30-Oct-08, 8.30pm report

This afternoon the doctors did Tracheostomy. Tracheostomy is a surgical
opening in the trachea (windpipe) that forms a temporary opening to make
breathing easier. They have inserted the ventilator tube into this hole
instead of sending the tube through the mouth.

Since Guru Maharaja is unable to breathe by himself they cannot remove the
ventilator. They cannot keep the tubes through the mouth for a long time and
it can catch infection. Guru Maharaja also feels uncomfortable with the
tubes. Therefore the panel of doctors decided to go for tracheostomy.

Compared to yesterday the consciousness level is down today. There could be
different factors. They will wait and see tomorrow. Apart from this the
other parameters are stable.

We do not know how many more days it might take for Guru Maharaja to breathe
by himself and to be out of ventilator. It is all upto Srila Prabhupada and
Lord Krishna now. Whatever happened so far is a miracle and we need more
miracles for Guru Maharaja to completely come out of this situation
successfully.

Your humble servant,

Ratnavali dd