Oma-hahaha…..that wasn’t funny!

So, this happened early evening today.

Rope tornado touches down outside Omaha.

Fred went for his 5^th walk around the hospital floor.  Yep you heard me right.  5!  – count ‘em 5! And when I say around the hospital floor, I mean as in a lap! And right when we got back to the room, a nurse calmly said not to sit down – that we needed to take chairs and sit in the hallway.  Something about a tornado.  (I inserted the word “drill” at the end of her sentence and obliged.)  I thought it weird that she closed the blinds and door and then asked Fred if he had tennis shoes.  Maybe they are thorough and super serious about their drills!

Then they started moving beds in the hall and deciding which hall was the hall we could and could not use. And talking about getting so-and-so who was in the shower.  Better get him!  Then the energy went up a couple notches and the nurses and staff all started buzzing about it not just being a tornado warning because a cloud was spotted.  A tornado had been spotted and it had touched down nearby!  "We need to start banding the patients according to who needs the most help."  (Then they placed colored wrist bands on patients: red/green/yellow.)

Whaaa?  Here we are in the center of the building, windows blocked, everyone evacuated out of their room, no idea what is happening outside.  No TV.  Nothing.  Well over-emotional geek that I am, I started texting “I love you” all over the place.  So, if you got a text, well, I love you!  And if you didn’t, well, I still love you!

The news reports it was reported as a Council Bluffs tornado -- actually a water spout that touched down at nearby Lake Manawa: click for video

On to Fred!  He is out of ICU and in the Solid Organ Transplant Unit – Room 5876.  His kidneys have improved, but his liver took a slight hit.  His bilirubin is up and his skin and eyes are a bit yellow.  The team does not seem to be worried about this as they did an ultrasound and there was good blood flow to the new liver.  They think it is related to the two blood transfusions he received and will check his numbers tomorrow, expecting improvement.  Also, his adrenals are whacky and he needed insulin at lunch and at dinner today.  Apparently, this is not uncommon post transplant and is due to the high doses of steroids to keep the body from rejecting the new liver.  The team doesn’t want him to have low blood sugar and would rather treat him with insulin if it gets too high.  I am a little irritated because they insist he drink Ensure Clear and shortly after they check his sugar and it is high.  The first 3 ingredients are water, sugar, corn syrup solids for a whopping 27g sugar in one serving.  I discussed my concerns with the surgeon and she emphasized that the priority right now is getting calories, protein, vitamins in Fred to heal.  He will need to be on the clear diet for another day and this is how they can “fortify” him while his bowels slowly wake up.  He will be drinking as much of it as they say he needs to. 

All in all, he is getting stronger every day and the team, nurses, and techs all seem to think he is the rock star we KNOW he is.

Tonight I pack our bags and get ready for the move tomorrow -- to our new apartment!