Wolverine Baby!

Morning of initial surgery (November 13, before they opened her up)

After her 4 day recovery, (swelling already gone down, you didn't want to see that) chest still open, notice the gauze tuxedo (November 17 morning)

After chest was closed (November 17 afternoon)

Ivy had a good day today. She finally had her chest closed so now the healing can begin. We arrived at the hospital very early because the doctors said she would likely be the first case of the day, but when we got there they informed us she wouldn't be anymore. They bumped her to the afternoon, so we hung out with her all day. Getting out of bed so early wasn't a total loss because while we were waiting, she woke up! It was the first time we have really seen her eyes open in over a week. We were so excited to get to talk to her and touch her while she looked back at us. Finally at about 2:00 the operating staff showed up to turn her little room into a mini operating room by making it sterile, taping it off, and of course, kicking us out. We returned about two hours later and she was done. Her little gauze tuxedo was gone and replaced with just a small layer of regular gauze, and we felt like we could see her again. The doctor and nurses said that everything went according to plan and they didn't have any problems, thank goodness. Scott joked that she was like wolverine because she has an amazing healing time (she had some sores from a blood pressure cuff a few days ago that healed very quickly). He thinks the doctors put Adamantium in her body during surgery, thus wolverine baby. He's kind of a dork, in case you didn't already know. Anyway, they also removed the IV from her jugular vein in her neck, which had been grossing us out for days, so we were happy to see it gone! Now she has a week or two of recovery until her next surgery, we should see medications deminish from now on. Thanks for the support, we look forward to a quick recovery. Thanks to the X-men!