Six-year-old Chelsea White returned to school after post-surgical problems kept her in hospitals in California and Halifax until mid-August.
Chelsea's mother, Shannon Price, says her daughter has been active and in great spirits since coming home.
Price says doctors have told her it could take up to two years for Chelsea's brain to completely heal from the surgery.
She says Chelsea will have to visit neurosurgeons and cardiologists in October, to see if her heart is still enlarged because of extra blood flow.