Amy's surgery went very well! The surgeon and anesthesiologist were pleased with her response to the anesthesia.Amy’s surgery went very well! The surgeon and anesthesiologist were pleased with her response to the anesthesia, and she has had no nausea (partially because of anti-nausea medications, I’m sure). Here’s a picture of her in her private room! And there are before and after internal pictures, as well, which are taken looking from left to right inside her chest cavity. The before picture shows her heart at the bottom of the picture, and the top of her heart is not visible because her sternum is lying on top of it, squishing it. In the “after” photo, you can see the top of her heart at the bottom of the picture, with a nice space above the heart, then the bar running through her chest, and her sternum on top of that.

She had a night full of nursing care, administering various cocktails and checking up on her (I observe this routine from the “comfort” of my chair-bed in her room). Her pain management doctor and nurse came by this morning, and were very pleased with the low level of pain she was experiencing. In fact, they said that they wished they had visited her first on their morning rounds, because they like to start their day on a positive note!

Today she slept a lot. She will begin using a breathing device tomorrow that will expand her lungs. This will probably be somewhat painful, but it needs to be done so she can get ready to play the flute again (that one's for you,k Mr. Lack :)

Tomorrow the goal is to have her sit up and dangle her legs over the side of the bed. She is not looking forward to moving, as it causes discomfort.

By the way, Amy has corrected me a few times when I refer to her nurses by incorrect names. "Mom, that's not Christine, it's Suzanne." Who's the one that's supposed to be "out of it" around here, anyway? class="MsoNormal">Thanks for your prayers and concern for her, and your texts and blog comments. She misses you all!