The Goodwins

Ella is doing a bit better.  After several crying spells last night she’s doing better.  Her right eye is still swollen  shut but she’s starting to be able to see out of her left eye.

I left her, after several goodbye kisses and hugs, as seen in the picture to the right, watching Veggietales, eating bananas and juice.

Bonnie tells me she’s still in good spirits and has been playing like her normal self.

I’m back in the office dealing with crises, crisii?, multiple crisis-es?, well lets say multiple issues, but they seem a bit less dire for some reason.

Ah, life goes on….

Ella is doing much better today! In fact I’ve been having trouble getting pictures as she’s moving around much more – makes everything come out blurry!

She was still a little puffy when she first got up, but she could actually open both eyes! And she’s looking better and better as the day goes on – yeah!

We’ve determined (we think) that she got a mild infection from the hole that was created on the side of her head from her glasses rubbing the tube that runs between her port and the actual expander. Something that could have been avoided if the tube had been placed elsewhere, but at least the infection is manageable and better than a problem that would require extra surgery!

Thank you to everyone for the love and prayers that you sent our way – it helped us to get through it all!

Hopefully Ella will now continue to mend!

So, day three is not much better. Ella’s eyes are still swollen, but mainly the right one.¹ They do get better over the day and become less swollen. Ella is on all sorts of fun medicine which she absolutely hates to take.² It’s amazing how high she can get her feet up to “block” the medicine input!

We have pictures of the saga up at Ellagoodwin.com. We’ve subdivided the album by day to make is easier to see the new ones.³

Mom and dad are taking this worse than little Ella, as she’s still showing her happy face with frequency. So keep those prayers coming!

1. If you remember that on Day One Ella’s LEFT eye was swollen, the on Day Two, BOTH eyes were swollen, and now on Day Three the RIGHT eyes is the swollen one. [↩]
2. Antibiotic, Motrin, and Benadryl. [↩]
3. Hopefully Day Three will be the LAST DAY! [↩]

Our little Ella woke up this morning looking like she’s went a round or three in the ring. Her eye was pretty much swollen shut. She didn’t have a fever and her eyes weren’t bloodshot. We left message with the plastic surgeon but it was before 7 AM in Chicago. We went and visited her local pediatrician. He didn’t see signs of an infection or anything seriously wrong.

After getting back home I was finally able to get in touch with Dr. Bauer’s office, Ella’s plastic surgeon. I’m told that it is not unusual for swelling to occur however it needs to be monitored to make sure there’s not an infection or a rupture of the expander or tubes. We’ve also seen that Ella has been teething hard on a lower left molar and has her hand in her mouth a lot and her fingers very close, if not in, her left eye. So, in an abundance of caution Ella will be starting a regiment of antibiotics and Motrin/Tylenol to help keep her risk of infection and swelling down respectively. We are also suppose to help keep her head elevated to help reduce the swelling.

Ella’s swelling has gone down. She’s a tough girl after all. While it looks like Ella has taken a punch to the eye, it sure feels like I’ve taken several to my gut, if not my heart. We certainly could use your continued prayers that she’s able to continue be her healthy and happy self.