Good evening! Today has been a great day…. still extremely worn out though! This post is going to be a big hodgepodge of information because I have so many thoughts in my head. Anyway, April is feeling a little better, up walking around, eating solid foods again and she is off all IV fluids. Ellie is doing a little better too! April got to visit Ellie today at Children’s for the first time. Our visit went really well today. April got to swab Ellie’s mouth with an ointment that helps prevent pneumonia. I got to change Ellie’s diaper this afternoon!!! It was one of the greatest and scariest things I’ve ever done in my life. Grandma Holzmeyer and I made pictures frames today and April and I got our picture taken with Ellie. The picture frame was a free craft project for parents with children in the NICU. They have a lot of great things for parents to do. We met with and got updates from Ellie’s Neonatologist and Pediatric Surgeon today. They are both optimistic and had a lot of positive remarks. They were hoping that Ellie’s oxygen level will improve so they could change her to a different breathing machine. They did have to put Ellie back on pain medicines today to make her not work her lungs so hard.
I just got back to April from visiting Ellie tonight and they gave me some more good news. Ellie was taking off a more harsh or aggressive ventilator and put on a more mild ventilator. The new oscillating ventilator is much easier on her body and helps remove the carbon dioxide (the gas that leaves your body when you exhale) better. This means that her breathing is improving, exactly what they her hoping for! For those of you that don’t know - Ellie does not have a left lung. Her right lung has a small mass in part of it that is called Congenital Pulmonary Airway Malformation that will have to be removed sometime in the next 12 months. She has 2 holes in her heart (VSD) that may or may not have to be surgically repaired and all of her anatomy is reversed. All of this sounds really bad but she has a lot good things going for her. She is the prettiest thing that I’ve ever seen and she makes melt my heart. I cannot begin to imagine how spoiled rotten this little girl is going to be. She will bat her eyes at me and make me give in for anything. The doctors are very intrigued and interested to learn more about her. This is good because they have looked at every square centimeter of her inside and out. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital is so thorough and proactive it blows my mind and we are SO pleased with the level of care and attention to detail. FYI: they are the #3 rated children’s hospital in the country based on all forms of care and treatment for children. Even though we have had some good news today we would really appreciate it if everyone would continue to pray for Ellie. For those of you following this blog that don’t know us – we lost our first daughter March 7, 2010. Her name is Madelynn (Maddy) Rose and she was born at 40 weeks 4 days gestation. She was a healthy 7lb 11oz and 21 inches long baby girl. The cord was wrapped around her arm twice which took her life. After Maddy passed away April and I had tons of people tell us that we should seek married counseling because most marriages fail after the loss of a child. We chose to get counseling from our God in heaven and I’m here to tell you that our marriage is stronger. The last 14 ½ months have been extremely difficult for April and I, but the Lord has gotten us through it all. Don't get me wrong, it has been the most difficult time of our lives. But we know he is with us and we know that everything we are going through is because of all the sin in this world. We know that someday we will be holding Maddy in heaven and it is going to last a lot longer than our time her on earth. Please keep the faith, we are, and please continue to pray for Ellie.
Matt (Ellie’s daddy)
