Another Day

Another day is gone and we are ready to call it done. Ashley Kate is fast asleep in Omaha, Allison Brooke and her friend Chelsea are reading themselves for bed back at grandmas in Longview, and Blake and Dave are tucked in early at the hotel in Plano in preparation for tomorrow's games. The Tarheels are first seed for tomorrow's tournament play after winning 15-0 in the first and 10-0 in their second.

It's been a good day for us all. We may be separated by many miles, but our hearts are united and we all hope for the day of Ash's homecoming to be soon. Ashley Kate looks so very good. She played herself into exhaustion today and actually went to sleep for the night by 7:30 this evening. She enjoyed "talking" to her daddy over the phone during the ballgames. She made me laugh out loud as she pushed button after button in his ear. She insisted on holding the phone up to her ear on her own. She would tilt her little head and grin as she listened to his voice. Even after we had hung up she kept playing with the phone and even held it up to my ear to "listen". If I attempted to take it away from her I would be confronted with that little head shaking that loves to tell me, "No,no." She is an ornery pickle.

Tonight we sat in the recliner and watched the wind blow leaves from the tree branches. The leaves would twirl and twirl as they floated to the ground. I find it amazing that God allows me to experience such joy out of something so simple. Just a feeling of contentment came over me as I held my baby and watched the wind carry those leaves to the ground. I became grateful for those trees that sit outside our window. How blessed Ash and I are to have been given this room. When our surgeon came by for rounds this morning he said, "You guys always have the nicest rooms here." That made me smile because usually he is teasing us because everything is pink, or too girly, or something along those lines. It is by far the largest, the nicest, and the most comfortable we have ever had here. It has two large windows in it that allow the sun to come shining into our room each day. Outside of our windows is a little courtyard, some flagstone walkways(that remind me of home), a few trees, and the smokers hut(but I try to ignore that part and just concentrate on the beauty that I can see). Ashley and I have plenty of room to play, do therapy, and "live". I really do feel blessed to be in this room. We are at the very end of the hallway with very little traffic, and we are able to rest well because we aren't being flooded by light from the outside hallways.


Ash's feeds are up to 35 and her TPN is down to 25. We continue to make slow and steady progress. We will check her output at 2am to see if we can increase and decrease by 5 more on each. She continues to throw up a lot, but no one is concerned about it. I am wondering if it is just going to take a while for her bowel to re adjust to being fed? She may throw up for months to come. I forgot the exact number of days that she has been vomiting, but at last count it was close to 50 something. It just doesn't seem normal to me that she continues it. I keep thinking it is a symptom of something and that the underlying cause is just waiting to be discovered. Perhaps I am wrong and it may just go away someday. At least I hope it does.

Like I said another day is done and it has been a good one. Just knowing that even better ones are in our future keeps me going while we are here. Even in the midst of all of this we are really, really blessed, and God continues to protect Ashley Kate's life. For this I am thankful. I think I am going to go lay down and listen to some sounds of the season as I drift off to sleep. I hope your day was blessed and that you are settling in for the night too. Thank you for checking on Ash today. Your time here is a blessing to me. Good night. Trish