Prayers for Ella

Hello Friends,
Thanks for praying! I just wanted to give you the full story and how you can be praying for Ella now.

Thursday evening she was riding her bike and performed her new "trick" where she stood on one leg and put the other in the air. She got brave enough and tried it while going really fast. She fell head first and landed on her chin. We immediately went to the ER and received prompt care and a stat CT scan. The Lord kept her from a brain injury and skull fracture, which we are very thankful for. The scan revealed that she had bilateral condylar fractures and a fracture on her "chin" with displacement of her teeth. The surgeon was called in and reviewed her scan. Immediately, he told me that her fractures are not common for her age and that there are alot of things to consider. He did not want to operate without consulting his team and also didn't want to operate without his normal operating assistants that knew his instruments inside and out. With Ella being stable, we decided to put off the surgery until the next day. The surgeon had a meeting the next morning with his team to come up with a plan of care. He decided that if he could set the placement of her teeth and bone back in line without going after the condyles that he would leave the condyles alone. Going after the condyles would have had a heightened risk of facial paralysis. In most pediatric patients the condyles will heal on their own. The other thing was whether or not he would have to use plates to get her chin bone/teeth back in line. Plates are not optimal in pediatric patients given that they are still growing. But considering the severity of her fractures he didn't know if he would be able to do it with just wiring. God answered our prayers and the surgeon was able to set her jaw with just wires and was able to leave the condyles alone. Ella will always have an "abnormal" x-ray of her condyles, but we are expecting full functional use and symmetry of her face (I could care less about the x-ray as long as she has function and symmetry of her face). She will require her mouth to be wired for 2 weeks and after that she will require 6 months of wearing a special contraption (sorry I don't know the correct term yet) specially made for her at night. This will hopefully ensure that while the condyles heal on their own they won't pull her jaw back out of line. There is a chance with the condyles that part of the growth plate may have been damaged. Usually this occurs with patients under 5. Ella is 6 3/4 and we are praying that she will avoid this complication...only time will tell.
Presently, Ella's face is swollen like a balloon and bruised. We had issues with pain control, but now seem to have a pain med regimen that allows her not to have any break thru pain. She can only sip things thru a straw and getting her enough calories and protein presents itself with challenges. There are moments when she gets frustrated and has breakdowns and there are moments when she is the toughest little girl ever. Considering everything this precious 6 year old has been thru, I think her attitude is remarkable. One of the comments the surgeon made about Ella after surgery was how tough she was. He actually found asphalt lodged in her bone during surgery. After finding that he understood why she had such bad fractures. Her recovery is going to be a long road not only physically, but emotionally as well. We are not out of the woods yet and time will only tell whether or not we have more surgeries and procedures. Here are some specific things you can be praying for her:

1. her pain would remain controlled
2. she would remain illness free especially while her mouth is wired
3. she would have an adequate intake of calories and protein (she is 80th percentile for height and less than 20th percentile for weight...she can't afford to lose weight)
4. her condyles would heal on their own and she will not have issues with growth
5. that she would learn more about God and her relationship with him during this time...that He would show Himself mighty to her and comforting
6. that she won't go nuts with her mouth wired (personally I think I would go crazy)
7. that she won't require any cosmetic dental surgeries with her teeth and that the permanent ones will come in like they are supposed to

Some more thoughts. I was most concerned about anesthesia during surgery. God totally answered my prayers and provided a pediatric anesthesiologist and a nurse anesthetist with years of PICU and NICU experience. They were so great with my little girl! When we get her wires out, we actually will have to make a trip to the OR and have it done under sedation and they will be there to do it. Such an answer to prayer. Also, Luke will be headed to WV tomorrow. We hesitated about it because Ella and Luke have a tight relationship and didn't know if either one would do well without each other during this time. We would appreciate your prayers for Luke as well. He was there when the accident happened, had to go to the hospital with us initially, and has tried his best to comfort his sister during this time. I know that he will struggle with not being able to see Ella and vice versa. We still think in the long run this is best until Ella feels a little bit better. I have to go and give some pain meds. Hopefully, I will talk you soon!

Love, Cari

P.S. There are pictures to come per Ella's request.