This is a marathon, not a sprint

Although Vicki is still in Intensive Care, each day I am seeing improvements. 4 days ago, she was wired to machines controlling every aspect of her life, heavily sedated, and had more drugs than a small branch of Boots being administered to her. 3 days ago, I could communicate with her and get a simple nod or shake of the head in response. 2 days ago, she could speak, but was barely understandable. Yesterday, she was free of the machines, and able to talk coherently. You could actually have a two way conversation with her.

So I can see a slow, but steady climb up the mountain to recover. Again it's sensible to rein in any optimism I feel as I'm all too aware that however gradual the incline of this mountain is, it's still possible to roll back to the bottom again. We have to get her back to the ward, and we have to get her friends back visiting because they provide such a positive vibe for her. To conquer any illness you have to have strength of mind, the body cannot exist without the mind.

Now she's well enough to assess her situation, she hates being confined to bed. She said "When I came in here, my legs worked!" Obviously I reassured her that legs do still work, she just too weak to get up. Bless her. Unlike the Children's Oncology ward that she was in originally there's nothing in the ICU to keep her entertained, no TV, no games consoles, nothing. The only things that are allowed in her isolation room are items that can we wiped clean, and any paper based material has to be destroyed fairly soon after it's entered the room. Such is the risk of infection. For a teenage girl, that doesn't leave much... lego anyone? OK, perhaps not.

There's a little bit of momentum now gathering about raising some money for Vicki, the ward and Leukaemia, so I'm hoping to meet Vicki's school headmaster to discuss arranging something the school would support. Once I have more news on this front I'll let you all know.