Ashtyn looks so much better than a week ago. She isn’t nearly as sick, however she still feels crummy. Of course she does. I have no idea what it feels like to have no white blood cells, low platelets, and have a body that is recovering from chemo. Her throat and mouth continue to hurt. Swallowing is still painful. She does try to drink a sip or … Read More →
Ms. Fricker, one of Ashtyn’s teachers at Canyonview Elementary school, commented “Know the saying ‘it takes a village to raise a child?’ Well, it takes an army to kick cancer’s butt out of that village. Help show Ashtyn she has an amazing army behind her. She is a tough little girl and is fighting one heck of a battle.” She is completely right. Ashtyn is … Read More →
Ashtyn and I have different perspectives of time. We have been in the hospital for 27 days and it has gone by very fast for me. There is not a moment of boredom where I can kick up my feet and wonder what I should do with my time. There is always something to do. When Ashtyn was really sick her needs were the same … Read More →
Ashtyn and I are spending our 25th night in the hospital. She is no longer being kept awake by nausea, vomiting, coughing, mucous, diarrhea, bloody noses, restroom runs every two hours, shortness of breath with fluid in her lungs, or an extremely swollen mouth. She isn’t suffering from a high temperature, high heart rate, or high respiratory rate. For this we are grateful. For this my heart rejoices. Tonight … Read More →
The doctors came to Ashtyn’s room this morning, as they always do, to discuss the plan of the day. What are the concerns? How is her status? What changes need to be made? Everyone was pleased with how well she is doing and noticed her huge improvement. No changes were made. Stay the course. For eleven days the oncologists have cultured all possible blood, urine, … Read More →
My last post was written two nights ago. Ashtyn’s health had been getting progressively worse with each day. By Tuesday night she was on the verge of having high risk surgery to remove her appendix. Diarrhea and vomiting seemed to be occurring every couple of hours. She had lower lobe pneumonia with an increased respiratory rate and oxygen needs. The color of her extremities didn’t look good. Even though she was … Read More →
Ashtyn has had a temperature for over six days which is concerning the doctors. Each lab work that has been done continues to show no signs of infection. At noon she had a CT scan to discover whether or no … Read More →
I suppose Ashtyn and I are getting into a routine, though it is an unpredictable, unplanned routine that we take minute by minute. Nausea and pain is constantly on our minds. “Where’s the barf bag?” is a question she commonly asks. It’s like her security blanket, whether she is going to throw up into it or not. When Ashtyn does throw up she likes me … Read More →
Saturday night… I mean Sunday morning I went to bed at 6 am, after a busy night helping Ashtyn. At 7:00 am I woke up to about 10 different medical staff surrounding Ashtyn’s bed moving very quickly. I could sense there was worry in the air. As I watched the organized commotion, I gathered that her blood pressure was low and they were doing all … Read More →
2/17/13 MIDNIGHT I’m not going to lie to you or sugarcoat it. I am a “tell it how it is” person. Ashtyn’s physical body has had a rough couple of days. Chemotherapy wipes out cancer cells, but in doing so it wipes out other cells as well. (Her red blood cells that carry oxygen from her lungs to the tissues, platelet cells that prevent bleeding, … Read More →
