Rebuilding

It's taken two months, but now that she's medically stable and in the right place Ivy is able to focus on rebuilding.  She is working hard in therapy. We've seen a real change in her attitude toward working on relearning how to move. Everyday she wants to exercise! She is definitely favoring her right side. Her left leg is in really good shape, she is able to scan her eyes to the left sometimes, but her left arm is problematic. Contracture is the concern. She is able to relax her muscles but can't really purposefully move it. We're working with it, but how much movement she'll regain is still unknown. 

She's been standing up lately! She wears a pair of braces that lock her knees into place as she's lifted up by a special table. She get a huge smile everyday when she does it.

She's also in the process of fighting off a staph infection found in her blood and in a lung culture. They're having a hard time locating the origin of the infection.  The concern is that it may be related to her heart surgery, though as of yet they haven't found any such evidence. 

We had a meeting yesterday with all the departments assigned to Ivy's rehab. It went really well, the various therapy departments have observed progress over the 2 1/2 weeks she's been here. When we came back from the meeting she was doing this:

We've never seen her lift her upper torso this high!  She is almost sitting up on her own!

Thanks to Marco, Jessica, Kira, Paul and Fayhe for visiting Ivy over the weekend. And thanks to everyone who contributed to the quilt! Here it is at the old room:

...and in the new room: