Another note from Ella

Hi, do I look ready for Halloween? My grandma brought me this black cat cap when she came up from Florida. My mommy got me the orange jacket. We had to go out in the yucky weather today to go visit the specialist to see how I'm doing. My daddy put me in the car, and then my grandma and I drove "over the mountain" from Waynesboro to Charlottesville where my doctor's office is. My mommy called the house to tell us that there was dense fog on the mountain. Well, dense it was. My grandma got a bit scared, but I didn't know the difference because I was asleep in the back seat. SRP, my grandma's blogging friend from Virginia Beach, had told her about driving in the fog on the mountain, but it was my grandma's first time.

We made it safely there. Everyone kept saying how beautiful I am. The nurse and doctor, respiratory therapist, and social worker were all so glad to see me. I'm gaining weight like I should, and I don't have any respiratory problems now.

They're all sort of learning with me because screening for cystic fibrosis was just made mandatory in Virginia in the spring of this year. According to the CF Foundation website, there are 22 states that require this screening. If I have to have this disease, it's sort of good they found out now. That way, maybe the doctors can prevent scarring to my lungs.

There is a 38 year old scientist at Johns Hopkins who has CF, and he is working every day to find a way to fix the gene. I'm counting on him or somebody like him to succeed in his search.

By the way, I like all the nice things you say about my pictures and my last letter. One of these days I'm going to smile really big for a picture, but not yet.

Bye for now.