Steady Progress

July 25 - 10:20 pm, CST

Day 2 - Post Transplant

Pure Joy! The breathing tube is out and Mark is breathing on his own! We are relieved to have this major milestone behind us. We left his hospital room at 1:00 am.  He was joking and laughing with us and the nurse.  God is good!  He is still in considerable pain from 2 major open-heart surgeries in such a short period of time, but he has come such a long way on the road to recovery.

Tuesday began with Mark's surgery to close his chest.  All went well and the surgeon was very pleased with his progress.  The medical team continued to share with us today that Mark's recovery has been expedited and that he is on the "fast track." Even so, it was a very hard day to watch.

Mark is back to making me laugh!

After surgery, Mark was continuing to show signs that he could understand and hear us.  We were hopeful that the tube in his throat would be removed shortly after surgery.  It seemed the longer the day progressed, the longer the time frame would be lengthened.  All in all following surgery it took 11 more hours to get to the point they were comfortable removing the ventilator.

Mark was extremely ready to have the breathing tubes removed. I was ready to hear his sweet voice.  He always knows just what to say to make me laugh.

I caught a sweet moment with his sister.

Exhaustion is setting in for Beverly, Joe, Cari and me.  It has been a wonderful, but grueling few days full of prayer, stress, updates and overwhelming emotions watching Mark transition from a level IV heart failure patient to having a healthy heart pumping blood throughout his body.  Every time we return to his ICU bed, the improvement is remarkable.  He continues to outpace normal transplant patients and his medical team is pleased with the progress and amazed at Mark's strength and resilience.  They are now getting to experience his personality.   To God Be the Glory!  Today was good.