood transfusion. That has little to do with liver function.

Once we get the results from the EGD, I’ll update the blog. Thanks for all your warm thoughts.

Last night, Derek was feeling pretty nauseous. His nurse gave him some medicine to try and quell the feeling. It didn’t work. He vomited a small amount of blood and called the nurse. She called the doctor and they ordered blood labs. After waiting for those, the nurse gave him additional anti-nausea medicine. He didn’t get sick again, but as a precaution they transferred him to the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU).

I just arrived and haven’t seen him yet, he’s getting a pic line and an x-Ray. Surgeons have been discussing doing an EGD scope to see why he was bleeding. I’ll update this post when I have more information.

Please think happy thoughts for Derek.