It is Saturday morning and things are going good. I spent the night in Anthony's room right next to him. He had a pretty good night but was pretty nauseous from the morphine so they switched his PCA pump to Dilaudid which really helped. He started drinking water and Gadorade once the nausea subsided. He was on 2L of O2 overnight but now they have taken it off and his oxygen levels are staying up around 98%. This morning he asked for his glasses so he can watch his vital signs and sports center. Hopefully he will be able to eat some yogurt for breakfast soon. I am also hoping to get him up and in a chair this morning. The surgeon and doctors will be rounding soon so we will know more after they see him.

Anthony is in the cardiac ICU. He is extubated and starting to wake up. I am having to repeat things like "the surgery went great" and " I know you are hurting, they gave you morphine". His temp was 94 degrees because they cooled him down for surgery so now they are warming him up. He was shaking a lot when we first got here. His heart rate was a bit high 120 bpm and blood pressure was 150/60 but they have gotten both of them down to normal ranges now. He has 3 chest tubes that are draining but there is not too much blood. Everything is going good and it is so nice to see him waking up! Hopefully we will move to the cardiac floor tomorrow evening and get a lot of the tubes and lines disconnected. The patient next door to Anthony is a tiny baby in a crib with a mobile over it. I can't even begin to imagine what their parents are going through. At least I can ask Anthony how he is feeling and what he needs. Thanks for all the support!

We just got to watching them roll into ICU. He is still intubated but breathing on his own. I will be allowed to go sit with him in his room in about an hour. It was kinda crazy to see him laying on the stretcher with the tube in his mouth but they said everything went great.

Dr. Forbess the cardio thoracic surgeon just met with me and said that everything went according to plan and he is doing great. He heart is beating great and the valve is working perfect. He should be rolling down the hall in 30 min. He will still be intubated (has breathing tube in mouth) and totally sedated. They are hoping to extubate (take the tube out) him in 4-8 hours.

yay!! He is off bypass and everything looks great!!! They should be rolling him down the hall in about an hour. The surgeon should be by to talk to me soon. Praise the lord!

The OR nurse called again and said that he is now on bypass which is the heart/lung machine. They are starting to work on his heart now. Everything is going good and they will tell us once he is off bypass.

We woke up early this am and checked in at 6am then went to pre-op and got to meet the cardiac anesthesiologist and Anthony got prepped for surgery. He was in good spirits but a little anxious. He said he felt like he does on triahlon mornings but this time he won't be working hard. Now we are sitting in the cardiac ICU waiting room waiting for phone call updates. The OR nurse just called and said that everything is going good and they began surgery about 15 minutes ago. She will call with updates every hour. We have a pretty big group up here: my mom, Anthony's mom, her friend, Delta, Anthony's brother, his fiancé and me.