Further proof that my grandma is a trooper

For those of you who may be curious on an update...

Below is a large portion of a mass email that my uncle Jeff (from Virginia) sent this morning.  He does a good job of summing up the last couple of weeks since my grandma's open heart surgery on 7/2.  There's definitely been a lot of ups and downs for all of us.  Gina, the girls and I have spent most of our free time at the hospital with the rest of my extended family since surgery.

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Dear family and friends, I returned yesterday from a week in MN, and I am very pleased to report that my mom is on the mend.  She has been moved from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to the Cardiac Care Unit (CCU), and she still is in serious condition.  But, and this is a big but, she is no longer in grave/critical condition, like she was a week ago.  When I left left for MN last Monday, I was braced for a funeral.  The doctors at that time thought she was declining and may not bounce back from the open heart surgery (aortic valve replacement).  But since Monday afternoon (7/9), she has been making slow but steady improvement. 

It was on her 82nd birthday, July 12th, that the ventilation tube and breathing tube were removed, and that has made a tremendous difference in her recovery.  She still has a main line going to her neck (which is supposed to be moved to her chest today) because she needs dialysis 2-3 times a week until her kidneys (hopefully) "wake up" and start functioning normally.  She also still has a post-op drainage tube for her chest, which we hope will be removed in the next day of so.  She is still confined to bed, but hopefully they will start getting her to sit up and dangle her legs, and begin some low level physical therapy.

She definitely still has a long way to go.  But we are greatly encouraged, as are the doctors, by her progress so far.  Of course she rests a lot, and still needs to get a good appetite back, but she is doing great.  She is lucid, and knows who we are when we visit with her, and is able to talk to us in complete and coherent sentences.

Thank you for your prayers for my Mom's recovery and for my family's health and stamina.  As most of you know this is a long and tiring process for those who love and support a person in this condition.  Please continue to keep them in your prayers.