Wednesday 9:15 a.m. ET

Apologies to anyone who thought our failure to update the blog over the past couple of days portended something disastrous. Nothing terrible has happened and we were simply too tired (lazy?) to update the blog. Eli had another operation on Monday to replace the catheter. The operation went well and Eli bounced back from surgery #4 with her customary resilience. Lia was pretty dejected on Monday (as we all were) when we were told that Friday is the new scheduled date for replacing the shunt. I spent the morning with her and gave Eli another blessing; then Nin and Julia came to spend the better part of the late morning, afternoon, and early evening with her. Julia was sufficiently rumbustious and adorable to cheer up Eeyore, and Eli had perhaps her best day yet. I went back to the hospital after putting Julia to bed, and Lia (now in much better spirits) and I spent a quiet evening together while little Eli slept sweetly and snored softly. Eli's culture from the 16th remain bacteria-free and her culture from the 18th is thus far similarly clean. All the medical folk--including the enigmatic "neurosurge"--seem confident about Friday. We've seen more than enough to confirm President Hinckley's recent assessment of hospitals: "I don't recommend it to anyone."