Jordan is doing well and working hard at the rehab clinic. Each day she follows a fast-paced, intensely regimented agenda of physical, occupational, and speech therapy. It’s still too early to tell how much progress is being made, but we’re getting a lot of good feedback from her physicians and specialists. The toll of being away from home so much is starting to show. She’s still generally happy and upbeat, but she gets blue now and then.

She’s doing very well. Her first week of inpatient physical therapy went smoothly. She is handling her stay with great humor and poise. Each night when I arrived to visit her she simpered playfully. And the best news of all: she’s been granted a weekend pass. She’s coming home Saturday afternoon to spend time with her family … and her cats … before checking back in Sunday evening.

Jordan checked in to CHLA this afternoon. She’s full of energy and seemingly unphased by life in the rehab clinic. She kept the staff laughing in the playroom and served up plenty of sass to cause one of the attendants to remark, “she’s got spunk.” Tomorrow she’ll begin a rigorous schedule. From 8:30am to noon she’s booked solid with physical and occupational therapy. She gets a break from noon to 1:30, then it’s back to work until 3:30.

As expected, Jordan will return to Children’s Hospital for rehabilitation. She’s scheduled to check-in Monday after she finishes with chemotherapy. The rehab program can last for 3-6 weeks. She’ll spend two uninterrupted weeks to kick off the program. After that she will remain inpatient from Sunday to Saturday until she regains the ability to walk on her own.We broke the news to Jordan last night. She took it well, but I sensed a bit of disappointment.

Good news and discouraging news. I won’t say bad news, because it really isn’t. First, Jordan is doing so well emotionally. She is the happiest I’ve seen her in months. She looks beautiful and healthy. It’s hard not to feel warm when she’s in the room. But she’s not recovering as fast as we or her doctors would prefer. The chemo drug Vincristine did a number on her legs. The problem is that it hurts her to try walking, so she avoids doing it.