Update

Ash is very, very sick. Her sats began to drop around 5:30 this morning. Even on oxygen support of 4 liters she couldn't keep them above 85. We switched her to a re-breather mask and have now been able to keep them between 94-98%. She is working very hard to breathe. Her entire body is shaking with each breath. Her heart rate is running between the 160s and 180s. She is pretty much trying to sleep through all of this, but is clearly not resting well. She is crying and whimpering and just feels really bad. We have started giving her breathing treatments and I am waiting to hear what today's chest x-ray looks like.

We have been on the phone with our doctors in Omaha and have decided if things take a turn for the worse that we will go straight there. Ashley has an extensive history of respiratory failure and if she needs to be intubated we would not be able to move her from Shreveport to Omaha in case her organs began to fail during this episode of infection. So ultimately we may need to be there but not be able to get there. These are very tough decisions for us and we are literally aching inside with the thought of having to return to Nebraska. As always, they know her the best and have been with her the longest so they are the ones we must return to when things become critical. We trust them. We are monitoring her blood gases and so far they are stable, but at the first sign of trouble we will intubate. We have contacted our flight crew and they are on emergency notification. Everyone's hope is that in the next 24 hours the antibiotics will kick in and help her to fight this pneumonia without needing transport or ventilator support.

Things can go from good to bad very, very quickly. Knowing how precious her good days are have us to live as though we must make the most of every single one. None of them are taken for granted and I find myself whispering thank you each and every day more times than I can count. My heart is uneasy today and I have no idea how this will all turn out. My prayer is that she will recover quickly and we will return to our little home that waits for us just around the corner.

Your prayers for her recovery and comfort are most appreciated. Thank you for loving us and for loving our baby gherkin.