Update on Scottish Rite

This past Tuesday we had our appointment with Scottish Rite to evaluate Ella's shoulder and it went very well. We were a little stressed about how everything would go and what the day would be like but it was great. Ella did so good and almost finished a whole bottle without a fight while we were there so we didn't even have to mess with the feeding tube! Thank you Lord! She was just flashing her sweet smile at the room full of doctors while they poked around on her as if it was no big deal. She loves being the center of attention. :)

We were very impressed with the team of doctors. They were prepared for us and we could tell they had done their research and knew all about Ella's history. This was an initial visit mainly for them to look at Ella's shoulder and decide if they would even be able to do the surgery there or if we needed to look at other options. They all agreed that they are confident in being able to do the surgery and their goal is to hopefully do the repair in one surgery. No promises were made on that but that is the goal. They do not want to do surgery until she is at least 8-9 months old so that time frame would be May or June. They want her to be bigger and to have had more time to really heal from her other surgeries before we do anything else. So between now and May sometime they want to do another MRI of her shoulder so they can really see what is going on and start putting together a surgery plan. She had an MRI done last month before she left the hospital which provided some good initial info but she was so small that it was hard to really see everything clearly. Once she is bigger and has had more time to develop they will be able to get better pictures and know more about the bone structure, blood flow etc.

They were impressed by the function she has in her left arm even though her range of motion is limited. However, they feel that even with surgery she will never have full range of motion with the left arm and felt like our hopes of her arm having completely normal range is shooting for the moon. While I respect their opinion and know that realisticly she may not have full movement I am still shooting for the moon. I mean we serve a God who created the universe, parted the seas and raised the dead and is still performing miracles today so I have full faith that Ella's arm can be healed completely. That's what He tells us to do in Hebrews 11:1 is to put our faith into action and "be sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." So that is our hope, that her arm be completely healed and have full range of motion. I am reminded of His healing power everyday when I look at both my girls and especially Eva. I just think back to the day when we were handed a box of tissues, given a pat on the knee and told I'm sorry but there is a 5 percent chance at most that your baby is going to live. And look at Eva now, she is perfect! God is amazing so again I say shoot for the moon!

So what happens now? We just continue getting Ella to heal, eat better and gain weight. She will have some developmental delays physically like head control, possibly crawling, etc. because of her arm so we are working with Early Childhood Intervention which is a program that helps families with children with physical and mental developmental delays. They will come to our house periodically to help us and Ella work on these things as well as feeding concerns. Down the road she will more than likely need much more therapy than they can offer but right now this will at least help us know what to do to keep her arm and muscles strong and moving until surgery.

Other than that, Ella is doing well. She is getting close to 8 pounds! Yeah, I know she is 3 months old and barely weighs 8 lbs. but it's cool. Feedings are still hit or miss but getting better. Please continue praying for that. Thank you all for your prayers for us and for Ella. We'll keep you updated as we know more.