valentine's day

hi everyone and happy valentine's day ( a big thing here in the states, very commercialised ).
yesterday was a fun day as we first had a visit from a local family that was operated last year by dr. hanley and they showered cara with gifts ( gameboy games etc ) and then claus roggensack / geia who is originally from namibia but has been living in san francisco for the last 15 years or so came by with his lovely wife and 3 gorgeous little girls ( sbetter start investing in some good anti-boyfriend equipment for the future, claus! ) and also brought cara heart shaped ballons and more gifts. so that was really sweet of them all.
sorry i am late with my daily update but we had to wait for the surgical team to do the rounds first and wait for a diagnosis. the chest tube is still passing fluids and hence we are staying put in the hospital. she is off the oxygen bottle and is actually good without any. so she has one emergency, inactive iv line in, her oxygen meter and her blood pressure monitor, that's it. after all those many pipes and drains this is an achievement! so she takes walks around the hospital twice a day now and watches some movies but also rests a lot. the low fat diet turns out to be a real bummer...how on earth is she supposed to get back her appetite, strength and weight on that? this makes one realise that at any time complications and setbacks to her recovery can occur and the medical team has advised us today that this rocky path can take up to 6 months, both physical and emotional. the success of the operation/ procedure is one thing, but the time after that is very critical. we have to hold thumbs also that her donor homograft will stay in good working condition for a couple of years before replacement is necessary...so unfortunately we cannot say that everything is over now and we can go back to a normal life, our path ahead will be marked with lots of care for her and check-ups with the cardiologist every 6 months and coming back to california when needed.
we are getting she occassional laugh out of her and this morning she commented that her voice is good now, yeah. so, tiny steps every day, we will keep you posted!