End of day 4...

I spent much of the day just holding and loving my little lady. She has been quite comfortable and doesn't seem to be in much pain. She has been talking and smiling for us. Her x-rays looked great from this morning and her sats continue to stay where they need to be. She has been on .25 liters of oxygen the entire day. They have also reduced the amount of lasix she is on. We wanted to take her for a walk outside all day, but we wanted to wait till after dinner so Mr. C could go with. Grandpa, Grandma and Mr. C got here and we looked outside and it was raining. Maybe tomorrow we can go for a walk at home. :)Dr. Kaza, her cardiothoracic surgeon, came by to check on her this afternoon. I hope he doesn't mind me posting a picture of him with her. We LOVE this man! We owe her life to him. We thought she needed a picture with the man who has done such great work on her little heart and given her a chance at a wonderful life. He has such an amazing spirit about him. I have felt it from the first time we met him 5 months ago in the CICU. He is so great to us as well. He will listen to us and answer any questions that we have with out us ever feeling rushed. Before he left I HAD to ask him a question that has bugged me for a while. (If you don't want to know the details of the surgery don't read on) I have been told that when open heart surgery is performed the sternum is broken. I have such awful pictures in my head of how they do this. I could have looked it up on the internet, but doctors could do things different ways. I asked him what he did to Gracelyn. He said, "First off, we don't BREAK children, we fix them." :) He continued, "Let's use the word divide the sternum." That sounded better already. He told us that with the first surgery he used cartilage scissors. With the surgery he did Friday he used a saw. Doesn't sound pleasant, but better than the visions I had in my head. I was glad to get that cleared up. As my dad has told us, her progress isn't only evidence of HER strength, but proof of what a great surgeon he is. I didn't get to post a picture of Grandma last night so I grabbed one before they left tonight. If all goes well tonight we should be leaving tomorrow. :|