Only Liver Moms will Appreciate and Understand this Fear

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 and they are bleeding. Having varices in the colon are rare but Ashley has liver disease so we can't rule anything out. Usually varices are found in the stomach and the esophagus. Her lab results tomorrow should tell us more. Until then just think of me the next time you sit on the "John", "toilet," "commode", "waste receptacle", whatever you call it.

Comments

Ashley's Story

“Although Ashley’s liver is failing, she isn’t sick enough to be placed on the liver transplant list. We were told that Ashley would need a new liver by the time she reaches puberty." Ashley was born at the end of July in 1998, but her story doesn’t start there;her story begins when she was just a little peanut in my womb. At 24 weeks gestation we learned we were having a girl, but our little girl had something wrong with her. Imagine sitting in the examining room, and the excitement of learning you are having a girl, then at the same time you hear the silence in the room when something is just not right with the baby. We were told that Ashley possibly had an ovarian cyst. It was normal and not to worry. But something told us it was more than just an ovarian cyst. As soon as Ashley was delivered she struggled to live. The umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck twice, and she was blue. Thankfully the doctor cut the cord immediately and although Ashley was still blue; she was b

Answers lead to more Questions

In great Ashley fashion, she did very well with her trip to the hospital and recovered well from the procedure. Right now, Ashley is off with her Grammie getting spoiled by shopping. With no one in the house but me and the pets, I am off to my own devices which usually means I have to much time to think, to research, to worry, to vent, to hope and to pray. Today Ashley had a broncioscope to find out why she has been coughing for six months. After getting up at 4:30 am and at the hospital at 6 am, the scope began at approximately 7:30 am. The procedure itself took less than 30 minutes. The outcome of the procedure left me with more questions than answers. We do know why Ashley is coughing, Ashley has a vocal cord dysfunction, enlarged adnenoids and tonsils. Finding out why Ashley is coughing is good news, however, we also learned that Ashley may have other issues involving her lungs. There was 60mL of fluid in her lungs. Some samples of her lungs were sent for a cell count, bacterial cu

It's been a while. Did you know...

that Ashley was in the hospital after Thanksgiving and before Christmas? She had a bleed. She has varices. Just a little reminder that she is not healthy and has a life threatening liver disease. that we lost our beloved beautiful puppy, Sarge, on January 2. It was sudden, shocking, and sad. We think he had leukemia based on his symptoms. Not sure if we will ever get another dog. Sarge was one of a kind and a perfect fit for our laid back, drama free family. that Ashley made the Principal's Honor Roll her 1st Semester of high school while taking all honors courses. She is beautiful and smart. that Ashley is still dancing for her high school dance team minus a solo this year. She loves being part of the team but really misses competing in her favorite style of dance, lyrical/contemporary. that after a couple years of not having a dance studio to call home. We think we may have finally found just the place. Maybe someday Ashley will compete on a stage again and not

Love For Ashley

Search This Blog