progress report started fri am

First: Emily is still doing well. Hard to believe that it is friday. This week has sometimes seems a minute long at times endless. Fast time and slow time. The tortise and the hare. As Peg and I were waiting during  the transplant, that was some pretty slow time. The moments before way fast, a bit too fast. We all knew it was time for a transplant but separating in pre-op that just rushed right at us. It wasn't so easy walking out of that room and glancing back with the anesthesia team starting to get serious  .Started this  about six hours ago but we are moving a bit slow. Emily is out of ICU and on a regular medical floor. Many of the patients have had some pretty major stuff, transplants, open hearts, etc......It was a strange move. The plan had been one more night on the ICU but a patient somewhere in the building was in major trouble. Turns out Emily was the healthiest patient in ICU, and they were full, so we moved. Packed up the circus and left. Which was fine put got things off schedule and it was 3am before it was bedtime. And like any good hospital at about 6am teams of professional loud talkers start cruising the halls, being Seattle they all have the $5 coffee and ae wired and ready to go. Chipper, chipper, chipper. After four nights in the waiting room it hard to match their good grooming and chipperness. I think maybe Peg and Nicky fell asleep between bites of oatmeal.

Actually we are chipper because Emily does continue to do great. The epidural is still in place and the morphine pump at work. The drugs while controlling the pain are not without side effects. Emily is quite sure that she had a large dancing pineapple in one corner and a polar bear cub in the other two nights ago. I'm thinking it is some kind of sign that climate change is happening quicker that was expected. Walking is a big deal and tonight was an eight lapper at a very brisk pace and able to talk. She also had dressings changed and got to see her scar for the first time. It is looking good starting to heal and very impressive. Ir runs form arm pit to arm pit in gentle arc just below the bottom of the breast line. The chest tubes are still in but two may come out soon. This a big deal, real progress. The collection devices that the tubes feed into also indicate if there is air leaking into the pleural space. you don't want that. It occurred a number of times three year ago and resulted in a Pnumothorax, a collapsed lung. Post transplant she had some air leakage, as expected, and the leaks seem to have slowly sealed. This is wonderful healing and progress. The tubes are very uncomfortable so getting them out is very good. 

She is doing well....had her first visitor......got lotsa of energy from that and hoping for her first real sleep. Will try and get out more news and earlier tomorrow we have been pretty much sleepwalking today.

Keith