The swings of emotions have been crazy and they’ve been in lock step with Ella’s condition.

They were able to get a blood draw this morning through the IV which was a total blessing. They did a full panel and all looked good including white blood count.

Tina and I talked it over this morning though, and felt that Ella’s situation is a lot worse than her last bowel obstruction. With this, we resolved that surgery is going to probably happen. There was discussion of a possible transfer if we wanted to Denver’s Children’s Hospital but we didn’t know if that was the best plan either.

But…

They took another abdominal x-ray…and the intestines looked a bit better. Hmmmm….ok. The PICU attendings said we’ll just do more waiting and seeing. This was a relief.

Until…

The staff confirmed later in the afternoon that the surgeons hadn’t seen the x-ray yet, so the “wait-and-see” approach didn’t have 100% buy in. Well, when the surgeons did look, they weren’t convinced that the intestines were getting better. In fact, they have been more concerned over the bile output coming from her stomach. They indicated that unless this reduces significantly, that surgery is likely going to happen.

So…

Ella is stable, and feeling better because she’s on morphine, but the bile output continues to be significant and her belly is pretty distended. Unless we have a major change in this overnight, it looks like surgery is going to happen.

The doctors here have consulted with our team in Denver which has given them more insight into Ella’s unique situation. This has given us comfort that they have a taste of how complicated she really is.

We would love for Ella to take a turn away from the path of surgery, but we are telling ourselves that it looks unlikely at this point.

Please continue to pray for our precious girl. You love and support means so much to us.

By the way: Sorry for not many pictures and for my blithering posts. I’m running on about 4.5 hours of sleep for the last 48 hours. Tina’s running on 2. Praying we sleep better tonight.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Ella is stable but still not in a good place. There having problems drawing blood which is critical is assessing her condition. They tried at 2am with no success. There going to try again shortly. If you are up at this hour please pray for a successful draw. Please also pray that Ella’s pain will be minimized and that this obstruction will resolve without surgery.

Please also pray for peace and rest for Tina and myself.

Thanks for the support.

While our working trip to California has been enjoyable, it’s had its fair share of challenges. None of them greater though than what we’ve gone through in the last 36 hours.

Long story short: Ella’s in the hospital. A short time ago she was admitted to CHOC with symptoms of a bowel obstruction. The contrast x-Ray confirmed what we had seen before. The kiddo is very backed up.

The challenge here though is dealing with a medical system that is unfamiliar compounded with the fact of our complicated little girl.

36 hours ago we were at the Pachanga RV resort. Close to Tina’s mom. Ella spent the entire day being inconsolable. We tried all the tricks we knew, but nothing worked.

At 4:30am we packed up the rig and headed to a satellite location of Childrens Hospital in Laguna Niguel. Two failed IV attempts later plus lack of diverse resources, they recommend we transfer to CHOC.

After dealing with transport drama, we make the decision to move Ella ourselves. Mind you, our only mode of transportation is the RV.

We drive north to CHOC. Ella’s admitted. They get an IV placed in her arm, and now we start the multi-day process of letting her system clear out.

No word yet if this blockage is more serious than before, but we’ll see.

Were all totally wiped out. A little scared thinking she needed surgery tonight.

Holding off on surgery for now. In the PICU in a wait and see mode. Thanks for the prayers.

P.S. Sorry for the scare with the short post. It didn’t all come through on my phone.