We stayed a few minutes while her dialysis was being set up, then bid our farewells. Andreas came out in the hallway with us for about 20 minutes and we talked. I expressed concern over her condition and told him many of us are worried that the heart may come too late. He quickly reassured me that that was unlikely. That's when he told me all the details.
Nobody dies in that unit.
And he was completely confident of what he was saying, so I now share that confidence. Then he went on to describe what will happen when she finally gets that heart. The first thing he pointed out is that this is a fairly simple surgery and these guys do thousands of them. A few hours after surgery, they will have her on her feet and walking around and eating. But with a new heart, her body will immediately begin cleansing itself.