Update

They have just finished the bronchoscopy on Ashley Kate. The lower left lobe and the upper right lobe of her lungs were the primary focus. They were able to remove a considerable amount of very thick white mucus. Ash tolerated the procedure fairly well. Her blood pressure had dropped a little lower than we are comfortable with and is still trying to recover.

Ash has spiked a fever this afternoon of a little over 102 degrees. This may explain why her heart rate is ranging from the mid 170's to the 190's. Again we have sent labs to culture hoping to discover something. It is possible that she has picked up a secondary infection.

The chest tube continues to drain fluid off of her lungs, but there has been a change in the color and consistency of the fluid. The fluid we are removing from the space between the lung and the sac that houses the lung is no longer a pinkish, clear thin fluid. It is now a thick, hazy, milky color. This is not good news.

They need to do some work on Ashley's lines, but have decided to wait until tomorrow. They would like to remove the arterial line from her groin and I am very happy about this. They are also discussing pulling her foley catheter tomorrow. Again I am pleased. Ash is unaware that these things are in place at this point, but it will encourage my heart to know they are not there. They are also planning on removing her central line from the right femoral vein because it was placed directly under her ostomy bag and that is just asking for a line infection. We are hoping to find access in her chest or possibly her jugular vein. Either place would be safer for Ash. Again we will wait until tomorrow. Putting her through all of these changes after the bronch could be too much for her to handle today.

I expect that she will be left alone for the rest of today and be allowed to rest. She continues to be extremely swollen and we are running albumin bolus' to help her pull some of that fluid back into her vessels.

Only two more days until Dave arrives for the weekend. I am looking forward to having him here with us. I'm not sure if the kids are coming with him. We like to let them choose when they visit still trying to keep their lives and activities as normal as possible. Although I would like nothing more than to hang out with them I do not want them to feel guilty or pressured during this time. I'm just missing them. Its hard to believe its only been a week since Ash was first admitted. It seems like we have been away from home forever.