“You go, Girl!” …

That was the text reply from one of Fred’s good friends, Paul, when Fred let him know he had received THE call and was in pre-op waiting to be brought in to surgery and meet his new liver.

Well, Fred heeded Paul’s advice. And like Susan mentioned, he “kicked ass” during the 10-hour surgery.  He is currently having issues with his back. [I remember it as a congenital spine disorder that they found 17 years ago.  He says it is degenerative back disease.  Either way, it is very real and is aggravated by laying on his back (which he is looking at doing for quite a while).]  The goal is pain management and he had a really tough go of it last night.  He also had some problems with what I can only describe as a  mucous plug in his throat while he was intubated.  At some point they deflated the gasket a bit and that is when he got the mucous.  It was really hairy because he was in pain and extremely agitated with his hands restrained.  He was trying to communicate by writing but couldn’t.  We finally discerned he was spelling claustrophobic (can’t there be a SHORTER word for this?) and needed the tube out right away.  They got him off the ventilator at about 1am today and out came the plug that was making him feel suffocated.  He will need to keep the NG tube (which goes to the stomach through his nose) in through tomorrow.  He gets the central line removed from his neck today and they will put a pick line in his arm instead.  They are also working hard on the pain management.  I cannot say enough good things about the liver transplant doctors and surgeon, the ICU nurses, the respiratory therapist and the physical therapist.  EVERYONE has been stellar. But, especially, this guy!



Only about 13 hours out of surgery and after his walk, Fred repositions to a chair -- in an attempt to alleviate the back pain.

Meanwhile, Fred is working hard on being a rock star.  He let the team know he wanted to try and stand or walk, so PT came in for an assessment and got him up on a walker.  He only managed about 10 feet in each direction before his legs started really shaking and he was out of breath, but this was phenomenal.  I mean that was not even a day after getting out of surgery, folks!

Fred has not had a chance to absorb the love and support or even to read all the comments on the blog yet, but he had tears in his eyes when he thanked the liver team today in rounds.  I did share this little video sent to me from Amy and Kimberly from our 45 Madison home in KCMO.  

Amy tapes Kimberly's response to the news.

 I video taped his response, too.  You can see he is trying to absorb what he has seen and even hitting play again.  I am posting it for the giant smile I demanded at the end of the video.  I wanted to be sure to share that with all of you.

Handsome Fred watches the video on his phone.

I want to thank everyone for their prayers and the outpouring of love and support.   We have a long road ahead of us, but this first hurdle was huge and we leap with great gratitude!

We also need to thank God, Fred’s liver donor, and the donor family.  After the first liver transplant, the donor and donor family from Liver 1 have been in my thoughts and prayers EVERY DAY.  I now say prayers for an additional donor and family.

This absolutely would not have happened if it were not for two things: 1) someone else lost their life and their family suffers a horrible tragedy; and 2) someone else chose to donate life (either the donor or their family chose to donate organs).  By registering to become an organ donor, one person can save the lives of up to eight people. 


I have left Fred in the capable hands of the Nebraska Med SICU with this view (if he tries real hard).

I am back at the hotel working options -- places for us to live.  So many unknowns and so little availability.  We shall see what I come up with.  There is also a shower and pillow  on my schedule.

I will try and post a little something on Fred's progress tomorrow -- either as a comment or new post.