Derek was moved back up to the 6th floor on Wednesday night. Phew! All the nurses were super stoked to see him. When I came to see him Thursday morning, one of his nurses assistants whispered to me, “He looks SO much better!” He really does, and it likely has a lot to do with the fact that his bilirubin is now down to 8.2! Logan’s Little Liver keeps on trucking!
He’s being monitored for caloric intake and has been doing great today. He had a ham, egg, & cheese breakfast sandwich, a vanilla Ensure, a bottle of Tru Moo chocolate whole milk, and an individual deep dish pepperoni pizza from Uno’s. After lunch we went for a walk and ran into his doctors. We had them all in fits of giggles as we told them about his food intake for the day; they are totally psyched. One of his docs did remind him that all this crazy food is going to make Derek feel pretty bloated and like ca-ca. Derek can attest to the fact that his insides are revolting against all this crazy food. But at this point it’s a necessary evil.
A package arrived just in time from my sister Deborah and her family, a crazy puzzle for Derek’s brain. A perfect distraction.
The charge nurse and Derek talked about removing his C.Diff precautions. They need 3 negative tests to do that, and we were all pretty sure that had happened. While I was giving Derek his spa treatment–shampoo with the good stuff, and Aveda lotion–she stopped by to say she finally got approval! One more step towards feeling less like a prisoner and more like a human.
The TPN, IV nutrients, will get removed today once they’ve been depleted so Derek will be in charge of getting enough calories. A nurse stopped by with 3 bottles of feed tube nourishment, likely a hold over from the previous order. It acts as a visual reminder that eating, despite the abdominal cramps and bloating, will always be better than having a feed tube in the nose.
We had asked one of his doctors the other day what number we were for live donor transplants at Lahey. We are number 3 for 2014 and 274th all time. We told him our anniversary is 5/15/2010, and that our surgery was also a number nerd date of 4/14/14. He asked if we had a special date in mind for the next liver transplant. We said any date works for us, the calendar has been cleared.
And finally, Derek’s new room on 6 is practically across the hall from my old room, and has a beautiful view of the mall, 95, and the new Wegmans that is set to open this fall. After a rough few days, it’s nice to have so many things to be thankful for.
The Derek Janiak Hepatobiliary Forum 
Logan and Derek- I’am keeping up with you both and your progress. Many downs but lots of ups. You two are the most amazing couple. Know that Gary and I are thinking of you everyday. I send Yoga thoughts twice a week at my class 🙂 XOXO
Always looking at the bright side! You two are awesome. Plus the spa treatments on Derek are good practice for when he’s old and can’t bend over to cut his own toenails.
I’m willing to have major abdominal surgery, but cutting old man Derek’s toenails? Meh. I don’t know if I can do it.
Looks like we have a battle going on. I called dibs on the 12th to be exact. Looks like that comes before the 15th. Ergo, the “perfect May Liver” war is ON!!
You’re getting a Wegman’s? OMG! Best store ever. So many fond memories from college. They’ll have lots of delicious food that will hopefully appeal to big D! Calories!