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Another Ashley Update

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 way, Ashley's labs looked good. Of course her platelet count was low but not alarmingly low, her ALT level was high (liver inflammation), and her indirect bilirubin level was abnormally low. I am not to worried about any of Ashley's counts because there is not a red flag setting off an alarm. We will take the results with us to Shands, let the doctors review them but I am not expecting them to be worried based on the results. Labs don't tell the entire story, that's why it's so important to have the other tests plus labs, i.e. scopes, ultrasounds, CT scans, MRI's, etc.

We have a couple of goals while in Gainesville. First, we want to find the source of Ashley's bleeding and second we want to discuss and find a pediatric GI (Gastroenterologist) to handle Ashley's case in Orlando; close to home. By getting a local GI involved in Ashley's case it will save us trips to Shands not to mention save us money.

I have been receiving lots of phone calls from Ashley's teachers at school and from other friends in the community asking if there is anything they can do. Thank you so much for caring for my girl. If you want to do something for Ashley, I ask simply for your prayers.

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