Love For Ashley

Author Thomas DePrima has generously offered to send an electronic copy of his book " A Galaxy Unknown " to each donor who donates $5.00 or more to Ashley's Liver Transplant fund. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the book. If you don't have Adobe Acrobat Reader you can download it free by clicking here . If you would like to donate to Ashley's fund and receive your free copy of Mr. DePrima's book, please send an email to loveashley@loveforashley.com . Once we receive your donation, you will receive an email address to claim your electronic copy of " A Galaxy Unknown. " Description: It's 2267! Interstellar space is infested with pirates, slavers, and scum of every ilk! In a futile endeavor to curtail lawlessness and provide safety for the greatest number of galactic citizens, Space Command has committed its full resources to the task, but the misapplication of military might has allowed criminal elements to grow immensely powerful. A lif...

Yes Mom, I am Awake! A Trampoline! Yea! I smiled, now give me my presents! Watch Out Santana, Brad has gone Electric! I know the Amp is in here somewhere!

This year we decided to spend our first Christmas at home instead of with family in Mobile, Alabama. It was a hard decision to make because we really do enjoy being with family and Christmas is different when you are not surrounded by family. However, as Joey and I were at a Christmas luncheon hosted by his boss, we both realized how much more relaxed we are being home. This year we will start our own family traditions. On Christmas Eve we plan to attend the 4:30 pm Christmas Eve service at our church, St. Luke's Lutheran. We are discussing our dinner options for Christmas Eve, either dinner at Outback Steakhouse or dinner at home. The winning vote right now is dinner out but Brad wants to eat taco's at home....taco's for Christmas Eve dinner. Who eats taco's for Christmas Eve dinner? Christmas Eve night before the kids go to bed we will read the Christmas story from the Bible, we will take turns reading the versus. In the past we read "The Night Before Christmas...

Today I received a letter from the American Liver Foundation dated, December 11, 2008 regarding tax deductible donations. Below is an excerpt of the the letter: "As part of an ongoing review of the program's policies and procedures. It has been confirmed that, with regard to contributions made the transplant fund accounts, these contributions are not tax deductible. Per the Internal Revenue Service Publication 526, donations made to a non-profit organization for the intended use of a specific individual is not a tax deductible donation and can not be claimed as such." If you have donated to Ashley's Liver Transplant Fund through the American Liver Foundation, please note that your donation is NOT tax deductible. We do hope that this not deter any future donations to Ashley's Liver Transplant Fund. Remember there are two ways to donate to Ashley's fund. You can donate through the American Liver Foundation by sending a check to the address listed at the top of t...

bleeding again. What's up with that? I will keep an eye on it, it is very little bleeding right now. This is crazy! Her stool samples were normal so why is she bleeding?

It's day two since Ashley returned to school after being out of school for two weeks and so far so good. She went to her first dance class in two weeks last night and had the energy to make it through the hour class. Wednesday's classes will be a challenge since she will be dancing for 3 1/2 hours. She still isn't eating much but she is feeling better. The bleeding has appeared to stop and her stools look somewhat normal. Who would have thought that I would be obsessed with poop! Ahh, the life of being a "liver mom" as we so affectionally call ourselves. Today I am going out to buy baking supplies, Ashley must bake for the annual 5th Grade Market Day at school. This is going to be interesting, anyone who knows me, knows that I don't bake; I burn not bake. But for Ashley I have to give it a try, if all else fails there is always our local bakery. Hmmm...what shall we bake...any ideas? Please help, I need simple recipes for cookies, brownies...whatever tha...

UPDATE 12/12/08 at 5:41 pm Ashley got the all clear, she will be back in school on Monday. The stool sample collected for the Liver Clinic at Shands yielded negative results. The verdict is that Ashley had a viral infection that irritated her bowels causing her to bleed. She is not bleeding anymore and her stools are normal. Ashley is so excited to be normal again and is so ready to get back to school! Thanks everyone for your prayers; they worked. _____________________________ First, we received the results from Ashley's first stool sample, the one that we collected at her pediatrician's office. Dr. Lacy called about 5 pm yesterday to tell me the results were negative so he believes that whatever Ashley has that it is viral. But now we wait for the C Diff results from the liver clinic at Shands, I expect to get those results today. _____________________________ Now on to the Friday Flashback, where I go back in time and share memories. When Ashley was first diagnosed with bil...

Looks like we have to wait another day before we get the results of Ashley's stool sample. Dr. A's nurse told me today that it takes 48 to 72 hours for the test for C Diff to show results. Since we dropped of the stool sample on Tuesday afternoon, the results will not be ready until Friday afternoon. The good news is Ashley is feeling better, her stools now have some consistency to them and are becoming more formed; not so runny. The color of the stool is still weird; a combination of white and green but I see very little blood if any at all. So whether this is C Diff or just viral infection, I feel it is on its way out of Ashley's body. Ashley will be home from school again tomorrow but I think I am going to take her out shopping; she can help me get Brad's Christmas presents. Then next week when Ashley is back at school, I will shop for her Christmas presents.

As Brad and Ashley get older their Christmas Wish List gets smaller but the items they wish for are more expensive. This year Joey and I are having a difficult time coming up with gift ideas. Here is what the kids would like under the Christmas Tree this year. Brad's Christmas Wish List 1. A Gibson electric guitar . The cheapest Gibson electric guitar I have found is $425. So maybe Brad won't get a Gibson, maybe he will just get any old electric guitar, like this one . Brad has been playing the acoustic guitar for 3 years off and on. He is pretty good and is getting better each day but is he $500 worth of good, no I don't think so. 2. An XBox 360 . Again, another $300 item. We have a perfectly good PlayStation 2 with tons of games so I am thinking the XBox 360 can wait until the PS2 bites technology dust. 3. A Rubik's Cube . Finally, something I can afford. But why do you ask does Brad want a Rubik's cube? I asked the same question, and he said because he wants to ...

Well at least some of them. We got Ashley's blood work results but her stool sample results won't be in until later today. Here is what we know so far. Ashley's AST and ALT are elevated, last week's labs only showed an elevation in her ALT (liver inflammation). Her WBC (white blood cell count) is now below normal, last week her WBC was normal. The low WBC indicates that Ashley is dealing with an infection. And more importantly Ashley's platelet count is lower than last week, which means she is loosing blood somewhere. The thought is that Ashley certainly has C Diff but we need to wait for her stool sample results before we start treating her. Once Ashley is on the right antibiotic to treat C Diff for 24 to 48 hours she can go back to school. Right now Ashley has missed 6 1/2 days of school in two weeks. This means that Ashley will be back at school next Monday. She will be back to school just in time to enjoy all the school holiday parties before they are out for Ch...

Well, we didn't get to Quest Diagnostics yesterday, they were closed when we got there. The plan was to take Ashley to Quest early this morning but Ashley had other plans; she slept until 10:30 am. Ashley has never slept until 10:30 am unless of course she was up past midnight the night before but that was not the case. With Ashley sick, I let her sleep in. We finally went to Quest about 11:30 am, and after that Ashley deserved McDonalds for lunch so after a quick trip through Macky D's drive thru we were home by 12:30. Of course, we didn't leave Quest without a stool sample kit, oh what fun. We still haven't received the results from the stool sample that was left with Ashley's pediatrician. Hopefully, we will hear about those results and the lab results later today. By the way, they are testing Ashley for C Diff . Just in case Ash has C Diff, I will keep her from school until we get all the test results back, as C Diff is contagious. Again, hopefully we will get t...

is for Ashley not to be sick. Ashley went to school today but of course I get a call from Ashley; she's at the school clinic not feeling well and experiencing diarrhea. After talking to the liver team at Shands, I go pick her up from school and take her to our pediatrician. Ashley is complaining of belly pain, blood in stools (still) and very dark green stool and urine. While at the pediatrician, they get a urine sample which is normal. The stool same sample results won't be available until tomorrow. I just got a call from the liver team again and they want Ashley to have labs drawn. So we are off to Quest Diagnostics as soon as I pick up Brad from school. Ashley wants to go to dance, she missed her dance classes last week. She isn't running a fever so I might let her go. Hopefully, we can get labs drawn before Ashley has to be at dance which is at 5 pm. Then Brad has Karate at 5:30 pm. Hopefully, we will have answers on what is wrong with Ashley by the middle of the week. ...

As Dr. A was examining Ashley and measuring her spleen and liver size, I heard the following conversation. Dr. A: "Ashley do you do anything other than go to school?" "Do you go to Girl Scouts or play a sport?" Ashley: "The only thing you will let me do is dance." "So I dance...a lot!" Dr. A: "You can play softball if you promise not to slide into the bases." Ashley: "What's the point in playing softball, if you can't slide." Dr. A: "Okay what about swimming?" Ashley: "I don't like water." Dr. A: "Okay what about track." Ashley: "I don't like running." Dr. A: "So you like to dance?" Ashley: "Yes, it's the only thing that makes me forget I have this stupid disease." Dr. A (looking at me with a sad look): "I'm sorry but I bet you are a great dancer." Ashley: "I am pretty good but I want to be better and want to compete again....

Ashley has a tear in her anal canal and probably some very small varices in her colon. The worst part of her bleeding has stopped but she still has some bleeding. The doc still wants us to keep an eye on the color of her stools, if the bleeding gets worse we are to call the office ASAP, even if it is after-hours. Ashley's little tushy is sore and irritated so we are to use a hydracortizone cream and she is to take warm baths for few days to calm the irritation. She is still in pain when she stools but the bleeding appears to be slowing down. During our visit, we also discussed Ashley's frequent headaches and possible cause. Ashley's liver doc believes the headaches are caused by the developing sinuses. Evidently, Ashley is at an age where her sinuses are developing. However, most children do not complain of pain while developing sinuses so Ashley will have an xray of her sinuses soon. Not sure what the doctors will be looking for in the xray other than something not normal....

In this picture Brad is 5 years old and Ashley is 3 and I am ... let's just say older. You could do the math, I was 31 years old when I had Brad and 33 years old when I had Ashley. This is one of the best pictures ever of me and the kids; even I look good.

This morning Ashley had her first bowel movement of the day, upon inspection and dissection the bleeding appears to be minimal. Although, Ashley is still complaining of pain, it appears that the bleeding is slowing down. Having the bleeding slow down is great news especially since on Monday her stools were covered in blood and I mean covered in blood. Sorry to be so descriptive but I want all of you to picture my fear. We are still heading to the Liver Clinic at Shands Hospital in Gainesville tomorrow and will be packing an overnight bag in case Ashley is admitted or she requires additional tests. If it were up to Ashley she wants to stay in Gainesville overnight; she loves the doctors, she loves going to the hospital and she even loves to get scoped. She is a remarkable child and I could not do this without her strength. Of course, I think she loves going to Gainesville because she gets my undivided attention plus she gets to eat at her favorite restaurant, TGI Friday's. By the wa...

Looks like we are heading to Shands Liver Clinic on Thursday for a possible Upper Endoscopy and Colonoscopy. Will post more when I know more. I am still waiting on Ashley's lab results. Ashley is still bleeding and is in a little bit of pain. Ashley's doc thinks that the cause of the blood could be something very simple but because she has liver and spleen issues; i.e portal hypertension, we can't rule anything out. Pray that this is truly something simple!

For the last three days Ashley has had a little bit of blood in her stool; at first we thought the redness was from something she ate but after reviewing her food intake over the last week she hasn't had anything red. Today I get a call from Ashley at school, she says the bleeding is worse. I take her to the doctors praying she had a rectal tear or hemorrhoids but the doctor couldn't see anything on internal examination. By the way, this was Ashley first experience with a rectal exam, she was so uncomfortable she couldn't stop laughing. The doc orders a complete set of labs with a liver function panel and CBC's with platelet count. He also told me to keep Ashley home from school tomorrow and monitor her stool color and bleeding. Which means I have to pretty much dissect Ashley's stool to see what color the blood is, where it is located on her stool; the inside or the outside, etc. Oh what fun...just how I want to spend my Tuesday. The fear is that Ashley has varices...

First, let me say that I am so very thankful for many things none of which are more important than my family and my friends. My world would not be the same without my husband who puts up with more of my mistakes then anyone should. I am thankful to Brad for his wisdom, his sense of humor and his love. I am thankful to Ashley for her strength and her love for life. But more importantly I am thankful for my faith, my God, who without Him I would be a lost soul in a life of chaos. Our week celebrating Thanksgiving with family went well but of course never normal. Ashley was taken to a local walk-in health clinic on Monday because she was complaining of a sore throat. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic for a very mild case of strep throat. Despite Ashley's little setback, we had a lot of fun with family. Ashley and Brad enjoyed spending lots of time with all of their cousins; all 7 of them. On Saturday, we had a football party and watched Alabama beat Auburn and Florida beat F...