The Mitchells: Sunday School

Monday, July 17, 2006

Sunday School

Here's a picture of Ella's first day at church (in her new outfit, then on here way, and the last picture is in the nursery at Sunday School):

3 comments:

Debbie said...: How pretty!; 3:19 PM
The Farells said...: Dear Mitchells!
Ella is so precious. We enjoyed her first day at church too! It was wonderful to see all three of you at Sunday School. God sure is good! We continue to remember you in our prayers.
Love,
Lydia; 7:14 PM
Jodie Keeter said...: Just came to see if there was another update... only a few days since we've checked last, but we are very eager to pray for and see how much this sweet angel is growing! We love you guys! ~Keeter's; 12:28 PM

Ella's Story

Elizabeth "Ella" Hope Mitchell was born on May 10, 2006 at 3:45pm...by 5am the following morning the whole world turned upside down. The doctors came in to inform us that while Ella had been resting in the Newborn Nursery, she began to have irregular breathing and seizures. It was touch and go for the next 3 days. We were told several times that she probably would not make it alive through the ordeal. She had contracted Group Beta Strep which had resulted in meningitis. Due to the seizures and the infection we had no idea what the long-term effects would be. After Ella spent a long and trying month in the NICU we came home to see where the effects of her illness had left us all.

A few months later, almost a year, we had an official long-term diagnosis...Ella has Cerebral Palsy. She is a happy and loving child. She struggles with physical delays, cognitive delays and all sorts of things that have come and go.

2-eye surgeries to correct lazy eye
3-EEG's to check for siezures
5-MRI/MRV/MRA to check actual brain damage
3-CT scans for brain stuff
1-G-button/feeding tube surgically put in (and then Ella removed herself)
10 (approx)-Swallow Studies
1-Scoliosis Study
2-Kidney Reflux tests
2-Upper GI tests
1-24 hr reflux test
8-hearing tests
countless UTI tests
seemingly a million developmental tests
a hand splint
bath chair
adaptive stroller/wheelchair
stander
gait trainer
AFO's

ha, not to mention all of the therapist...currently: OT 2X/week, PT 3X/week (2 land, 1 horse), ST 3X/week (2 oral motor, 1 speech), develomental 1X/week, vision 2x/month, and we are about to start ACCDAT camp.

As of 4/8/2009.