Sunday

For the most part, Bonnie is in a drug induced coma. The nurses bring her out once a day in the mornings and say she's neurologically still with us. Today she had retained much more fluids and looked extremely bloated and puffy. They estimate she has more than 25 lbs of extra liquid in her body.

The good news is she's making slow progress. The top half of her heart (what was worked on in surgery) continues to beat at a slower pace than the bottom. Once that catches up and her heart's output ejection rate raises, she'll be ready to come out of the ICU. For now it looks like 2-3 more days in this same mode.

We are hoping that the breathing tube will come out today or tomorrow which means less sedation. She's pretty much breathing on her own. She'll will be so happy to have that tube out. However, the sedative she's on also effects her memory and she won't remember any of what happens to her while in the ICU. Good thing!

At some point the nurse will start a feeding tube since her digestive organs need to wake up and this will help.

As a family we are trying not to stimulate her by talking, waking her, or touching her too much. All these things, which she'd love to have, only puts her heart in a critical mode by removing the little oxygen that is present. So for now we are letting her sleep and hope she knows how many people are praying for her recovery, some how I think she knows. Like the nurse said Sunday, "This woman is a fighter!"

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. Some times I haven't been able to get back to friends and family who have called. It's been very draining to keep discussing the new developments 5-6 times a day with my siblings and then to add others it gets so overwhelming. So I appreciate you checking in on this blog. Makes my family happy to have me off the phone. For a bit anyway.

Keep you updated!