The hard work begins

Freya is now under the care of the Pediatric Rehabilitation Unit.  We have been given her weekly timetable which includes daily sessions with the physiotherapists, the OT, the speech therapist, the play and music therapists - so many therapists, and all of them lovely young women with endless enthusiasm, patience and kindness.

Freya is still battling a couple of infections but she is much more awake, brighter and beginning to be more like her old self.  She is making (bad) jokes, and being very charming to the nurses by telling each new nurse she sees how much she loves their hair (don't ask me why), but the compliment goes down a treat each time. We are also seeing more of her smile, which at this early stage is very lop-sided as a result of the surgery.  This asymmetry will correct in time with the help of the speech therapitst.

We saw Freya's neurosurgeon Wirginia Maixner yesterday who explained that movement is returning early to Freya's left leg first because the encephalitis had infiltrated the part of her right hemsiphere that controls the left leg some time ago.  This meant that her left hemisphere (now her only functioning hemisphere) was already doing some of the left leg work for it's diseased counterpart.  As the encephaltiis hadn't attacked the areas of the her brain controlling her arm, regaining some arm function will take longer and be a harder challenge.