Making Plans...

This morning during rounds we made a tentative plan for how to proceed from here. Ashley is making beautiful progress on the conventional ventilator and they would really like to see her come off of it by tomorrow afternoon. Ultimately she will be the one to decide if they can take her off, but all of her vent settings are coming down nicely. She has been able to hold her sats at a constant 92-95. They have already begun to give her doses of steroids to reduce the inflamation in her airway in anticipation of removing the tube tomorrow. I can't tell you how relieved I am to hear this news. God has answered our prayers and Ash is coming back around. He continues to bless us daily in the midst of all of this. I am more than grateful for the progress she is making. Last Friday we were so unsure of the future, and I would have never been able to forsee her coming so far so fast. My prayer has been that she might be up and breathing on her own before Blake and Allie arrive for Christmas. This morning it looks like more of a possibility.

There are never any solid answers for why things happen the way they do, and this episode has not been any different. We honestly have no idea why Ash became so ill this quickly. It literally happened in just a matter of hours. Was it the bacteria? Was it pnuemonia due to aspiration? There is really no evidence to support either of the two. In the end, none of this even matters to me. What matters to me is that the Father is bringing her through once again. She has started sluffing off a very thick protein substance from her new bowel, so we will be doing another biopsy this afternoon to check on the cells. This has happened before and everything came back fine.

Since there is no evidence of aspiration causing the pnuemonia, we are not going to intervene surgically right now. We would like to avoid another major surgery if at all possible. We are all in agreement that this is not in her best interest at this point. We will begin feeds again in the next few days and see what happens. We will be praying for no vomitting episodes. I know that God understands the importance of feeding Ashley. He created her and every part of her. So even though I am nervous at the thought of beginning feeds and starting this process again, I am confident that I can trust Him with Ashley.

I am blessed beyond what my words can express. I am blessed to here with my daughter. I am blessed to have the knowledge of the doctors in this place. I am blessed to have the friendship He has provided me from so many of the nurses. I am blessed to be able to see past this PICU and see that one day this will all be just a memory. I am blessed to know that Ash is now stable enough to make a plan. I am blessed to be the one that she will see once she opens her eyes. Thank you again for walking this with us. I am blessed to know you.