Here we are in Gainesville at the wonderful Holiday Inn Express. What a crazy day it has been. Starting with my silly cat screaming meows at me so I get up to put fresh food and water in his bowls. However, the little fur ball wasn't happy with just fresh food and water, he continued to meow so I got up and took a shower so much for an extra 30 minutes of sleep. You gotta love pets!
After I woke myself up in a nice warm shower (it was cold in Central Florida this morning), I jumped on the kids beds to wake them up. Ashley, of course, didn't want to get up so Sarge, the dog, jumped on her bed to wake her up. Finally, the kids are up and getting dressed and the cat is still meowing and now following me around the house. Okay cat, I give up...what do you want!
Right before we left the house, I decided I should change the cats litter box since I was going to be gone for two days. Low and behold, fresh cat poop on my living room floor. Note to self, if cat continues to meow after giving him fresh food and water, change his litter box before her craps on the floor.
Fresh food, check; fresh water, check; fresh litter, check - one happy cat. Now load up the van and let's get the day started.
After dropping Brad off at the bus stop, Ashley and I hit the road to Gainesville, Florida. Of course, nothing is easy and since we like to be on our toes, we decided that we needed some excitement on the road. If you have been in Florida, especially central Florida, then you know we have lots of toll roads. However, residents of central Florida can pre-pay their tolls and speed through the toll booths.
The "speed pass" as I call them, makes driving through toll roads during peak traffic hours a breeze. However, when your stupid "speed pass" decides to malfunction, it makes you want to throw it out the window instead of attaching it to the window. Thankfully, we were 10 minutes from the "speed pass" service center. Finally, we get the dang thing fixed and back on the road. At least we thought it was fixed, I still received malfunction beeps but continued to speed through the tolls. I guess the toll police will be looking for me now.
We arrived in Gainesville 20 minutes before Ashley's scheduled appointment time. The appointment with Dr. Gonzales went well but there were changes made to Ashley's schedule and more procedures were added. The good news is Ashley's platelet count is up at 118,000 still low be better than the 80,000 it has been. Her AST and ALT are elevated, those numbers usually indicate liver inflammation. Her White Blood Cell count is still low but her other liver enzymes were normal. Ashley's liver seems to be happy according to her labs.
Dr. Gonzales is concerned with Ashley's frequent diarrhea and complaints of belly pain. Therefore, along with the Upper Endoscopy, Ashley will have a biopsy done of her bowel. We were also given a stool kit so now we have to collect samples of Ashley's stool. Oh goody, a science experiment. In other words, I will be collecting Ashley's poop in various containers, etc. and then take back to the lab for further testing. Dr. Gonzales is thinking Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Crohn's, Celiacs or maybe something related to liver disease; we don't know until more tests are performed and results are in. And until results are in, I am not going to worry.
Ash also had an ultrasound done today. I love looking at the ultrasound as it's being performed. The technicians are always surprised when I give Ashley a detailed account of what we are looking at during the ultrasound. If they only knew how many ultrasounds Ashley has had over the last 9 1/2 years, they wouldn't be so shocked.
The ultrasound was probably one of the clearest ultrasounds Ashley has had in a long time. I am not sure if it's because the ultrasound was performed one someone with a very empty tummy (Ashley didn't have breakfast or lunch) or if it's because they cleaned the screen. I was able to see Ashley's liver cysts/nodules better than any other time. Maybe they have gotten bigger and that's why I see them better now. The fluid filled cyst looks huge and the two solid cysts do look bigger to me. On previous ultrasounds I could never make out the smaller cysts but this time I picked them out before the tech started measuring them.
Ashley spleen is still big but not enormous. Her kidneys, and pancreas, etc. look normal. The tech looked a her common bile duct and checked blood flow. It seemed to me that the blood flow was normal but what do I know I am just a mom that has a child with liver disease. Anyway, the ultrasound was interesting and I am anxious for the results.
Tomorrow, Ashley will have her upper Endoscopy and the bowel biopsy. Hopefully, nothing else will be needed and we will be home before Brad gets out school. While Joey is in North Carolina on business, and while Ashley and I are in Gainesville, My mom is taking care of Brad. My mom is such a life saver, I have no idea what I would do without her. Once we are home, I will post another update. Until then, happy thoughts and prayers.
After I woke myself up in a nice warm shower (it was cold in Central Florida this morning), I jumped on the kids beds to wake them up. Ashley, of course, didn't want to get up so Sarge, the dog, jumped on her bed to wake her up. Finally, the kids are up and getting dressed and the cat is still meowing and now following me around the house. Okay cat, I give up...what do you want!
Right before we left the house, I decided I should change the cats litter box since I was going to be gone for two days. Low and behold, fresh cat poop on my living room floor. Note to self, if cat continues to meow after giving him fresh food and water, change his litter box before her craps on the floor.
Fresh food, check; fresh water, check; fresh litter, check - one happy cat. Now load up the van and let's get the day started.
After dropping Brad off at the bus stop, Ashley and I hit the road to Gainesville, Florida. Of course, nothing is easy and since we like to be on our toes, we decided that we needed some excitement on the road. If you have been in Florida, especially central Florida, then you know we have lots of toll roads. However, residents of central Florida can pre-pay their tolls and speed through the toll booths.
The "speed pass" as I call them, makes driving through toll roads during peak traffic hours a breeze. However, when your stupid "speed pass" decides to malfunction, it makes you want to throw it out the window instead of attaching it to the window. Thankfully, we were 10 minutes from the "speed pass" service center. Finally, we get the dang thing fixed and back on the road. At least we thought it was fixed, I still received malfunction beeps but continued to speed through the tolls. I guess the toll police will be looking for me now.
We arrived in Gainesville 20 minutes before Ashley's scheduled appointment time. The appointment with Dr. Gonzales went well but there were changes made to Ashley's schedule and more procedures were added. The good news is Ashley's platelet count is up at 118,000 still low be better than the 80,000 it has been. Her AST and ALT are elevated, those numbers usually indicate liver inflammation. Her White Blood Cell count is still low but her other liver enzymes were normal. Ashley's liver seems to be happy according to her labs.
Dr. Gonzales is concerned with Ashley's frequent diarrhea and complaints of belly pain. Therefore, along with the Upper Endoscopy, Ashley will have a biopsy done of her bowel. We were also given a stool kit so now we have to collect samples of Ashley's stool. Oh goody, a science experiment. In other words, I will be collecting Ashley's poop in various containers, etc. and then take back to the lab for further testing. Dr. Gonzales is thinking Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Crohn's, Celiacs or maybe something related to liver disease; we don't know until more tests are performed and results are in. And until results are in, I am not going to worry.
Ash also had an ultrasound done today. I love looking at the ultrasound as it's being performed. The technicians are always surprised when I give Ashley a detailed account of what we are looking at during the ultrasound. If they only knew how many ultrasounds Ashley has had over the last 9 1/2 years, they wouldn't be so shocked.
The ultrasound was probably one of the clearest ultrasounds Ashley has had in a long time. I am not sure if it's because the ultrasound was performed one someone with a very empty tummy (Ashley didn't have breakfast or lunch) or if it's because they cleaned the screen. I was able to see Ashley's liver cysts/nodules better than any other time. Maybe they have gotten bigger and that's why I see them better now. The fluid filled cyst looks huge and the two solid cysts do look bigger to me. On previous ultrasounds I could never make out the smaller cysts but this time I picked them out before the tech started measuring them.
Ashley spleen is still big but not enormous. Her kidneys, and pancreas, etc. look normal. The tech looked a her common bile duct and checked blood flow. It seemed to me that the blood flow was normal but what do I know I am just a mom that has a child with liver disease. Anyway, the ultrasound was interesting and I am anxious for the results.
Tomorrow, Ashley will have her upper Endoscopy and the bowel biopsy. Hopefully, nothing else will be needed and we will be home before Brad gets out school. While Joey is in North Carolina on business, and while Ashley and I are in Gainesville, My mom is taking care of Brad. My mom is such a life saver, I have no idea what I would do without her. Once we are home, I will post another update. Until then, happy thoughts and prayers.
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