2-??-2007

Aliyah is doing great. All the chest tubes are out. Most of her IV drips are off. She is still in CVTR (cardiac recovery). Visitation is limited, but people have stopped by to say hi through the door or spend some time with Dana or I. She should move to the CVPV unit on Wednesday or Thursday where the visitation is much more liberal.

Her immune system is being knocked down severely to counteract the body's natural tendancy to reject the new heart, but the modern rejection medicines and the prior to surgery crossmatch prevent most of those problems. However, even minorly sick people should obviously not visit her right now.

Aliyah is sitting in a chair for more than an hour at a time and eating regular food instead of being fed through the "crazy straw" (tube through the nose) like other times when she was too weak to eat. So again, her progress is wonderful.

I hope you all are well.