The World As We Know It

We are in Cincinnati. We flew in Monday. Yesterday Nate had to have a voice test to see if his vocal chords were functioning right. As far as they could tell, they are fine. (He wasn't very cooperative.) After that we went to the Zoo. It was really fun and so beautiful. They have the botanical gardens throughout. There weren't any pandas though. Okay, a red panda, but it's not the same as the giant panda.

Anyway this morning we are headed to the hospital for the big surgery. We are all kind of on edge.

It's now 10:30pm. The surgery went very well. The Doc said Nathan did great and everything went smoothly. They cut out about an inch from his windpipe, and sewed it back together. The trach is out. After the doc. came and told us everything was great and the trach was out, Steve and I couldn't stop smiling at each other. Seven years. I still can't believe it's out. Woo Hoo!
Nathan is sedated for right now. He has a breathing tube up his nose and down his airway. They will take that out on Monday. After if comes out if things look good 24 hours later they will move him from the PICU to the regular floor. We can't eat in the rooms. How lame is that?
Anyway, I'm going to go to bed. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow.
We love you all and thanks for all the fasting and prayers for Nate.