Derek is now off intravenous food and is eating more normally. Today Airdrie brought his Matzoball soup again; in addition had a cheese sandwich, some tea and a decaf tall cappucino from Starbucks. He weighed himself, too. With the lack of food at the beginning of his hospital stay, he is now down to 67 kg (148 pounds). This means that he's lost about 23 kg (50 pounds), a quarter of his normal weight. He also had a shower - at long last, he said.
The hospital food tray contained some fish, which, Derek was astounded to say, tasted very good. You'll notice that he's very interested in food.
He still tires quickly and his homecoming is now tentatively set for Monday (perhaps even part-time, meaning for some hours during the day). We want to make sure that Derek does not come home too early - we don't want to put him back into the hospital yet again.
During our visit, we all went down to see Derek's friend Simon, who is in hospital recovering from a heart valve replacement.
The loss of weight has made sitting in a chair really uncomfortable for Derek. so my wife Hilkka will buy him a "whoopy cushion" tomorrow, to see whether that'll help. His butt has no fat, so it's understandable. The recliner chairs at his house are what Derek is really looking forward to.
Derek is off all pain medication now (except the occasional Tylenol).
He'll have another chance to see the fireworks tomorrow, and he may also be using the "internet room". This means that you may see an new entry in his blog; watch for it...
