A little update on Ellie

So over the past few weeks I've had quite a few comments asking for an update on Ellie, or to explain her condition and I always really struggle to answer. Mainly because there is no definitive diagnosis or cause and because each and every day she can go from one extreme to the other, it depends on what day you ask as to how I respond.

This week I came across the below video from Pogdogs on ITV which really does help to explain Ellie's condition. I will stress that Ellie does not have Megaesophagus and rather than her esophagus having no muscular tone at all, her muscles are only working intermittently. That being said it is something that she could develop so we are doing everything we can to ensure this doesn't happen.

I will warn you, it is a tough watch...

We are currently treating her with medication and are in the process of trying to find the ideal doses. Although it is taking a while to find the perfect treatment plan and because of the constant changes to her medication she's having quite a few ups and downs in her progress, but we seem to be heading in the right direction now.

I'm pleased to share she's managing to keep food down more often, is starting to be much more energetic and is not in as much discomfort when eating, therefore 6 very small meals a day, all eaten from a standing position and her medication will definitely be ongoing for a long time to come and we will be constantly keeping an eye out for the signs of aspiration but so far, so good. One of our next big focusses is helping Ellie to put weight on as she's lost over 1/5th of her body weight so far and has struggled to put much back on. We also need to start to build up her muscles again as she's suffered from quite a lot of muscle degradation due to the high dose of steroids she's been on.

I will of course keep you up to date with her progress (unless you're not bothered then please tell me to stop waffling on) as and when there are big updates but in the mean time here are some of my favourite Ellie pics, because why not!