Great news everyone!!! Someone got their drains out! 🥳

I was so happy to hear this plan when I got to the hospital yesterday morning. Just amazing news. The overnight was not super stellar as some medications got wonky, but when you get that kind of good news in the AM it makes the whole day look brighter.

Dylan’s dad and sister left town right after her drains were pulled so they were able to celebrate with her on this milestone. I’m not entirely sure that this process felt that great (based on the procedure which I will NOT detail) but I think it will pay dividends later for sure. In fact today I was able to see Dylan laying gently on her tummy for the first time in a long time. That has to be nice.

During the day there were walks and some fruit requested. So far Dylan has had fresh picked oranges 🍊 from the Stanford citrus grove and some pineapple 🍍 from the cafeteria. I’m hopeful this means that more things are starting to sound appetizing and maybe some of that sweet and sour taste is coming back online. Great news all around.

Dylan’s doctors are impressed by her efforts in eating and the surgeon came by today to observe her scarfing some leftover chow mien noodles. Always good when you can reinforce your efforts with visual evidence. 😉 They would still like to see her reach goals with the protein shakes so we are trying to get more of those down the hatch. Kinda tough because maybe not the most appetizing form of nutrition 🤪 but one that is easily measurable for the doctors.

Today during physical therapy Dylan was just an absolute rock star. She did quite a few side to side and dip movements as we all mirrored her and the nurse through the hallway. Party of five! We also made sure to let everyone know they could join in as our movement class is free to all! 🤣 There were tiptoes and heel walks, even short lunges to be had. I was super impressed. So we think we are making great progress, and to think about where she was a week ago, totally awesome.

Some other fun stuff, yesterday the Grinch came to visit (it was weird, suddenly dad was nowhere to be found?) and we even got some sunshine. I also wanted to show off the pump cart, sitting quietly in the corner for most of the day. 😄

Hope you all have a great start to your week, and we are looking forward to a great week as well. ❤️

-c

Please consider donating to the Children’s Organ Transplant Association in Dylan’s name. 100% of each contribution to COTA for Dylan is available for her lifetime of transplant-related expenses.

(Take that pump cart! But honestly, thanks for all that you did to help our patient ❤️)