Well, I am glad to report that Ron is safe and sound back in our temporary SF apartment. He was released late this afternoon and is currently resting comfortably... thank the gods.
They believe that the pain is due to the combination of the muscle loss pre-op and spreading his ribs apart during the surgery. The liver is located directly below the diaphragm and is still covered by the ribcage so in order to get access they have to open up the ribcage, but this causes an exuberant amount of pressure on the back. Right after the surgery they told us that he should expect back pain. His muscles were already "damaged" from the old liver's inability to process protein properly, so when the spine was strained the muscles weren't in good condition to support it. Then the bed rest needed to recover from the surgery put more strain on the muscles causing increasing pain. We are still working to keep the pain under control and seem to be on the right track.
So, bottom line... Ron is still doing well (liverwise). He is going to be in pain for longer than any one of us would like. But since his abdomen is healing nicely he should be able to do the work needed to tend to his back soon. It's going to take extra physical therapy to get him back to %100 working order, but we couldn't be more relieved that this complication is unrelated to his liver.
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