Ellie Grace Volk

March 18, 10am:  Ellie is recovering very well from her surgery last week.  The only complication she has had is that she broke out in a rash from the surgical tape.  This has happened every time she has had surgery.  We told them she has a reaction to that tape so they tried a different tape.  She still broke out.  She gets a bright red rash.  Within a few hours of her surgery, the rash had spread all over back, tummy and side.   Ellie was itching so bad.  She was prescribed an anti-itch medicine that seemed to help a little bit.  We were able to remove the tape and spent the weekend just trying to get her some relief.  It was hard for her to sleep and she was very uncomfortable. 

Of course, after everything she has been through, we can deal with a little rash.  We just felt bad she was so uncomfortable.  Today, she is much better.  The rash is almost gone. 

Other than the rash, Ellie is doing great.  She is really getting her strength back after this latest surgery.  She's been in a great mood.  In fact, last night she was running around, singing, giggling and being a crazy 4-year-old.  It was great to see!

As always, thanks for your continued prayers.  We are extremely appreciative.  To those of you in Lincoln, please take a minute to grab the paper and read about another 4-year-old with cancer, RJ.  He is losing his battle and he and his family could use our prayers.  For those of you not in Lincoln, you can go to our paper's website at www.journalstar.com to read about him.  Thank you.

"Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."  1 Corinithians 15:57

March 13, 7pm:  We are home from the hospital and Ellie is doing great.  She handled today like a true pro.  They were able to take the port out without any complications.  Ellie handled the anesthesia well and had no problems. 

Here is Ellie washing up her baby because her baby was going to go into surgery with her. 

Here is Ellie in her hospital gown ready to go into surgery.  Ellie was so excited to get her port out that she really didn't get nervous.

Here is Tom saying good-bye to Ellie as she is rolled away to surgery.  Ellie did get a little scared at this point, but she was still a trooper.

 Here is Ellie right after surgery.  She was very groggy for a few hours after surgery. 

Tonight, Ellie is feeling great and having no bad side effects.  The area where her port was is very tender and she has some prescription pain medication, but otherwise, she is doing great.

Thank you so much for your prayers for Ellie today.  Even though it was a simple procedure, it is always scary to have your child put under anesthesia and wheeled away for surgery.  We appreciate the support and prayers!

We are praising God tonight!  How exciting to have the port out and have this chapter closed.  We are so very hopeful that this will be Ellie's last surgery.  We are looking forward to a new chapter!

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!"  1 John 3:1

March 12, 2pm: We are very excited because Ellie goes in to get her port removed tomorrow!  Ellie is really looking forward to having it out of her body.  I'm not sure if she has figured out that it must be removed by surgery, but she is just excited to have it gone.  As she says, "No port means no butterflies!  And butterflies are my NOT favorite thing!"  (A butterfly is a large needle with "wings" on the sides of it.  They insert the large needle into her port and then snap down the wings around it.  They use this to give her chemo or to take blood.)

We go to Children's Hospital early tomorrow morning and they will first give Ellie a full check-up to make sure she can handle anesthesia.  The actual surgery will only take about 30 minutes.  If Ellie handles it all well, we should be out of the hospital in the afternoon.  It sounds like a very simple procedure.

The picture today is of Ellie with her cousins and uncle.  She was able to go visit Tom's      sister and family over the weekend.  She loved being on the farm and was able to see brand new baby cows.  And, as you can see, she was pink and sparkly - even on the farm!  Thank you to Jan, Craig, Katie, Jamie and Emily for taking such good care of her!

Thanks so much for your continued prayers and support!  We are extremely blessed by you!  I'll update after our day of surgery tomorrow.  We are very grateful to finally have the port out and put this chapter - hopefully - behind us.

"The Lord lives!  Praise be to my Rock!"  2 Samuel 22:47

March 6, 10am: I am a little blurry-eyed this morning as Ellie is still having issues with nightmares.   She is really having trouble sleeping.  She cries out in her sleep and whimpers a lot.  She seems to be scared and having very bad dreams.   I'm not sure if it related to everything she has gone through or not.  She cannot remember her dreams in the morning.  We are anxious for this phase to pass as we are all exhausted!   Besides the restless nights, Ellie is doing really good.

My heart is heavy this morning too because I lost a college friend to cancer yesterday.  A beautiful mother of four.  She had beat cancer once and was a survivor.  It returned and was very vicious.  Cancer is such a merciless thing.  It doesn't care how old you are, or how many children you have counting on you, or what incredible things you have done for those around you, or what amazing potential you have.  It just doesn't care.  It attacks and leaves so many victims in its' wake.  I hope, in our lifetime, we see cancer wiped out. 

Thank you for your continued prayers for Ellie - and all cancer patients.  I know that with God we can overcome this killer.  There isn't a single thing on Earth that is a match for God and for the power of prayer.  Thank you so much for being vigilant prayer warriors.

I am prayerful that when my friend got to heaven, she was embraced by God and heard Him say what we all hope to hear, "Well done good and faithful servant!"

March 2, noon: Ellie turned 4 yesterday! We were so thrilled to see that milestone. To have her celebrate another birthday was just amazing. Last year, when she celebrated her 3rd birthday, she was in the middle of chemo. It seemed like her 4th birthday was very far off. She has been through a lot in 4 years, but she is certainly a stronger person because of it.

Ellie was very excited about her big day. We had family and friends celebrate with us and Ellie had a great time!

Here is Ellie and Lexie among some of Ellie's gifts.

Here is Ellie with a birthday cupcake.

Blowing very hard to get those candles out!

Ellie falling asleep on the couch after the party. It was a wonderful, exhausting day!

Thank you so much for all of the well wishes for Ellie. We are thrilled to be celebrating with her. Along with turning 4, Ellie is also feeling much better. She is eating quite a bit and becoming much stronger. I think we almost have our old Ellie back!

We praise God for restoring Ellie from her latest health issue. He has been amazing to her and continues to love her with an everlasting love. How blessed we are!!

I had a friend e-mail me a passage from Rich Warren about the struggles we face here on earth. Here is part of his message:

"The reason we face struggles is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making our life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.  We may live on earch for 60 to 100 years, but we are going to spend trillions of years in eternity.  God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.  We are made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense." 

Ellie's situation may not be the most comfortable or the happiest, but we are so very hopeful that it will allow all of us to grow in character.  We are also prayerful that it touches other people in some way.  Whether you simply hug your kids more or that, perhaps, you might come to love Jesus the way Ellie does.  We would be humbled to think that God would use Ellie to bring others to Him.  But wouldn't that be wonderful?

"Restore us, O God; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved."  Psalm 80:3