Time to celebrate!!!

Okay, this is one post that we have been waiting for.  Rachel nailed her swallow study yesterday and she has now been cleared to eat and drink anything she wants!  So, this means that she can finally have her sweet tea and drink until she "pukes."  (her words).  We are planning a sweet tea celebration for Thursday (11/17) at 6:30 and are asking that everyone have a glass of sweet tea in honor of Rachel at that time.  Please let us know that you did indeed have a glass of sweet tea for her; it would mean a lot.
We are hopeful that this is the last week of being at the apartment in Shands.  She is scheduled for another biopsy on Wednesday (11/16) to again check to make sure there is no rejection.  She will be admitted to the hospital after the biopsy in order for her to receive one of her meds that has to go through an IV drip over a 24-hour time period and where she has to be hospitalized.  Once the med has run through, and if there are no complications, we anticipate her being discharged on Thursday.  She has a test when she see the pulmonary doctor (lung) on Friday and we are hoping to gather-up all of our stuff and head back home on Saturday!!
Of course she will be making frequent visits to the cardiac-clinic for check-ups and there is a possibility that she may have to receive another med by IV (something other than the med tomorrow) and will have to be hospitalized for that too, but, would be able to return home afterwards.
It's hard to believe that this has been ongoing since late April and now here we are, about a week away from Thanksgiving.  Needless to say, we have a LOT to be thankful for.

Finally.....an update!

Been a long while since our last update but here is the latest.  Rachel had another clinic visit today and heart-function-wise, Dr. Fricker was extremely happy with her progress.  She had had some fluid in her lungs as recently as her last visit, around October 24th, and she had been retaining some fluid within the past couple of days.  However, he said that her lungs sounded better than they did the last time he listened to her and they didn't sound as wet.  He had gone up on her diauretics a little over the last two days which had also helped.
He still wants her to see the pulmonary doctor for some additional tests on her lungs to make sure he isn't overlooking anything.  He did say that because she was on the ventilator for so long, it may take a lot longer for her lungs to heal up than it would for someone who was on the ventilator only a short time.  He also wants a follow-up visit with the ENT doctor so that they can re-do the bronchoscope to re-access her vocal cords.
He did say that she is scheduled for another biopsy on November 16th.  Also, depending on the "numbers" from her blood-work, she may have to be hospitalized overnight in order to receive one of her meds that has to be administered through an IV drip.  He did say that we should be able to leave Gainesville and come back home the next day.  Soooooooooo, looks like we might get to leave Gainesville and have everybody back home altogether again by Thanksgiving.