Morning Rounds

The morning rounds are over and I'm not sure that there is a definite plan. From what I understand they plan on doing an upper GI tomorrow to determine the path that is in place from Ash's mouth down through her stomach and into the new intestine. The opening at the base of the stomach where it emptys into the intestine seems to be the part that needs to be reconstructed. Ashley is having a lot of problems with her lungs. The progression on x-ray over the last couple of weeks is not good. One of the doctors suspects that she has aspirated into them more than once. I can see that she is struggling and they do not think they will attempt to take her off of the ventilator for a while. They may not wait for her to recover from yesterday before taking her into surgery for some "reconstruction".

Today I feel confident that we are just experiencing a bump in Ashley's road of recovery. She looked so good and so strong yesterday morning and I am planning on getting back to that point. Ashley is still being paralyzed and sedated. It looks scary, but I am so thankful that she is not aware of all they are doing to her. They are taking blood and doing heel sticks every couple of hours and those things hurt, but Ash is "snowed" and has no idea of all the needle pokes she is receiving. Last night her blood sugar was as high as 400 and they told me they believed it was because of the stress of such a difficult surgery. They are running an insulin drip and it is now under 200. Things happen so quickly, but I have seen that things can turn around quickly too. One of the most frightening things for us to watch is when they begin to bag Ash. I know that this is not good. I just hang on and pray my way through it and thank Him that someone knows what they are doing. We have wonderful nurses working with Ash. Last night and today they have been very good and I appreciate the care they give to my Ashley.

Ashley is so very strong and so very stubborn. She will not let this bump get her. It may have slowed us down a little, but this road is long and we will stay on it until we are home again with Dave, Blake, and Allie. Today Ash will sleep through all that takes place in her little life. I pray she is having the sweetest of dreams while she is gone from me. I am praying that He brings her back to us soon. Thank you for loving Ash and for spending time in prayer for her. You are all so very much appreciated.. God Bless. Trish