The Big Picture

Ash is having a little trouble breathing this morning and her white blood cell count is beginning to rise slightly. Her liver enzymes are jumping around a bit. The only plan is to watch this morning and if things don't get better they will begin to do blood cultures and see if there are any bugs still living in there. What could possible be in there with all the drugs she is already taking?

My sister-in-law Rachael should be landing at the Omaha airport right about now and our friends at A-B shuttle will be whisking her to the hospital shortly. I am so thankful that she was able to go and be with Trish this week.

So here is the plan as I know it at this point. This is assuming everything goes well with no surprises. Ash will stay in the hospital for another 4-6 weeks, after that Trish and Ash will need to find a place to live in Omaha until April. Around April she will be sent home with an ostomy bag (right now she still has some loose plumbing - her small intestine is not hooked up to the large one, it is coming out of the skin on her tummy and the ostomy bag is covering it and collecting her poo, we really need to find a better plumber. It is done this way in order to have access to the small intestine for inspection, biopsy etc to check for rejection) after returning home she would need to go back around July or August for the final "take down" surgery. The "take down" procedure is when they will re-connect the small intestine and Ashley will have a fully functioning digestive system. Wooohoooo......

Trish says Ashley is ENORMOUS!!! She is 16 lbs 7 oz today. She has gained 4 lbs 7 oz since August 20th. Our little Gherkin is becoming a pickle. ....tears...