Gods timing is perfect

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

Today was absolutely fantastic! Ivy was outgoing and engaging! She was talkative and receptive. She ate from the time she woke up to the time she went to bed. She had a great chest x-ray. She did her first poop in a week. (hey, this is important when you have a large heart, large liver and a pacemaker.... there is no room for poop hanging around)

And tonight we had a wonderful talk with our surgeon.
And we are positive that Ivy is not going home for Thanksgiving, nor the Friday following.
But honestly.. she is 4.5 days post op and look where she is!!!!!! She is doing fantastic and Gods timing will be the perfect timing for her to come home. And we will give thanks, oh so much thanks! And PARTY!!! And CELEBRATE all month!!!! And eat real food! And sleep in our own beds!!! And go outside! And drive a car! And wear different clothes! And use our private bathrooms! And it won't get dark at 4pm! And there will be no beeping or alarms or doors slamming or annoying intercoms! And we will cook! And clean! And be with our family forever!!! And Ever~!

Ok now that I got that out of my system, here is what we are looking at for little Ivy and her much anticipated discharge from Boston Childrens!

Ivy has been transitioned to Coumadin. Coumadin is her new anticoagulator (blood thinner). She needs a blood thinner because she has a mechanical mitral valve. The blood thinner will keep the valve from getting clots in it. 
Your liver uses vitamin K to make blood clotting proteins. In doing so, vitamin K plays a role in your bodys natural clotting process. Coumadin works against vitamin K and reduces your livers ability to use vitamin K to produce blood clotting proteins. So by taking coumadin, ones risks of forming blood clots are greatly reduced.

Ivy's goal INR level is about 2.5-3.5. Today she tested in at 8! Way too high. She was not allowed to have any activity today and had we been home like this she would have been in bubble wrap all day. We are trying to bring her levels up by feeding her dark green veggies and she was such an awesome little champ today and ate her entire bowl of broccoli. I am making her kale at the yawkey house tonight and will bring it for tomorrow. We will draw labs daily and expect it to take 3-5 days to get her to her perfect level.

Tomorrow she will have an echo to be sure there is no fluid building up around her heart, a side affect of INR levels getting too high.
Our prayer request is here! This would be a huge set back.

Once Ivy is at her preferred level then we can begin discharge paperwork. Given the Holiday, we expect this will take place around monday. 
Once discharged we have to stay in Boston until we can be seen as an outpatient by our cardiologist. This could take 2-5 days. And once we get the ok at the outpatient appointment then we can say good bye to Boston!

4 months from now we will head back to Boston for a heart cath. Just to be sure that all is functioning as it should. It should be a short trip, and uneventful!
God willing!

Oh and I'm sure you want pictures right????

Here she is Sunday~

Still in ICU here. Still feeling crumby

And here she is today!!!
What a difference a day of prayers makes!!