Picture Heavy!! Day 23

Where do I start?


I have so much to say and I know you have all been looking for this post all day! 


I headed home today and Daddy spent the day with Little Ivy, It is our sweet daughter Cassidy's 16th Birthday!!!

                                          
She had school and school dance until 4pm and studio dance from 5-9:30 so my only chance for time with her was during lunch. Lexi, Rylee and I picked her and some very sweet friends up and went to lunch. It was heaven with these sweet sweet girls!!

                   Even Ivy got in on the Birthday Wishes!

Lexi put on some great shows on her big red stage and we all waited anxiously for reports on Little Miss Ivy!!

So are you ready for this??????

No Skipping ahead!!!

Im taking you back the last 2 days. And let me just tell you, Ivy has made 2 weeks progress in these 2 days!! I'm not kidding!!

But before I go there, I want you all to know that I did have a wonderful meeting with the supervisor at PCH about the nurse we had issues with yesterday. I planned on doing it all along but I wanted to do it once her shift was over so Ivy didn't take the heat if she found out and was angry. The supervisor was so awesome just as I expected he would be. I assured him that every other nurse has been our ~favorite~ and we in no way let this nurse be a reflection of our view of this hospital. This hospital is amazing and the care we received until this nurse has been nothing short of fantastic!

Now the drum roll!!!!

Sweetest PT, OT and ST staff on the planet!

They are helping Little Miss get strong!!!

And confident!

And ready for home! Oh man does home sound good!!

Ivy was taken off many of her meds yesterday! Epi has been off 

for 2 days!! No problems!!!

I know your probably thinking, ~her poor little chest~ But with all she has been through... Open heart surgery, ECMO, Chest tubes, pacemaker, Diaphragm Plication surgery, Ventilators and so on... She looks amazing!!!!!

We did 22 laps yesterday in the stroller! She would have done 22 more but the guy pushing our meds needed to get back to work!

 She is smiling and laughing all day long! Waving and blowing kisses! 

Daddy took her to the playroom today! He also got all the rats out of the back of her hair, it was pretty scary hair!

Today she had her swallow test. There is indeed much damage. She will need a thickener added to her liquids for 2 months so she has time to heal.

                          Taking her EZ Pap treatment like a true champ!

                                             Loving mama's iphone!

We are down to just a picc line!! 

She is getting just .5 liters of oxygen!!! Thats nothing!

Her chest tube is draining much less! She does need to continue on the fat free, dairy free diet for a while. We can handle that!! 

The IV you see in these pictures is now gone! 

Her surgeon and his wife came in to see her today and she let her surgeon hold her! They will be pals for a very long time! His wife is Asian! She had lots of questions :) 

I see God working in this hospital, with many of the people we have met. Several doctors. They all stop to visit even when she doesn't need to be seen and you can just see their little wheels turning in their heads. Are they thinking, wow I could do this, these kids are amazing? I hope so. I do know seeds are being planted. 

Ivy Joy is the flower that has already grown. Thank You Lord for all of your majesty and grace, your healing and your love!! I have stood many nights, carried only by the grace of your loving arms, too weak to do any of this on my own and yet you have renewed my spirit each morning and brought me through each day with hope that there would be a tomorrow. And here we are, tomorrow after tomorrow after tomorrow has come and gone! Ivy, your creation, our perfect little gem, has been healed!!!!! Praising the King tonight!!!!