As I said it would be, it has been a difficult day. Chris was taken off of the ventilator about 1:30 this afternoon. It was wonderful to walk into his room and not see the breathing tube. Now he has to work on coughing and deep breathing to help keep his lungs clear and to get them back to doing their own work. Chris has said a few things to me-it is hard for him to talk-and I have reassured him that he made it through the surgery and he is working on recovering. As expected, the steady numbers we have been seeing are a bit erratic right now, but as time goes on and medication adjustments are made they too will settle down. Carolyn and I have been visiting for about 10 minutes each hour-Chris does not seem as anxious if he knows we are just in the waiting room. I am working on a needlepoint belt I started ages ago and Carolyn is reading to help pass the time. We talk to the other families as they wait to hear about their loved one's surgery. This morning one family was going through a scrapbook their daughter had made-I recognized some of the materials she had so we talked about this and that related to scrapbook. We met a nurse today who saw Georgetown, Ky on Chris's door tag-she asked if it was close to Lexington--it turns out she had a patient last year from Lexington who has kept in contact with her-it really is a small world sometimes. Take Care I'll let you know how things go this evening. Mary Jo