a pretty good day

Mom had a pretty good day today. She had surgery again this morning. She did really well in surgery. A couple of days ago, when they operated, they had to remove a lot of dead tissue. They told us then that they would have to operate every two to three days for a while. Today though, they hardly had to remove any tissue at all. Because of that, they haven't scheduled another surgery. They are just going to change her woundvac every couple days at her bedside. They won't operate again unless her body shows signs that the infection is back. Mom's temperature and white count were both down, which is good. Most likely, removing all that tissue on Monday took care of that. Because her body isn't fighting the infection so much, she was much more aware today. She is still very sedated, but today she opened her eyes quite a bit. She could make eye contact. She was squeezing our hands. She could shake her head yes and no to answer our questions. It was nice to see her interacting a little. She has made some progress on breathing. They said that she is only about two steps away from getting the breathing tube out. She is mostly breathing on her own, with only occasional help from the ventilator. They are really hoping that it will come out tomorrow. Once that comes out, they will decrease her sedation even more and she should be able to talk to us a little. So, all in all, today was a good day. We had a lot of good news. We are constantly being reminded that she is not out of the woods yet and that she still has a long ways to go, but it is always nice to get good news. We have started receiving some birthday cards today and her room is already looking more colorful and cheerful. We appreciate all those cards and your continued thoughts and prayers.