It's a Date!

Well, today I took a hiatus from the hospital and did some Christmas shopping. I felt a little guilty but I needed some time away from here. I arrived here at 4 pm only to get hassled by the police officer because he wanted to see my license and I had it tucked away in my bag. Give me a break? I guess typing my name in was too hard for him to handle. Anyways, Dr. Mavroudis's nurse Kim came in to talk to us tonight about a surgery date. She said that Monday the December 15th around 7:30-8:00 AM is when they will do her third open heart surgery. She wasn't sure which procedure Dr. M would use, but she thought he would first try using the pericardium (tissue around the heart) to repair the valve then take her off the by-pass machine and see how she responds. If the valve seems to be functioning better they would then close her up and be finished. If she does not respond well then they would put her back on the by-pass machine and completely replace the valve with an artificial one. So, that is the plan in a nutshell. Liliana is still sedated but not to the point that she is motionless. They just want to keep her comfortable with no thrashing around so she doesn't injure herself with the ventilator tube in. They have suctioned her several times today and they said that the secretions are bloody but nothing like they were yesterday. Her fever is gone today and so far all cultures from the lab have not shown any infections growing. I am trying to remain very optimistic about everything. It is the only way I can go on.