Thank you for your faithful prayers today and ALL the notes of encouragement! As usual, God has answered our prayers and as of 1:50PM, Greg is off the ventilator!
He is still extremely sleepy and in all honesty, I was afraid that they were removing the breathing tube/ ventilator too soon, but his nurse felt confident that it was the right time and I believe she was right :) Although he has not spoken to us yet, he did smile when he saw me and when he saw Elise -- such a sweet confirmation that our Greg was still with us! I would imagine that he's not speaking because he remains really sleepy, plus his throat is probably very sore. His dad just got here a little bit ago and Greg definitely turned his head toward Smitty when he heard his voice.
Elise and I remarked that his color is really good - actually better than before surgery! We trust that he has in fact received the perfect heart!
His kidneys haven't changed much in terms of output, but as the kidney doctor just reminded us, they have taken SO much fluid off, that his kidneys haven't had to put very much out. They are now cutting back on the rate of fluid taken off and beginning tomorrow, he will be on intermittent, rather than continuous, dialysis which will allow him a little more freedom of movement.
We were told today that the autopsy on his own heart did in fact support the ARVD diagnosis, which is no real surprise, but comforting nonetheless that we know for sure what was wrong. We were told that when they actually removed his heart from his chest, it was in even worse shape than what they had imagined and that his life was truly in danger. We're SO grateful for God's provision at just the right time.
We are hoping for a quiet rest of the evening - with him gradually waking up more and having NO memory of this recent time on the ventilator. His nurse did a FANTASTIC job of caring for him and getting him through this experience in a non-traumatic way. We're very grateful!
That's it for now - we will update in the morning! THANK YOU FOR EVERY KINDNESS AND ENCOURAGEMENT THAT YOU HAVE PROVIDED FOR US... I can't imagine getting through this alone.
Love to you all,
Greg's mother