Doing Much Better

Well, Grace is improving each day. She is an amazing child. She got settled into her new room on the Neurology floor yesterday and it did not take her long before she was asking to go to the playroom and to paint! She remembered diong that when she was there in January to start the diet. She is on contact precautions because of the pneumonia so she is not allowed in the playroom. However, she is allowed out of her room in 'her wagon'. Last night, the nurse rounded up a wagon for her and put the contact precautions signs on it. Tom has permission to take her around the hospital so long as she does not touch anything - open hallways are alright.

Grace is still on IV antibiotics and she is still getting IV fluids from time to time. It looks like she may be discharged if she can go without needing IV fluids for the rest of the day and tonight. She is very weak and still congested but she is more alert and sleeping less. She is talking a bit more - not when the doctors are present - but talking more nonetheless!

This is the ketogenic diet initiation week at CHOP for another set of families. Tom was asked to talk to the families this afternoon about our experiences with the diet. I'm sure that will be interesting!

I think Grace is ready to get home. She has been talking about Rita lots and lots. She has not seen Rita since Saturday. She is also talking about her friends and teachers at school. According to Tom, while being pulled in the wagon last night, she told him that one of her teachers is a 'slow poke' and someone else was a 'bumpy-head'. As the fog of her illness lifts, she is thinking about the people who are special to her - her sister, her teachers and her friends!