Ellie Grace Volk

March 3, noon: Thank you for all of the well wishes for Elllie's birthday!  She had a wonderful time at her Princess Tea Party birthday party.  She is so excited to be 5! 

And we are so excited too!  I don't remember the last time Ellie was this healthy.  She is truly the best I have ever seen her.  She is a ball of energy!  She is eating like crazy and full of life.  It is so much fun.  We are feelling incredibly blessed right now!!

Here are a few pictures from her birthday. 

The day after she turned 5, she was staring off into space a little bit. I asked her what she was thinking about. She said, "I was just thinking about when I was 4.  I can barely remember it!" 

She felt like I should take her to Kindergarten the day after she turned 5.  She doesn't understand why she needs to wait until the fall - she is 5 afterall!  She keeps telling me that she shouldn't be going to preschool because that is for 4-year-olds.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support.  We are so extremely blessed by you.  We feel so supported and loved.  We are grateful.

"I have loved you with an everlasting love."  Jeremiah 31:3

February 22, 7pm:  I wanted to post a quick update.  I realize it has been almost a month since my last update.  Fortunately, I don't have much to tell you.  Thankfully, Ellie continues to be doing very good.  She is feeling great.  In fact, we went to Kindergarten Open House last week.  Here is Ellie in her future kindergarten room.  She will start in the fall and she is so excited.

She is also counting down the days until her 5th birthday which is on March 1st.  She cannot wait! 

It's hard for me to beleive that she has so many "big girl" things going on.  Turning 5, registering for kindergarten...  She is also becoming so determined to do everything herself.  Instead of me doing things for her, she wants me to show her how to do it and she'll do it herself.  She'll say, "Just show me how, Mommy, because I can do ANYTHING if I just know how!"  She is becoming very independent!

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and thoughts for Ellie.  We are very blessed that Ellie is doing so well and that we are having these milestones.  I will post pictures from Ellie's birthday next week. 

We are blessed by you!!

Allow me to also send out some great news from Lexie.  She and her high school dance team from Lincoln Lutheran won the State Championship for their high kick dance performance this weekend.  Lexie was very excited!  She picked out the verse for me today:

"I will proclaim the name of the Lord.  Oh, praise the greatness of our God!"  Deuteronomy 32:3

January 30, 11am:  Ellie had her day of tests and scans on Thursday.  Everything went very well.  Below are Ellie and Lexie before we left.

As we approached the hospital, and Ellie saw it, she began to immediately throw up.  I just think she has had so many bad memories there that the sight of the hospital makes her sick. 

We went to the oncology department and they had to put us in a back room since Ellie was throwing up.  They couldn't afford to have her around other kids.  Even though we knew it was just nerves, we didn't want to take a chance that she could get anyone else sick.  When we have to sit in a back room versus the big play room, it makes the day go much slower!  We changed Ellie into hospital scrubs, since she had thrown up on her clothes and then she had to drink the contrast fluid for her CT scan for 90 minutes.  She had measurements taken during this time: weight, height, temp, blood pressure...  her goal of reaching 40 pounds wasn't met, she was only 34.  She actually went backwards a bit.  She is so active right now - which is great - but it is making it hard for her to gain weight.  She was really hoping to be 40 pounds - and eligible for a booster seat, instead of her "baby seat" as she calls it.  Hopefully we can cross that milestone soon!

We then went off to her chest x-ray.  Only one parent can go in for each test, so Tom and I take turns.  When Tom got out of the check x-ray, he told me that he had the most amazing picture.  He was taking pictures of her getting an x-ray when he noticed that she was covered in the cross.  We both love this picture.

After her x-ray she had a CT scan.  The results of both of those tests were good.  Everything looked very good.  There are still small spots on her lungs that they have continually watched, but they aren't concerned by them.  The doctors felt very pleased with her test results.

Ellie also had a needle put in her hand when we first arrived that they keep in all day.  They use that line during the CT scan to put some liquid in her to make the pictures better.  And they use it to draw blood for her blood workup.  They had taken blood when we first arrived, but after her tests, they said her first blood draw hadn't been sufficient and that we would have to do it again.  Ellie braved that whole procedure again.  They put some type of saline solution to wash the line and they tell us that it makes it taste like Ellie has pennies in her mouth.  As soon as Ellie tasted that, she started throwing up again.  That poor kid!

Lastly, she had a thorough check-up by the oncology doctor.  He felt she looked great.  Ellie did provide us with comic relief during the check-up.  As he was looking her over, he said, "Ellie, I think you are a remarkable girl.  What do you think you want to be when you grow up?"  Without missing a beat, she said, "A carrot."  Not sure where that came from, but it did lighten the mood!

After we were released from the hospital, Ellie was starving (she had to fast before the tests).  We were able to get her fed and get her some new clothes (since her others had vomit on them).  Tom teased her that that she must have thrown up just because she wanted to go shopping for new clothes. 

We were exhausted after the day.  Not because we had done anything physical, but it is emotionally exhausting.  It was nice to leave the hospital and have a relaxing meal with Tom and Ellie.  It was actually also my birthday.  It was not exactly how I wanted to spend my birthday, but I did get the best gift: a clean bill of health for Ellie!  I spent my birthday in the hospital last year too. That was after Ellie's surgery to remove some of her small intestine.  This hospital visit/birthday was much easier!

Thank you for you continued prayers and support.  It means so much to us.  We are always brought to our knees when we are at the Children's Hopsital.  Not only are we so thankful to be getting good test results, but also are so overcome with emotion for the other kids we see.  It is amazing to see such young patients going through so much.  And to see the lobby and waiting rooms full of parents and grandparents awaiting news during surgeries.  Such worry and sadness fills those rooms.  The doctors, nurses, and child life specialists who work there are amazing.  It takes a special person to make that hospital your everyday workplace.  They see so much.  But they are always so upbeat and excited around the kids.  They make Ellie feel so special.  I don't know how they keep themselves so positive.  They will say, "Oh my, it's Princess Ellie!  We've been waiting all week to see you!"  They truly have a gift.

We thank God to have another round of tests done and to have them be positive.  We are so blessed.  We thank God for allowing her to continue down the road of recovery. 

"And who is the Rock except our God?"  Psalm 18:31