When I left Cathy last night she was still under the effects of the sedation. She was starting to respond to questions and was aware of where she was. At one point she did manage a smile for me. This was her first smile in over two weeks without a tube coming out of her mouth. She was still being given a small amout of continuous sedation to keep her calm and let her body get used to the 'trach'.
Today the doctors will be focusing on helping Cathy adjust to the trach. A physical therapist will be visiting with her to work on talking with the trach as well as starting her on an exercise routine. Cathy needs to maintain some physical conditioning so she can handle a transplant operation. The transplant surgeon will be visiting Cathy sometime in the near future to evaluate her for this surgery. This surgeon's opinion is critical to Cathy's being re-listed for transplant. One of the benefits of being on the trach is that eventually Cathy should be able to spend some time out of bed. This will help with Cathy's mental attitude as well as physical conditioning.
I will not have another update for you until this evening (~7 pm California time). I went home last night and am going to work this morning. Bonnie is on her way down from Seattle to stay with Cathy for a couple days.
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