The Mitchells: Update 7.2.06

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Update 7.2.06

Small update. We are doing WONDERFUL!! Ella is feeding all of her meals by breast and doing a great job. She's even had a dirty diaper a few times lately...so I think we've figured everything out. Her wrist is doing better too for those of you who remember the calcium deposit she had...it's almost gone.

We went on a road trip this weekend to Austin where Joe was in a wedding for our friends Jeff and Jennifer. It was a beautiful weekend and we had lots of fun showing off our daughter to our friends. Ella did good, except she REALLY hates her car seat. She still doesn't scream or cry, but she made it obvious that she wasn't happy.

Dates to pray:
July 11th...eye doctor
July 12th...development doctor...and cousin Micah is due (my sister, Sara is being induced)
July 13th...2 month checkup with the doctor and her shots

Love you all,
Andrea

Some photos...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: Thanks!; 9:47 PM
Debbie said...: I've seen your Mom happy, but I've never seen her happier!

Keep up the good work.; 4:05 PM

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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.