Active day, Gracie got to visit mommy

Denise had no sedative at all today, and was very active. She ran the daytime nurse ragged in the morning. They had her in the cardiac chair again (Denise, not the nurse), and she tried her best to stand up in it, pushing against the foot plate. During the time I was home for dinner, she tried pulling herself out of bed, so they had to strap her down. She has a belt around her torso and cuffs on her wrists with tie-downs attached (she can't stay away from that pesky breathing hose into her throat).
We got permission to take Gracie into Denise's room this afternoon. She wore her custom-built nurse's cap, brought her toy doctor kit, and behaved with a great deal of maturity. Denise was pretty tired, but lit up when she saw Gracie (Gracie lit up, too). We were able to let Gracie sit on the bed, where she stroked Denise, listened to her heart, pretended to give her an injection, looked at books with mommy, and even got to snack on cookies & juice that one of the stafflings brought in. Quite a few nurses came in to watch the reunion. I took video of the visit, and Gracie & Jacob wanted to watch it over & over at home. Truly one of the best days we've had in the last six weeks. The rules at the hospital CCU say that nobody under 10 years old can come in. Many thanks to the nurses that magically turned the rules into mere suggestions for us today.