International Ellis

Ellis is still recovering from her surgery and seems to have more energy each day. She's not up to pictures just yet, so this is a good time to catch up on thanking some of our friends who have gone out of their way to pray for and support Ellis. WAY out of their way.

Richard Hess, a nice man who works with my mother, traveled to the Holy Land recently and kindly took a prayer for Ellis that was placed in the Western Wall. He brought us back these pictures. Thank you so much!

Also, a long-time friend of our family, Ernie Murphy, was recently in Rome and sent us the message that she had visited the Sistine Chapel and said a special prayer for Ellis. How thoughtful! And especially meaningful for Greg and me since we started dating in Italy many years ago and have precious memories of Rome, Venice, Siena, and many other towns. (But that's a whole other blog sometime...)

Thank you, everyone, for the continued prayers! We hope the next surgery in six weeks won't be so hard on Ellis.

Home Again

We are home again with the sweet baby. She is recovering slowly and seems to be feeling better than when in the hospital. She has been too restless to sleep well and is still uncomfortable when the tylenol starts to wear off. But I am trying to get her to rest when she can and there have been a few times she feels like playing.

When Ellis is feeling better we will have some more pictures to share. Until then, here's a video I ran across from a couple of months ago that I never posted. Nothing much happens, but it amuses me how the simplest things entertain her. My sweet little lady.

Surgery Update

Ellis is recovering from her surgery. Everything went well, and her doctors are pleased with the results of her procedures. They did not, however, downsize her trach as we had hoped. Her surgeon spotted a couple more areas of tissue that need to be removed before she is ready for a smaller trach, and he didn't want to put her through too much all at once. So in six weeks or so we will be back for more and maybe she can move to a smaller trach at that time. Her doctors also decided to wait and watch the mass on her neck/shoulder instead of removing it today. We were happy with that decision because it is less surgery for her to go through and we think it may be getting smaller on its own. We are thankful for successful surgery today and are just waiting now for Ellis to feel better. She is getting some pain medicine and is sleeping a lot, which is good because she has been very cranky when awake. I can't say that I blame her. Thanks for all the calls, emails, and texts. We have such supportive friends and family!

Getting Ready for Another Round

Ellis will have her surgery tomorrow around 11:30. She is having more lymphatic tissue removed from the back of her throat in addition to her tonsils and adenoids. The lump on her shoulder/neck that we have been so concerned about actually seems smaller this week, so it will be her surgeon's call whether he wants to remove it or not. If everything goes well and her doctors think she is ready, they might downsize her trach. If that happens, we will be bringing home a babbling baby! We appreciate everyone's prayers for a safe surgery and a quick recovery. We will update here when we can.

Fall Fun

We don't know why three hay bales appeared in the park across the street last week but we sure had a good time climbing on top of them. Here Ellis is modeling her new jean jacket, sent from the very fashionable Auntie Mary Anne. :)

More Family Photos

Here are some more pictures and videos from the past week. (Trish didn't like hers, so I promised not to post them. But I thought they were good of everybody!)

Cousin Susannah came to visit!

Three generations of Hosfields. Ellis looks scared in this picture, but I promise she was having fun.

Ellis had another visit to Cincinnati Children's today so her excellent team of doctors and nurses could evaluate the swelling she has had at her surgery site. The litle swollen spot has officially turned into a big ugly lump that is looking bruised, but it still doesn't seem to be causing Ellis any pain. Her doctors feel like it is most likely some lymphatic tissue that has developed micro-cysts, a pretty common occurrance with lymphatic malformations. She is not being threatened by it, but we all are in agreement right now that it is best to have it removed. Since Ellis is scheduled for surgery next week anyway, this will be added on. We will stay in the hospital just a little longer, but we feel like putting her through only one round of anesthesia and one recovery is best. Please be in prayer that everything goes smoothly. She is a little trooper and didn't even fuss today with all the poking and prodding.
We are still enjoying the company of Uncle Grant, Grandpa George & Trish. Ellis is having a great time and loves the extra attention. She is going to be bored next week when it is just me all day again!

Grandpa George helps Ellis read a favorite story