We have a Plan

At this point the plan for Ash is to move upstairs to the 6th floor at some point tomorrow as long as all goes well through the night. She is doing really well today. They have increased her feedings to 10ml a hour. The goal with her feedings is to constantly increase the formula feeds as we decrease the TPN feeds. As long as Ashley can tolerate the food in her tummy with out becoming nauseated we will progress. Ashley then has to prove that she can gain weight and grow with less and less TPN. This will show us that her new intestine is working. Please pray that she will just get stronger and stronger every day and start growing. Her infections are clearing and she will remain on the anti-biotics for a full 2 week course. The biggest risk to Ashley in this move will be coming in contact with a new set of germs on the floor. Infection is more likely and more dangerous to her than rejection at this time. Yesterdays scope of the bowel showed good healthy cells. No sign of rejection at this point. The doctor told me that rejection is more likely to show around the 6th month after transplant with a risk of it happening at any point in Ashleys life. I am just going to take it one day at a time and trust that God has Ashley in His hands protecting her. I don't want to think about anything else right now.

She is sleeping so sweetly right now and Aunt Kathy has been baby sitting while I got a little nap. She tells me how "mean" she is now that she is feeling better. Honestly the high level of drugs in her body make her feel so yucky, so if she doesn't want something she just throws it. I think it is great to see her giving more and more of an opinion. Our hearts are feeling sad that Aunt Kathy will be leaving us in the morning. She has been the biggest blessing to us and given so much support the last 10 days. I will miss her very much, but she has a birthday to celebrate with her son Jacob and I would not want her to miss that. My sister in law Rachael will be flying in to Omaha on Friday morning to stay with us for a little while. I am excited to see her. She is more like one of my sisters than an in-law. She has been nothing but a blessing to our family, and she loves our Ashley very much. Please remember to pray for these precious women as they will be traveling a long distance on our account.

I would hate to see what Dave looked like in the office today and I will just apologize now to his patients if his clothes don't match. If he was unsure than I know it wasn't pretty. This is one of the struggles he must go through while we are away. Please forgive him.

God is good to us and He has given us so much to be grateful for. I know it is the prayers of so many lifting our little Ashley up to the Father has helped her turn the corner the last couple of days. Each one of you are such a huge part of Ashley's story and I could never say thank you enough for loving her. She is a gift!