Love For Ashley

You may now order your Love for Ashley Cookbook. Please fill out the order form by clicking this link, Cookbook Order Form . Once we receive your order form, you will receive a confirmation email and payment instructions. If you have any questions, please email me at loveashley@loveforashley.com. Make sure you place "Cookbook" in the subject line of your email. Thank you, Laurie

As Ashley gets older she becomes more aware of her limitations due to her liver disease. As she learns what having a liver disease means for her daily life and her future, she hates life more. Her words to me today as tears fell from her face was, "I hate my liver disease, I wish I didn't have it, It's not fair." "I want a liver transplant now." Her tears started after I reminded her that tomorrow she is scheduled to have an ultrasound and a full set of labs. Usually, this is not a problem and produces excitement from Ashley. But I suppose now at 9 1/2 years old, going to the hospital is not fun anymore. I suppose after 9 1/2 years of needles, ultrasounds, CT scans, MRI's, medications and restriction, one gets tired of the drama. All Ashley wants to do is spend the night over at her friend, Rachel's house. All Ashley wants to do is play with her friends without being interrupted with daily medications, and trips to the hospital. As I explai...

It's been a while since I updated everyone on Ashley. As the saying goes, "No News is Good News". Also, no news means that life is normal. It's been pretty tame here at the Johansen home. It's rare but it happens; a few weeks of normalcy. Ashley's recent illness was short-lived, thank God. We didn't have to go the hospital or have labs drawn. Having a normal illess is an answered prayer! Ashley seems to get sick at least once a month, so we will see how long she will goes without her next fever. Pray that she makes it through the New Year without any sickness. Cookbook Ashley's cookbook is coming along just fine; we will begin taking orders soon. There will be an online order form available on Ashley's main website by the end of the week. The cookbooks will sell for a donation of $12. However if you'd like to donate more it would be appreciated. Remember, your cookbook donation will go to Ashley's current and future medical expens...

One thing about having a child with a chronic illness is that normal illnesses just love to hang around longer. Ashley came home from school on Wednesday complaining of a headache, I took her temp and it was 101. She had no other symptoms just a fever, so of course we knew she needed to go to the doctor. However, I tried not to panic and decided to just watch her for 24 hours. On Thursday, her temperature just hovered around 99.5; Ashley's normal is around 97. She did fine most of Thursday but started complaining of a sore throat by late that evening. We woke up Friday with her planning to go back to school and me back to work but not before we went to the doctors just to make sure she didn't have strep throat. Dr. Lacy, Ashley's pediatrician, examined Ashley and didn't see anything in her throat but they did a strep test anyway; it was negative. Yesterday, Ashley's temp was normal all day, it ranged from 97.3 to 98.6. We thought maybe she was over her cold....