The tube is out.

They took the ventilator off about a 1/2 hour ago so she's breathing on her own. She has loud sounding crackles with each breath and feels very short of breath. She's quite uncomfortable with her breathing. They have her sitting up at about a 70 degree angle to try and make the breathing easier for her. The plan is to have her sit in a chair within the hour. She wants to get up and lean forward to make it easier to breathe, just needs to take one step at a time and balance the blood pressure and other vitals with each position change. She's on oxygen and getting a breathing treatment to try and clear her lungs some more. They will "need to work aggressively" (their words) at getting the lungs clear as much as possible tonight. We all know that she already has compromised lungs so we are sure this is a top priority. She says her pain is under control now so that's great. The surgeon has been back in to see her this late afternoon as well and tells us she's doing well, things are going smoothly. Nurse John is a 1:1 with her so he doesn't leave her room, providing a watchful eye over her.