…because God has brought her back from the dead!
Many of you have heard through the grapevine already that we nearly lost Ashleigh on Friday (5/23). She had come down with another virus called CMV earlier in the week. They gave her treatments for this virus but on Thursday night they decided that Ashleigh was never going to get better and so they took her off all life support, except for the oscillator, Lasix, and some pain/sedation medication. Her heart rate lowered, her blood pressure went down, her oxygen saturation decreased, and she started to go into renal (kidney) failure. She was slowly fading away.
She made it through the night Thursday and into Friday. When Ryan, Chelsea, and I arrived the situation was not looking good at all. We watched as doctors and nurses from all different areas in the hospital came to visit and say goodbye. They hugged Mom and Dad and told them what great parents they were. One doctor said that there were patients, and then there were patients. And that my parents were part of what made Ashleigh one of their favorite patients.
Ashleigh made it through Friday and then into Saturday. She was even breathing good enough for them to switch out the oscillator for the regular ventilator to make her more comfortable during her last few hours. Ashleigh was still in very bad condition, but she wasn’t getting any worse. And she tried a few times to open her eyes.
When she made it through to Sunday it was clear that she was getting better! She had started to barely breathe on her own (breathe above the ventilator). And her kidneys started working again. Since she was still heavily sedated she couldn’t completely wake up but whenever a nurse came in to move Ashleigh to a new position her eyes would pop open wide.
By Monday Ashleigh could look at you and respond to questions by blinking or by nodding her head. Her kidneys were operating normally and her vital signs were normal. The doctors, who all had earlier admitted that she wouldn’t make it, were now shocked that she was recovering! Dr. Daniel went in to see Dad and said “you must be a praying man” because her improvement was nothing that the doctors did.
As of Tuesday (5/27) the lab work showed that the CMV was nearly gone from her system. Here’s the best part: if a transplant patient gets this virus and survives (along with the EBV she had back at Christmastime), then the patient no longer needs anti-rejection drugs. Ever. So they have now taken Ashleigh off all anti-rejection drugs and they expect her to make a full recovery.
The update yesterday from Mom was that Ashleigh’s kidney’s have never been better and that she was wide awake and starting to communicate. She was breathing so well that she only needed 35% oxygen from the machine.
We found out later that there were over 500 people praying for our family this weekend. Ryan, Chelsea, and I were supposed to go to our congregation’s Family Camp in Junction City. We told a few people what had happened and why we weren’t coming and the group of 300 or so prayed about it all weekend. I asked what they specifically prayed for and it wasn’t for Ashleigh to get better – they prayed for our family to have peace and be comforted as Ashleigh left us. They also prayed for our family to see God at work in this situation. And over 200 at our family’s congregation in Topeka prayed the same things on Sunday in all the Bible classes and during worship. I know that there were many others praying, and we are grateful!
Ashleigh may still not make it, or she may recover. We just don’t know. But I do know that no matter what happens God is good and that He has given us an amazing family.
