Sorry for the delay in posting. Thank you all so much for the many prayers for Ella! All went well with the surgery and we were able to bring her home Thursday afternoon. She is still a little sore, but is able to get up and move around, and had a few visitors yesterday. She is very sad about being forced into a punk-rock stage early (quite a bit of hair was shaved). So, we've been having a lot of inner-beauty talks and she is slowly adjusting.
The shunt is now allowing the spinal fluid to flow. We've spoken with our neuro-oncologist at Duke and he said the swelling that was forcing the ventricles to close was caused by progression of the stuff around the cerebellum. It is his advice that we try to get into a clinical trial at Duke, that hopefully will open soon. While we wait, he advises that Ella be on a low dose of steroids, which we hate, but will do. We're still waiting to hear from our doctor at NIH.
While we were in the hospital, we had a nice visit from Randy and Ginny Hartley. Ginny had surgery on Tuesday and they came up a floor to visit us on Wednesday evening. It was Ginny's birthday and we got to share some birthday cupcakes, which was a nice treat for Ella. Please keep Ginny in your prayers for a full recovery. Also, Ella's buddy Hampton (www.caringbridge.org/visit/hamptonvandyke)from school who is treated at Duke for a cancer-like disease has had a rough week. Please pray that he feels better.
We so appreciate all the love you send our way and the prayers on Ella's behalf!
Love & Blessings,
The Newmillers
