Ella playing in the snow...that's right

Greetings #TeamElla I am pleased to report that our little angel continues to make great strides with her trach. Her tolerance for it has improved to the point where she is no longer receiving pain medication. Her respiratory treatments have been spaced out to every 4 hours and she's receiving medication every 8 hours. These are all very positive signs of her improved health and strength and more importantly her tolerance of the tracheostomy. In fact she has been doing so well that yesterday Leah the Child Life therapist challenged her to a snowball fight. Leah, our amazing friend from child life, we have mentioned her in earlier postings,  went outside and packed a bucket full of snow and brought it into Ella's room so they could make snowballs and a snowman. Leah really has been a godsend by helping our baby cope with her trach and more importantly feel like a normal three and a half year old by engaging in all sorts of positive therapeutic play. We said it before but it's worth saying again, Leah thank you so much for the amazing work you are doing with our child.

Because Ella continues to make such good progress we have started to have conversations around discharge and transition. While we don't have a definitive time line at this point we are fairly certain that within a week or so Ariella will be transferred from intensive care to a rehab facility much closer to home. As soon as a   timeline is ironed out we will continue to keep you all abreast. I also want to take this time to remind all of the men on #TeamElla rock those #BeardsformyBaby my baby. Let Ella know that you are standing with her. I want to encourage her to continue to work hard and be great. Thank you for you interest and support we are so grateful to this amazing group of people that have formed a winning team in support of our special little warrior. We are all more than conquerors.