Yesterday was a very long day for all of us. We left the house at 5am got to the hospital at 5:30, checked in at the kiosk and then waited to go back to the surgery prep room. I said goodbye to Chris at 7am and went to the waiting room to wait and wait and wait. One of the nurses from the surgical room would call me every hour and a half to give me an update. During the day I was lucky enough to have wonderful family and friends come to visit me to help me pass the time away. (You can only do so much reading and if you asked me what I read I’d have to tell you that I have no idea.) The surgery ended up being nine hours long. Dr. Ott came out and spoke to me and told me what he had done. I saw Chris again around 6 pm. He was smiling and joking. He has a tube in his right nostril that is a feeding tube. The left nostril has a tube for stomach juices to come out and both nostrils have air going into them. He looks great!!!!!! They gave him heparin (a blood thinner) and insulin. Then later they had him doing lung exercises. And he watched the ESPN channel. My dad stayed the night with Chris so that I could check on the kids and give my mom a break. She got to be in charge of homework etc. (lucky girl):). Thanks to Megan who did all the entries yesterday, she did a great job relaying what I said over the phone. Today they are supposed to have Chris up and walking. The doctor said that research shows that it’s best to get up and moving. Chris is also one of the only patients that has gone right to the floor instead of going to ICU (it is unheard of). He will be in the hospital for 6 days or more, just not sure. We had many miracles yesterday. We love you all and couldn’t get through this without all your prayers and support. Love ya, Ricki