Hello Everyone!
I am so behind on updates. I've reminded myself to post on here many times and then never followed through! Ella had a 6 month check up at Roswell on September 13th and all went well. The check up began at Oishei for an echocardiogram. It is not easy to return to that hospital. We had a little time after the echo before we needed to be at Roswell and Ella wanted to visit some of the floors we used to go to when she was admitted there. We went to the 5th floor to visit the sweet people who work at the Ronald McDonald room. We went to the Winter Garden room as well, there are such bittersweet memories-- bitter for obvious reasons, but sweet because of the kindness and love shown by the staff there. I couldn't bring myself to go to the chapel room where I used to write my prayers on cards and silently beg for everything to be better. Thankfully we weren't anywhere there too long. We headed over to Roswell for bloodwork; Ella's white blood cell count was 5.5 (normal is 4-11), hemoglobin was 12.3 (slightly low- normal is 12.5-15.5), platelets were 184 (normal is 150-450) and her ANC was 2,800 (normal is 1,800-8,000). I never heard anything back about Ella's echocardiogram results so I assume all was well with that.

Ella's been very busy. Since the last update, Ella did make her school softball team and was the short stop. Her proudest moment was sliding into a stolen base and ripping her pants (haha). She started high school this year and decided to try out for the JV volleyball team, having no other experience other than watching her mom play in a rec league during the summers. She made the team and during the first game, she looked at me from the court and mouthed "I can't do this" to which I replied, "you're going to have to" since she was already out there in a game. Well, by the end of the season, the girl who couldn't do it was moved up to the Varsity team and played in their last game as well as the play offs! She was the Libero and was absolutely amazing to watch! At the end of the season she was honored by her coaches with an award for the most improved player of the season. 

Ella attended her first Homecoming Dance in the Fall and has been enjoying time with her friends, studying and acclimating to high school. We couldn't be more proud of her. 

Ella's next check up will be in March. That will be her 5 years since her diagnosis, and 3 years post chemo. If all is well then, Ella will be considered cured of Leukemia! Then she will have Roswell check ups once a year. 

We wish you all a very Happy and Healthy 2023! Thank you for remaining on this journey with us, and as always for your continued prayers for Ella.❤️